In my last blog, I talked about the quiet signals dogs sometimes show during alone time—the subtle shifts in body language that can tell us a lot about how a dog is feeling.
But noticing those signals is only the first step.
The next step is learning to listen to them.
When people think about separation anxiety, they often picture something dramatic. The sounds of nonstop barking. The image of destroyed doorframes. The stress of neighbor complaints. And yes—those can absolutely be part of the picture. It can look big. It can look loud.
But sometimes, it doesn’t.
The Quiet Signals: Understanding Subtle Signs of Separation Anxiety Read More »
In my last blog post, I wrote about the moment I decide to end an alone-time reassessment—the quiet pause, and the responsibility of pressing Send. What I didn’t fully explore is how that decision is made, or why ending at the right moment matters.
This work isn’t about stopping quickly, and it isn’t about pushing bravely forward. It’s about stopping well.
Ending at the Right Moment: Why Timing Matters More Than Minutes Read More »
When I think of “press the button,” I think of dramatic, irreversible choices. But the button I’m thinking about today is seemingly small: the send button on a text message—written in advance, hovering on my screen—while I watch a dog on Zoom who is home alone.
There’s a moment in almost every alone-time reassessment when my heart goes still and I have to decide: do we keep going, or do we stop? My text is already written. I can end the alone time session at any moment by pressing Send. And the outcome of that decision affects everyone involved.
Hovering Over “Send”: The Quiet Decisions Behind Separation Anxiety Training Read More »
I spend a lot of time normalizing the big feelings dogs experience when they struggle with being alone.
Today, I want to talk about a different set of big feelings, the ones carried by the people who love those dogs.
If you’re at the beginning of your separation anxiety journey, you might find yourself caught in a quiet tug-of-war. Part of you wants to feel hopeful. Another part feels afraid to let that hope take hold. You may be thinking, I want to believe this can help… but I’m scared to be disappointed.
When Hope Feels Fragile: Beginning the Separation Anxiety Journey Read More »
Over the last year and a half, I’ve spoken with countless guardians of dogs with separation anxiety looking for support. In our initial conversation, we talk about what separation anxiety is, what it’s like to work a training protocol, and, yes, why managing the dog’s alone time is a requirement for successful training. Like with
Problem-Solving the Puzzle of Alone Time Management Read More »
So why do I say this is a gift of comfort and peace? Peace plays a pivotal role in fostering the feeling of safety, creating a harmonious environment that allows individual beings to thrive emotionally and physically.
Pawsitively Secure: Unwrapping the Gift of Comfort and Peace Read More »
I don’t particularly like puzzles nor am I good at them. Give me a jigsaw puzzle or Rubik’s cube and watch me quickly succumb to confusion and frustration. This pattern held true for me until…working with troubled dogs and complex behavior problems. For me, problem behaviors in dogs were puzzles that held reason over randomness
One of my top goals is to spread hope about positive outcomes for dogs with separation anxiety. After working with many cases personally for many years and recently having witnessed the trainers I’ve trained be successful with their cases as well, I know that separation anxiety can be successfully resolved. Spreading this message of
A Hard Truth: Separation Anxiety Can Exact a Heavy Toll on Guardians Read More »
Many sessions into our separation anxiety training to help Emma the Beagle cope with being alone, I felt like a prisoner. Driving away — really driving away, not driving somewhere to park and watch the video on my iPhone — was only possible if my husband or a pet sitter stayed with Ems. One
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