Separation anxiety training is unlike many other types of dog training because it requires treatment of an emotional response, rather than simply teaching a new behavior or trick. Much like a human seeing a counselor for help with a fear or phobia, there’s no way to predict a timeline for a “cure.” Each dog is different (as are owners and their abilities to carry out the training exercises), so progress can start to happen within a few weeks or not for months. While separation anxiety is a highly treatable disorder, the rate of progress is slow, particularly in the early stages. Thankfully, learning begins to accelerate once we’ve made careful initial gains. You can affect the rate of your progress by being consistent and devoting time to the process.
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About the Author: Angelica Steinker
For more than 20 years full time, Angelica Steinker, Owner of Courteous Canine, Inc., has specialized in dog training methods that create, “Results the Fun Way.” Using Consent Testing and Empowerment Training Angelica and her team of 16 trainers have successfully trained thousands of puppies and adult dogs in basic manners/obedience, trick training, problem behavior modification, agility, dock jumping and other skills, all while increasing the bond of trust between dogs and their human companions.
Angelica is a published author in the field of dog training and agility. Her books, Agility Success: Training and Competing with Your Dog in the Winning Zone and Click and Play Agility, address the handler of the agility team and the use of clicker training techniques in the sport respectively, and emphasize the importance of playing and bonding in order to train agility behaviors to the highest level. She co-authored the Pet Trainers and Consultants Lexicon with Niki Tudge, and Louise Stapleton-Frappell. Her newest writing project is on play and dog aggression, which is something she is particularly passionate about.
She’s a former member of the steering committee of the Pet Professionals Guild and a founding member of this cutting edge association for force-free trainers and animal professionals. She is the co-founder and former faculty of DogNostics Career College a pet care, dog training and dog behavior trade school (www.DognosticsCareerCollege.com). Angelica has been published in the Journal of Applied Companion Animal Behavior and the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, both of which are peer-reviewed professional journals. She has been published as a regular columnist in BARKS from the Guild, the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) Chronicle of the Dog Newsletter, Dog & Handler, Animal Trainer Magazine, Dog Sport Magazine, Dalmatian Quarterly, and Clean Run, the dog agility magazine.
She is a former Advisory Board member and faculty at the Companion Animal Sciences Institute and is also a CASI dog behavior program graduate. Angelica is also accredited as a Canine Behavior Consultant through the Pet Professional Accreditation Board, and certified through Applied Animal Behavior Professionals and International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and the only one in the state of Florida with 20 years full time experience. Angelica is a sought-after public speaker who has presented at conferences Internationally including in Great Britain, Portugal and Brazil. She has also presented at the famous Camp Gone to the Dogs in Vermont, the U.S. Pet Professional Guild’s Summit, the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Annual Conference, BARK Agility Camp, and Karen Pryor’s Clicker Expo. Angelica is a former AKC agility judge and a current North American Diving Dogs judge. Angelica has a Master’s degree in Education, which has served as the foundation for her continued certifications in dog behavior and her extensive understanding of emotional learning, operant and classical conditioning, the science of how animals and people learn.