Ep 75: How to Crate Train Your Doodle Without Crying: Comfort Tips with Malena DeMartini Price (Part 2)

Does your Doodle cry in the crate—or avoid going in altogether? In part two of my conversation with world-renowned separation anxiety expert Malena DeMartini Price, we explore gentle, science-based ways to help your puppy or adult Doodle feel truly comfortable in their crate.

We break down how to tell the difference between protest and distress, when to use shaping vs. luring, and why crates should predict good things (not just you leaving).

And because timing matters, I’ll share how the crate comfort schedules inside Your Doodle’s Daily Schedule Blueprint™ show you exactly how long and when to use the crate by age—so you’re not guessing or pushing too fast.

💡 This episode is perfect if:

• You’ve tried “cry it out” and it backfired
• You’re juggling crate training with house training
• You want your Doodle to settle happily at night and during the day
• You’re tired of chaos and want calm routines

Key Takeaways

 ✅ Why forcing crate training can harm long-term comfort
 ✅ Puppy vs. adult strategies for introducing the crate
 ✅ How to use meals, toys, and naps to create positive associations
 ✅ How to spot distress vs. normal protest barking
 ✅ The Daily Schedule Blueprint™ crate schedules for building predictable routines

🎁 Exclusive Listener Discount:
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👉 Sign up here: thedoodlepro.com/missionpossible

💰 Use code doodleSA at checkout to claim your discount!

This course is a step-by-step, science-based program designed to help dogs overcome separation anxiety at their own pace — using Malena’s proven protocol.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
 “We followed Corinne’s crate comfort schedule from the Blueprint and the whining stopped in days. Total game-changer.”

👉 Want results like this? Grab Your Doodle’s Daily Schedule Blueprint™ now.

👉 Ready for calmer days with your Doodle?
Join the 10-Day Doodle Parent Challenge kicking off September 30th. In just a few minutes a day, you’ll learn simple, science-backed steps to help your Doodle settle and bring more peace into your home.

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Transcript

Transcript: Crate Training Comfort for Doodles (Part 2 with Malena DeMartini Price)

[00:00:00] Why Predictability Matters in Crate Training
Malena DeMartini Price: And so if we are gonna say every time we're gonna introduce something like, not great, which is us leaving, we're gonna put you in the crate.

Oh, I only go in here when it's a bummer.

I'm gonna resist it. Why wouldn't I like, no. If I run away from you then you can't leave. it's really important. And that logic goes very far in dog training,

don't only leash your dog at the park when you're about to leave. Either, tell them, inform them that something not fun is gonna happen. Okay, gotta go or whatever. And when I say tell them, it doesn't necessarily need to be verbal, but, using that verbal or visual cue.

Or don't always use it as a Okay. Always when the leash clips on at the park we're leaving, or at least there's something going on that's positive with that. And the same with the crate. if you're gonna go in the crate when the majority of time that we're leaving. You should at least get a veritable Disneyland of goodies in there so that it makes up for [00:01:00] us being gone for a bit.

Corinne Gearhart – The Doodle Pro®: Yes. And if your dog who usually enjoys whatever that treat is, doesn't eat in their crate, that's a clue.

Malena DeMartini Price: That's a clue. Yeah. That's a big clue.

Corinne: Do you have a different approach on the how to create some crate comfort with puppies versus adults? Or do you have the same approach for both?

Malena: That's a great question. And I'm gonna say yes sorta. Yeah, because it is a little bit of an, it depends, i've worked with a lot of both puppies and adult dogs, juveniles, et cetera. And what I've found is that some take to the crate very quickly and I'll explain how I typically do it.

And some don't. And so for those that don't, that need a little bit of adjustment, massaging of the protocol I wanna make that point upfront before I talk about the training process, [00:02:00] because we have to individualize. Any and all training to the dog in front of us. Yes. And so while I think it's super important that we look at standard operating procedures and how the majority of dogs would be acclimated to a crate or whatever behavior we're trying to teach.

