We specialize in separation anxiety training for dogs. All training is done remotely.
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Got to hang out with little Clover this weekend! She lives next door to my cousin. When we were outside chatting she heard us and ran over from her yard to visit! When her dad tried to call her back cause they were going out we asked if we could keep her. I did some training with her and we quickly became best friends. She is such a sweetie! Look at that little lip curl 🥹
Time for a reminder! You did not cause your dogs separation anxiety. Loving your dog, "spoiling" them, meeting their needs, does not cause separation anxiety.
If your dog had been put into a different home with different dynamics they very likely would have presented with separation anxiety anyhow.
We don't know exactly what causes separation anxiety but we do know it is not the owners fault. We suspect it comes genetics, and I strongly believe that, the same way mental health concerns in humans often do.
Love your dog, meet their needs, do what feels right for you and your dog. You cannot cause separation anxiety in your dog, it just doesn't work like that.
Moose wants you to know it’s ok to take a day off of training. In fact it is encouraged to take days off! Training every single day is a lot of pressure for the human and dog!! If you are feeling burnt out or like your dog is white knuckling their training, it’s ok to take a day or even a few days. 💞
Wow. I cannot believe it has been 5 years since I started Positive Paws.
I had just graduated the Karen Pryor Academy when I started up. I had started with dog walking and puppy cases. I was lucky to receive so much insight and support about the industry from fellow colleagues. I started working with reactivity cases as I learnt. Then eventually, started teaching group classes with the wonderful
But at year two I found what I truly love working with and that is of course, is separation anxiety. I did the CSAT course with the wonderful Malena DeMartini and now continue to focus on sep anx cases.
I admire the vulnerability, commitment and love these clients bring to the table. Each dog is so different and teaches me something new.
If we have or currently work together, if you have referred someone to me, my fellow dog trainers I have the honour to connect with.. thank you.
My heart is so full and I am forever grateful for all the support you have shown me over the years. Heres to more wonderful years to come
Love, Holly 💗
Big love to Grey and his humans. We started working together shortly after they adopted him. He was struggling with alone time and when his key human would leave, even if someone else was home.
Progress isn’t linear so sometimes be has a reaction here and there but they are reducing significantly. It’s a good sign when we see the intensity and frequency of anxiety reducing. It’s not instant! Ups and downs are expected and normal.
Grey has done 18 minutes alone successfully and often choses to go rest on the couch when his people leave 😇🩷
I love a small dog. I have such empathy for them and their big feelings.
So often people state, they hate Chihuahuas, in turn they are overlooked and mocked. But how scary must the world be when you are so small?!
If we can take a second and have some empathy and a lot of patience for these tiny beings, in our very big world you might just make yourself a life long friend.
Here are some photos of my Chihuahua friends!
A very sweet new review from one of our clients. I just adore the people I get the opportunity to work with. This is a long journey, its emotional and challenging. But the commitment and trust clients put into the process is how they are able to see these wins. 💗
I’ve been a little quiet on social the last week as most of my marketing time has gone to building our new website. I am sooooooooo pleased with how it turned out. Everyone can now find is easier on google and the elevated look is just chefs kiss!!! Take a peek at positivepaws.ca 💗🤩
Just sharing the face of a VERY happy man with peanut butter on his chin after a nail trim
It takes a village to get this mans claws clipped. I’m so grateful for the wonderful staff at Fraserview for always helping us make it happen as seamlessly as possible 💞
We're updating our website and so excited about it but it needs to be down for a few days in order to complete this. Our emails may bounce back due to this as well. Contact us on socials in the meantime. Can't wait to share the new website! 💗
Although its national hug your dog day, it’s not REQUIRED to participate. What’s most important is understanding your dog’s body language and using that information to respect their boundaries.
Our favorite dog body language resource is Lili Chins Doggie Language book 🥰
Will you be hugging your dog today? or taking the time to learn about your dogs body language?
Let us know in the comments!
Larry is not a fan of people doing work in his home. Although I can work with him and manage keeping him inside around contractors, this just works better for both of us.
I don’t have to train my dog and talk to people at the same time. Larry doesn’t have to work his darnedest not to protect his house.
So when people come for short visits to the house to do some work, Larry naps in the car. Of course this is when weather permits. My car is also parked in a very quiet parkade not on the street where he would be overstimulated by passersby.
