There's no doubt that separation anxiety training has a technical side to it and that's a good
thing but I know it can also seem overwhelming and also costly.
So in today's episode I want to talk to you about why tech is so important in separation
anxiety training, heck what do I even mean by tech and what are your options, quick easy
cheap ways to get started.
Hello and welcome to the Be Right Back separation anxiety podcast.
Hi I'm Julie Naismith, dog trainer, author and full on separation anxiety geek.
I've helped thousands of dogs overcome separation anxiety with my books, my online programs,
my trainer certification and my separation anxiety training app.
And this podcast is all about sharing my tips and tricks to help you teach your dog how
to be happy at home alone too.
So 10 years is a long time in technology isn't it?
Can you think back to 10 years ago?
Lots of us still had iPods, remember iPods?
Doesn't that seem like something from the distant, not even the distant past but like
from a lifetime before.
So we had iPods, iPhones had sort of come out but some people had them, some people
didn't.
Facebook was like maybe a couple of years old, Instagram hadn't started, heck it was
just such a different world.
So tech evolved, it evolved so quickly, we know that.
When I first started trying to get my dog Percy over separation anxiety we had, oh such
awful awful experiences with tech, fun and games.
Actually I say we, my husband will be listening to this going it wasn't we, it was me darling.
It was definitely trying.
What we were attempting to do was we were trying to see how Percy was when we left,
when we did the departure training and of course the only way we can do that, you know
that now, is to have a camera on him and it seems really obvious now, we've all got cameras
on our phones, we've got cameras on computers, tiny tiny little lenses that produce amazing
pictures and videos but even 10 years ago things were very different.
We decided that a webcam was the absolute best approach and it's kind of hard to describe
why it was so difficult because now you plug in a webcam and the next minute the app is
on your phone and you're looking at your dog.
But 10 years ago the problem that we had was looking at a webcam in our house while we
were out.
It was really difficult to find the technology that allowed that, it just wasn't as prevalent.
Not only was it not prevalent, it was really expensive so we did have to invest in kit
that now I look at it and think, in fact I saw it the other day as we were doing a big
clear out and that's what prompted this episode because I found this gigantic camera, we called
it Percy Cam, doesn't everybody call their camera after they had a hug?
We called it Percy Cam and it's this gigantic thing and I look at it now and remember how
expensive it was but also not just how expensive it was but how unreliable it was.
The picture was kind of meh, it was okay, it was a bit like those, you know when you
watch those crime shows or those investigation real life true story things and they bring
up CCTV picture from about 20 years ago, it was a bit like that, it was grainy and you
could sort of make out a dog and it was crackly and then the picture would go so it was unreliable.
It was really low tech compared to what we've got now and it was expensive but it did help
so we did persevere with it or rather my husband would say I persevered with it, what do you
mean you didn't persevere?
And it does change separation anxiety training because once upon a time before we had the
ability to watch dogs, we would either record them, so that was the precursor to watching
dogs live, we'd record the session and then watch it back which is terrible because we
need to know how the dog is in that moment, not afterwards, so we'd either record the
dog or we'd do crazy stuff like try and you know peek through letterboxes or look through
the window without the dog seeing us or we would just wait until the dog reacted and
actually the latter is the worst, worst way of training and you still hear some people
say that now, you know that whole thing about you go out and you come back, you go out and
you come back.
Lots of trainers will still say you go out until the dog reacts, until the dog starts
to get close to being anxious and then you come back.
