Seperation Anxiety | Specialist Support
James is exceptional and has helped us enormously. Before he visited us less than 3 months ago we could not leave our rescue Greyhound Friday alone in the house because he would howl, race back and forth between the door and the window, and chew the blinds. With one home visit from James and a few follow-up calls, Friday is now fine to be left alone for hours at a time. He is happier in himself, and we are ecstatic about being able to go round to see our friends or go for dinner on our own without having to worry.
Before this, we had tried to find a solution for over a year. We had tried many different techniques for solving separation anxiety, including the Julie Naismith Be Right Back method, but none had worked. We felt Friday didn't have separation anxiety per se, but more like FOMO, yet we could not find anything that worked for more than five minutes.
James's visit changed all that. He has such a calm manner, and took the time to understand both Friday and us. He explained so clearly what the issue was, and it suddenly made a lot of sense. He then explained the path to solving it, and we saw immediately that this was likely to work. Once James had left, Friday's improvement was rapid. While we did have some small stumbles as we sought to understand how Friday responded, these were quickly sorted through the follow-up phone calls, where James was so generous with his time and advice. The peace of mind he has given us is priceless.
Ben, Evelyn & Friday
Separation Anxiety is not a small problem. It can be paralysing for the dogs, and make owners feel trapped in their own home. Many people believe they just have to live with it. You don’t.
The biggest misconception about separation anxiety is that it cannot be resolved and that it’s something you just have to manage through to the point of being bearable . The reality is that in the vast majority of cases are absolutely resolvable in a short space of time, as long as you are putting your energy into the right activities and understand the problem from your dogs point of view.
Don’t keep checking the countdown clock - switch it off.
Many programmes work on the basis of building your dog up one minute at a time. The problem is, that your dog is an alarm on a countdown waiting to go off. You can convince yourself that you are succeeding because the alarm hasn’t sounded yet - but sooner or later it will. And you’ll be left wondering what you did wrong.
When we work with separation anxiety cases, we teach dogs how to relax independently first - and get really good at it. Because if they can’t relax when you are at home, there’s no way they’ll be able to do it when you leave. Switch off the countdown clock and the rest, as they say, is history.
Understand what Separation Anxiety is - and what Separation Anxiety isn’t.
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Learn about how we diagnose Separation Anxiety, what exactly it is, why common advice and popular online training systems often don’t work - and how we approach separation issues differently to create long term resolutions in a much shorter period of time.
The three key pieces of the puzzle to solving separation issues.
Building up the time you leave your dog is wasted energy unless you have three essential pieces of the puzzle in place. We teach you how to get them right, so that adding time alone becomes easy.
Self Regulation
Teaching your dog how to make the decision to relax on their own - anytime, anywhere, regardless of who’s present. Building confidence, independence and the ability to self regulate is an essential piece of overcoming Separation Anxiety.
Independent Sleep Routine
When you leave, all you want your dog to do is rest. An independent sleep routine gives your dog the opportunity to practice this every night, with you still in the house. In your dogs mind, leaving to go to bed and leaving to go out the door should mean the same thing - sleep.
Setting boundaries
Helping your dog to understand when they can be close, when they can follow - and crucially when they can’t - is the final piece of the puzzle. Your personal space is precious, and its important to set the same boundaries with you dog that you do with people. It’s just polite.
The Human Element
There is no getting away from the fact that Separation Anxiety has a significant human element. It’s very common that when working with dogs with separation anxiety, we also need to work through issues that we as Human owners are going through.
Whether in the small ways in which our own worry or anxiety means we are behaving in ways that aren’t beneficial, or whether there are big reasons for attachment and separation related issues. Owners who have been through Loss of grief, are adjusting to big life changes, those who struggle with social Anxiety or depression, or have other reasons which may have created a codependency with their dog.
Being able to work through both sides of the coin is all part of the process, and we are very familiar with all the ways in which our dogs provide much needed healing and comfort. We also recognise the importance of being able to give that back to our dogs, so that they don’t carry unnecessary burdens. We’re used to work with everyone involved - human and dog - to get you all to the healthy place you need to be.
Shadow is a 4 year old rescue collie /lab cross . Right from the off I sensed something wasn’t right, and anxious as a new dog parent called in reinforcements to prevent developing challenging behaviour, aware that I was not going to give up on her. (As she had been rejected before by 2 families). She deserved so much more and in recruiting James , Shadow and I have quickly moved beyond those initial wobbles and anxieties (mostly mine). I was guilty of projecting my anxieties around her being a rescue onto her, and fundamentally misreading the situation and thus mishandling the solution, creating deeper issues and problems.
James’s professional , intuitive , pragmatic and clear guidance allowed me to fully appreciate, “see” and “hear” Shadow and in doing so allowed a quicker, more solid , less emotional and trusting relationship to blossom .His non- nonsense and gentle delivery supported and enhanced a purer and more joyful cultivation of my relationship with Shadow. He is dog-centric while being mindful of the “noise” that we as humans can bring and is clear in ensuring that the dog is not subjected to the smorgasbord of our daily thoughts and experiences, but rather forges and cultivates a “living in the now” experience with the dog. I have experienced this, and with his guidance Shadow and I are learning to trust, listen and are learning to enjoy wonderful experiences. I am now developing a relationship with Shadow , which my whole life I has looked for and hoped to have with a dog. This is in no small part to James.
He responded quickly, thoroughly and thoughtfully and I would highly and fully recommended his natural ability and skill to anyone having issues with their dog. There are very few genuine people that you meet such as James and should your dog (and you), need any support, you would be well placed to receive excellent and authentic support were you to ask for his guidance.
Dawn and Shadow
Your Journey with Us
When it comes to Separation Anxiety, the best place to work is usually at home. Our Home visits are longer than average - between two and three hours. This gives us plenty of time to really dive into what’s causing the problem, and work with you to focus your energy on the skills that will be most important.
Separation Anxiety Specialist Home Visit | £199.00
Members Price | £179
Services offered local to York and across North Yorkshire.
James (and The Dogs Way) work miracles! I rehomed my 11 month old Working Cocker Spaniel 2 months ago and it soon became apparent she really struggled with separation anxiety to the point which I couldn’t leave the room for a matter of seconds without her crying and clawing at the door. At a loss for how to resolve this I gave James a call and after the initial phone consultation I had all the confidence in the world if anyone was going to help Cally it would be James. We had a home visit the following week and I was amazed at how quickly Cally took to what James was teaching us. Fast forward to not even 2 weeks since the home visit and I’ve just been able to leave Cally for an hour and a half with absolutely no whimpering, crying, scratching! It genuinely feels like we have a different dog! I couldn’t recommend James and The Dogs Way enough!