When I come back to get him he’s napping. We go for a walk and come back home to peace and quiet. No one had to get stressed out 😇
Heres an example in my last post of how I could train train train this behaviour. But guess what, Larrys 14 and he’s would just rather nap in his car. Old man gets whats best for him. 🩷
Let's talk expectations.
If you have a dog it is up to you to decide what you are and aren't ok with your dog doing. So long as they are safe and everyone else is safe, you can chose.
If you have a 150lb dog who jumps on everyone, that might be problematic. BUT if you have a 10lb chihuahua who likes to hop up to greet, you might be ok with that.
If you have a dog that sits and watches you eat your meals, you might not mind. But it may drive someone else crazy when their dog begs, so they want to focus on changing that behaviour.
If you have a dog with separation anxiety but you are happy to just manage never leaving them alone, go for it! Not every problem needs to be "fixed", if we are able to manage it long term.
Dogs don't have to be perfect, and they never will be perfect, just like us humans. If your dog does silly undesirable things, that aren't hurting anyone, so be it.
If you want to work on changing those undesirable behaviours, amazing! If you're ok with letting go of certain things, also amazing!
What is something that may not be considered a "good thing" that you allow your dog to do?
I'll go first. Larry begs like crazy but I personally think it's ADORABLE. Once in a while he will growl at me for attention while I'm eating and do a little dance. While I don't reinforce it, I also don't reprimand him because it gets such a laugh out of me.
This is Grey 🥰 I’ve been working with him and his humans for 8 weeks now! They contacted me just 2 weeks after adopting him from a rescue agency. He was very weak and experiencing pain, generally anxious and has separation anxiety.
Watching Grey grow over the last 2 months has been such a joy. His humans are so committed to making sure he is comfortable and setting him up to be his best self.
After some medication adjustments and time settling in Grey reached 10 minutes alone last night. He additionally is no longer whining and barking when his main human leaves and he’s with spare human. 😉
Follow along for more updates on Greys sep anx journey 🥹
Joy chillin during his mission 🥹 Joy was having a bit of a regression recently and we had to do some problem solving to get him back on track. Luckily, his human is a veterinarian so medication adjustments are easy peasy! I feel so spoiled to work with her and joy 💗 Stay posted for more Joy updates!!
Its never too late to work on your dogs alone time. If you got a covid puppy and never left them alone, adopted an adult dog with sep anx or have a puppy who needs introducing to alone time.
I have clients from all sorts of situations and it’s never too late to begin! That old saying you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is far from the truth!
If you have a dog struggling with alone time we’re here to help. Sign up for an initial call in bio 🩷
Big love for my senior man. Having a senior dog is a lot of work and stresssssfulll. We did a blood panel a few weeks ago to see where he was at and if he was ok do have a dental. Naturally, I assumed the worse and assumed everything would be doing down hill.
Mans is in PERFECT health. Somehow his heart medication is not only slowing down his heart disease from progressing but actually making it better 😂 something about chihuahuas, they are RESILIENT. Heres to the man who’s gonna live forever 🫡🩷🥰
The face of a guy who has stayed home for 2 hours alone comfortably 🥹🥰
New review from miss Millie’s wonderful humans. We know her, we love her. Forever striving for a slay in missions 💞
Weekend win from our best girl Pickle. 🥹🩷
I cannot handle the cuteness that is Scooter looking out his peep hole. Sometimes dogs with separation anxiety do better without a view of the exit area, others do better with a view. We’ve played around with both for Scooter. It doesn’t seem to make a big difference for him either way so introducing Scooters peep hole 🤭😇
I know we all want a quick fix, it would be much easier that way. But our dogs are so smart, even smarter than we think.
Leaving something that smells like you, in a house of things that already smell like you, won't convince your dog they are safe when home alone.
Sneaking out when your dog is sleeping or not looking will only break your dogs trust. Likely causing more confusion and distress when they realize they've been left with no warning.
While giving your dog a tasty treat might keep them occupied for some duration, once they realize they are alone they will begin to panic.
Distraction doesn't solve the root problem, if your dog truly believes alone time is unsafe and petrifying. We need to spend the time helping them understand alone time is safe, it always will be safe, and we will never leave them for longer than they can handle.
Easier said than done, I know. We all want the quick fix or a bandaid method. But true behaviour change takes time, patience and a whole lot of compassion.
