I recently joined a brilliant course from IAABC conducted by Dr. Kristina Spaulding, which focused on animal cognition. As a result, I started thinking about how separation anxiety and cognition work together—for the better or worse of a dog. Let’s start by defining both terms:
- Separation Anxiety: The intense fear or distress caused by being separated from a primary attachment figure, such as a caregiver. This can be mom, dad, or even siblings.
- Animal Cognition: “All ways in which animals take in information through the senses, process, retain, and decide to act on it.” (Shettleworth, 2001).
But how do these two things interact with each other? In other words, so what? Stay with me here:
First, how does cognition influence separation anxiety?
Cognition, in a nutshell, comes from the part of the brain that allows all animals (including humans) to make predictions about the world and create “mental models” based on prior experiences (Spaulding, 2026). A mental model here is nothing more than a representation of something the animal can’t see immediately in front of them, for instance, a dog likely knows what a squeaky toy is even if the toy is not in front of him/her. Furthermore, dogs, like many other animals, are likely to gather and process information to obtain the “what,” “where,” and “when” from the environment. For instance, a dog may know that another dog was at a certain spot because they are smelling the urine left by them at a corner, even if it happened hours before.
Dogs, as thinking animals, are very good at using the information they obtain from environment to make predictions, imagining something that isn’t currently there, but most likely will happen soon. This helps them predict what may happen next so they can have a sense of control over their surroundings.
Finally, we get to how cognition influences separation anxiety. For a dog with separation anxiety, we can safely assume that they may have a mental representation of “being left alone” (but they may not). However, we know that they have an accurate prediction radar of when mom or dad are going to leave the house (predeparture cues) and that turns all the alarms on. Thins like grabbing your keys, putting shoes on, or putting a coat on are the piece of information the dog uses to gather the “what”, the “where” and the “when”. Because dogs have a working memory, they remember the “yucky” fear from past absences, meaning, the dog is likely to feel not just a reaction to the upcoming absence but also an accumulation of past absences. At this point, their own intelligence allows them to anticipate the feeling of panic before it even happens.
Here is where things may get a bit muddier but bear with me: because if dogs have cognitive skills such as predictions based on mental models, they may also experience something called “learned helplessness.” How is it related to cognition and separation anxiety? When a dog learns that they can’t control being left alone in a specific environment, they may realize that the mental models and predictions most likely have no impact on that environment, that it is simply uncontrollable. Moreover, they may generalize this lack of control over other scenarios, making the dog think they don’t have control over other situations like during walks.
Learned helplessness can be interpreted as a cognitive failure to find a solution where the dog has processed the information that "no action works," which is a cognitive conclusion that leads to a behavioral state. The dog’s train of thought is: “I have no choice and no control to change this aversive situation”
How does separation anxiety influence cognition?
The amount of stress a dog experiences when left alone, mainly due to anxiety, can fundamentally alter how a dog’s brain processes the world. As mentioned above, being left alone means that a dog’s predictions may end in a “horror movie” of panic and stress. So, the dog could attempt to get ahead once again by trying to predict departures, but this means the dog is likely to become hyper-vigilant, always alert to the owner picking up keys, putting on makeup or simply walking by the door. In turns, what this is likely to foment is the dog following the owner around to observe every detail of the owner’s movements, often resulting in what we call a “Velcro dog.”
Stress stemming from anxiety also overrides the prefrontal cortex (the thinking brain) while handing control to the limbic system (the emotional brain), because toxic stress is tricky like that!
When a dog is repeatedly exposed to the panic of separation, the resulting "toxic stress" acts as a cognitive disruptor. High levels of cortisol effectively hinder the prefrontal cortex (logic and self-control) and hand the steering wheel to the limbic system (emotion and reaction). In this state, the dog isn't "misbehaving"; they have less cognitive flexibility to regulate their emotions, leaving them trapped in a panic loop.
When exposed to high levels of stress for a long period of time, a dog may show a lack of inhibitory control (a higher cognitive skill) and switch to full panic mode (e.g. scratching and pawing at the door, looping in circles around the house, whining, barking, urinating, etc.) At this point, an educated guess would be to assume that the dog has lost his/her cognitive flexibility to “think” their way out of the underlying emotion (fear).
If we take into account that stress and lack of choice (agency) may negatively impact on a dog’s brain structure leaving the dog more reactive while shifting their underlying mood into a more pessimistic bias (Mendl, 2020), the next time they hear the keys jingle, the dog might start to shake and salivate. So to sum up, repeated exposure to stressful departures and absences are likely to “poison” the dog’s general ability to learn new things or trust environments. This internal shift is worsened by a unique trait of dogs: their high level of human dependency. Studies show that dogs are so socially and cognitively tuned to humans that they often “give up” on puzzles if the human leaves (Spaulding, 2021). For a dog with separation anxiety, this creates a “cognitive dependency” where they only feel capable of feeling safe when their human is present.
What Can We Do About This?
Seek professional help from a separation anxiety expert to implement a systematic desensitization protocol. This isn’t just “training”; it is a way to remodel the dog’s skills when dealing with absences by gradually exposing the dog to departure cues without the “horror movie” ending. The end goal: help the dog re-classify those cues and the absences from “aversive” to “neutral,” preventing the toxic stress that damages cognitive function.
Build problem-solving skills to actively foster independence. This is a skill that is often underdeveloped in dogs with high social dependency. Using enrichment that requires causal understanding (like level-appropriate food puzzles) allows the dog to practice “thinking” without looking to a human for the answer. If a dog only knows how to function with you, they lack the “cognitive tools” required to remain regulated when alone. Did you know? Wolves, unlike dogs, do not follow finger pointing from humans as much as dogs do (Hare & Miklosi, 2003)
In the context of cognition, agency is the power to make a choice that changes an outcome. When we provide a dog with choice-based games and independent puzzles, we are doing more than just "keeping them busy." We are strengthening their prefrontal cortex and allowing them to build confidence and mental flexibility. This "cognitive workout" builds a biological buffer against anxiety, helping the dog shift from a state of passive dependency to one of active, confident problem-solving.
Exercise your dog’s agency by giving them a choice. A key takeaway from modern research (Spaulding, 2025) is the importance of Agency. By introducing cognitive enrichment through choice-based games, we allow the dog to exert control over their environment. This sense of control engages the prefrontal cortex and helps develop inhibitory control, which acts as a biological buffer.
Link for those of you interested: https://iaabcfoundation.org/courses/the-thinking-dog-cognition-and-its-role-in-behavior/
