Understanding Separation Anxiety, SA-7

In the last blog, I talked about how the “I’ll be Back” training does and has helped so any dogs with separation anxiety. But, there is no one technique that does it all, including this one. Although I have a second technique in section five on the video, “Separation Anxiety, a Weekend Technique,” those are not the only ways I have solved separation anxiety in dogs. I am in the process of developing a course on solving separation anxiety for e-trainingfordogs.com that talks more in depth about how to deal with problem dogs that may need more help than the “I’ll be Back” technique, including mill dog rescues. 
    The more dogs a person works with when dealing with separation anxiety, the more tools they will need for solving this issues. Sometimes, before separation anxiety in a dog can be solved, we need to work though some of the relationship issues between owner and dog that can contribute to creating separation anxiety issues. I recently met a woman whose dog had separation anxiety issues at a pet expo. The woman was very interested in using my video, but before she walked away with it in her hands, I gave here some additional coaching. I told her that before she could solve her separation anxiety issues, she had two other things to do first. One was to change her behavior towards the dog before she left and when she came home. I told her that was covered in the first section of my video. The second was that she had to resolve the “shadow dog” pattern in her dog. I told her if the dog is unwilling to let her out of his sight when she is at home, then that dog is set up for separation anxiety the moment the owner leaves the house. How to resolve shadow dog issues is covered in the third section of my video. I instructed the dog owner to work on sections one and three before she did the “I’ll be Back” technique in the second section of the video. By changing the dog and owner relationship to a more healthy relationship where the dog could become more secure, the issue with separation anxiety would easily resolve by using the “I’ll be Back” technique. Without that change in relationship, then the dog would get a mixed message about feeling secure when left alone. That mixed signal could lead to mixed success.
    There are a total of five section of information on my DVD. For people who are having issues with the dog getting anxious even before they leave, Section 4 gives the traditional way of desensitizing the leaving protocol. But, it also gives a second way to help diffuse the anxiousness that some dogs can experience when you pick up a jacket or keys or other items they associate with your departure. That second way is by far my favorite because for some of the more tenacious dogs,  it works well.

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Peggy Swager is a behaviorist and dog trainer. She has authored several books and many dog training articles. Two of her articles won awards. More information is available on Separation Anxiety and her other works at her website www.peggyswager.com.

Please note: I will be taking the month of September off from this blog.