Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Did you know that the pet care industry is a billion dollar industry and it is continuously growing, but are the people who care for your pets growing as well?
I'm Dara Forleo and on the business of pet care, we are going to talk about what really goes on behind the scenes of those grooming tables, those daycare walls and those social media filters.
Welcome to the business of pet care where we are today. We are talking about systems and decisions that are shaping modern pet businesses. I'm your host, Dara Forleo and I am really excited to be joined today by Stephanie Barger, owner of Canine Zen. And she is something that I have really wanted to talk about for a while. And, and what Stephanie does is really unique in a way that she is actually a certified separation anxiety trainer and does advanced.
These are really advanced credentials in behavior consulting and I don't want to say fear free training, but more of a, a song stress free approach in training.
And today. Stephanie, welcome. How are you today?
[00:01:31] Speaker B: I am doing very well. How are you?
[00:01:34] Speaker A: I'm good. Thank you so much for joining me. It's a pleasure to have you on.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Thank you. I'm, I'm, I'm really happy to be here.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Great. I, I want to get down to it right away.
What does that title mean?
What, where did you, how did you get into this?
[00:01:52] Speaker B: So which one? Because I have a lot.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Which one do you want to talk about first?
[00:01:58] Speaker B: I think the most, the most important ones from my perspective are the certified separation anxiety trainer, the certified behavior consultant for canines, and then the Fear Free certification.
And that kind of, those are also
[00:02:14] Speaker A: kind of Fear Free because that's, I got some Fear Free, but that's. Okay, let's go with you.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: So the sep, the certified separation anxiety training, that is advanced behavior modification.
And so that is a course. It was probably, it was about four months long.
We met twice a week. We had homework, we did case studies.
We learned how to do the protocols of systematic desensitization, which is basically just breaking things down so that the dog can tolerate them and we're not throwing them over threshold.
So it was an extensive course.
And then the certified behavior modification or behavior consultant, that is, that was more of an exam, but it requires CEU's continuing education in order for me to keep it and is a great thing.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: We need more of that on all sides of this industry.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Yes.
And, and then I also enhanced that by taking Michael Chasio's Aggression in Dogs Master class.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:33] Speaker B: So I'm, and you know, so I'm Constantly adding on to these things. And then the fear free is really just recognizing when you're pushing a dog too much and they're really becoming very fearful and learning how to help them through that process. But that really kind of encompasses everything that I do.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: That's a lot, a lot of titles, a lot of titles. You know, I'm familiar, I'm not an expert by any means in dog training, but Chrissy Neumeyer Smith is one of our educators at the school and has a lot of the similar titles and teaches it in a way for groomers to be aware of it at. For creating great grooming dogs. And like you said, I mean the dogs come in and they're scared and they're fearful and they're stressed and not all of them are going, yay, I'm here for grooming.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: This is wonderful.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: So the, that anxiety part, how, you know, working in, in both. What, what does this.
Where do you begin?
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Oh, you mean what is my process? How do I, or how do I with clients or how do I begin getting the education that's necessary in order to tackle it with the protocols that I use?
[00:05:03] Speaker A: I guess what's the main, what is the number one like when people, when, when people in your industry go, that's Stephanie, that's what she does. That's her jam.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: What is, what, what does that mean?
[00:05:18] Speaker A: Yeah, which one? Okay, which is your.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
I am not focused on what is generally called obedience.
There are dogs that have been through many classes that teach them skills and they can do just fine until their triggers hit and then they are a hot mess. And so I am actually looking more at the. How the dog's capacity for the situation is okay there. How are they coping with the situation?
Are they over aroused in whatever way? Whether that's fear or anxiety over excitement that is causing to them to be affected and not being able to process things as they normally would. Whereas if things are calm and nothing crazy is going on around them, you say sit, they can sit, no problem.
However, if you know the scary dog, because they have dog reactivity is walking by too closely, they don't even know what sit means anymore.
So I'm really looking at that emotional component. What is the motivating factor behind the behavior in instead of let's fix it through obedience.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: Okay, that makes total sense because obedience it, it is that again, I don't know much about it. I have unruly dogs in the little Chihuahuas and they do what they want to do when they want to do work.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: So you Know, for example, I've worked with a dog, with many dogs, but when I'm in particular that I'm thinking of, could walk beautifully on leash in quiet environments. Right. Gorgeous. Not pulling, not reacting, not barking, lunging, growling. But the moment something unexpected happened. Okay. Their reaction was so intense that at one point they had pulled the. The guardian down and had broken their collarbone.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Oh my gosh.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: And so if that really happened. Yes, this really happened.
