It's vital that you have eyes on your dog when you leave the house.
The most important part of separation anxiety training is knowing exactly how your dog is responding to alone time. Without eyes on your dog, we can't know whether they're going over threshold—pacing, whining, scratching at the door—or peacefully napping on the couch, as calm as can be. And if your dog isn't under threshold, the training isn't going to work.
There are plenty of technological solutions to this problem, all with their own pros, cons, and varied price points. Here are the ones we recommend to clients.
The Cheap Option: Your Laptop/Tablet + Video Conferencing Software
Don't want to buy anything new? You can use Zoom/Skype and two of your existing devices. You'll want to set up one device in the house near where your dog is likely to hang out during training. Often that means looking at the couch or the dog's bed, or potentially looking at the door, if you know your pet tends to follow during training. If you can get a wide angle of the whole room, even better. Then just begin a Zoom or Skype session between your laptop/tablet/extra phone and the phone you'll be using while training. You'll want to hide your own video and mute your audio to keep from distracting your dog, and lower the volume on your dog's device to prevent any echo, but make sure the Zoom audio is on for your dog's device so you can hear them if they vocalize.
During live sessions with your trainer, log into the Zoom with both devices so your trainer has eyes on your dog as well as a way to talk to you once you leave the house.
The Upgrade Option: A Dedicated Webcam
If you want something you can set up once and then forget about, a dedicated webcam is the way to go. Wyze makes excellent cameras for affordable prices, and unlike a laptop or tablet, you can turn and adjust them if your dog moves. Wyze offers recording, which is particularly important if you want to send video to your trainer for review.
An extra-cheap option is the YI camera, which goes for only $17 on Amazon. We haven't tested it but it comes highly reviewed, although it looks like you can't rotate it within the app like you can the Wyze, so if your dog moves mid-mission you are out of luck.
A dog-specific camera like the Furbo works too, but many of them require a subscription. You won't be using any of the treat-tossing functionalities (and you won't need bark alerts because you'll be watching the whole time), so we don't find they're worth the extra cost for separation anxiety training.
During live training sessions with your trainer, you'll still want two devices. Log into your web cam app on your laptop (turn your laptop audio down to avoid echo) and share your screen so that your trainer can see your dog, then add your phone to the Zoom so your trainer can talk to you.
If You Have an Old Phone You Aren't Using
If you have an old phone that's been sitting in a drawer, you can give it a new purpose: use a pet cam app like Barkio, Dog Monitor ($7), or AlfredCam to watch your dog through it. Beware that some of the free apps include ads, though!
Again, during live sessions with your trainer, you'll want to be able to share your screen or otherwise allow your dog trainer to log into the feed so that they can monitor your pet's body language in real time.
Ready to get started with separation anxiety training? Book your first session with us today.
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