Why We Don’t Use Food in Separation Anxiety Training: 3 Key Reasons
Many dog owners leave their dog with food ; a Kong, a puzzle toy, a lickmat in the hope it will ease their separation anxiety.
But food doesn’t help your dog feel safe. It might mask the anxiety, delay the reaction, or even make things worse.
Here are three reasons we don’t use food in separation anxiety training, and what to do instead :
1) It distracts but doesn’t teach calm
Leaving food might keep your dog busy for a few minutes, but distraction is not the same as learning.
Once the food is gone, the panic often sets in. That momentary calm is misleading. It gives you the impression your dog is coping, when really, they were just occupied.
Because the distraction interferes with what your dog is actually feeling, you lose the ability to see how long they can truly cope. That means no accurate baseline, and no real progress.
2) It interrupts the learning process
One of the principles we use in dog behaviour is called "pairing." It means we help a dog feel differently about something scary by linking it to something good. But timing is everything, the good thing needs to happen after the scary thing to build that positive association.
With separation anxiety, that’s almost impossible. You’d need to leave and then deliver the treat, which you can’t do.
So when food is given before or during the anxiety, it doesn’t help change how your dog feels. In fact, it often blocks the real emotional work from starting.
3. It can become a trigger
If your dog sees food toys every time you leave, they may start to associate those toys with your absence. That can turn a previously enjoyable activity into a pre-departure cue.
Over time, your dog may begin to feel anxious the moment they see a kong or lickmat.
Instead of reducing stress, the food becomes part of what creates it.
What to do instead
Effective separation anxiety training isn’t about keeping your dog distracted. It’s about changing how they feel about being alone.
That means:
Working within your dog’s tolerance
Building absence time slowly
Removing anxiety triggers
Focusing on safety, not surface fixes
Inside my Separation Anxiety Hub, you’ll learn how to do exactly that with step-by-step videos, weekly support, and real guidance.
No quick fixes. No food tricks. Just a process that works.