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Course Objective:
To provide participants with the critical thinking skills necessary to collect and analyze the diverse background information that contributes to the equally diverse problem behaviors collectively known as Separation Anxiety (SA).
Course Description:
Although aggression cases often carry more cachet because of the element of danger inherent in them, cases involving separation anxiety displays may pose much greater challenges for behavioral consultant and client alike. The course opens with a brief discussion of these challenges, chief among which is the lack of any definitive definition of separation anxiety. Using case histories, participants explore each element of the general history as it relates to SA. What can the client’s address, the dog’s age, breed, reproductive status, greeting behavior, and eating and play habits tell us about this animal’s potential for SA and how best to approach it? Participants then consider a protocol for the analysis of problem SA behaviors that can be applied regardless of what specific behavior(s) the dog displays. The course concludes with a discussion of how various elements gleaned from the background history contribute to the specific SA behaviors displayed by the animals in the sample cases, as well as SA variations that may occur in other human-canine households.
Methods
Prior to the first session, participants will receive three different SA case histories that will serve as the core of this discussion-based course, as well as notes describing each element of the history as it relates to SA. During the course, participants will compare and contrast the information in each element of the case histories with that in the other two. Additionally they will analyze this information with an eye toward answering two questions:
How might this element contribute to this animal’s SA?
What additional information relative to this element, if any, would be helpful?
This course is the pre-requisite course for Order Out of Chaos II, which will address the treatment of separation anxiety.
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