The Believe in Your Dog Podcast

If you’ve spent a lot of time in the separation anxiety training space, you’ve probably heard the term “suspending absences.” You essentially stop leaving your dog home alone for longer than they can comfortably handle. In this episode of the Believe in Your Dog Podcast, I’m taking a deep dive with my colleague Jane Wolff of Good Wolff on the subject. And like most things related to separation anxiety, it’s nuanced. It requires you to get curious about your individual dog and th...

To be prepared is half the victory. -Miguel de Cervantes The purpose of this podcast is to empower you to take the reins on your own separation anxiety training journey. Resolving separation anxiety is a lofty goal–one that is complex and messy even under the guidance of a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer. With that in mind, I want to be sure you are prepared as you DIY this endeavor. When obstacles inevitably confront you along your journey, I want you to remember that they are 1) norm...

What does enrichment have to do with separation anxiety training? If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably heard me say that work-to-eat toys aren’t a cure-all for separation anxiety. So why devote a podcast to the topic of enrichment? Enrichment is about more than work-to-eat toys, and separation anxiety training is about more than suspending absences and going at your dog’s pace. Enrichment is about meeting your dog’s species-specific needs, and separation anxiety training needs to be...

“It depends.” That’s often the last thing that frustrated dog guardians want to hear in their search for answers. And as much as we want to give them the black-and-white responses they’re after, we often can’t. Because it really does depend. In this podcast episode, special guest Ally Verba of Training with Ally and I discuss how to account for the individual dog’s environment, learning history, experiences, health and so much more. In this episode of the Believe in Your Dog...

Don’t we need to see the behavior to know how to change it? Before I decided to specialize exclusively in separation anxiety, I fielded this question a lot. Many of my clients with aggressive dogs in particular strongly believed that I needed to see Fido snapping at visitors to successfully change the behavior. The case can certainly be made (as I did many times) that it isn’t necessary (or ethical) to put dogs and people in danger and risk a bite solely for the purpose of observation. Especi...

what’s in a label? I’ve never been a big fan of labels. I have blogged about why they can be problematic. But I also recognize that they can be innocuous, and in some cases, helpful. When it comes to separation anxiety training, getting clear on the terminology is important. It’s important because a clear understanding of what specific triggers are at play is imperative in planning and executing a successful training protocol. And labels like separation anxiety, isolat...

Are you on a journey to decode separation anxiety? In this first episode of the Believe in Your Dog Podcast, I introduce myself and share what you can expect from the podcast. You’ll learn about how I got started in dogs and what led me to working solely with separation anxiety. And you’ll hear me touch on how the approach I use to resolve my client dogs’ home alone distress has informed my own mental health journey. I also get clear on what I hope to achieve with this podcast: Ev...