Can Acid Fix Your Dog's Separation Anxiety?

A recent study showed promising results in treating a dog’s separation anxiety issues with microdoses of a synthetic LSD analogue.

The study focused on one dog, a 13-year-old mixed-breed female named Lola, who exhibited signs of severe separation anxiety. Lola was given 5 micrograms of 1cP-LSD every 3 days for a total of one month and evaluated three times — once before the study began, once after the first dose, and at the end of the month. The researchers recorded a significant drop in anxiety symptoms by the end of the study. 

“A 13‐year‐old dog with severe separation anxiety received 5 µg of 1cp‐LSD every 3 days for 30 days. Anxiety scores decreased from 29 (severe) to 14 (moderate) at the end of treatment, and scored 15.5 1 month later,” a portion of the study reads. “These findings suggest a potential anxiolytic effect of microdosing 1cp‐LSD, though further controlled studies are needed.”

The study’s authors write that they couldn’t find any prior clinical examples of a dog being given LSD, so they gave the dog one dose before the study began and determined it was safe. Before treatment began, the dog was said to bark a lot when the owner left the house, and it would destroy things while the owner was gone, follow the owner from room to room and break out of its dog crate. These issues significantly decreased in frequency and intensity by the end of study. It’s also noteworthy that a month after the study concluded, the dog’s anxiety still appeared to be vastly improved compared to before treatment began. 

“On July 7th, one month after the end of treatment, the patient's final anxiety assessment was conducted. The results were similar to the previous test, with a total score of 15.5 points,” the study said. “The owner was asked to provide a final reflection on the experience. After completing the treatment, she mentioned observing the dog being generally less anxious. One month later, she reported that the dog seems calmer.”

It’s important to mention that this study had an extremely small sample size, meaning the results should be taken with a giant grain of salt. Please don’t start feeding acid to your dogs! Extensive additional research needs to be performed to confirm the results of any of this. The most that can really be interpreted from this study is that LSD could be a useful tool in managing stress in our animal friends. Also, keep in mind that 1cP-LSD is different than the acid procured from your friendly neighborhood wook, though it is structurally related chemically speaking.

“Given the exploratory nature of this single‐case study, these findings should be interpreted with caution,” the study said. “The role of owner‐related psychological factors as well as contextual variables (e.g., presence of other people, timing of administration) warrants further investigation. Placebo‐controlled trials are necessary to substantiate these preliminary observations and assess the therapeutic potential of 1cp‐LSD for canine anxiety.”

This isn’t the first time mad scientists have given psychedelics to animals. There was a study in the ‘60s where dolphins were given LSD to see if it made it easier for humans to communicate with them (spoiler alert, it absolutely did not). A 3000x dose of LSD was given to an elephant named Tusko once, and he basically just keeled over and died an hour later. Spiders, monkeys, zebrafish, hornets, and fruit flies have all been dosed just for human beings to watch what happened, but as far as I could find, this was the first dog to journey down the rabbit hole. 

“The research team would like to express gratitude to Laura V. and Cristian R.B. for their trust and altruistically offering Lola (the patient's name) for this trial,” the study said. “If Laika was the first dog to travel into outer space, Lola was the first to journey into inner space.”

💌 If you loved this email, forward it to a psychonaut in your life.

Editorial Process

DoubleBlind is a trusted resource for news, evidence-based education, and reporting on psychedelics. We work with leading medical professionals, scientific researchers, journalists, mycologists, indigenous stewards, and cultural pioneers. Read about our editorial policy and fact-checking process here.