But as long as nothing was going on, they did not pull on the leash.
They were paying attention. And you know, but as soon as something in the environment that they decided was concerning happened, you could have these very intense reactions. Now, the pulling over with the collarbone, that was extremely intense. It wasn't a normal thing. But that, but that did happen.
And if we had treated that situation as just a loose leash walking issue, we would have missed the whole point. It's not that that dog didn't or lacked the skills.
It lacked a sense of safety in those moments. And, and just like us, when we are in those scary moments, we have different responses that we might give. Fight, flight, freeze, fawn, fidget. Dogs are the same way. And so some people will misrep. Misunderstand a dog's bite behavior as the dog is agre. Is aggressive at their core. Yeah. And.
And what that's really, is what most of the time is really happening is that that dog is terrified and is trying to get the scary thing to go away by puffing themselves up and making them big and scary.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Okay.
I just added what, what do you know? What was the trigger for the dog?
[00:08:42] Speaker B: This was other dogs.
And they could be. It was as soon as they were in sight, they didn't even have to be close.
Yeah.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Okay. I can relate to that. We have a very anxious Chihuahua who never basically leaves the house anymore because she had such, I. I'd say anxiety over other dogs seeing other dogs. We've had her since she was eight weeks old.
She was working. She, she's been. She grew up with other dogs. There were other dogs around, and she's just never gotten over it to the point where we take her into a petco or petsmart and she just scream and it would echo and she'd lose her bowels everywhere.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: Yeah. That's terrifying of another dog.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: And, you know, we were just like, what do we do? So I took, I took her actually to a local trainer to us, and they called it a reactive trainer. She was, she was more training on that. Reactive nothing.
Nothing could never get because she's terrified that Hurdle. She's just. It is like any size, any shape, any. It, it's traumatic. Right. And God would like to take her
[00:10:15] Speaker B: places, but it's because she's panicking. Yeah, she's. She's in a complete state of panic.
And so breaking down things, you know, it just involves a lot more detail, a lot more hands on with clients to be able to get those things to start resolving.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't, I'm not gonna. But I had one trainer say, just drop her off at daycare and leave her.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness, that's flooding. Please don't do that.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Never. Oh, gosh, no. I mean, she's 15 years old now, so she'll have a heart attack.
It would have killed her. It would have absolutely killed her. There's no way, no way I would that. But you know, that was one trigger sign for me is like, this is not a trainer I want to work for. For or work with. I mean that, that was right off the bat. Just drop her off and leave her at daycare.
She'll be fine. She'll get over it quickly.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: I'm like, yeah, no, that's not, that's not a thing. Everybody, please listen. They don't just get over it. They need help.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Yep.
So how.
Just real quick, how did you get into this?
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Dog training or specializing?
[00:11:31] Speaker A: Oh, specializing. And you know what? Okay, we're gonna, I'm gonna ask how people can find you really quick because we gotta go to a commercial break here in a minute. But I want to come back in and start the next segment with how did you get into this? Because this is a very specialized niche.
[00:11:47] Speaker B: Yes. So I can be found. You can catch my website. It's called caninezen.com K9 is spelled out so it's C C-A-N-I-N-E Z-E-N.com and I am on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Blue Sky.
You can get links to all of those through my website.
So those would be great ways. And then phone number and email are also on the website. So really that's kind of my, my central location.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: All right, so that is great. Thank you. And we're going to take a short break. We will be right back.
Welcome back.
I am joined today by Stephanie Barger. And we are talking about a lot of heavy credentials in dog training and specializing in some pretty neat areas that I think a lot of people need to learn a little bit more about and what this can do for you and your pets.
We're gonna come Right back, Stephanie. We ended the last segment with talking about the stress triggers and then how
[00:13:34] Speaker B: I got into this.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: I just wanted to know, how did you get into this and break into this niche?
[00:13:42] Speaker B: So I really love the problem solving of behavior cases. And I realize that there are a lot of wonderful trainers out there that do a great job of basic training, basic manners. I just got my dog and I want them to be able to sit down.
You know, I want to be able to take them to a pub. And then there's this big jump. It seems like where there's dogs that can learn that stuff fairly easily and they're great. And then there are dogs that struggle, right? They struggle with people coming into the home. They struggle with, you know, if there's other dogs in the house, there's bite histories, there's.
