Hi there this is Krista with episode #135 on the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. have you checked out all of the amazing partner products that I highly recommend? These are products that I have tried and can recommend that will help your dog to thrive. Just go to wagoutloud.com and check out the Partner Products section, and I've negotiated discounts for most of them, so why not see what can make a difference in your dog's life? Many veterinarians believe that 80% of all chronic diseases in pets can be traced back to poor digestion and an unhealthy gut. So what are you doing to improve your dog's gut health? Welcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast, where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode. Master Dog Trainer, Toriano Sanzone, has been training Professionally for 21 years. Toriano Sanzone founded DOPA DOGS in 2001 which became Sanzone School of Dog Training which finally became Wolfkeeper University. Wolfkeeper University has trained thousands of Dogs all around the world and has worked with some of the Greatest Dog Trainers in the World.  Hello dog lovers and welcome to another informative episode of The Wag Out Loud pawdcast. Let's all learn something new from today's guest, Toriano Sanzone, and he is going to be chatting about velcro dogs, and how to address separation anxiety. Toriano thanks so much for being with us today. Thank you. How are you, Krista? I am good. And I'm excited to have you teach us more about separation anxiety. So why don't you introduce yourself because you are an expert and tell us why you're so passionate about training dogs and about dog behavior in general. I am super passionate about training dogs, primarily because I've been training dogs and exposed to dogs since I was four years old. That's important because why are you so intuitive, like I was pushed into it. my mom raised Afghan hounds back in 1978 in Illinois, we had four of them. That's a very challenging dog acting down dog, what I grew up with. So always from ‘78 till when I professionally started training dogs in 2000. Just seeing how you can transform a person's life. I see that the dog manifestation that's going on in the person's world and just just the magic the dog brings as human beings and I've seen so many case stories and miracles I could talk about forever and why I love helping people train their dogs to be great canine good citizens. And you are the wolf keeper. I am the wolf keeper! I love it. Well, I think this is so timely because obviously we've been living through this pandemic and things are kind of getting back to normal but that means that instead of spending 24/7 with our dogs that we've been doing over the past year, we are leaving them alone again for longer periods of time and many dogs are freaking out with separation anxiety. So I think this statistic is probably old but I heard that 13% to 18% of dogs show signs of separation anxiety and it's diagnosed in 20% to 40% of dogs that are referred to behavioral specialists like yourself. Is that still the case? Or do you think there's more dogs suffering from this? Wow that's that's interesting source. Yeah, I would say that is higher. you know that those percentages just primarily because one due to the pandemic, I know the dog industry went up by 300%. So now is this pandemic puppy and it's not that hard to create separation anxiety in the dog. I would be as bold to say that close to 50% to 60% of dogs in America have some form of separation anxiety. Okay, so you're working with this with clients every single day? I mean because primarily separation anxiety is really easy for that to happen to the animal. I mean so for example, just take the dog I'm dealing with right now. you know a person gets beautiful little Chow Chow puppy, who are some of the cutest little puppies in the world. is just a little ball of fur. Literally little bitty legs, stubby legs. And what was the first thing you want to do Krista? Is You want to pick it up and carry it. How can you not… Yeah, you want to cuddle that little thing. It’s like a little bear. but the thing that ends up happening is that, then the dog has pitocin levels, and all the different just chemicals that make a baby duck follow mama duck or why children, the little baby that reaches up. Pick me up, pick me up. It's so easy to create that into a dog as a puppy versus don't pick up the puppy is like who can't pick up a puppy. That's so mean cruel. Exactly. Like I really pick them up don't pick them up all the time. That's impossible. So what ends up happening is that it’s kind of like the entryway to separation anxiety. I was at a party on Tuesday were my close friend of mine, close to 20 years. His wife said I have someone that's going to dog sit and that’s going to sleep in the bed with my two pitbulls when I’m not here. and she is she meant that 100%. 100,000% she meant that. So what ends up happening is that when does a dog get kicked out to bed? so if you're a single person, the dog might get kicked out because now you're engaged with another dog owner. the dogs starts saying know what? If I'm kicked out the bed I'm gonna cry. You know whine. Some dogs they're not going to cry or whine kick me out the bed. I'm gonna go pee on the carpet. Some dogs say I'm gonna pee on your pillow. some dogs say. I'm gonna pee and bark. Some dogs are gonna pee, bark, and poop. Yeah. And vomit. You know, I'm gonna pee, bark, poop, vomit, and I'm going to bite whatever I perceive to be kicking me out of the bed. You know. So there’s different levels to the separation anxiety and it really doesn't take much for the dog to get there. Yeah. So are you saying essence that much of this behavior is because we have allowed this to happen? this codependent relationship to form in the first place? Absolutely. One of my mentors, who I super love, Cesar Millan told me directly to my face one time he said, people they love their dogs and they don't understand dog psychology. You know so, dog psychology says that a dog needs its own den. So that cute little, little gorgeous… I do not have a dog specifically in my head cuz I'm training to Chow Chow puppy right now. Even for me, it's so hard to resist wanting to pick this puppy up and put him inside the crate, put them inside of his kennel, but he has to live inside of his kennel because then the dog says hey, you know what? When you go to work, I'm going to go inside my condo. Meaning when you have company over I'm going to go inside of my condo. You know when we travel in the car, I'm going to travel, not just in the car when we're traveling inside the condo which is inside with the car because thing I tell people the only thing that will be consistent in your dog's life. No matter where you travel, no matter who you bring into the household. No matter how many animals you bring into the household, will be their dog crate. Most dogs aren't crated. people have tons of aversions to crating their dogs. I've heard literally every possible reason why not to crate the dog. It just doesn't take much for the dog to be dependent upon codependent