There is a difference between something that is considered to be “well-known” or folk-knowledge and demonstrable evidence. The sentence quoted here is not untrue, or exaggerated, however, if the Editor wishes us to explore this further, we would kindly request the Reviewer provide us with examples of publications where this has been empirically demonstrated, as we have not found any in our own searches.
Line 382-384 „To our knowledge, this is the first empirical evidence to show a link between changes in dogs’ leaving routines and risk of SRBs.” The authors take priority in the empirical demonstration of changes in dogs when the routine of the day is disturbed. And changing the routine of the day is a well-known factor influencing the dog's welfare and behavior, including the occurrence of separation anxiety, so the above-quoted sentence should be deleted because it is untrue. The authors have hardly studied all the publications on how dogs behave when daily routines were changed, so the term "first study" is exaggerated.