Separation Anxiety Training Program in Chicago

How the Program Works

Through a series of one-on-one training sessions with you, we provide the strategies and knowledge to build your dog's confidence while alone. The number of sessions will be customized based on your specific needs and whether there are other challenges you are trying to address. For most dogs, there would likely be a minimum of eight sessions. We can always add more if we need to do so.
We recommend that we come to your home unless you live outside of our travel radius. This helps us see your home environment and how to best remedy any challenges that may be contributing factors. If your home is not an option, we can also talk through Zoom. The first step is to book a Dog Diagnostic assessment with one of our trainers. This helps the trainer identify the best path moving forward so they can make the best set of recommendations possible. If you live in our travel radius, we strongly recommend this assessment happen at your home. Otherwise, we can conduct the assessment via Zoom or at our training facility. We will teach you and your dog some very fun and easy games and exercises designed to create calm behaviors, make your departures less scary, and help overcome nervous feelings. We will also make recommendations about a number of factors in your daily life that can create the most success. We normally prefer to meet once per week in order to review exercises and recommendations. This gives you time to implement strategies and practice exercises before our next session. Once you have the training recommendations in full swing, your trainer can reduce the frequency, such as once per month instead of once per week. It can be helpful to have these check-in meetings to touch base, ask questions, and get feedback. If medications are being used or considered, we can work closely with you and your vet to give our observations and help ensure they are having the desired effect. We can even join you at the vet if they are in our service area. The price includes access to our TrainTrack™ online portal, where you can easily access handouts, review your homework exercises and recommendations, log your progress, and upload videos to your trainer.
We only employ trainers who are professional, friendly, knowledgeable, problem solvers, and are committed to positive reinforcement methods. The price for our Separation Anxiety Program is:

• $175 per session
• $10 additional per session if we come to your home, plus any parking fees that we incur.

Don't try to go it alone - we can help you right away.

Positive Reinforcement Methods

Tucker Pup's only uses positive reinforcement methods. We do not use prong collars, choke chains, shock collars, poking, yelling, leash popping, or other aversive methods. Dominance can easily cause your dog to distrust you, and to only comply in order to avoid a negative outcome. This isn't truly learning, and can cause your dog's behaviors to become much worse.

Positive reinforcement is much more effective for creating long-term learning and a stronger relationship with your dog. Dogs love training when this style is being used, are much more responsive to their owners, and are much happier in general. In short, positive reinforcement gives you the best chance of success, and can be the fastest way to get results. If you are hesitant, please trust us on this one and feel free to ask us questions.

Positive reinforcement combines an encouraging tone of voice, clear instruction, relaxed body language, the use of rewards (e.g., treats, favorite toy), patience, and empathy.

If you are concerned about giving treats, keep in mind that they work very well for most dogs, you can phase them out at your discretion, and it is possible to use something else that your dog values, such as a favorite toy.

Neighborhoods We Serve