Separation Anxiety in Dogs: Next Generation Treatment Protocols and Practices

We adopted our rescue pup Parker 9 months ago and quickly realised he had separation anxiety (he displayed severe vocalisation when we left him alone). I was on a mission to help him, I read everything on the internet, read numerous books on the topic and spent hundreds of dollars on natural remedies that I prayed would help. Sadly, everything I tried did very little to ease Parker's anxiety, including an SSRI medication prescribed by the vet. We had given up "doing it on our own" and had Parker scheduled to visit the veterinary behaviourst (on a 3 month waiting list) which was going to cost us thousands (money we couldn't afford). It was then that I came across Malena's book. Finally, something I read on SA actually made sense, didn't contain conflicting information and went into the level of detail we needed to answer my many questions. It is clear that Malena has years of experience in this field. She is able to make sense of the conflicting and often false information out there. Also, if you have a dog with SA you will know how isolating and helpless it can make you feel. Malena's book gave me hope that there was a solution by providing detailed examples of her client's experiences over the years and by encouraging you to celebrate every small "win" you and your dog accomplish. Yes, this book is aimed at dog trainers and it does go into a lot of detail, but if you have a dog with SA like me and you have already scoured every other possible resource to help, you are likely already a bit of an expert in the topic!Within two months of following Malena's protocol and different medication, Parker is now able to be left alone for over four hours and he sleeps the entire time! I couldn't be more grateful for this resource, thank you Malena for writing such an informative book! If you have a dog with SA do not hesitate to buy this book, it might just change yours and your pups lives :)

This is a very good review of issues and treatment for dogs with separation anxiety and the importance of working below a dogs threhold.

This book changed our life. My puppy went from having severe & miserable separation anxiety to a happy-go-lucky dog when we are gone. We now come home to a happy dog and an intact home. Thankfully we found this book early on when our puppy was only 7 months old and it seemed to change things for him within a month. We are so grateful for the wonderful help this book has been for our dog and also our family!

Written for trainers and how to work with clients. There is some information that was helpful and some information that made me feel hopless in my ability to help my dog. Overall it was just a waste of time and money.

I am a professional certified dog trainer and the knowledge in this book was great. You can never learn to much.

This book is geared towards dog trainers and how to handle dog owners and their responses to the dogs' anxiety. I am a dog owner with a new puppy that is destructive when I leave him alone, and this book did not help at all. I also disagreed with some of the training suggestions.

Easy to follow and easy to implement. Like any successful protocol, and with working with SA, it just takes time, energy, and commitment. Know that this protocol works. I loved this book. The compassion, knowledge base, and experience of the author Malena comes out loud and clear. You can take on SA cases with confidence, and if you so choose, you can become only a handful (110 globally at the time of this writing) of CSAT's under Malena's leadership. CSAT's are Certified Separation Anxiety Trainers. 4 cases have come across my desktop since reading this book. This book is also great for guardians. Malena offers courses for guardians as well. Highly recommended. Thank you Malena. Greg Lagios CBCC-KA

I'm a dog trainer and this book is highly recommended if you need to brush up on your skills when working with separation anxietyin dogs.No, dogs won't get over it, unless you got over putting your hand into a box full of spiders, then yeah...

Firstly, book quality terrible: several pages just fell out.Secondly, pointless book written in an awful way. Very patronising about anything you might have tried to help your dog: whatever you did, it was stupid and you are an idiot for trying.Then tells you to do the obvious: go out, come in, lenghthen time out until you find the duration your dog can tolerate. Film your dog. Nothing new here. Google searches will give you this same information, for free.Doesn't tell you how to increase your dog's tolerance of absence, or how to deal with arising issues from lengthening your absence. Says the first time (when you establish the dog's tolerance time) is the only time from now on that your dog will be distressed, but then says the tolerance time is a variable. Er, so, sometimes the dog will be upset because you've gone out for a shorter absence than the first time you measured it, hence, er, no, the first time you go out is not the only time from now on where your dog will be upset.On the plus side it saved me the £1000 that I was quoted by some behaviourist who has been "trained in these methods".

Overall this book has some strong useful information but lacks the key parts to make this type of training work.It covers what is and isn't separation anxiety, why thing's dont work, it isn't patronising like one reviewing has stated but simple explains WHY those methods don't work. It's very useful information and should be taken seriouesly.It does cover some other very useful points like medication and such too.The key part of this type of training however, is lacking massively. Google can tell you but without a professional, trying this method using this book and Dr.google YOU WILL fail.To make this book work, you would need a deep understanding of:Learning TheoryPractical hands on use of learning theoryHow desensitising worksDEEP understanding of canine body language (I'm talking professional level here, not 'hey the tail wags he's happy!!!')Setting criteria and what to do if that failsThe three DDD's in relation to dogsAnd probably a few more points which I may have forgotten.I have marked this book 2/5 for the main reason it claims to give you the key part (protocol) which is doesn't, it glances over it without explaining it thoroughly.Lucky, I am a behaviourist and work with dogs, so I know how the method works and use it successfully, but for the average buyer, or even amateur trainer, this simple wouldn't work.I also wanted to note for this review CSAT, this is the writers own course specifically for separation anxiety professionals. It costs THOUSANDS and she constantly mentions it through the book. The first mention I felt 'ok, here we go... she's using the book to sell the course'. And dam sure I was right. Every opportunity she had, she mentioned her course and her students success. This book seemed to try and sell professionals the course and the non professionals the word 'CSAT' to google and find a professional to help.Overall the book has useful information and should be bought if your serious about treating/working with dogs. But for the average person they would still need help from a professional.To put simple, the method does work, and many top behaviourists SHOULD be using it, but this book is almost a code to professionals that only they can understand how to do it. The rest of the world would still have to seek professional help, which I would strongly advise anyway. They are professionals for a reason, just make sure they are force-free.

If you'Re looking for plans to help your dog to overcome separation anxiety, this book is not too helpful. There are no plans for the owners. It is a nice secondary literature, though.

Love it, debunks a lot of the (well-meaning) myths about separation anxiety training. It's working for my dog!

Such a fantastic book.No more stuffing food toys and buying gimmicky gadgets! This actually works!!