Corinne: Just

Malena: Okay. But you might have to adjust that for your particular dog based on their body language, behavior breed specification, et cetera. Yes. So for me I will go about this one of two ways. And four. Puppies it. I am a little looser, if you will, about asking the puppies to go in because puppies are like, I will follow the treat and walk in.

They just, they have typically very little concern or they're following their noses and the smells of treats and things of that nature. Yes. For dogs that are juveniles or [00:03:00] adults, they can sometimes have some, a little bit of already reserved skepticism, like trait treat is in the back of a crate.

You're standing on the outside. And so for those scenarios, I oftentimes use, whether it's a clicker or a reward marker I start with, put your nose. Toward or into the space of the crate, you click get a reward. And then we up that criteria to one paw and the nose, and then it becomes the two front paws.

And slowly but surely the dog starts to enjoy the game of, Hey, if I put two paws and my nose forward in the crate, I get a just yummy treat. And over time we shape them to go in and it's become such a fun game that they enjoy it.

Then we can shape them from there.

Corinne: When you're doing the shaping with the slower process, when you're capturing that offering of the nose in and the pond, are there [00:04:00] treats in the crate that are encouraging them to try that to get it started?

Malena: So if this is the crate door, there's a treat literally one inch on the inside that they can just dip their nose in and grab Yeah. Without having to enter the crate. Once I get that sort of behavior of poking their nose in I will happily capture that without a treat in, on the inside of the crate so before you know it, you're putting a verbal cue on it or at least a, at least a hand cue of, pointing towards the crate or something like that. And obviously that can get into small details and technical aspects. But I will say, this is a funny thing that I always love to tell dog owners. When I used to teach, this sounds like a non-sequitur, but it's not.

When I used to teach, classes. I used to teach trick classes and I used to teach general manners classes and some reactivity classes and such. And on the first day of class, I used to just revel in the fact that people would come in [00:05:00] with their puppies or their adult dogs and they would say, look, my dog can roll over.

My dog can high five, my dog can sit and down and do all these things. First the hand signal, then the verbal don't click too early, don't click too late, feed for position.

There's so many rules and regulations, if you will, to get the most efficient and effective training methodology.

But your average owner is I don't know, I took some cookies out once we figured those out and they started to roll over and I gave him a cookie and now he does it every time I ask him to, so as much as there are some sort of precision elements of training and if you get stuck, then you want to consult a professional to help you with those sticky points.

But you know what, dogs are pretty amazing Yes. And pretty resilient. And they figure out what you're asking for if you're being a bit systematic about it.

Corinne: Yes. Your finesse doesn't have to be professional level. We're [00:06:00] the crates reward.

Malena: That's right.

Corinne: And that you're happy about it

Malena: Absolutely.

Corinne: Yeah.

Malena: make a caveat on that because you were asking about, one foot in, or one nose in is the treat in the crate first, et cetera. One of the reasons I train it that way, particularly for adult dogs, is I want to get entering the crate to be a really strong behavior, and then I can build up time in the crate.

But if I, and this is partially born of that fire experience. If there's an evacuation coming, I wanna be able to say, load up in your crate, and that dog runs in their crate. Not only because I need that expediency during an emergency situation, but also because.

That means they're comfortable enough to run in and lie down. Yes. We don't wanna go there.

Corinne: Yes. Perfect. So we're starting with either the pup is just coddling in and Ooh, there's something yummy in there.

Or we built up to them going in all the way [00:07:00] on their own terms by capturing and shaping and rewarding. Then what's the next step that you'd like to go to?

Malena: For puppies in particular, I love to feed meals in there.

There's a beautiful way that we can tie an interactive feeding toy so that if they want to take it out of the crate, it's tied to the back of the crate. So they're like okay, I'll just lie here and eat it. That works for me. Kongs are great for that, and there's other toys that are great for that too.

Because once they're comfortable eating and hanging out and we built up two to five or 10 minutes because they're settling with that food toy, we've made some tremendous progress with, without having to do really much of anything except for put that food in the crate.

Corinne: Yeah.

Malena: And that's mostly for puppies with adult dogs, particularly those that I've been trying to, carefully shape into going into the crate.

There's one last step, and that's [00:08:00] turnaround while in the crates.

