Don't Leave Me! Step-by-Step Help for Your Dog's Separation Anxiety

This is an excellent, step-by-step, comprehensive guide to treating a dog's separation anxiety. I loved the stories and examples of how different trainers and dog owners approached their individual situations and how the author did the same with her dog. The first thing the book did was make me feel like I wasn't alone and that there was hope--that it was possible to help our dog heal and for our whole family to have our freedom again.What was most valuable, however, is the fact that the author distinguished between separation anxiety and isolation distress. Isolation distress is when the dog hates to be left alone but is pretty much okay being left with anyone, even a stranger. Separation anxiety is a little more severe as I understood it, where the dog expresses anxiety when his or her favorite person or persons are absent. I knew that our dog had isolation distress.In the case of isolation distress, one of the suggestions was to consider getting a second dog. While the author warns that this is definitely not a sure-cure, we decided to try it. At the time, our dog, Piper, had been on anti-anxiety medication for four weeks and was exhibiting a tiny bit of improvement but not a lot. In addition, we had followed the steps in the book on behavior modification and could open the door to the garage, get in the car, open the garage door and back up into our driveway for four minutes. So, he was making some progress but the book made us wonder if a second dog might help the situation. We searched for a while for a second dog; we were looking specifically for a dog that was relaxed and calm and yet still had the energy to keep up with our basenji/whippet mix. The dog we chose was a whippet mix who was slightly smaller than our first dog. We introduced them on neutral territory and they hit it off immediately. Whereas Piper had been intimidated by some other dogs we introduced him to, with this dog (Oliver), he simply played. When Oliver came back to our house, he asserted himself as alpha dog, which Piper was fine with after 1 or 2 tussles. That meant that the lead dog in the house was the one who was calm and relaxed.About 10 days after having both dogs in the house, we decided to try to leave for a while. Our whole family went out to dinner for an hour and a half. The book recommends that you not leave your dog while going through the behavior modification program, but we had a strong hunch that this would be okay. What informed our hunch was that, when I tried to continue to do the desensitization to our departure training, neither dog even bothered to get up from the bed in our bedroom to notice that I was walking out the door and getting in the car and driving up the driveway several times. When we returned from our family dinner, there were zero signs of separation anxiety in Piper. In fact, when he and Oliver greeted us at the door, the two dogs were happy but not even that excited to see us. They had each other. We have done a few more outings of 1-2 hours and they have been fine. In one instance, when I walked to a neighbor's, Piper did his anxiety howling, but when I came home there were no signs of anxiety (previously he would go to the bathroom in the house, chew things in the house and chew on his own paws). I was gone for 4.5 hours. I think we need to do more desensitization to our walking to the neighbors so he is as comfortable with that departure as with us driving away, but I don't mind this little bit of training and know how to do it with the help of this book.

I purchased this book last week and read it over the weekend. I was very impressed. This is a very well written, informative book.In the past, our yorkiepoo always had slight separation anxiety. I ended up losing my job in August and I was unemployed for 5 and a half months, so I was home with him all the time. When I started my new job at the end of January, our dog ended up with a pretty bad case of separation anxiety / isolation distress. We set up a camera to see him pace, howl, and cry ALL DAY LONG - it was just heartbreaking. I had no idea how to deal with this situation, so I browsed Amazon and found this book. The reviews were so fantastic, I couldn't pass it up.We haven't officially begun the training from the book yet, but we've been experimenting with "departure cues" and it seems to be helping. Instead of jumping up, pacing, and crying when I grab my keys, he now only jumps up. He doesn't panic so much. In addition, we're working on teaching him leadership by "controlling the good stuff." I don't think he's too thrilled that his toys are missing, but giving a toy as a reward seems to be promoting better behavior as well. We're also trying to ween him off of his attachment to us, starting with bedtime. On Monday night, he slept in his crate for half the night. Last night, he successfully spent an entire night in his crate! (We keep the crate door open all night - he likes his crate better than his bed.)This book also taught us that the food we've been feeding him isn't good for his anxiety. I had no idea that food could play a part in this. We've ordered a new dry dog food that we plan to gradually switch him to as soon as it arrives. In addition to the training exercises, this book also provided other resources to help with canine separation anxiety - all of which we've already ordered and plan to try as soon as they arrive. Until we have the situation under control, our dog will be staying with my father while we're at work. In the mean time, I'm looking forward to training our furry son and seeing the results. I will be sure to update my review as the training progresses!

Excellent book!!I have a 2 and a half year old white Havanese that early this year suffered a big traumatic event while being alone. He tore the blinds on 6 of the windows in my apartment in his attempt of running out of the house. Ever since then it has been almost impossible for me to leave him alone. Since it's only him and myself that's been a great challenge because I still have to work and live a life! Boarding or daycare have been great help but surely my bank account had suffered greatly! When I read this book thought there was hope! Thank you so much to the author for spending the time in writing it and giving all the advices! Still is not perfect but had definitely brought more calm into my life. Understanding separation anxiety is a real issue and knowing different options has been greatly helpful. I know he'll never be cured but I'm more confident on how I'm managing things now. The toys to keep him entertained have been very helpful. I'm also giving him the Composure daily, and that I'm not so sure is working but at the very least not harming. We are definitely enjoying going for longer walks together and now both enjoy the benefit of the extra exercise. He still gets very anxious when friends come over at the time they leave, so not sure what to do about it. Part of me hopes as he grows, in addition to what I have learned, he'll improve. The crate is a no-no at the moment; he goes there to sleep at night but that's about it; the food change had also been a great improvement since now he likes the one he's getting and eats it all. Take him with me to whichever places I can, only a couple of times had left him in the car.In summary, a working progress! I understand now separation anxiety in my dog is a real issue and still learning how to manage it.Thanks again for this book!

This is a very useful book. It gives you a very good forward to the books contents then takes you through the four stages to help you understand how your dog feels when left alone for the first time.It has helped us to understand our dog better and lets us try and see things from the dogs point of view.Anyone who has a dog that destroys their home when left alone may understand why their dog does this destruction when left alone.

Really insightful for anyone with a dog suffering from Separation Anxiety

Very informative and yet funny too

repeats itself a bit

If you have a dog with separation anxiety, this is one of the best and most recommended books to read. I even put it on the desktop Kindle, highlighted the action steps to follow, copied them to a new document and made a journal at the bottom for a workbook.Nicole Wilde's book has comprehensive information on just about everything on SA including medications and supplements, counter-conditioning, etc.The most important thing to remember about a dog with SA is that you didn't cause it, but it comes out later when the dog has bonded with you. It takes a while, but there are steps to improvement and healing for both of you. Don't give up. Your dog's life depends on it. He deserves that, and you do, too. You're a pair working on this together.