Stop Dog Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety often gets misdiagnosed, when in fact the behaviors are symptoms of boredom or demand behaviors such as, "Get me out of the crate!" Actual separation anxiety has an element of panic that manifests in extreme, immediate reactions. Dogs with separation anxiety will often exhibit their destruction or barking seconds after their person leaves the house or room.
Did you know that if a dog can be alone for 30-45 minutes without incident, most likely he has either a minor case of separation anxiety or doesn't have separation anxiety at all?
I can help you diagnose and treat separation anxiety, barking, destruction or boredom. I can also help you increase the chances that your young puppy doesn't have separation anxiety when he gets older. There are a lot of preventative strategies that you can use to help prevent this frustrating and potentially harmful affliction.
Did you know that most people don't use the crate enough when their puppy is young and this mistake increases the chance of separation anxiety?
Challenging But Treatable
Separation anxiety is often considered the most challenging form of dog behavior problems. To properly treat this, you need to keep your dog under-threshold or slowly get him used to being alone. If you leave for a period of time that he cannot handle, there is a chance that he will regress back to the starting point of treatment. These constant regressions (you have to leave the house at some point, right?) can make it seem like you are taking one step forward and two steps backwards in progress. This is absolutely what is happening.
One important point to remember about separation anxiety is that dogs don't simply outgrow this and get used to be alone. If dogs are not slowly acclimated to being alone then each time they are pushed past their limit they can end up at step one. Frustrating but true.
Dog Separation Anxiety Kindle Book
If you are in my travel area I can provide private in-home training. If you are out of my travel area, or simply want to start immediately, you can purchase my Kindle EBook that I wrote: Stop Barking and Separation Anxiety. This is a Kindle book that you can download and start today.
Private Instruction or My Kindle Book
Whether I meet with your in person or you read my book, the exercises that I show you are not difficult, but they do require a lot of time. There aren't a lot of options to speed up the process, although anti-anxiety medication can sometimes help. I can provide my perspective if I think you should speak with your veterinarian about anti-anxiety medication options. The key is to lower anxiety so leaving does not initiate the panic response. I have helped thousands of clients with concerns about separation anxiety. I can help you head in the right direction so you are using your time most efficiently, and effectively using only humane, logical strategies.
What My Clients are Saying
"Jeff is a great trainer!! I first bought one of his ebooks on separation anxiety that was a great help in dealing with our new rescue puppy Nala. We were just at my parents house for Christmas Eve and there were 6 other dogs there too. We were complemented on how well behaved she is, and we have Jeff to thank for that. His training sessions all started with about a million questions from us which he patiently listened to and answered with lessons on how to work on the behavior in question. I can not say enough good things about Jeff. He has one of the best training programs in Chicago and I highly recommend his services to all dog owners. Thanks Jeff!"