And people are just at their wit's end and there are fewer people that do that well there. They can handle a little bit of leash reactivity or they can handle a little bit of resource guarding. But when we start getting into the more serious stuff where they're tearing up your house when you leave, or, you know, the, the dogs that would be
[00:14:50] Speaker A: breaking out of the kennels like they, you see on all the videos that, yes. Become a big. Oh, look at this. The joke of.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yes, yes. And it, you know, it's put up on the website as being funny, but it's really not funny. These, these poor dogs are really stressed and, and their welfare is not so great. And so I realized that this was what I wanted to do because this is about more than, I don't want to say surface training, because it's. It all training is important and you take into consideration the dog. It's just that so much of the emotions of the dog are involved in this and unfortunately they can't say, you know what, this is what bothers me about this situation. We actually have to figure that out and make accommodations and adjustments accordingly. And so when, when the dog isn't given an opportunity to work with someone who has the, the level of expertise that can actually help it, they. They get the wrong kind of training. Okay, if it, if the behavior looks familiar, like reactivity on leash, but the underlying cause is different, then you're, you're not necessarily approaching the problem in a way that's going to be beneficial to either the guardian or the dog for solving it.
I was told, I've worked with clients who were told by other people that, and not just trainers, that their dogs need more structure or more consistency when in reality, the dog was overwhelmed and trying to cope with this situation.
And that mismatch can actually escalate the behavior instead of helping it. So that structure, that lack of choice, we're finding more and more in studies that giving your dog choices when you can is actually very helpful when in building their confidence and helping them deal with our crazy human world. Okay, so we can actually miss. If we're just looking at obedience, if we're just looking at, oh, this is a loose leash walking problem, then then we can miss what the dog actually needs, which is building confidence and some advocacy in their own lives.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: Wow, that's. So you have spent years.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Years doing training, certifications, continuing education.
How has. You know and I know both of our fields are very much unregulated, but you have a lot of strong governing bodies, it seems, because your credentials are being checked and you said it. They have to maintain them. You have those ceus.
How. How has this affected customers? How has this been. How do you promote that and, and use that to elevate, you know, do you.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: Do you know what I'm saying? So I think that it's not the Alphabet behind the name, in my opinion, that has most affected my guardians. They may get there to me because of that or get to me because of that. Oh, you know, she's certified, let's go ahead and check her out.
But I, I've had clients who have.
Because they asked the right questions.
Right. And they listen to my answers and my answers resonate with them. So they do common questions. One that I would recommend everybody ask is of a trainer is how do they handle setbacks? How do they handle.
If the dog is going over threshold? What. What are the things that they do?
And then be listening to the answer of your trainer and really kind of pay attention to how it resonates with you. If it, if your spidey senses are going, then I would suggest, even if it's me, that you look elsewhere because it's really important that you find a trainer who is kind of resonating with how you want to. What. What relationship you want to have with your dog.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's not dumping them off in a daycare.
That's a prime example. Right?
[00:19:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
So I mean, my clients are going to be looking for thoughtfulness, flexibility, data analysis, you know, really paying attention to what both. And see, this is just it. Yes, the dog is important and we have to work within their thresholds, but so are the guardians. I could be giving the best training plan based on just the dog. And if it's not working for the people in the equation, it's still not going to be a successful plan.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: Yeah. And so when talking about this plan, you create. You do an evaluation.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: Create a plan of action proposal and then work off of that with, With. I love that you say guardian. I love that.
I think that's what we are. I know the biggest big words are pet parents now, and it's wonderful. But I like guardian.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I prefer. But I, I use pet parents, especially if that's the relationship that the client that I'm working with is having with their dog. Because so many of them, you know, they, I, I have many people who, instead of having children, they have dogs and they consider their dog their child.
Right. And to some extent, I mean, that's the relationship that they have with them and that's the bond that they have with them. And, you know, we have to work
[00:20:58] Speaker A: with that until we can claim them as an in, As a dependent.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: That's the next step.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Somebody needs to work on that.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Yes.
But, yeah.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: So how have these, how have they advanced the influence that you have for setting some professional boundaries?
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Meaning what do I work with as opposed to what do I not work with? Or what is a good client for me?
[00:21:39] Speaker A: How you, how you gauge if you yourself are going to work with them?
