Coaching practices for How to Handle Separation Anxiety in Puppy

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Handle Separation Anxiety in Puppy, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • We leave and come home with barely a glance
  • The instant it hits in a store or a meeting, the only thought is get out now
  • I’ve got all these little rules that keep me okay
  • When it gets too intense I just shut down and walk off to cool down
  • I can only do certain things if a particular person comes with me

Practices that may help

  1. Ritualize hellos and goodbyes
    Make greetings and departures a deliberate, warm full-stop rather than background noise.
    Secure-Functioning Relationships
  2. Stay in the situation for the full arc
    Leave only after the attack has peaked and begun to subside — not in the middle, no matter how strong the urge.
    Panic Surfing
  3. Drop the safety behaviors
    Let go of the small avoidances and crutches you use to feel "safe" from anxiety.
    The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
  4. Withdrawer: signal presence before retreating
    Before you need to step back, tell your partner you are coming back.
    The Pursuer-Withdrawer Cycle, Explained
  5. Fade reliance on a support person
    Gradually enter feared situations with decreasing support from a person who has been a source of safety.
    Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
  6. Regulate the anxious protest response
    For anxious activation, soothe the alarm before acting on the urge to pursue or test.
    Attachment Theory, Made Usable
  7. Stay in the situation until anxiety drops
    Remain in the feared situation long enough for distress to fall — leaving early teaches the wrong lesson.
    The Fear Ladder: Graded Exposure Made Practical
  8. Fade reassurance-seeking
    Gradually reduce how often you seek reassurance from others that the feared thing won't happen.
    Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
  9. Gradually drop safety behaviors
    Safety behaviors (a phone, a companion, a pill) reduce distress in the moment but prevent the learning that exposure is meant to produce.
    The Fear Ladder: Graded Exposure Made Practical
  10. Plan behavior management strategies in advance
    Decide how you will respond to predictable problems before they happen.
    Triple P Parenting (Matthew Sanders)

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