And not exit the crate.

Corinne: Ooh, I like it.

Malena: Yeah. For those of you that geek out on some of this training stuff, yeah. It's, for many dogs, it's not super hard because they're gonna, if they go, when we get them to shape all the way into the crate and we drop a treat in the back of the crate, many of them will turn around to exit the crate.

And so we just reward as they turn around, drop a treat there, yay, we've got it. Some will back out. And those are the ones that we're like, okay, we've gotta, we've gotta play around with this one. And there's some fun little. Nuance things that we can do and that's not the majority of dogs, so I won't go down that rabbit hole.

But for once we've got the dog to turn around

Corinne: The crate,

Malena: I feel really strongly that we're doing similar things where we're feeding, whether it's a meal or those sorts of things. And ultimately, once we've done that, after with the door open or slightly [00:09:00] open, we're gonna take a few moments of, I'm gonna, I'm closing the door, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and the door is open.

And that is not with latching, that is literally withholding the door. Closed. You're standing there, no scary stuff is happening.

And we built up to where we can latch that crate door and they're happy and they're comfortable and it means nothing. So predictability is everything in a dog's world.

And we have to remember that sometimes if that something can predict nothingness, if you will. Like I'm holding the crate door that predicts nothing. I'm still standing here. Nothing bad happens, nothing great happens, but nothing bad happens really either. So that is an excellent way to acclimate to that.

And then we start to build duration and time in the crate puppies tend to be so great with this because they have such. physically [00:10:00] necessary nap times. Yes. And so you could say, oh, he's getting sleepy. I'm gonna throw that treat in the crate, or tell him to go load up in your crate.

He'll load up in there and turn around and do the eye wobble. And you're like, okay, here's a little stuff. Stuffed treat, or a little toy or whatever, and I'm gonna close the crate. While you literally physically are like unable to do anything other than nap because you're such a puppy.

Corinne: when you talk about the predictability, another pattern I see a lot are people using the crate only when they're leaving the house or when they're going to bed in a separate room.

And so when we're thinking about predictability. Like in my care, doodles get their meals in their crates. So for my food motivated pups, they're zipping right in there because they know, oh my goodness, it's mealtime. And if it's the opposite, then I'm [00:11:00] only sending you in your crate because I'm leaving.

That can be a setback with create comfort and training.

Malena: I'm so glad that you brought that up. And that is true whether the dog in front of you has some sort of separation related behavior issue or not.

Dogs are social creatures. Yes. And if we gave them a survey and we asked, would you prefer your people be home or not? I'm gonna guess we would get a 90 plus percent Yes. Success. Yes. On, I prefer my people to be home.

We're social creatures. And so realistically, when you leave, even if your dog is not suffering with separation anxiety, they're like, it's better when they're here,

Corinne: okay.

Malena: And so if we are gonna say every time we're gonna introduce something like, not great, which is us leaving, we're gonna put you in the crate.

Oh, I only go in here when it's a bummer.

I'm gonna resist it. Why wouldn't I like, no. If I run away from [00:12:00] you then you can't leave. it's really important. And that logic goes very far in dog training,

don't only leash your dog at the park when you're about to leave. Either, tell them, inform them that something not fun is gonna happen. Okay, gotta go or whatever. And when I say tell them, it doesn't necessarily need to be verbal, but, using that verbal or visual cue.

Or don't always use it as a Okay. Always when the leash clips on at the park we're leaving, or at least there's something going on that's positive with that. And the same with the crate. if you're gonna go in the crate when the majority of time that we're leaving. You should at least get a veritable Disneyland of goodies in there so that it makes up for us being gone for a bit.

Corinne: Yes. And if your dog who usually enjoys whatever that treat is, doesn't eat in their crate, that's a clue.

Malena: That's a clue. Yeah. That's a big clue. It's [00:13:00] interesting I don't think she wouldn't mind me mentioning her name and which, which may not mean much to a lot of your listeners, but Sandy Thompson, who I'm assuming you're very familiar with Yeah.