upon following you around the house or wanting to be picked up or sitting in the chair. Or sees you on the couch, because we've not intentionally methodically create space for the dog to be independent. Yup. When a puppy is born, is this already in their DNA? Is this an instinct that they have? That you know they want to stay with the pack? So when they are separated from the pack? That's when the separation anxiety is triggered? Is that right? That they're just born with this? Absolutely Krista. Yeah, absolutely so yeah, let's capitalize on that right there. So you take the oldest relationship between an animal and human is what? the wolf Wolf, right? So you go back to cave person throws bone over shoulder, wolf sniffs bone and eats bone. caveman throws bone a little bit closer. Wolf get a little bit closer caveman gets to the point where you test the wolf. And now cave person and wolf start to go out together. patrolling looking for more bones. Right? It’s that simple. At a certain point the cave person says hey, you know what? Let's intentionally train this wolf to help me gather more food. So the relationship between human and wolf was just strictly for food. Then it became food and hunting you know hunting what hunting other humans hunting, food hunting for truffles hunting for whatever, right? So then, but then at that time, all of a sudden, the beginning of the wolf all the way probably until like the early 80s. You know, the relationship between human and canine fast forward from wolf to actual canine was you know I call it the basement dog or the dad dog. The dog that lived outside. Like when the dog was in the basement dog or the dad dog that you know it definitely before this there weren't tons of doggy beds in the 80s. Now a dog bed is just as expensive as a human bed. , Now there wasn't doggy daycare .there wasn't dog parks. there wasn't dog cafes. there wasn't dog friendly hotels in the 80s. Are you kidding me? check in me and Rufus. You know now condos… our condo has a dog park and we have a dog grooming salon. You know, I'm the resident dog trainer, you know .so as the relationship with wolf to canine changed and the dog became more of a true family member, meaning as I was saying earlier, my friend Dee completely admitted, I want my dog to sleep in the bed with me, period. And when i go out of town, I want a dog nanny that's going to sleep in the bed with my dog. That's a requirement. She said I love you…this just happened Tuesday… I love you. Why don't I take care of your dog? Toriano, because I know you're going to put them in a crate. And when I leave, I want someone who's going to sleep in the bed with them and cuddle with them the way I do. So because of that the relationship has become so close between canines and human,s we're not we're just out hunting with them. And you're a piece of equipment that is strictly used to hunt the rabbit and we're not hunting the rabbit. They're out in the shack in the back of the farm, you know, living next door to the pigs and the cows. Now that same Beagle is living in a high rise and its name is Annabel and Annabel has a dog bed in the living room. And then one in the bedroom. You know and Annabel gets to sleep in the bed occasionally, if not all the time. And we'll go into doggy daycare. So all these different things that made the dog say hey, you know what, you do all these things for me. when you're not there, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna cry, I'm going to bark, right. Or if I associate the new baby with that reason that I’m not in the bed, then I'm going to maybe growl at that baby. or associate the new boyfriend and girlfriend with the reason why I'm not in the bed anymore. We're gonna bark and growl at them. Or if I associate you leaving the house, and leave me alone in this huge condo, to walk around by myself, when you come back, I'm going to destroy stuff, because you have trained me to be dependent upon you for everything. So that's why I would say separation anxiety, is pretty much I would say for sure. 50% dogs if not higher, because it would mean that a person understood dog psychology to a to a level that they would intentionally, not accidentally do anything that would create the anxiety in the dog that could be very costly and destructive, and life threatening to both that dog other dogs, other animals and humans. What a great point. Yeah, it is a different world on how we treat our dog. In fact, if I just interrupt you for a second. this just came to my mind. I can actually so I'll give you an example about a chow chow puppy that I have in training right now. That's like eight weeks old, right? But eight years ago, I trained a chow chow puppy and I told him, I told this woman, Hey, you know what, you're gonna have to really follow this to a tee because if separation anxiety enters this dog, it can become highly destructive, right? So fast forward, you know what would happen six years from now exact same conversation? the dog bit the mom really bad. Put about 20 stitches in her arm. Six years later from that same conversation I said you have to do everything to a tee, with this particular breed or really any breed, but specifically that breed because chow chows are some of the most dominant. Either, they're hunting dogs, they're fighting dogs, right? They have all that fur for when they fight, the other animal that is attacking them. They're not grabbing anything but fur. you have to really penetrate in order to get to their skin. That's how they were raised and developed. So but the dog bit the mom because that same client that I met six years ago, I saw that dog go from a puppy to where it was just the woman that was single, too. I watched her get the boyfriend. the boyfriend became the fiancee. then the fiancee became the husband. And they went from being newlyweds, to parents, all those different transitions. The dog finally said, Hey, you know what? It used to be just you and me. Lisa. Those days are gone. So when the mom came into the house, the dog’s like, Oh, no, I dealt with this guy. Who used to come around that went from a boyfriend to a fiancee to a husband and now a dad. Follow me? boyfriend, fiancee, right? Newlyweds, dad, right? What happened to our relationship? It was just you and I, Mom, right? And now there's this little creature walking around that was in your belly …because my sense of smell is 300:1. I know the day that he was conceived. Right? I know that it was in your belly. Right? And that's a potential threat too to me now because your body chemicals are changing. your estrogen levels are changing right? The things that made me want to follow you around now are changing. I don't recognize that smell. Oh wow now you just brought the thing that made that smell happen home? and now it's him? and that ,oh wait who is she coming into the household? Oh heck no, I can't do all this! Well, Toriano I'm gonna stop you right there so we can take a quick commercial break. I want to continue this story we're on a good roll here so we will be right back. 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