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Well, hello there and welcome to another episode of the Fixing Separation Anxiety Podcast.

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I'm your host, Julie Naismith, and this week, well, if you have a dog who you've recently

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adopted who you got from a shelter or a rescue or a foster organization, then you need to

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tune in because if your rescue dog isn't settling in, is struggling when you leave, this episode

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is for you.

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I'm going to share my top five tips for helping your rescue dog get over his anxiety at being

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left.

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But before we dive in, let me tell you about my book, Be Right Back, because Be Right Back

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is being bought by tons of owners and so many of them are getting results by following the

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training that I outline in Be Right Back.

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So if you haven't grabbed your copy yet, you need to do so.

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Head over to Amazon, read the reviews, check them out because I think you're going to find

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this book is just what you're looking for if you're struggling to know where to start

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with training, how to craft a training plan, what to say to your friends and family who

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think you're crazy for doing this.

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So head over to Amazon where you can find Be Right Back, my brand new book.

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So let's dive into this week's episode.

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Hello and welcome to the Be Right Back Separation Anxiety podcast.

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Hi, I'm Julie Naismith, dog trainer, author and full on separation anxiety geek.

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I've helped thousands of dogs overcome separation anxiety with my books, my online programs,

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my trainer certification and my Separation Anxiety Training app.

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And this podcast is all about sharing my tips and tricks to help you teach your dog

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how to be happy at home alone too.

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So tell me, have you adopted a dog recently or maybe not so recently, only to find out

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that they aren't settling in quite as you'd hoped, not quite as you'd imagined?

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Well stay tuned because we're talking about how to get your rescue dog, how to get that

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newly adopted dog of yours to be comfortable and happy home alone.

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Okay, so let's talk about dogs with, adopted dogs who aren't quite settling in.

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One thing I think that immediately springs to mind, if you have a dog that you've rescued

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or adopted, you immediately come to the conclusion that, and then they're not settling in.

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You immediately conclude, well maybe that's just a thing.

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Maybe rescue dogs, adopted dogs are never going to settle in.

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Maybe that's just more common for dogs with a history, an unknown history or a difficult

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or problematic history to have separation anxiety.

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So do rescued or adopted dogs have more of a tendency to have separation anxiety than

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other dogs, dogs from a breeder for example?

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There is some data which seems to suggest that if a dog has been adopted later in life,

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they are more prone, a little bit more likely to have separation anxiety.

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However, we need to unpick that and reflect, does that, does a dog get adopted or given

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up or surrendered because they have separation anxiety and the owners can't cope?

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Or was it the process of moving homes, of getting a new family, did that actually cause

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the separation anxiety?

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And it can be difficult to tell and here's why.

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Okay, so back to that point, are dogs who have been adopted, do they have separation

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anxiety, is that why they were relinquished or did the relinquishment cause the separation

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anxiety?

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If you think about dogs who are relinquished to a shelter, when an owner comes in they

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will be asked, why are you relinquishing this dog?

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Some surveys suggest that owners like to conceal the reason, other surveys suggest

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that owners are fairly transparent, so it's kind of a bit mixed as to whether owners are

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totally up front about their dog's condition or not and you can kind of see why if you

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are relinquishing a dog, you might not be totally honest about your dog's condition,

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but I'm not saying by any means that owners who relinquish their dog lie about their dogs

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because often time with separation anxiety, what we see is that owners don't always know,

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they haven't had the note from neighbours, they haven't been aware that their dog barking

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all day is anything unusual, remember that not everybody works out that a dog who destroys

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when they are at home has separation anxiety, so I'm sure there are dogs that are going

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into shelters or going into a rescue organisation who have separation anxiety and the owners

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just don't know about it.

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There are probably some dogs going into a foster rescue or shelter who have separation

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anxiety but the owners are being a bit cagey about it and then we may have dogs who do

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become anxious at being left because of the change in situation, either kennel life has

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stressed them out or just changing homes has caused stress, so changing homes can be a

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big factor in a dog developing separation anxiety, so it's hard to say whether dogs

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are much more prone if they've gone through that and what's causing it, is it cause or

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is it effect, were they relinquished for their anxiety or did their relinquishment

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cause anxiety, anyway it is what it is, if you have a dog you've adopted and it has separation

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anxiety all of that kind of doesn't matter now because the dog is in front of you and

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you're trying to work with the separation anxiety.

