Bringing a new dog into your life is an exciting, heartwarming, and often romanticized event. We scroll through adoption photos, imagine cozy evenings, and picture instant, seamless companionship. The reality, however, is that this transition is less - perfect movie montage and more - complex negotiation between sentient beings with different needs, desires and personalities.

Later in the day, you hear that familiar whine or grumble, or if your dog’s a bit more obvious, a food bowl might drop at your feet right around - yep - 5 p.m! But as far as we know, dogs still can’t read analog or digital clocks. So what gives? Can your dog really know that dinner comes at 5:15 every day?

So how do these smart, funny, deeply attuned creatures seem to know what time it is—or at least how time passes?

Leaving your dog home alone can be a major source of stress for many pet parents, especially if your dog shows signs of separation anxiety. As a professional dog trainer specializing in separation anxiety, I know that each dog’s needs and comfort levels are unique, and understanding these is crucial for their well-being.

Addressing chronic stress through appropriate interventions is crucial for improving these dogs' quality of life.

Separation anxiety in dogs is a panic disorder. If you’ve ever had a panic attack, you know how overwhelming it is—your chest tightens, your heart races, you shake, feel dizzy, and everything feels like it’s spinning.

When we force anxious and fearful dogs into confined spaces isolating them without means of escape, we may believe we are protecting our dogs from harm.

Separation Anxiety (or separation related behavior challenges) is expected to affect more than 35 million dogs in the US alone. These behaviors and the emotions that come with can be very challenging to modify. However, there are a number of things you can do to help your dog recovery, and one of the most important is to suspend absences during training.

Sniffing is a natural behavior for dogs. It's how they explore their environment, learn about other animals, and even find food. But did you know that sniffing is also good for their health?

Myth 1: Dogs with separation anxiety have been spoiled.

This is not true. Dogs of all breeds and backgrounds can develop separation anxiety. It is not caused by “spoiling” a dog, but rather by a combination of factors, such as genetics, early experiences, and environmental stressors.

There is a joke among the dog training community that if you put 3 dog trainers into a room the only thing 2 will agree on is that the third one is wrong. The debate about crates is no different.

An example of this in separation anxiety training could be suddenly continuously following to the door for a dog who was previously very comfortable with departures, or pacing, whining, barking at 10 minutes alone when the dog previously was able to tolerate much longer durations of comfort.

It’s 2022 and while the stigma associated with mental illness in humans has - thankfully - dissipated over the last decade or so there is still a stigma associated with the use of psychiatric medications that are widely available to help those in need with mental illnesses.

Having a dog with separation anxiety can be daunting. Especially if you’ve tried all of the tips and tricks on the internet without avail, but you’re here now so you’ve probably heard about gradual desensitization and may be about ready to give it a go, congratulations!

It’s cold, wet, windy and days are shorter. This usually means our dogs are getting shorter walks, and less physical and mental exercise overall. As a professional dog trainer I know this can lead to a slew of icky consequences….

I have to believe that our dogs are in somewhat of a state of shock as we try to toss them into the deep end and act as if they should have no feelings about it. It’s been a year of drastic change for them too and our dogs lead rich emotional lives. Let’s give them a bit of grace.