How to deal with your dog's separation anxiety

For more advice on separation anxiety or any other issue check out my book The Dog Guardian by Nigel Reed available on Amazon and many other places.

Watching this 10 years later to help my 11month pup.

I am so glad I watched your video. Our dog has suffered severe separation anxiety for years. It has got worse since the lockdown and has barked constantly thru the night. We followed your advice and cld not believe how it worked from day 1. We have stuck to it ridgedly for the last 2 wks and he has not barked once thru the night! He is so much calmer and so are we. Thank you so much for the advice!

You explained the psychology of a dog perfectly. Great video.

I love dog trainers... so calm, so confident. Although I am a cat person.

Absolutely brilliant Nigel! You information is so well put across and I can't help but smile at the outcomes you achieve.

I've always had staffies, best breed ever IMO! it's been 13 years since I've had a puppy and getting a new baby in a few weeks, these videos are great to remind me what I have to do to keep my new girl calm, staffies are so human like 😀😁😂 very much a protector of the family 🙏🙏 thank you

My 8 month old puppy Hudson (chihuahua spaniel mix) is dealing with isolation distress. He gets plenty of exercise and nice long walks twice a day. When someone is home, Hudson is fine to be in his crate, wait patiently, or play with his toys in another part of the home while we’re in the bathroom or kitchen. Initially we believed him to have separation anxiety, but as we reinforced crate training and constant rewarding for being quiet when left the room, we discovered his issue is only when we leave the home. We approach leaving our house the same way we approached crate training and keeping him in other rooms (we call them “In and Outs”).. started with short periods of time, rewards when he was calm, extended to longer periods of time the more comfortable he got. When doing In and Out training, we can build up his time to hours in his crate, or 15/20 minutes waiting outside the house (it’s a cold winter in Canada, can’t stay out there long). The problem comes when we leave the house and Hudson realizes this no longer is a training exercise, he howls excessively until our return. He refuses to relax in his crate or take a nap. He once howled for 3 hours straight when we needed to go out. How am I suppose to reward a calm puppy for my return if he’s never calm and doesn’t stop howling? We need to eventually re-enter our home, but because he’s howling that means Hudson wins. We can’t do “In and Out” build ups everytime we need to go out to the gym, dinner, grocery shopping, etc. Please help!! Michael and Stephanie

enjoyed this video, well done. it's much more realistic and actually easier to apply to your pet. then the popular tv shows we see

A great guide to dog training and it's really helped me with my own dog. Easy to understand and effective. Can't wait for the next video!!!! Nigel is a star in the making, finally some decent advice.

They carried it on when I was gone and started off in the front room. The dog learnt to stay in the front room with them and they built the time up themselves until they could go out for long periods.

Excellent lesson. Thank you!

Thank you for making this video... my pit bull suffers from separation anxiety and she has damaged the house pretty bad. My biggest concerns are taking her somewhere else and having to leave her there for a couple hours...it makes me terrified! I will definitely try out your techniques. Thank you for the different perspective; it totally makes sense!

Brilliant advice. Insightful and practical. Very helpful in increasing my understanding. Thanks.

bloody amazing......just did it ten times with my dog...first four times frantic panting and  wiating by door, by time 6 was lieing down and had head cocked up toward door by time 10 hardly noticed....extended last four from 3, 5,7,10 secs....may be on the road with practice: calmness, consistency and convincing.....thanks

We have a Pit Bull Labrador mix who also suffers from pack leader anxiety. She really thinks she runs the show and gets completely crazy when we leave the house. We are using your techniques and it is starting to make a change in her behavior. Also we are using the training on your video about dogs pulling when you try to walk them. It is amazing you are a true Dog Psychologist. I think Nigel understands dog's a lot better than Caesar Millan and it is a shame that he doesn't have more views.

Great advice!! My dog won't eat or drink when I'm gone, she doesn't really chew anything, but when I'm home she does! Especially when excited; however, she will listen when o correct her

Pleased to hear it Peter :)

This really helps me understand how to figure out what my GSD needs. I always said that if I just knew what/how he was thinking, I could figure out how to help him and I feel like your videos really help me to understand better.

Excellent video so simple yet so effective thank you for sharing 💕💕