[00:21:44] Speaker B: Yeah. So first of all, I have a wonderful network of trainers locally that if, if what they are really dealing with is a developmental phase or. Oh, you know, they really just need basic training, training and manners. And we're not really looking at some really strong emotional responses.
I will refer them to, to them. So in a lot of ways, for me, it's making sure that I am not putting them through a training program that is more comprehensive than what they need in order to receive, to get their goals. Okay. Because it's a lot. It's a lot.
And if all they need is for their dog to be able to learn some basic manners and they're not having a problem where when somebody comes into their house, they're concerned about whether or not those guests are going to be greeted properly, you know, in some cases, you know, scarily, they don't necessarily need to be working with me and doing all of the things that I am asking them to do. And they don't need to have the level of understanding of their dog that they would if they have a serious behavior problem. And that means that they're doing a lot more work.
Okay. This isn't just about, you know, meet and work on the thing and then meet the next week and work on the thing. Well, you know, there is constant interaction throughout the week in addition to when we meet to discuss, you know, new and new skills and, and review old stuff.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: Yeah, that's really interesting. I, I want to come back to that because I'd love to know how you set that up, especially if you're not working with someone local, which could be more remote and how you set that up and, and keep that accountability flowing.
We're going to take another break. Stephanie, really quick. Where can they find you?
[00:23:46] Speaker B: Again, the best place to start is my website, k9zen.com and that's K9 spelled out so it's C A N I N E Z dot com and then that has links to all the other things.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Excellent, excellent, excellent. Thank you. We are going to come right back and we'll return after this message.
[00:24:26] Speaker B: Foreign.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: Welcome back to the business of pet care. Download the three the three the free Now Media TV app on Roku or ISO or stream anytime at NowMedia TV. Now Media TV is available 24 7.
And we are back with Stephanie Barger and we are talking all things, just all kinds of really.
I don't even know how to say but stuff that happens at home.
I think we are going to start getting into a little bit more about separation anxiety that it is not really a lot about. It is training, but it's not a training in a facility. This is going to be more of remote training and how to really set the stage for this. So we kind of started about talk of those behavior plans and how you modify those, you know, what is, what is next. Stephanie, you take it to the next level. This is something that you would do with people local, more remote. What's.
[00:25:44] Speaker B: So I start everyone off with virtual training. I do not. I don't go into their home until something, some foundational stuff is done. And separation anxiety never do I go into the home because separation anxiety happens in the absence of people.
So why would I go into your home? And we have this one, all of this wonderful technology where we can use cameras to observe the dog and get a real sense of what is happening. We don't have to be creeping around outside and peeking in windows like we used to. Yes.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: Let's start really quick. I want to know what is the definition or what is a defined meaning for what separation anxiety looks like.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: Okay. So when, when we are talking general public, separation anxiety means my dog is freaking out when I, when I Leave. Okay. However, separation anxiety, specifically the diagnosis, it's a clinical diagnosis. Okay. And it is that the dog becomes panicked when a particular person leaves. Okay. So when we're talking separation anxiety, generally people just think my dog is upset when. When they're left home alone.
Whereas in reality, separation anxiety is about one person. So if I have someone in my household and they are still home, but when I leave, my dog panics. That is separation anxiety.
Okay.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: Okay. So somebody else can be in the house and they're still panic that.
[00:27:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Attachment to the one person.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: Yes. So that is clinical separation anxiety. And that is what it means when.
When a dog is diagnosed with separation anxiety, it's tied to one person.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: And I think that's probably misused a lot.
[00:27:52] Speaker B: It is. And we even. Even when we are doing our advertising as separation anxiety trainers, because the general public understands separation anxiety to be different than just clinical anxiety. It's all about the dog is left home alone, and there's issues.
We will. We will fudge those lines, too, when we're doing. Talking to the public. But in reality, a lot of what I do is more about isolation distress or the fact that they have not been trained to understand that being left alone is okay and safe. And so there's a lack of that initial training or so. So it's. It's about being left, period, and not necessarily being only left by one person.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:28:44] Speaker B: So a lot of the dogs that I work with, as long as somebody's home with them, they're okay. And technically, that is not separation anxiety. That's more isolation distress, because it's when they're actually left alone that the problem set in.
A lot of the behaviors are similar.
Okay.
