Canine Separation Anxiety Assistance

17/08/2024

Wow. Published 8 years ago. Time flies.

In this practical, readable and entertaining book, Caroline Spencer and Lesley Harris bring a new slant to a well-explored subject and propose significant shifts in an owner's understanding of why their puppy behaves as he does and what makes him tick. Like children, dogs are born without behavioura...

16/08/2024

Every behaviour a dog presents with has a function. Understand the reason, work with their natural instincts to help them feel safe & listened to

02/08/2024

No better place for early walk 🥰

10/06/2024

Many times we train dogs to prevent problems and by doing so actually create them

04/06/2024

Do you need help with your dogs separation anxiety ? Message me for details and a no obligation chat.


My blog Link in comments for you

04/06/2024

The peaceful mind of a street dog. Have you ever wondered why street dogs in Rhodes etc are so well behaved? Why do street living people have such well behaved dogs? BECAUSE no pressure is put on them to be anything but themselves. They are free to move away from that which worries them, they are free to investigate that which interests them. No stranger approaches to have a conversation, no dog is put in a vulnerable position. No intense training, they simply follow, feel safe and understood and can lead a relaxed dog's life, laying, sleeping, pottering and scavenging.

14/03/2024

Can dogs lie with a growl? Can and do they change, the pitch, the complexity and length of a growl to lie about their size when unseen? Research led by Péter Pongrácz at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary has some answers for us
Fascinating new research into the growl of a dog published 1st March 2024 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-024-03452-9

28/02/2024

When you remove the uncertainty you remove the fear. Distance is your dogs friend, it gives them time & space to process in safety. How does your dog show uncertainty?

20/02/2024

The importance of Mindfulness & our Emotions When Getting Connected With Your Dog.

Dogs mirror our emotions. When you are positive and confident your dog will be too.
Many times we mirror theirs and react as opposed to be proactive.
Live your lives together by doing things you enjoy together, in environments you feel confident and relaxed. A place your dog can connect and feed off that.
Location, environment, your thoughts, feelings, emotions and reactions are most important when building trusting relationships.
|So, Be in the location where you both feel safe. This will most likely be be at home initially. Then low stimulus areas increasing to busier places as you both progress. Be in the moment with your dog and enjoy watching your bond grow strong.
Be mindful of what your dog is communicating and be proactive when you need to be as opposed to reactive. You'll get there with patience and when you go not only at your capabilities but thst of your dogs.

18/02/2024

People ask when getting a puppy. What do I need? Educate yourselves in canine ways as your puppy needs your understanding above all else.

13/02/2024

The greatest gift we offer any living being is
Patience & Understanding.

10/02/2024

Reading so much recently about the new way to puppy parent, the new way to connect with dogs. It’s been around for millennium. It’s been written about for decades by a few and brushed aside until now. So many in very recent years now write and talk about trust, empathy, understanding, safety like it’s brand new.
Re write others writings like they are the ground breakers and Blatantly plagiarise, give no recognition for the source.

Were laughed at for talking about the benifits of herbs and music and massage for dogs 20 years ago and raw food was a well known swear word then too. Talked about things people were not ready to hear.

When Lesley Harris and I wrote “Parenting Your New Puppy” back in 2016 the publishers were concerned about the title. They asked if we could fight out corner relating bringing up children to bringing up dogs. Hell yes.
It’s now a common theme. Puppy Parenting and dog parenting. And apparently very new and ground breaking.

Nether Lesley or myself are psychologists, or technical IT wizards, no huge string of letters following our name’s, I’m unbelievably useless at reading let alone remembering any scientific data etc but what we are both good at is understanding dogs and children, because we’ve been parents and carers to both.

Followed, listened to and read publications of Turid Rugaas, Temple Grandin, Alexandra Horowitz, Marc Bekoff, Gregory Burns.

And most of all the dogs we’ve had, the ones we’ve worked with who continue to teach us more than any human could dare to dream.

My world is giving help 1-2-1 now. That’s where I get my kicks my happy feeling inside. My passion is working with dogs with Separation Anxiety issues, and did you know that the dogs parent is also suffering the same issues? Working with both is key. Many make it sound so difficult to solve, many do not understand what is and what is not separation anxiety.

What we need in the world of people and people, people and animals is bucket loads of patience, empathy and an open mind.

