Separation Anxiety
Clare Humphreys shares her inspirational experience of dealing with her dog Luna’s anxiety and how it led to her developing a new business venture: Luna With Me
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una came into my life in July 2019 and I am so glad that she did. Like most owners, the puppy days were really tough. I remember crying in the shower because Luna would bark and cry whenever I was not with her and for a small dog she has a loud piercing bark! I did try to crate train her but she would bark the entire time, so spent many nights with earplugs in. Once I came down in the middle of the night to check on her and she had got herself into such a state. She was noticeably stressed and panting in-between continuous barking. The worst bit was that she had pooped in the crate and it somehow it ended up all over her - I will spare you the details! Ultimately the crate made her more anxious and she developed bad associations with it. So I tried a dog pen. She would spend short periods of the day in the area. I would give her treats, feed her in the pen and make it her own mini apartment. However, I would watch on the camera the moment I stepped outside, she would not eat and she developed a high jumping skill over the pen that could get her into the olympics. At the time, I was living alone and had just moved into my new home. I couldn’t go to the gym or to yoga classes. I felt like any kind of social life was over, without sounding too dramatic. I met with several dog sitters and eventually found an experienced dog sitter who had insurance for dog sitting. She would look after Luna and care for other dogs during the days I was at work. During that time the dog sitter would tell me that she would cry and try to escape, presumably to try and find me. 22 | Total Grooming Magazine
The specially designed Luna With Me dog beds provide support and comfort - using high grade upholstery and extra plump squishy bolster sides, to ensure that they don’t flatten quickly over time, unlike some dog beds.
I had not heard of separation anxiety before, nor did I know that it could affect some dogs so severely but I could see she was anxious only when I was leaving. She had become a super detective becoming noticeably anxious when I would put on my shoes or get my keys. I wanted to help her so I hired a dog behaviourist. We discovered that she had hyper-attachment to me - brilliant, my social life was definitively over! The first thing we needed to work on was to reset all negative memories of departure. Any cues of leaving would need to be reconditioned. For example, I would randomly put my shoes
