Be Right Back! The Separation Anxiety Podcast

This week we’re going to be looking at how we can make the world a less scary place for your dog. And why that matters so much to him, to you, and your training. We’ll look at why training stalls if you can’t protect your dog from his panic. And we’ll talk about how you can find ways not to leave your dog, even if that seems impossible right now.   Last week I went to a seminar presented by leading vet behaviourist, Dr. Karen Overall.. One statement she made really struck me: “the first thing we need to do with an anxious dog is stop the sky falling on their head.” I totally agree. While we can never exactly know what a dog is thinking or feeling, we can learn a lot from their body language. With dogs who are fearful of being home alone, I often wonder do they think the world is about to end, that they are in imminent danger. It certainly looks grave based on their body language. There are 2 reasons we need to make our home alone dogs feel safer. Welfare Training efficacy 1 Welfare We didn't give the dogs the option of being in our home. They have no choice but to stay and remain in a state of morbid fear when we leave. I think once you get your head round that it becomes really difficult to leave your dog at home alone to panic. I believe we owe it to our dogs to let them live a life free of fear. And that's why I think it is a welfare issue to stop them thinking that the sky is falling on their head. 2  Training efficacy When we change how a dog feels about something that it's frightened of we need to give them lots and lots of new positive none scary experiences to outweigh the scary experiences that they've had in the past. With a separation anxiety dog that means we have to give them lots of new experiences of you going out but not leaving them for longer than they can cope with. We are trying to send a message to our dogs that there's a new way of doing things That may be in the past when you left it was scary it would be frightening.   But that now when you go and when you do these shorts safe practice absences, everything's going to be okay. II like to talk about a bank account of experiences. On one side of the balance we've got a ton of historic previously scary alone time. Then you start separation anxiety training and add positives experiences to the other side of the bank balance. But you need to get a ton of positive non scary experiences to balance the books. So can you see why it can be so tricky if not impossible to have success with desensitization training if you have a dog who you are still forced to leave. But even if you want to how do you stop the sky from falling on your dog’s head when you have work to go to, bills to pay. Well, I know it can be tough, and I’ve been there. But what I do know is that even though it starts out feeling impossible it can be done. You’ll find lots of ideas in my free Facebook group: subthresholdraining.com/group. And also I’ve now started up a brand new network where you can connect to other separation anxiety  dog owners near you. It’s a small but growing community. You really need to join! subthresholtraining.com/network Hope this podcast helped you understand why stopping your dog’s fear is essential.And motivated you to at least try to stop the sky falling on your dog’s head. Topics: [00:45] Reporting back from seminar with Dr. Karen Overall [01:54] We can never know what's going on inside our dog's head but how body language helps us [03:15] 2 reasons why we need to stop our dogs from thinking the sky is falling on their heads- Dog's welfare - Training effectiveness [03:51] When our dogs panic at home alone, they really don't have much choice about that situation [06:01] We owe it to our dogs to let them live a life that’s free from fear [06:55] We really can't implement separation anxiety training when our dogs are in that state [07:07] With separation anxiety training is we are trying change how they feel about being home alone [08:44] A bank account of positive and negative experiences for the dog [09:17] Adding positive experiences and starting to balance things out [09:53] Just like us, dogs are more likely to have negativity bias [11:29] In order to get your dog over separation anxiety, you have to stop leaving your dog [13:03] But even though that seems impossible it’s not   Links: Facebook groups Episode 14 show notes

Description: When your dog barks, chews, or destroys when he’s home alone, how can you be certain that it’s separation anxiety and not something else? Lots of dogs do these things when they are left, but not all of are anxious behaviours.   Today's topics is whether your dog have more frustrations than it has fear. The things that your dog gets up to at home when they are alone are not all cause by fear. Behaviors can look very similar to anxious behaviors. In this episode, we will try to understand and identify whether it's fear or frustration.   Topics: [01:13] Separation related behaviors (e.g barking, chewing, destroying) look similar to anxious behaviors [01:55] News about a Jack Russell dog that kept neighbours awake with its "continuous" barking and how its owner have been fined almost £3,000 [05:03] Checklist to determine your dog's behavior [05:31] #1 Knowing the age and breed of the dog to get a sense of the dog's energy level [06:55] #2 Is his braking and chewing a new condition? [07:19] #3 Any recent life changes for this dog? [07:58] #4 If you've been working with separation anxiety training, how long have you been working? [08:11] #5 How different is your dog's separation related behavior at different times of the day, after exercising and so on? [08:55] #6 Have you tried medicating your dog and how much difference did it make? [09:20] #7 How persistent is your dog's barking, chewing etc [11:36] Persistence and duration are important - anxious dogs are more likely to persevere with the behaviour [12:52] Separation anxiety dogs often tend to dig or chew close to windows or doors [15:09] Separation anxiety dogs can get frustrated too [17:03] Young puppies can definitely be difficult to diagnose Links Owners of 'nightmare' barking dog fined nearly £3,000  