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So let me talk about my top 5 tips, the first thing is don't panic, tip number 1, I know

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it sounds obvious but don't panic just because in those first few nights or first few weeks

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even your dog doesn't seem to be settling, it goes without saying and I know you know

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this but this is a whole new different environment for your dog so it isn't really surprising

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if your dog seems unsettled and weirded out, however there's also kind of a gut feel reaction

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that I'm sure you've had where you think yeah but I feel like this is going on a bit too

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long and that's when you then go to number 2, my tip number 2, so if you've got a dog

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who doesn't seem to be settling and you are just starting to think no this seems like

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it's not kind of just normal adjusting, so tip number 2, continue to give them time and

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in that time don't let your dog, don't leave your dog to howl it out or bark it out or

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chew it out thinking that it will resolve and your dog will settle in because all adopted

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dogs eventually settle in, so if you have a suspicion that your dog isn't settling the

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answer isn't to force your dog to settle by leaving them to get on with it, go gently

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with them, test out some absences and just see how they deal, don't force them into long

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absences that they are not yet comfortable with and then number 3, start some home alone

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training, I would love it if with puppies, adopted dogs, any dog that's new to our home

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we prioritise home alone training in the way that we prioritise house training, even with

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5 year old rescued dogs who we've been told are completely house trained, we're all a

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bit nervous when they first come home aren't we, we're all a bit, watch them, don't let

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them out of our sight, let's make sure that they are truly house trained, so we don't

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take house training for granted nor should we take home alone training for granted, dogs

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are naturally social, they love being with us, most dogs are disappointed when we leave

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if not anxious, so I really wish that on the list of things that we have to do when we

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bring a dog home, I wish on that list we had home alone training and what does that look

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like, it means gradually building up the time that your dog can handle, it means that first

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day you get your dog you don't leave them for even half an hour, I probably would say

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even less than that, test out, see if your dog's ok, leave them for seconds and then

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minutes and then multiple minutes, go easy on them, gradually show them that this is

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their new home, that you go and you come back and that it's safe and that they are here

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and that they are going to settle and love it but don't take for granted that they are

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going to be ok, teach them how to be home alone, then the fourth thing, although I said

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start home alone training and don't expose them to too much alone time, don't throw them

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in at the deep end, I do want you to balance time with them and time without them, one

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thing that can definitely happen with newly adopted dogs is their world because it's been

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turned upside down, their world is made better when they make a connection with one or two

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really significant people, some dogs when they are new to a home will attach to one

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or two people but really strongly, in not a very helpful way, in a way that actually

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stops you feeling like you are ever going to be able to leave this dog, so I want you

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to comfort the dog, be there for your newly adopted dog but don't do that at the expense

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of other people getting involved, even if that's friends, even if that's day care or

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dog walker, I don't want you to be the sole focus when you first adopt, now if you've

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already gone through the issue of hyperattachment, your dog has latched on to you, you're the

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only person that will do and it's very common to don't think you've done anything wrong,

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I want you to focus on building out their circle of trust, so that's my tip number five,

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use friends, family, dog walkers, day care people, get other people involved in fun and

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care so that gradually your dog realises it's not all about you, get them comfortable with

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a wider circle of people so that the pressure is off you and then when you are training

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you know that all the other times that you're not training you can suspend absences and

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your dog isn't going to be over threshold just because they're at day care, because

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remember if they're really super attached to you, if they are not with you, they're

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over threshold, so work on expanding their circle of trust so that when they're not with

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you they're doing fine, now the key thing about all of this is time and patience, time

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and patience, patience in the training, patience in the way you gradually teach them to be

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home alone, time and patience and it's true for any issue that your newly adopted dog

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might have, time and patience are going to be the key and remember if you're thinking

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about getting an adopted dog, if you've just adopted a dog, lots of adopted dogs, probably

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most adopted dogs settle happily in and never show any long-term signs of anxiety, so don't

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panic, don't let this thought, the thought of a rescue dog with separation anxiety put

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you off, do know that most dogs will eventually learn to settle in your new home and by the

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way thank you for adopting and thank you for thinking of adopting.

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Well that's it from me this week, thank you so much for listening, I know you have a ton

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of options when it comes to listening, so I really, really appreciate you tuning in,

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now if you're liking my podcast I would love it if you'd head over to the Apple Podcast

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Store and rate and review the podcast, that would mean so much, meanwhile don't forget

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to check out my book on Amazon, the book is Be Right Back or you can just go straight

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to this link and I've linked to it in the show notes, mybook.to forward slash be right

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back, that's mybook.to forward slash be right back, alright happy training and I look forward

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to seeing you online somewhere soon.

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Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Be Right Back Separation Anxiety Podcast,

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if you want to find out more about how I can help you further, head over to julienaysmith.com,

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meanwhile if you enjoyed listening today I would love it if you would head over to wherever

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you listen to your podcasts and consider rating my show, thanks so much, good luck with that

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training and bye for now.

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www.julienaysmith.com