If the pandemic was the perfect time for being at home with a new puppy, the end of the pandemic is proving to be a rude awakening for those very same puppies. The humans they got used to having around all the time—truly all the time in some cases—will soon have places to be. “I’ve never in my life spoken to a client, until the last few months, where they’ve literally never left the dog alone,” says Elisha Stynchula, a dog trainer in Los Angeles. Not to get groceries, not to get mail, not even to take out the trash. Now these very attached pandemic puppies will have to deal with being alone—and not just alone-in-the-other-room alone or alone-for-five-minutes alone. Some of them are having a rough time of it. “We have been seeing a tremendous increase in inquiries for help,” says Malena DeMartini, a dog trainer who specializes in separation anxiety. “They’re like, ‘I have been able to not really leave for my job, because of the pandemic. But that can’t last forever.’” DeMartini says the dogs she hears about can be divided into two camps. The first are the pandemic puppies that cry when their humans leave but just need time and perhaps a bit of training to adjust to a new routine. The second group has genuine separation anxiety—to the point where the dogs are tearing up the blinds, biting at the door trim, or barking nonstop. They’re not just upset about being alone. “They are terrified,” DeMartini said. “These phobias are really irrational-sounding to us, but the dog him- or herself perceives it in a very real way.” Most dogs will, fortunately, fall into the first camp, but they and their owners will still need to stumble through a transition period. Going straight from home all day to eight hours at the office will be rough—on dogs and their humans both.