Toni is amazing at what she does! I got my dog Butter (now 2-year-old male, cockapoo) during the pandemic - December 2020 (he was 2 months old). My office had us working from home up until this past April 2022, so needless to say, I didn't leave Butter's side for quite some time and he had never really experienced me not being at home. As things slowly started to open up and I would leave home every now and then to spend time with friends and to head to work every so often, it became clear that Butter was not okay with being left alone. My other dog Waffles could not console him, and he would bark nonstop until he would tire himself out, fall asleep, and then wake up and start barking again until I would return home. Living in an apartment building, the neighbors were not too pleased with Butter's anxiety. I have worked with Toni for the past 3 months, and Butter has gone from following me if I took even 4 steps in the direction of the door, to a record of 46 minutes being left completely alone in my house! At the rate he is going at, he is sure to be able to reach an hour soon and even longer from there!
Toni is very calm, patient, and kind. I was nervous that Butter would not get past a few minutes of being alone with how difficult it was to leave him at first, but Toni figured out what his anxiety threshold was, and we were able to work slowly but surely from there. During one weekly assessment where Butter was so anxious that it didn't look like we could proceed with the assessment, she instead pivoted us to doing some down/stay exercises with Butter in his dog bed, so that he would get more in the habit of staying in a down/relaxed state in a comfy dog bed and not feel the need to stand up and follow. She also teaches you what behaviors to watch that would show if your dog is feeling anxious or stressed, which I had originally attributed to being normal dog behavior (for example yawning).
Toni is also very honest with you. She let me know that separation anxiety is not something that can be solved overnight, but is more of a marathon, and there are a lot of different steps and considerations to be able to help your dog through the process. Regarding medication for Butter to help with the anxiety, she provided me a lot of different articles on medication in dogs and also wanted to listen to my opinion/thoughts on different treatment, so that I could come to a decision myself on how I wanted to proceed medicine-wise. Separation anxiety training can be very costly, and Toni understands that and isn't trying to work in her best interest but in the best interest of the pet. After two months of working with Toni, she asked me how I would like to proceed with training vs. trying to convince me that I needed to continue the training process with her. I wanted to do one more month with Toni to help me feel more comfortable with the training and making sure I had a better gauge of how much to push Butter vs. when he needs to have an easier training day before going alone. Even now that Butter has graduated, she let me know that she is still very easily reachable should I have any questions in the future or should anything pop up as I progress through solo training.
If you have a dog with separation anxiety, Toni Clarke is the best person to help! read more