The problem with doing that is your dog is always on the edge, so you're training right
up to the edge of your dog's threshold, your dog isn't learning that being home alone is
okay, it's learning that it's a bit of a white knuckle ride actually, so tech has been a
game changer for separation anxiety training, that's why I'm so passionate about it and
in 2020 we are so lucky with the options that we've got, I can't believe the difference
in prices, I mean it's true isn't it, you look at the laptops that you buy now compared
to the ones you bought 10 years ago and there is no comparison in terms of power and speed
and so on and the same has happened with webcams, they're more reliable, they're more readily
available and the big difference is it's much, much easier to watch your, to look at your
app and see your dog on it, it's kind of really complicated as to why you couldn't do that
10 years ago but I wouldn't even bother going there but now we can do that easily, however
I know it's still an investment and I know it's still a bit of a hassle so let's talk
through some of your easier and cheaper options to get you started. The very first thing and
actually we did this while we were trying to play around with PercyCam but the very
first thing you can think about doing is you can think about doing a video call to yourself
so you only need two operating devices for this, so if there's two of you in the household
and you've both got smartphones or if it's just you and you've got a smartphone and a
laptop or a tablet and a phone that's all you need, you just need two active devices
with cameras on and as it sounds video call, you are going to video call yourself so you
could use FaceTime, you could use Zoom, you could use Skype, you could use any number
of the new video conferencing software and apps that have come out in 2020 because there
are a ton of them now and you're going to do a call, you've got you number one and you
number two, two different devices, call the two devices, one of those devices is going
to be focused on your dog, the other one's going to be in your hand and you're going
to be able to see your dog as a participant essentially, your home alone dog is participating
in this Zoom call and you're looking at your screen as you as a participant in the conference
as you go out of the door. So that's the number one easiest way to get started, you
just need two active devices and a free video conferencing app and you are good to go.
The second option is if you've got, sometimes this is the case right, we've got that device
in the back of the drawer that we kept meaning to take to recycle because we know we shouldn't
put old phones in the bin but we've never got around to it, if you can get a charge
in that phone, you can use an app such as a nanny cam type app or a baby monitor type
app or a dog monitor type app, there's plenty of them on the Apple Store or on the Play
Store, just Google nanny app, dog monitor app, a lot of them are free up to a certain
limit on functionality but they'll certainly get you started. The great thing about having
an old device, the device you kept meaning to recycle but now it's coming really handy
is you can keep it set up and I really like that, I like having a device that's ready
to go when you need it rather than a device that requires a bit of effort so maybe it's
you and your partner and you have to ask your partner for her phone and she's using it and
it's like blah blah blah but if you've got an old device that you just fire up, it charges,
you can connect it to your Wi-Fi, you are good to go. Check out the apps, lots of them,
I won't go through a list and some of them are free, some of them are paid but even the
paid ones are not incredibly expensive so that's definitely a good option for getting
started quickly. And the third option and I love this option because it is the simplest of all
is to have a dedicated camera, is to go and buy a webcam. You'll see them called webcams,
security cams, net cams, there's lots of different names for them but it's a dedicated camera
that's going to connect into an app of some sort. It could be the camera device's own app
or it could just link straight into your laptop. Those are my preferred options because you can
just leave it and forget about it and we know that with separation anxiety training, with any
difficult change and separation anxiety training is like losing weight or getting fit, it's hard
work, you have to do it often and there's lots of excuses. So what I love about having a camera
set up is that's one less excuse. The great news is you can get these for a fraction,
about a tenth of the price of what we were paying 10 years ago. So no they're not cheap,
they're still you know 20 to 30 US dollars, maybe 20 or so pounds but they are great
kit. They work, they're reliable, the picture's good and you have always got them ready to go.
So those are kind of my three favorite options. The first one, video call. As long as you've got
two devices you could be doing that immediately. The second one, get an old device and set it up
as a camera, as a surveillance camera, as a nanny cam, dog cam. Third option, go and buy a dedicated
camera. Obviously the first two are your cheapest, the third one is the easiest because once you're
up and running with that you're good to go. But whatever you decide to do, do really think about
technology. It's almost impossible, no it is impossible to do separation anxiety training
correctly without being able to look at your dog when you go out. I'd almost say don't start it
until you've got the tech set up. Okay so if you've got any more questions about this,
I highly recommend that you jump into my free Facebook group because this question of cameras
and tech comes up all the time. And if you want to find out a specific model of camera
for the country that you're in, jump into the search bar, type your country, type camera
and you'll find a gazillion threads pop up with recommendations. Other than that, crack on with
the training. You have got this. There is hope for getting your dog to be comfortable home alone
and I'm going to be with you every step of the way. All right, that's it from me.
I'll catch you online soon.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Be Right Back Separation Anxiety Podcast.
If you want to find out more about how I can help you further, head over to julienaysmith.com.
Meanwhile, if you enjoyed listening today, I would love it if you would head over
to wherever you listen to your podcasts and consider rating my show.
Thanks so much. Good luck with that training and bye for now.