Comparison of the efficacy of a synthetic dog-appeasing pheromone with clomipramine for the treatment of separation-related disorders in dogs.

Sixty-seven dogs that showed signs of distress when separated from their owners (destructiveness, excessive vocalisation and house soiling) and hyperattachment were used in a randomised, blind trial to assess the potential value of a dog-appeasing pheromone in reducing the unacceptable behaviours. For ethical reasons, there was no placebo group and the effects of the pheromone were compared with the effects of clomipramine which is regularly used to treat this type of problem. The undesirable behaviours decreased in both groups, but the overall assessment by the owners indicated that there was no significant difference between the two treatments, although there were fewer undesirable events in the dogs treated with the pheromone, and the administration of the pheromone appeared to be more convenient.