As an academy person had a dog that suffered from separation anxiety that I that I helped her with. And it was really interesting. That. This was a long time ago. It was at least 10 or 15 years ago. It was really interesting. She went to the vet because she was concerned if there was some other, medical issue.

And the vet gave her a questionnaire and it said, will your dog eat? When left alone? does your dog destroy things? Does your dog,

Six questions or something like that? And she checked yes. He does all these things. And then does he eat when left alone?

She said yes. And this was a long time ago. And the vet said, then obviously he doesn't have separation anxiety because he will eat when left alone. I always bring that up because I want people to know that yes, it is [00:14:00] a big hello, why is my dog no longer eating when I'm leaving?

But also I want people to not assume, just because their dog is chomping down on the peanut butter, treats and whatever else, that they are perfectly comfortable. And that's where cameras have been such a blessing in the last decade or so.

Corinne: I sometimes lose my appetite when I'm upset. Yes. And sometimes I can have a pint, a Ben and Jerry and still be upset. And so that could be a clue, but it's not defining.

Malena: That's right. Yes, that's right. So I have a really beautiful, sorry. It was a really beautiful video of a dog that shows perfect what we call conflicted motivation.

She is chomping down on her Kong with peanut butter and all the good things in it while whining and intermittently sharing at the door. And I just think, see, just because a dog is eating doesn't mean that they're [00:15:00] happy. with alone time anyway.

And with other behaviors too, but I want people to be aware of that.

Corinne: Yes. Perfect. And sometimes I'll see people with a very young pup get one of the little puppy congs and put food into it and say, my, that, I heard that trick and it's not working well Puppies are puzzle ready.

Malena: No, you are absolutely right. And some pups like they need those, whether it's a contour or something that like literally things spill out without any sort of interaction. And then they get inquisitive.

Corinne: yes,

Malena: don't stuff a frozen Kong for a puppet.

Corinne: Know what to do with it.

Malena: Yes. Not gonna know.

Corinne: So if your dog is not a wolf, which they're not, and they're not running into the crate because it's their den. Yeah. And they're not licking a frozen Kong. Your dog's not broken. No, they're normal. Yes. They're a domesticated dog. So I hear a [00:16:00] lot of puppy parents who bring home their new puppy.

The breeder said, make sure they sleep in the crate at night. That's the fastest way to. Make sure you're getting rest at night and not to have accidents in the house. And then we're telling pup parents to go easy and gently. It can feel conflicting of, I know I'm supposed to use a contained space so my pup isn't running around and messing all over the house and keeping a rest schedule, but I also know I'm supposed to go slow.

how do you help puppy parents navigate that?

Malena: Yeah, it's tricky. I love this question because we really are, as an industry, I'd say not we, meaning you and I, but as an industry we oftentimes send some conflicting messages like, go super slow, don't push, allow them to get acclimated, et cetera.

But don't ever, not. Have them outta the crate at night. I'm like, [00:17:00] whoa. So I have to go fast and slow all at the same time. How does that work? Yes. So I appreciate this question. I think some of it depends on what their, particularly for puppies, what their crate familiarity is when you bring them home.

And if we're talking about doodles hopefully we were looking at breeders that have acclimated them to some extent. To some crate time. And so this is not a completely foreign scenario for the pup when they come into the home. And we've touched a little bit on that sort of sleep wake cycle for puppies, they, when they're out. And oftentimes, yeah. At night, if they have had some acclimation to a crate from the breeder at night, we can put that crate as close as possible to the bed, in my personal opinion.

That's where it should be. and if they're struggling, then it should be on a table that is level to the bed

Stand your work with that little top [00:18:00] IAnd. So that they can see, smell and potentially even, touch our fingers through the crate if we need to.

That's where the gradual nature comes in, right? Some pep will come home and they're ready to just crush for most of the night in their crate, because that's what they learned in their in their breeding home.

But we have to individualize that for the pup in front of us. Now I think it's important that we all remember that alone time, or being alone or rather alone time. Comfort is a learned skill.

Which is different than sleeping in a crate at night.

