# Moral support needed for separation anxiety training



## Serenissima (Feb 26, 2014)

After all I've read out there, I know that Simcoe doesn't have really bad SA - for instance, she doesn't self harm or become destructive. She's gotten a lot better in the last two months, her screaming when I leave has gone down from half an hour before she settles to under 5 mins but even so it's so frustrating to have her whine even when I'm in another room (something else we're working on). Anyway, I just needed to vent. She's getting a lot better, it doesn't look like I'll need a behaviourist to come in and I'm counting my lucky stars that it's so. I'm really just tired and frustrated even though there are results - I have nothing to complain about, a break from hearing her cry would be nice though.


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## Gibbs Mom and Dad (Jun 3, 2013)

I certainly understand your frustration because so much of what we deal with in raising our fur-babies seems to be two steps forward and one step back and seems to take much longer than anticipated.

Try to focus on how far Simcoe and you have come and not far you have to go. Going from 30 minutes to 5 minutes is a remarkable achievement, one that you should be proud of, both for yourself and Simcoe. It speaks to how good of a fur-parent you are and how good of a companion Simcoe is.


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

My Leo goes to my office with me most days and hangs out in an expen while I work. When he was younger (he's 14 months now) he would bark and yelp when I would walk out of my office. I chose to ignore any noise that he made when I was out of my office and reward quiet. This meant that if I left my office and he made noise of ANY kind (a bark, yelp, whimper, whine) I ignored him COMPLETELY when I returned to the office. Staff and co-workers were asked to ignore him as well. If I stepped out of my office and he was quiet then I praised him calmly and gave him a treat when I returned. At first I would just step out into the hallway and step back into the office. I slowly increased the time that I would spend out of the office before returning. I can now generally go about my work, coming and going to and from, without Leo making any noise. This took lots of opportunities for practice and absolute consistency in ignoring vocalizations and rewarding quiet. I am really pleased with the progress Leo has made and will continue to slowly increase the amount of time I spend out of my office with the goal of eventually being able to leave him in his expen while I am in a meeting.


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