Does your dog seem to be all over the place with training? Is he okay on Saturdays but awful on Wednesdays? Does he do well when you leave but fall apart if your other half does the training? If this sounds like your dog and heck, most dogs do something like this to a degree then you need to tune in to this week’s podcast. I’m going to share the 4 Step process I use with my clients when situations like this crop up. On this week's episode, I’m talking about something many of you are curious about. Why is my dog's separation anxiety better or worse with different people and at different times? If you have the same question, stay tuned as I'm going to explain why this happens and what you can do about it. Topics: [01:01] Dogs being fine in one context but cannot handle being alone in another context [02:10] Different variables and scenarios that affect how well your dog handles being home alone: [02:16] Days of the week [02:55] Time of the day [03:41] Who does the leaving [05:00] Changes in daylight (light vs dark) [05:45} Weather and seasons [06:50] It could be that the dog has had a worse experience at that time and on that day when that person left [07:28] Dogs are brilliant connection making machines [08:37] Dogs don’t always do things that make sense to us [08:58] Dogs have different ways of working out what's scary and what's safe [10:10] Dogs are bad at generalizing confidence [11:00] Why data is going to be invaluable to you here [12:12] How my 4 step process works for dogs whose separation anxiety seems to be different in different scenarios: [12:25] 1. Do different baseline assessments to determine when he is worse or better [12:42] 2. Decide which time of the week/days of the week matter to you most [13:16] 3. Plot all the information you got from those 2 steps onto a chart [15:00] 4. Choose those scenarios that occupy either the box which is easy and important or easy but not so important

I hear many dog owners concerned that their dogs can tell the difference between separation anxiety training and real-life departures. I understand how that makes you worried that you’re never going to be able to leave your dog for real.   In this episode, I explain what exactly is going on with training versus real life and why it's not really a problem. I will also share some tips on how you can get out of the door for real. Topics: [01:22] On not knowing what dogs are thinking [01:34] Modern dog training does not revolve around assuming what dogs know and think [02:00] How modern dog training is all about going with what we observe [02:31] On body language giving us an idea of the dog's emotional state [02:43] Modern dog training is all about outcomes, evidence, and observation [05:27] What our dogs are probably thinking if we were to know what's going on inside their heads [06:15] How to gauge if training is working and if the dog is learning [07:52] Why your differentiating the scary absences from the good ones is vital [08:36] How being in control of the thing that scares your dog when doing separation anxiety training in empowering [10:32] Translating training into real life [11:30] Managing the training set-up and environment [13:06] About what dog trainers call “cold trials” and how these help with real-life absences  

If you’ve been doing research to help your dog with separation anxiety, it is likely that you’ve come across CBD oil. In this special Facebook Live episode, we’ll discuss if CBD oil is the new miracle cure for dogs with separation anxiety or just another false hope for dog owners. We’ll also also discuss what we know so far about CDB oil as treatment for separation anxiety in dogs, how it is different from cannabis, and its side effect profile, among many others. If you’re considering using CBD oil for your dog’s separation anxiety, today’s episode is exactly what you need to hear! Topics Bias around things that are marketed as “natural” What naturalistic fallacy is Biggest challenge when it comes to CBD oil What we know about CBD oil and dogs so far How CBD oil is different from cannabis What the endocannabinoid system is The low side effect profile of CBD oil Difference of testing and standardisation between medications and supplements Tips for those who would like to try CBD oil for their dog's separation anxiety

Is there a more disappointing aspect to dog parenting thank coming home to find your dog has soiled the house? This is especially crushing when your dog is 100% housetrained the rest of the time. In this episode, we look at why some dogs only do this when you leave, and we explore the remedy for home alone housetraining.  We'll also look at how you can tidy up housetraining in dogs where there might be more frequent slip-ups.

We used to think that a key sign of separation anxiety was a dog who went bonkers when you came home. But now we know that just because he’s doing the whole jack-in-the-box routine, doesn’t mean he was freaking out while you were gone.

Is your dog one of those who is okay being alone in the car, even though he loses it when you leave him at home? It’s surprising how many dogs are. In this week’s episode, I put forward two arguments as to why this might be the case

You’ll read a ton of posters on social media say that getting a second dog fixed their dog's anxiety. So, is this the magic cure you’ve been searching for? Maybe. But most likely not. And in today’s episode, I’ll explain why getting a second dog might not be the fix you’d hoped for.

You don’t need to be an expert dog trainer to get your dog over separation anxiety. What you do need is to be an expert in your own dog. With separation anxiety, the most crucial thing you’ll ever need to wrap your head around is the concept of your dog’s anxiety thresholds.In particular you need to know how your dog shows that he or she is over threshold. In this week’s episode we explore what we mean when we talk about threshold. And how your dog’s anxiety threshold affects training.