Celebrating all the wins! Scooter gaining some confidence hanging out in another room than his human. Alone time desensitization can help with overall attachment confidence. I love seeing these kinds of wins as we progress through training 🥹💞🤩
I had a cute little visitor this morning! My clients sitter slept in and they knew I lived close to called me. I took mr Peanut in to make sure he wasn’t left alone and she could get to work. Larry and him did so well together because Peanut is truly an angel of a dog. I was kind of disappointed when the sitter called to get him 😂 it takes a village!!
I started with miss Millie here 8 weeks ago. They were working on sep anx training with another trainer. While they got up to 20 minutes a few times they hit a wall and were referred to me. (side note biggest props ever to trainers who can say this isn’t working and refer out. Not letting ego take over, we love to see it)
When Millie came to me and and we were at a 3 minute threshold. We went back to basics and broke everything down for her again. We built her back up to 20 minutes and her humans felt confident to keep training on their own.
A few days later, Millie entered struggle town and suddenly was back down to a few minutes before whining. Her mom texted me and we broke it down.
Bring her back to where she’s comfortable and work from there. A week of easy wins and she’s back up to 10 minutes. We want to be gentle on Millie so we are taking it back up slowly.
Regressions are a pain. They are disappointing and frustrating. Take a step back, meet your dog where they’re at. Most importantly, once I’ve been on your team, I’m always on your team. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and cheer you on during this process is essential 🩷
If you don't know me personally, I do a lot of Pilates. In class a few weeks ago one of the trainers said "if you don't plank on the toes you won't get better at planking on the toes." I rolled my eyes and sighed because she's right and from my knees onto my toes I went. I keep thinking about it during all my workouts the past few weeks.
Then I made a connection to our separation anxiety clients. This is the same thing. If we don't practice the thing, it won't improve.
As much as it's hard to work at our dogs pace and to practice these short durations that seem useless to us, it's how we will eventually get to longer durations.
In turn me planking on my toes for 5 seconds will eventually get me to a minute and so on.
Suspending absences?... hard.
Committing to completing missions?... hard.
Meeting our dog where they are at?... hard.
and so much more...
Having a dog is simply a hard thing, let alone one with behaviour concerns. But we can do the hard thing one step at a time and one day it will stop being a hard thing. 💞
We can do hard things is a quote from Glennon Doyles book Untamed. One of my favs. If you haven't read it I can't recommend it enough!
After weeeeeeks of being stuck at 20 minutes Hugo has been reaching for the starts! In our assessment last week he comfortably spend 45 minutes home alone.
When we started training Hugo had a 5 second threshold, where he would quickly start vocalizing and pacing. With some serious commitment from his humans and some support from the vet more recently, they are now able to grab a coffee and run some errands during our training.
I cannot wait to see Hugo continue to thrive. So pleased with this team! 🫶🏻🌟
There are no quick fixes when we are aiming for behaviour change. These things take time, patience, adjustments and consistency.
For anything from loose leash walking to separation anxiety training. Behaviour change takes time and unfortunately we don't know how long it will take.
We as dog trainers provide your dog with the best individualized training program for success. The same way your therapist does for you. But neither your therapist or your dog trainer can say how long it will take to reach your goal.
I truly wish I had a magic ball to see into the future and give you a timeline. But any timeline given would truly be a guess and not helpful or accurate. Each dog is an individual and will progress at their own pace.
Hang in there, stay consistent and meet your dog where they are at. 💞
Joy during his missions lately 🥹 we are on week 3 and he is killing it. During our initial assessment just earlier this month he came running to the door whining right away. Last night he snoozed for 5 minutes alone. Can’t wait to see how he continues to progress 💞
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Puppy classes are back! We will be releasing more information in the coming weeks. For the meantime you can join the waitlist on our website to be the first to know about new class registration details! Can't wait to see you and all your puppies 🥹💗 #vancouverdog #vancouverpuppy #puppiesofvancouver #puppyclass #vancitydogs #vancouverdogs #puppylove #puppysocialization #vancouverdogs #dogsofvancouver #mountpleasant
You are doing great for your dog, but don’t forget to take care of yourself too. We love our pets unconditionally and it’s easy to put ourselves on the back burner. Constantly prioritizing and juggling our pets health, behaviour, training, ect, it can be hard to find time for us. If you have a dog with separation anxiety, utilize your village. Take your dog to daycare so you can do a spin class. Call your friend and ask them to take your dog for an hour so you can get groceries (and maybe a little treat 🍩). If we aren’t taking care of ourselves we can’t take care of them. What can you do for YOU today? #dogbehaviour#dogbehavior#dogmom#selfcare#separationanxiety#separationanxietydog#dog#DogTraining
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