So it's just that there's actually extra steps that we have to do if it's clinical separation anxiety, because the first thing is to get the dog to be comfortable when there's somebody else home with them when that person leaves. We aren't even going to talk about what happens when they're alone because they're freaking out when this person leaves. And even the comfort of having another person is not comforting to them.
So there's an extra level of things to be addressed when it's clinical separation anxiety.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: And do we. So I'm. I'm going to ask because I'm clueless. Well, I don't want to say clue, but I don't know a lot about it.
Do we create some of this ourselves in them?
[00:29:49] Speaker B: You know, I wish I could give you a. Hey, if you just do these Things, everything's going to be okay.
It's not that simple. We don't, there's, there's potential genetic components, there's experiential components. There is individual experience, you know, individual experiences, individual makeup, the temperament of the dog. All of these things can contribute. One thing that I do want to make sure that everybody understands is that just because your dog is a Velcro dog, okay. And follows you all around, does not mean that they're going to have problems with being home alone. It just means that when you are there, they want access to you.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: Yeah. I, I, the senior one that I have, she is my Velcro.
It is, she follows me everywhere, all the time.
And I did think at one stage, you know, I, I worked and she stayed home by herself. She's kennel trained, had all that. And then I started working from home and I was like, oh boy, how's this gonna work? Because I know a lot of things happened during COVID when families started going back to work and dogs were like, now what?
And so when, when we started going back to work or when I leave, if I know I'm going to leave for a long period of time, I do a really high reward treats.
And so when they see me grab my purse now they're like, yes, she's leaving.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: And that can help with some dogs. And then for other dogs, that's the, the, the least, yeah, the least good thing that you can do is putting food into it, you know, and that's motivated creatures, these things. Yeah, that's why I love these things so. Because there is no one set answer.
You know, every dog is different, every household is different.
And I, you know, you were, you were asking me, is there something that we do that causes this?
There, there is something that we cannot do that may increase the, the chances of your dog having problems being alone. And that is you don't teach them that it's okay to be alone. And so, for example, I, my puppy has alone time.
Okay? Falius. She's 18. She's 18 weeks old.
And she is definitely learning that I am not going to be with her all of the time and that there are times that she's going to be alone.
And I am doing that consciously. Even if I don't have to have her be alone, I will have her be alone. And this is as simple as, like right now, so that she's not inter. Instead of being in her ex pen behind me, she is in her crate in the bedroom. Right.
And so this is just, it's A conscious effort to kind of say, hey, you know what? You're fine. Everything's safe.
You don't have to worry about it. Sometimes you're going to be alone, and that's okay. You know, of course, I make sure that she has stuff to entertain herself. And, you know, she's not. She wasn't just shoved into the crate. We got her comfortable with the crate before that became a thing.
But, you know, you can actually make it worse if you never teach them and do those little short.
You're going to be in the crate for, you know, 15 minutes while I go and grab the mail. Or, you know, you're going to be in the house if you want. If you immediately go to Free. Free in the house.
And that's actually ultimately what I would recommend. Your goal being is that your dog be free in the house. Okay.
If you are concerned about what they might do to the house, then what you can do is you can close off areas so that they don't have access to it. But putting them in a crate or even a small room is not ideal.
That can actually exacerbate the situation if they're uncomfortable being alone. Because now they're not only alone, but they're trapped.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: They're trapped. That. That makes a lot of sense. I was gonna ask about that because I know a lot of people. You. You just have to look on YouTube or some of these video reels and see dogs busting out of kennels and destroying couches and coming home to that. Oh, my gosh. I mean, as a puppy, I can see that being like. But, yeah, I would be mortified, Ellie, if you ever did anything like that.
[00:34:26] Speaker B: And so it's more about closing bedroom doors, closing bathroom doors so that they don't have access to some of those places, but where they're spending a lot of the time in the living room,
[00:34:35] Speaker A: family room, where they're kind of comfortable.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Yeah. You want to kind of let them have that space. Yes.
Keep things off the counters.
[00:34:46] Speaker A: Yeah. We got one Chihuahua who thinks she's a goat.
[00:34:48] Speaker B: Oh, there you go.
[00:34:50] Speaker A: Oh, my God. She is like, so. They are so food driven. Oh, my God.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: It's crazy.
[00:34:55] Speaker A: Crazy.
Yeah. So that's interesting.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: Are there.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: We got a couple more seconds here, but are there any real telltale signs that people or. Or people can see that this is starting to progress or happen?