30/01/2024

Education over training every time. If they are not coping then there is a piece missing in their education in how to negotiate our human world.

26/01/2024

🐶🐶🐶Muzzles 🐶🐶🐶
Struggling to find a muzzle that gives the dog freedom to eat, pant and drink? That are Soft, comfortable and colourful
Take a look here, for advice
And a huge array of sizes for every breed.

The muzzle movement have bright, colourful muzzles

22/01/2024

When ignoring your dog works

When your dog is doing a behaviour to gain your attention. Such as when your dog is whining / barking or / and jumping at you.

So, How do you ignore ?
1. turn your self side on and avert your eye contact.
2. Walk away whether you’re inside or outside
3. Pick up the trailing line on your dog and move them gently to a walk left to right. No eye contact or speech.
4. Walk out of the room

When your dog is quiet carry on doing what you were doing. Then when remain quiet call for affection. They get you for coming when called.
Do not give a treat when they stop as this is still connected to the initial behaviour you wish to extinguish. Dogs are very clever, they track back to the beginning of the routine they started.

20/01/2024

Here is my guide on ProDog Raw website to help your dog thought anxiety in separation. Message me if you’d like an on line Consultation

This guide will walk you through every aspect of separation anxiety in dogs: what to watch out for, reasons why your dog may be feeling anxious, and how you can help them recover.

18/01/2024

🐶What does calm look like ? 🐶

Peaceful is a state of mind a dog can look calm but inside they are still alert rather than peaceful.

Reward a resting dog with food and you keep them alert. Reward for them is to leave them relaxed but you still present so they can truly reach a peaceful state of mind.

A touch or a massage to aid relaxation is ideal. To give a dog choice where to rest as opposed to insisting they rest in their bed is in my experience the route to true happiness.

17/01/2024

The power of words by Lesley Harris 2014

This subject was recently raised in connection with what “commands” we give to our dogs – what words are used to achieve a result.

One person said that she did not like the word “command”, and preferred the word “cue”, but many said that it did not matter as long as the command was issued in a kind way, and in any case the word was unimportant as dogs do not interpret the word, just the intention behind the word.

I have always believed (and still do) that this is correct in as much as you could (as an example) just as easily use the word “bananas” as a cue word, accompanied with the appropriate body language, to invite your dog to join you, as the word is just a sound to catch your dog’s attention, it is mainly the body language to which he responds. However we as humans communicate largely by speaking – body language is important, but vocal communication, and the inflections we put on our words as well as the words themselves, are the means by which we express ourselves.

So, if we accept that words in themselves are largely meaningless for dogs, why does it matter what words we use?

I believe that the words we use create a state of mind within ourselves.

You will probably laugh, but I always say “Excuse me sweetheart” when I want my dog to move. I don’t say “Move” or “Out the way” (well.... maybe sometimes!), but until this discussion was instigated, never thought about why.

I believe our choice of words, without doubt, affects our mental state, so for me, it makes sense to use words or phrases which create the state of mind I feel is useful when educating your dog – respect for him as a sensate creature, calm, confidence without dominance, the feeling that “We are friends – in this together”, and most importantly projects this state of “being” to our dogs. So, “Excuse me sweetheart” immediately creates a feeling of respect for my dogs in my head – I am asking, not commanding, them to comply. “Out the way” or “Move”, would create a feeling of disrespect.

I want a partnership with my dog (albeit, from necessity, with me leading the way), a thinking dog, a dog which makes good choices on its own – only looking to me for guidance when a confusing situation arises, but which is always aware and connected to me and ready to follow my requests, not a dog which jumps to attention at the trigger of a command word without thought. I believe mutual respect and trust is an essential starting point – and, purely for humans, the choice of words matter.

Words like “No”, “Leave”, “Wait”, “Come” all have their place when something needs to happen immediately for safety, but if they are used only when necessary and in the tone which brooks no argument, they are much more effective. It is quite hard to use words like these without sounding “commanding”, and if you have educated your dog with understanding and empathy, being “commanding” is only necessary in certain situations.

I have respect and love for my dogs. I have to be in charge in a world where they are dependent on me, but I want co-operation, not “obedience”. That may seem to be something of an oxymoron when I DO expect them to follow my wishes, but just because I want them to “Do as I say” this does not mean that I have to come across as an uncompromising dictator.

So, for me at least, words are important.


Lesley Harris
September 2014