The short answer - as long as it takes for your dog to be comfortable and settled when left alone for 2 hours. In practice, the typical range is from 2 months to 6 months depending on a client’s individual circumstances - the average being 3 months from start to finish.

Yes! Before starting your programme, we make a custom plan based on your needs and location. Remote assessments for clients outside of North Yorkshire are offered across the UK through phone and video.

The majority of the programme is done remotely through weekly catch up calls, WhatsApp, and through our video training library and downloadable booklets - so as long as you have a smartphone, we can work with you.

If your dog is exclusively dealing with separation anxiety, and doesn’t have any other behavioural issues (which may or may not be related) then no, I don’t need to see them in person - providing you can send regular video updates via WhatsApp.

If I feel that a severe case needs in person support, this will be planned and agreed on the phone before you sign up to the programme. It doesn’t affect the cost or involve any hidden fees - decisions are made on a case by case basis - but it may mean a slightly longer wait (2-4 weeks) to start your programme if you need to be seen in person.

If you’re asking, you already know the answer. Independent sleep (which means not with you, or in your room) is one of the three key skills your dog needs to learn to be able to rest and relax when they are on their own in the home. Which means that at some point in the programme, you will be taught how to create healthy separation over night.

This is by far the number one thing my clients push back on, and also the most important part of success. If you struggle with this idea, think about the wider implications of what that says about your own issues with attachment and separation - and how your dog might perceive your own anxieties.

In simple terms, dogs who cannot sleep independently do not typically achieve successfully being left beyond 30 minutes - so for real, meaningful change, it’s not something you can compromise on.

Sometimes referred to as Be Right Back, door is a bore, one minute at a time, incremental separation.

No, we don’t - because it doesn’t work. Not only do these programmes fail to teach anything new that the dogs can learn, but they typically involve creating false positives in which the owners believe they are making slow but steady progress as they slowly build their dogs up from 1 minute to 15 minutes. These are not meaningful timeframes for dogs or people.

Unfortunately, beyond 15 minutes (typically 6 months into the programme) is when the dogs begin to fail and revert, because there is no actual training in place for them to utilise, and many of these systems then blame the owners for not being patient, slow, or consistent enough in their training.

These training systems are not benign - the result is often that the owners themselves are left with elevated stress, anxiety, guilt and hopelessness through no fault of their own. We want all of our clients to understand that training should be a cooperative process, not one where shame or blame are used to add pressure or deflect responsibility on the part of the trainer. we believe that the vast majority of clients commit to a process of change and work their hardest to enact it, and that our job is to support them in that process.

Most anxiety medications are prescribed ‘to be used alongside a training programme or with the guidance of a behaviourist’. This programme is designed to address root causes of separation anxiety and other symptoms, and is generally effective without the need for medications.

There are scenarios where genetics, early spay/neuter, or other medical issues may be exacerbating anxiety in a way where medications may help ease these symptoms. However, these are often over prescribed, and not in any way a prerequisite to training.

We prefer that dogs do not start their training program on SSRIs or sedatives, so that we can get an accurate picture of stress and other related behaviour. Trazodone in particular is a strong sedative, and doesn’t allow us to accurately understand how your dog is feeling. If you are concerned about managing your dogs symptoms, please discuss with us on a call before making changes to medication.

No we don’t. The symptoms of separation anxiety are exactly that - symptoms of a dog that is unable to self regulate.

This programme is built on calm place work without food as a basis for relaxation, which is generalised in a range of contexts. Massage is used to nurture calm and relaxed state in your dog.

We also teach appropriate boundary setting with clear and gentle body language communication, a lead to guide dogs to where we want them to be, vocal instruction and disagreement, and a focus on how our own behaviour patterns influence the way our dogs respond.

A big part of the programme is focused on your own therapeutic experience, talking through how you are feeling, what creates stress or anxiety or fear for you - and techniques that can help you to process those feelings in simple, practical ways that positively influence your dog.

The truth is that dogs know how we feel, and when life’s biggest challenges knock us sideways, our dogs know that we need them to be close. Sometimes, what we experience as separation anxiety is actually a dog responding to our own emotional cues, and trying to solve an unsolvable problem in us by attaching themselves to us.

If you have recently lost a loved one - human, dog or otherwise - your first priority should be quality grief counselling and support. When you are ready, we will be here to help - but please take as much time as you need to ensure that when you want to start solving separation issues, you are in a place where you are able to ask for some distance. They won’t listen if you aren’t ready.