Client Chronicles: Lady's Story - A Tale of Canine Separation Anxiety Disorder, Part 2

Lady's Story

A Tale of Canine Separation Anxiety Disorder

Part 2

5 Things Lady's Owners Learned About Separation Anxiety Training

One of the most common issues I treat is Separation Anxiety Disorder. What does Zen Dog Training do that’s different from other trainers? To help explain, I invited one family to share their story. 

"We've been working with Alexis for a few months now. Here are a handful of the the things we've learned: 

Crate training isn't always best. A dog may not destroy an apartment if they're locked away, but anxiety in a crate is simply anxiety redirected if training doesn't go along with the crate. A dog could develop other bad habits, including causing harm to themselves trying to get out of the crate. 

Bark collars don't help either. At least not when it comes to separation anxiety. You're still gone, and the dog is still panicked about being alone. Maybe instead of barking, she starts shredding a couch. The bark collar doesn't address the deeper issues. 

A calm space -- that's the key. A dog appropriately crate-trained should see the crate as a safe space for himself. Why not create that safe mindset around a dog's bed, with the comforting walls of a baby gate? Done right, the dog can be trained to see the bed and gate combo as a fun game -- that they play, calmly, while you leave. 

(Bonus: For a big dog it's often easier to find space for a bed + gate combo in an apartment than the right size crate). 

Body language matters. I had no idea that dogs read so much of our body language. When training Lady, Alexis instructed my husband to put her treats on the floor, and not feed her from his hand. This way Lady doesn't look to his hand for cues, but rather focuses on what she is meant to do to earn the morsels -- in this case, walk to her bed and lie down. 

Timelines vary widely. I admit I'm frustrated with this dog. A lot. I would like this anxiety problem fixed yesterday. But I would be even more frustrated if a trainer had promised us a quick fix that proved unrealistic. Every dog has a different biology and a different history, and therefore it makes sense that each dog requires a different time frame for success. I certainly appreciate this realistic approach. I'd rather go through the correct steps designed to give Lady the best chance of success than throw away time and money on promises of quick fixes that don't work or make the problem worse. Thanks to Alexis, I understand why Lady does the things she does, and why it's important for the dog's development and behavior. Finally, I feel like we're on the right track."

Stay tuned for more posts from Lady's owners sharing their story as they work with Zen Dog Training on Lady's severe separation anxiety.

Client Chronicles: Lady's Story - A Tale of Canine Separation Anxiety Disorder, Part 1

Lady's Story

A Tale of Canine Separation Anxiety Disorder

Part 1

One of the most common issues I treat is Separation Anxiety Disorder. What does Zen Dog Training do that’s different from other trainers? To help explain, I invited one family to share their story. 

"This is Lady. 

Lady came to Brooklyn from suburban Michigan. She had never walked on a leash -- at least not regularly -- before moving east. Her previous owners had her on some drugs for anxiety, but they reported turning her over to a Weimaraner rescue group due to a family health problem. Lady lived with an experienced foster family for six weeks before she was adopted out, and seemed fine.

But she hadn't really been left alone at the foster family's house. 

Michael, her new owner, drove 16 hours one way to Michigan to fetch Lady, who would be the 15th Weimaraner in his family (his father has two). 

Left alone in a Park Slope walkup, Lady would howl. She managed to open the front door and run down three flights of stairs to the landlord's basement in her panic. She cried and carved a two-inch chunk of wood out of the front door another time, so desperate was she to escape and find her people. You could hear her cries through closed windows on the third floor all the way down on the street. 

Maybe Lady cried and howled at her first home too, but maybe it didn't matter, because maybe the neighbors couldn't hear (or didn't care). Urban environments have benefits -- socialization, access to dog walkers and other services, and proximity to areas like Prospect Park. Many city dogs get more exercise then suburban ones. But shared apartment walls and cramped quarters can sometimes exacerbate problems that weren't an issue in the suburbs -- you just can't predict. 

From their previous dog, Lady's new family had a relationship with dog walkers  Rachel and Francesca at Brooklyn DogTime. Rachel quickly referred Lady to Alexis at Zen Dog Training. 

Rachel experienced Lady's panic first-hand. When they first met, Lady barked frantically and howled at the stranger for several minutes, much longer than expected. Her eyes dilated and stayed that way for the better part of a half hour, despite Rachel's best attempts to calm her. 

While Rachel knows her dogs, she also knows that separation anxiety like Lady's often needs a specialist to truly fix. This isn't just learning to sit, heel and not eat a child's toys. Anxiety training is about helping the dog reach a calm state of mind -- a much harder task."


Stay tuned for more posts from Lady's owners sharing their story as they work with Zen Dog Training on Lady's severe separation anxiety.

ZDT Makes Park Slope News: Zen Dog Training Service Uses Compassion to Make Canines Cooperate

Another great piece on Zen Dog Training in the news today!

Zen Dog Training Service Uses Compassion to Make Canines Cooperate | DNAinfo.com

Interview: Alexis Toriello Of Zen Dog Talks Training, Communication & The Best Pizza In Town

I was interviewed and featured on Park Slope Stoop today, check it out!

Alexis Toriello Of Zen Dog Talks Training, Communication & The Best Pizza In Town

Pet Parents or Pet Owners?

There's been a general push by the pet industry to market the idea of "pet parenting."  This includes encouraging pets to sleep in our beds, eat gourmet food, and engage in other such practices that are usually only reserved for the human members of our families.  Also, it means putting the same amount and type of resources into pet care as we do for child care.  

The foundation for this concept has clearly existed for quite some time.  Pet owners do owe their pets proper love and care for the duration of their lives - that is the pact we make when we take ownership of them.  That means that throughout financial hardships, life changes and other bumps in the road, we still have to provide for our pets.  For this reason, the pet industry has long been considered "recession-proof."  But companies like Petco and PetSmart are taking this to a new level.  They want to grow and solidify their business, so they're upping the ante for human investment in their furry counterparts.

But what does the concept of "pet parenting" mean, really?  This article in Slate talks about the implications.  I think there's certainly some merit to the author's argument that pet owning and parenting a child should be separate ideas.  But, I see pet parenting as a separate thing from parenting already.  Dogs have different needs than children, obviously.  Pets play a different role in our lives than our kids do, for sure.  But does that mean that we still don't parent our pets, in a way?  We still have to equip them to live in the world comfortably and efficiently.  We have to provide for their emotional, physical and nutritional needs.  Owning a plant is different - we have no obligation to the emotional lives of our plants, but we do need to provide it with nutrition and physical safety.  So those two things might be the defining factors of "parenting" -- providing for emotional well-being and instruction on how to exist in the world, both of which we do for our dogs and cats as well as for our kids.