There's, mom, dad, whomever the partners are there. With the pop, it's downtime. Everyone's tired and sleeping and it's dark and all the. Things that set pops up for success to sleep well at night in a crate or otherwise in a pen or something. During the day when we add in confinement [00:19:00] with daylight with, I've got some energy to let out.

Yes. And I have to run to the grocery store. So I'm gonna pop you in your crate and get out of the house. We've got a lot of contributing factors that make it very different than going to bed and all of us sleeping at night. Yes. And so that is where I wanna remind people that alone time comfort, or alone time, relaxation is a learned skill.

And dogs don't come out of the box, huh? No pun intended. Just knowing how to be alone, right? And so I really recommend that we gradually introduce them to alone time. And one of the most common things that you'll hear is puppies cry. Puppies will cry.

Corinne: And

Malena: There's some truth to that, right? They whine because the toy, they can protest. Yeah. They can protest. Yeah. There's stuff that they're gonna, they're gonna have some words to say about but if that [00:20:00] crying, let's call it whining, et cetera, goes beyond a certain point where there's obvious audible signs of concern, distress panic.

We are doing our dogs as a disservice if we're like, he'll get over it, give them another 15 or 20 minutes. We're not only doing 'em a disservice from a helping them acclimate to being alone. We're doing them a disservice emotionally and physi physiologically too, because that kind of distress impacts them as pups or as an adult dog too.

Corinne: And how would you describe the difference between a puppy or a adult dog barking at a protest versus distress?

Malena: I actually would love this question. You're not putting me on the spot because I'm not gonna do my best dog whining and try and say, this sounds like that. And that sounds like this, right? Quite the opposite. As a matter of fact, what we need to look at is what is the dog's, [00:21:00] puppies in particular, what is their overall body language and behavior indicating. One of the ways that I like to do it is I'll take a little, three minute video, let's say, of a puppy. And obviously I won't do this if they look distressed, but if I'm like, are they distressed or are they just ah, I'm tired. Like the toddler that doesn't wanna go down for a nap.

Corinne: Yes. That's a very common thing that we see in puppies. So taking a little snippet of video, watching it with the sound off Is so powerful. Because if the puppy is. So we, as human beings, particularly women, are very in tuned to men and women for a different reason, but are very in tuned to vocal cues, right?

Corinne: Yeah.

Malena: Audible cues and a lot of other mammals are not that's not their primary means of discerning the world, but it is for us. And so we hear [00:22:00] barking or crying and it influences what we think we are hearing, especially what we are seeing. So if we watch that three minute video without.

Corinne: Listening to the barking, whining, whatever it may be.

Malena: see a dog that is just You see their body language and they're like oh. That's very different than if we see them frantically jumping against the side of the crate and vocalizing mouth dripping

Corinne: with drool.

Malena: All of those indicators, right? Because we cannot, there's no such thing as saying this type of bark. Yes. Not from a layman perspective. There's like ways that you can record pitches and things like that in a scientific lab.

Corinne: Yeah.

Malena: But we can't do that just day to day.

So really we need to rely on body language and behavior. And I think that for the most part, anybody and everybody can look at that body language and say. Oh yeah. He looks relaxed or, Ooh, he does [00:23:00] look pretty upset.

And any bit of, he does look pretty upset.

Is worthy of taking a little time to let's make it not upset for this animal.

Corinne: Yeah.

Malena: And yes, there's a reality that people have four eons said, let 'em cry it out and they'll get over it. And guess what A lot of dogs do. Yeah. But is that a reason to risk the fallout that could happen? I don't think it is, and it doesn't take that long.

To help them be like, ah, so you're a little stressed. All right let's take this a little bit more gradually. and the dog's okay, I can handle, one minute or whatever it may be. It's really worthwhile to, and I always say, give puppies that metaphorical soft place to land because we want them to be resilient adults.

Corinne: Yes. We're playing the long game. Here

Malena: we are. [00:24:00]

Corinne: This isn't just quick house training solution. They're going to it helps with house training. We're planning on using this for a long time. And so we want them to be comfortable for a long time.

So if we have to take a little slower in the beginning, and sometimes that can look like using a puppy pen or really gating off an area so the dog isn't, if we're talking puppies, so they're not having free range of the house and messing upstairs in a special place in the basement where they always poop or whatever.

