Is it anxiety or boredom
True separation anxiety has a pattern: distress starts within minutes of departure (vocalizing, drooling, destructive escape attempts at doors and windows, house soiling despite being trained), and the dog is otherwise fine when you are home. Boredom looks different: chewing shoes and counter surfing happen whether you are home or not, and the dog settles with more exercise and enrichment.
Anxiety needs desensitization. Boredom needs a fuller life. Make sure you are solving the right problem.
Step 1: Make departures boring
Dogs with separation anxiety start panicking at departure cues: keys, shoes, your bag. Pick up your keys ten times a day and sit back down. Put your shoes on and watch TV. Do this until the cues mean nothing. Keep real departures under five seconds of ceremony: no long goodbyes, no pep talks. Calm, dull, gone.
Step 2: Climb the desensitization ladder
Step outside the door for 5 seconds, return before the dog gets upset, and stay boring. Repeat until 5 seconds is easy. Then 15 seconds, 30, a minute, five minutes, building over days and weeks, not hours. If the dog panics at any rung, drop back to the last easy rung for a few sessions. Progress is not linear, and that is fine.
Leave a stuffed frozen Kong or a long-lasting chew every time you step out, so departures predict good things. A camera helps enormously: you need to know what happens after you leave, not guess.
Step 3: Fix the rest of the day
Anxious dogs do better with predictable routines, plenty of physical exercise before alone time, and mental work (sniff walks, puzzle feeders, short training sessions). Practice brief separations while you are home too: the dog relaxes in one room while you are in another, rewarded for calm independence.
When to get professional help
Be honest about severity. If your dog injures themselves trying to escape, cannot be left for even a minute after weeks of work, or the problem is getting worse, work with a certified separation anxiety trainer (many work remotely and effectively) and talk to your vet. Short-term anti-anxiety medication, prescribed by a vet, can lower panic enough for training to work. That is not failure. That is good care.