[00:35:11] Speaker B: Well, certainly if your neighbors are telling you that your dog is making lots of noises, that's a key sign.
However, there. There are a lot of silent sufferers out there. Just because your dog isn't digging through the doors and, you know, howling at the moon does not mean that they are comfortable being alone. And so with all of our technology, get a couple of cameras and, you know, watch what your dog is doing.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:36] Speaker B: You know, and if they cannot settle, if they're panting and pacing, then your dog is not comfortable being by themselves. It may not be as inconvenient for you and your neighbors as the ones that are destructive or, you know, making a lot of noise, but it is certainly not good for the welfare of your dog because they are not comfortable.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
We're gonna pick right back up when we get back, but for now, we're going to take a short break.
[00:36:30] Speaker B: Foreign
[00:36:33] Speaker A: welcome back to the business of pet care. I am your host, eriforleo, and we are streaming live or on Demand through the Now Media TV app on Roku or ISO, or you can visit and find us at NowMedia TV for more industry conversations.
And we are back with Stephanie Barger. And we've been talking about separation anxiety, what that looks like, that specialization and what that looks like responsibly for pet owners, trainers. But, you know, we're gonna move into the standards for both pet owners and professionals in the industry and what this looks like and how it is perceived. I, I want to say, um, we talked a little bit about what is misunderstood about separation anxiety, but Stephanie started. You started getting into, into that a little bit.
What, what do we need to do to, to start making these corrections? I don't, not necessarily corrections, but to, to really help the dogs.
Because at the end of the day, that's who it's about.
[00:37:50] Speaker B: Yes, yes.
I think that the first thing is to know when you require a specialist.
I'm going to be very frank here and say that the percentage of people who are in the dog training industry that will even tackle separation anxiety, let alone tackle it based on, on the science that's out there, is very small.
Okay. So if you are having problems with your dog being alone, it's very important that you start reaching out to a specialist, especially if you have done some of the things and there are still things out there on the Internet that I would not recommend that you do.
But there are some great books out there. Melanie, Melena Demartini has come out, came out with one a few years back that is the basis for her CSAT program.
And it, it is something that if you're not making progress using some of these resources, then you really do need to, to contact a specialist because we Just we. We've developed an eye and what to look for. And if you've only dealt with one dog, then sometimes you're going to meet. You're going to miss some things. Okay?
If your behavior is rooted in fear or anxiety or you have safety concerns about the dog, that's when you really want to go to a specialist. If your dog is panicking when left alone, then you really do want to find somebody who is familiar with separation anxiety and is comfortable with it and is going to use the current science to help them get through it. Okay?
So. And especially if things are escalating, if you're not seeing any improvement with what you are doing, in fact, things are getting worse. You need to. You need to get some help. Okay.
[00:39:52] Speaker A: And it doesn't always mean medicate.
[00:39:55] Speaker B: It doesn't. However, the best prognosis, according to science is a combination of. Of medication prescribed by your veterinarian as well as the protocols for separation anxiety.
[00:40:09] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: That does not necessarily mean you have to go to medication if that's not something that you are comfortable with.
I am not a veterinarian, but the studies do show that you really. The more sedative kind of stuff isn't the best way to go because again, that's reducing the ability of the dog to learn new stuff. Stuff if they're sedated.
But again, I am not a veterinarian. When I tell my clients, you need to talk to your vet about, you know, getting some medical. Medical support, some prescription support for this anxiety, for this issue.
It is all about, you know, that is what the vet is prescribing and that. That is their expertise, and we work with that. And then, then what I do is, is we work the program, okay? Now we've got this medication in place, and this is what's happening now that we've got this medication in place. And then I send that data to the veterinarian so that then they can go ahead and say, okay, this appears to be working, or this is clearly not working, and we need to modify. And so I provide that data for the veterinarian to make adjustments. Because just like with people, every medication isn't going to work. The same with every dog.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: Right? Right.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:29] Speaker A: And you got to find the one that's going to work. But that's really interesting that you said. So if you're taking a case that has not been diagnosed, do you submit the plan first to the vet and then you or.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: No, because ultimately there's a confidentiality responsibility as far as I'm concerned. With my client. And so I am not going to reach out to the vet without that being something that they have been okay with. Right.
[00:42:00] Speaker A: No, no, no, I, I get that. I, I meant exactly that. They're going to the vet. They have what you've done and are taking and presenting that to the vets.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: Either they take it or I've gotten permission to share it directly with them. Yes, but not with all veterinarians. Some clients don't necessarily want us to talk.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:42:24] Speaker B: And, you know, they want to handle it themselves.
