Initial Assessment

The initial assessment is for determining your dog’s triggers and threshold (under what conditions and for how long can your dog be relaxed before his anxiety arrives). This will be the baseline for creating the training plan with individual steps to desensitize him to.

If you already have video of your dog when alone, you may be able to use that for your initial assessment. The benefit of this is you would not have to risk putting your dog through additional stress for the assessment, although if done correctly you won’t be pushing your dog way above his fear-threshold anyway, and this will be the last time your dog is left alone at a potentially above-threshold level until the training has worked.

Set up your computer with a webcam aimed at the area your dog most likely will be (by the doors), so that you can observe your dog’s behavior. You can create a Zoom link you can open on your computer, and then also bring a second device (iPad, phone, etc.) so you can use the same Zoom link to watch your dog once you leave the house; or you can use other technology you may already have established.

https://zoom.us

For the initial assessment, you will go through your normal leaving routine, and then start a timer once you leave and close the door. Start taking notes of your dog’s behavior and the time it occurred. It works best to use a separate timer than the one on your phone, since you can use your phone to observe your dog’s behavior on Zoom.

If possible, record your initial assessment. You can also record additional sessions (ideally 1 of the 5 sessions per week for a reassessment). This will provide you with the opportunity to watch multiple times and potentially pick up subtle anxiety indicators you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It also can be valuable as a means to noticing your training progress when comparing to future sessions - which can be extremely motivating!

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Once you observe body language that indicates your dog is starting to experience anxiety, the assessment will end. We don’t need to expand the time your dog is stressed, or see the worst anxious behavior. You will return inside, stop the timer. You can greet your dog, but do so in a calm manner.

This is the initial alone time that will be used to create the desensitization plan for your dog - in other words, if he started to experience anxiety 3 seconds after you left, the plan will account for that and initially work below that threshold to prevent anxiety from arising, and allowing for the desensitization process to work.

If you are not observing any anxious behaviors at first, the assessment should only last 15-30 minutes. Don’t continue for hours. If you’re not sure whether your dog is exhibiting behaviors related to fear or anxiety, you can send us video to observe and/or schedule a training session for additional help.

Examples of Common Behaviors to Rule Out:

1. Barking due to boredom rather than anxiety.

2. Accidents due to lack of house training or a medical issue (urinary track infection, for example) rather than from anxiety.

3. Chewing furniture for a fun activity due to boredom from being alone vs. destruction of home due to anxiety.