How can I help my dogs deal with separation anxiety?

How to train pet dogs. Please visit: http://dogstrainintips.blogspot.com/
References :

Well, first of all, i’m not completely sure these dogs have seperation anxiety. are they wild to greet you, and is still stressed, anxious and clingy when you first arrive home? Do they often destroy items in the house while your away? When your home do they cling to you or ‘focus’ on something with your scent on it? Do they demand you attention?
If so than you are probably dealing with seperation anxiety. Some ways to help this are trying to make your arrivals and departures very boring and low-key. Not making a big fuss over saying hello and goodbye. Give your dog something to do while you’re gone, this could be a chew toy, bone or other things, just to keep them busy.
References :

Do not leave them until they are in a calm submissive state. Practice going out the door and give them whatever command or do whatever you do to make them calm and submissive until they can do it easily as you’re leaving like it’s no big deal. When you come home don’t give them any attention until they are in this calm state.
References :
My dog used to have this problem too and would nervously chew things right after we left him alone.

Long story short, the root cause of separation anxiety is that your dogs believe that they are "alpha" over you. Dogs are pack animals, and in the wild, only the leader of the pack is allowed to leave the group without permission of the pack, and the rest of the pack members must obtain permission from the alpha dog if they wish to leave; otherwise, the alpha dog becomes upset.

Before you leave and when you come home, try not to act overly excited when you see the dog. Instead, try to leave discretely; that way it reinforces the notion in the dog that it is not a big deal when you leave and that you are the alpha dog. You can also try leaving a radio or television on while you are gone, so that the dogs hear human voices. Last but not least, another method to combat separation anxiety (at least in the short term) is to leave a toy that will keep them mentally stimulated. One example of this is a Kong toy; you can smear the inside with peanut butter and stuff dog biscuits in them so that you dog can keep busy trying to figure out how to get the treats. Kong toys are commonly sold at pet stores, and come in varying levels of harness.

Once again, over the long term, you’ll have to teach the dog that you are alpha over him. In the short term, you can try leaving the radio or television on and leave a toy that will keep your dogs mentally stimulated.

Hope this helps and best of luck,

R.
References :
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/separationanxiety.htm

I understand you have to work to pay the bills but you can’t leave dogs 8 hours . That is why so many dogs end up in rescue as they have behaviour problems as they have been left to long day in day out. You either need to come home in the middle of the day and take them out or hire a dog walker to come in and take them out. I understand you love you dogs and you need to do this for them . It is the responsible dog ownership thing to do. Local vets usually know of local dog walkers.
References :

Once again, regardless of ‘having to work’, adult dogs should not be left alone, especially crated, for more than 4 hours in a 24 hour period on a regular basis. As has been said here, this is why so many dogs end up with behavioural problems. Okay, most will ‘tolerate’ this sort of a solitary life, but dogs are social animals, and condemning them to being left on their own for so long isn’t the life I want for my dogs!! Okay, circumstances can mean this has to happen, and obviously keeping them like this is preferable to having to think about rehoming them (been there, temporarily) but it makes me weep to read of all the dogs, these days, who are being brought into this sort of situation deliberately. I know it’s more and more necessary for people to be working full time these days, but in that case, surely more thought should be given to whether it’s fair on the dog/puppy, to be having them in the first place. Cats cope with living a solitary life, in the main, dogs don’t.

I didn’t have a dog until I could (afford to) give them the life I feel all dogs deserve. I’m not placing all the blame on owners here - I’m shocked at the fact so many breeders are willing to send their puppies into this situation. I didn’t - or at least I made certain arrangements were being made for somebody to come in during the 8 hours, to be with the puppies I sold.
References :

Do you know if they actually have it, or not? What do they do now if you’re gone for an hour or two? If they don’t bark, chew things up and pee on the floor, they probably don’t have separation anxiety, or they don’t have enough to matter. The sad looks as you leave are more likely because they’d rather go with you, but it doesn’t mean they’ll get terribly upset while you’re gone. You need to start leaving them for longer periods before you go to work again, so you know whether or not they’re okay with you gone, or so they get used to the idea that you can be gone for hours and it’s okay.
References :