There are, there are differing opinions in veterinary medicine as to what protocols are best.
There's also the, the, the systematic desensitization protocols. They're very time consuming and they are very small.
Frequently they are very small increases in the dog's tolerance for time being left.
Where I see the biggest jumps are the ones where that we were talking about where the dog just never learned that being alone was safe. I'll see much bigger jumps in many of those cases. But when we're actually seeing, you know, a dog that for whatever reason is convinced that this is not safe, they could be very, very tiny. Okay, three months and we've hit five minutes. And so that is a very difficult thing for guardians to deal with. It's a marathon, it's not a sprint. We have to be really increasing people's morale and making sure that they're seeing the small successes.
And understandably, there are opinions out there where this, it just takes too long. It's too, too much strain on the guardians.
And so, you know, that's, it's to be, it's. It's something to take into consideration.
Right. Especially when, you know, there's a very big difference as far as a success rate between a household where they just want to be able to go out for a couple of hours and maybe have lunch with friends or do their grocery shopping as opposed to. I work eight hours a day and I have an hour and a half commute each way. And my dog needs to be okay being alone most of the day with maybe somebody coming in and letting them out to go to, you know, to have, you know, some pet sitting time in the middle of the day. And so we're talking about four or five, maybe even six hours at a time where the dog is being alone. That's very, It's a very different program.
I mean, the process is the same, but the goal is so much different that it makes, it makes it a very different looking marathon.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: That's really interesting. Okay, I'm gonna shift. We Got a few minutes left. But I do want to ask on a business perspective.
[00:44:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:44:53] Speaker A: What has, what has platforms that you had mentioned, all the ones that you are, are on and that you're building authority on. How has that really enhanced or have you think that's really made a difference in the industry for you for that visibility and that professional to be able to showcase yourself like this.
[00:45:15] Speaker B: So I, I'm only on social media because of my business. I gotta be honest. I'm. I'm not a big huge fan because I think that there's a lot of stuff out there that is either misleading or unhelpful.
And so rather than my focus on my social media being hey, hire me. Although of course there is some of that. Yeah, I really.
[00:45:38] Speaker A: How else you got to.
[00:45:39] Speaker B: Yes, my main.
Yeah, you have to. It has to be part of it. But I really am very concentrated on providing information for people whether or not they are going to reach out to me and investigate being a client with me. I want them to have a source on the Internet that is going to give them solid, good, accurate information and also actionable stuff. I mean I do a lot of stuff on some of the easy things that we can do to help our dogs have a more regulated emotional state. Something as simple as making sure your dog has enough skin sleep, you know, or they have the ability to make choices when you, when it's possible for them to make choices. Obviously getting in the car to go to the vet, not a choice, but getting in the car to go to the park, that is a choice, right? We don't have to go to the park if you wrote if you don't want to get into the car, we don't have to go to the park, we do have to go to the vet. So you don't get a choice on that, you know, but just giving people, you know, car little things that they can do that kind of help and that people don't really think of that would benefit their dog's well being.
[00:47:00] Speaker A: Well, this has been very, very insightful. I learned a lot. I always learn a lot and I love learning new stuff and new things and hearing what other people are doing out in the industry outside of grooming because inundated with grooming a lot of times. So this has really been very insightful. Tell everyone where can we find you one more time before we close?
[00:47:26] Speaker B: Yes, again the best place to kind of get access to everything is my website, k9zen.com K9zen is spelled out as you can see up on the screen.
And then I just want to let everybody know that I offer a free 20 minute clarity call to anybody who may think that they need my help.
We talk about your situation. There's no commitment to move forward. If I think you should go to somebody else, I'll refer you out. If I have somebody in your area that I think would be helpful.
And then if we are a good fit, then we talk about moving forward with paid services. But don't hesitate to reach out and just get some of your questions answered to see if what you need is more professional assistance.
[00:48:18] Speaker A: That is wonderful. Thank you so much. We will add that on to everything as well.
It has been such a pleasure having you on and I just want to say thank you to everyone watching. As you know, anxiety, behavior challenges, these are not character flaws. These are all professional cases that deserve qualified guidance. This has been the business of pet care. I was joined by Stephanie Barger today from Canine Zen. I am Dara Forleo and I look forward to seeing you next time.
