What does separation anxiety training look like?

Separation anxiety training involves exposing your dog to short absences they can handle and gradually increasing the duration while they remain comfortable. In psychology, this is known as desensitization training. 

• The training will be a series of mini absences that you will practice each week while watching your pup over a webcam. 

• You will be assigned five training plans each week outlining your mini sessions. Subsequent homework will be based on your progress during the previous session. 

• We will check in twice each week to troubleshoot or address any questions you may have. You are welcome to send clips of your dog’s alone time for me to review. 

• When you book a separation anxiety package, you can contact me via WhatsApp for weekly support. 

How long does it typically take to address separation anxiety?

• No two dogs are the same when it comes to addressing separation anxiety. Unlike teaching your dog to retrieve, separation anxiety addresses a deep underlying fear. Think of something you are afraid of -- now imagine you have been repeatedly exposed to that frightening experience. This is the reality for many dogs who suffer from separation anxiety. 

• To address separation anxiety, we start with small increments of time and make them very ho-hum, dispassionate events. As your dog learns that these small increments of time are safe, we gradually increase them. For some dogs, this can take a couple of weeks; for others, it can take months.
  

How can I make my dog’s separation training go faster?

When addressing separation anxiety, it can be tempting to push to go faster. We want to get back to our regular social lives and be able to finally eat indoors at a restaurant without our dog and without arranging dog care. 

• To be successful in our separation anxiety training, it is important that we do not push too hard and push our dog over threshold. Over threshold is what we call it when you see the symptoms that made you realize your dog was suffering from separation anxiety in the first place. Each time your dog has an over-threshold experience, they can experience major setbacks, which can greatly slow down the training. (This is why we talk about suspending absences below.) 

• All of this is to say that we, the humans, unfortunately, can’t set the speed of separation anxiety training, but there are things that we can do to help move through the process: 

1. Train five days a week -- this one may seem obvious, but staying on track in training is the most important thing we can do to progress.

2. Call a session at the first sign of stress. The best thing we can do to keep moving forward is to avoid over-threshold and at-threshold experiences. We want to be under threshold. 

3. Suspend absences -- When we suspend absences, we prevent our dog from having over-threshold experiences. Repeated exposure to uneventful alone time teaches our dogs that being alone is safe and allows us to increase alone time. 
   

What does it mean to suspend absences, and do I have to do it?

• Suspending absences means no longer leaving your dog at home for longer than they can handle. Suspending absences can be done by taking your dog to a friend’s house or daycare or asking a neighbor to help. 

• It can seem like a huge commitment to suspend absences, and it is. It is also one of the most important things you can do to get your dog comfortable being alone.

Why are separation anxiety sessions done remotely?

• When we do separation anxiety training, we are teaching your dog that it is safe to be home alone. We gradually build up the time you can leave during training until you can do the real thing. For this training to transfer to the real thing, it has to look like the real thing, and having a trainer in the house would be a huge flag to your pup that this is different from the real thing.What does it mean to suspend absences, and do I have to do it?

• Suspending absences means no longer leaving your dog at home for longer than they can handle. Suspending absences can be done by taking your dog to a friend’s house or daycare or asking a neighbor to help. 

• It can seem like a huge commitment to suspend absences, and it is. It is also one of the most important things you can do to get your dog comfortable being alone.

Can I schedule a board and train to address my dog’s separation anxiety?

• Board and train cannot address separation anxiety. Training must be done gradually to teach your dog that it is safe to be home alone. 

• Desensitization training -- exposing your pup to a level of alone time they can handle and gradually increasing this time -- is the only training method that has been shown to address separation anxiety. 

• If you see someone advertising separation anxiety training via board and train, I advise you to stay far, far away. Often these trainers use shock collars to decrease the destructive behaviors associated with separation anxiety without addressing the underlying discomfort and leaving your pup even more scared and powerless than before. 

Looking for something else? Contact me to see if I can help!