Separation Anxiety Training

Working Remotely:

In person dog training sessions, where the dog guardian and trainer meet has long been the norm in the pet training field. Today many types of behavior and training sessions can be conducted online with the trainer and dog guardian meeting remotely with easy to use, basic technology. This is our speciality at Dog Training Plus!

A study on separation anxiety training showed no difference in the effectiveness when comparing how the information was delivered to the dog owners: by phone, email, or in person (Cottam et al., 2008).

In addition, separation anxiety has a history of being more successfully treated remotely. When a trainer does an in-home consultation for this issue, the “trainer effect” takes place - changing things in the environment and producing false results, where the dog seems to be getting better until the trainer leaves and the dog’s anxiety is still present. Plus, cameras and Zoom allow trainers and dog guardians to view their dog’s behavior when alone in real time. Therefore, remote training instantly applies the results your dog is gaining, while receiving the same trainer support.

Overview of the Training Plan:

Here is a quick explanation of the training process. We will go into more detail on these topics later, except for veterinary consultations, which we previously mentioned.

1. Veterinary Consultation:

After consulting with your veterinarian to diagnose separation anxiety behavior, treat any potential medical issues causing the anxiety, and/or begin behavioral medications for your dog, then you can start creating and implementing a training plan.

2. Initial Assessment:

This will be a time when you use Zoom (or other technology you are comfortable with), leave your dog alone to assess how long he is comfortable before his anxiety becomes evident, to observe and note your dog’s specific body language and behavior, and determine whether there are other indicators causing his stress (triggers or pre-departure cues).

3. Suspending Absences

This process consists of making sure your dog is not alone for the time it takes to complete training (other than what he is comfortable with already, or as the training progresses). This is one of the most important aspects of separation anxiety training, and a huge reason why this type of program works to resolve separation anxiety while other programs without this strategy fail.

4. Desensitization

This is the training technique that will help your dog overcome separation anxiety. Desensitization is the process of exposing a dog to something that scares him at a level below/or at his fear threshold - meaning he will not be afraid during the process - and gradually increasing the exposure and intensity of the scary thing over time.

So for a dog with separation anxiety this means desensitizing him to time left alone, and very slowly (gradually) building up the amount of time he can be left alone, as well as factoring in other things that may predict alone-time, such as triggers like picking up keys, closing garage doors, opening and closing gates, locking doors, etc. - whatever your individual dog finds distressing.

Summary:

How we complete these steps is very specific, so make sure to continue the next sections before attempting desensitization protocols.