Okay. And you can put the crate in their door open, take door off.

Malena: Yes.

Corinne: I still feed my five-year-old Nestle every meal in the crate, unless we're doing some sort of puzzle. And I don't usually even close the door. And sometimes I just take the kibble and I sprinkle it. There's no bowl involved.

Yeah. And now he's foraging and doing his little sniffing to find every piece. Or I just walk by the [00:25:00] crate five years later. Yummy little piece of chicken.

Malena: he's like the magical crate produced chicken.

Corinne: amazing. And it doesn't have to be every time, but it's just like a slot machine where he's walking by and this might be the jackpot or Oh, didn't score that time.

Malena: Yeah. My little girl Mabel just had to go to the vet this last week for a, she got a foxtail embedded in

Corinne: Oh.

Malena: And for those of you that are not. In this area, foxtails are just like nasty little plants that are they act barbs like, like fish hook type barbs. They can continue to embed and they get further and further in. Anyway, I've always been so careful with Foxtails and she got one and I saw it and I'm like, I'm not messing around.

I'm not gonna try and pull it out and I'm just gonna bring her to the ve And it was like, you, it was fine. It was no big deal. But she did have to stay in her little [00:26:00] crate for a bit and she is so used to a crate. She was just, when I went to go get her, she was just hanging out.

Corinne: I am going to go back just to the house training piece one more time 'cause I know it is a reason that people really do turn to using a crate. If your pup came from a rescue where they were in a, oh, what's the word? Where they just stack dogs on top of dogs.

Yeah.

Malena: I do. Let's just call it where they stack dogs

Corinne: on top of dogs. Yes. And they've been taught to mess where they sleep. So you have that piece and you've got a puppy from a great breeder. Their nature is not to mess where they sleep.

So knowing which your dog comes from, you want all dogs to be able to stand up and turn around comfortably in their crate. sometimes pups can grow bigger than expected. And I'll see they're not able to [00:27:00] put their head up all the way they have to crouch.

That's not good for their development. Do you have any guidance that you give there with how to maximize the house training potential?

Malena: Now, what I'm gonna actually defer to you on that, because I'll tell you, the majority of people that contact me while I'm happy to help them with their house training, et cetera. Yeah. And where those barriers are gonna sit for the house training purposes, et cetera, and how often to move it and enlarge and so forth.

We are triaging the whole, I can't stand alone stuff. Yes. And so that is not really my expertise and I think you probably are better served answering that yourself.

Corinne: All right, I'll dive in then. if you're bringing a new pup home, the Midwest crates are pretty economical, especially if you're starting with a small pup that's gonna get a lot bigger.

They come with a barrier that's adjustable, so it's the same material as the outside of the crate. It's [00:28:00] really secure, and you probably want a smaller space than you think for your pup when you're bringing them home. You really just want enough room for them to be able to stand up and turn around.

But if they have the full space, pups aren't instinctually wanting to go where they're sleeping, but if they can go to the back of the crate. Then we're like dealing with a pen. We're not maximizing the potential of this little space.

So I like to use a towel because it's so easily washable. If we have a little bit of an accident. And then most importantly, I like to follow their capacity schedule. So no matter what the space limit is, if they have to go and you're not letting them out, they are going to go. So if a puppy can only hold it x amount of time overnight, you set your alarm and you give them that break so that they keep that little dry space and that [00:29:00] we're conditioning that, that's not where we go, but on the grass is where we do.

And so you can keep that. And then as they're growing, you're just going to extend. The barrier bigger and bigger until they're used to it. I don't give the full meal and then nap time back to back because then you're just setting them up to have a number two where they were resting. So that's part of my outline and my schedule in my new book, just lining that up so that we set them up for success.

Malena: That's what I thought. If you were Yes,

Corinne: if I was avoiding it, I wasn't. Nope. I just was having a brain fart there. But if you, 'cause there's a lot of rescues. Yeah.

That are saving dogs from puppy mills that weren't able to sell their dogs or if you happened to have gone to a puppy store or something they mess in those little [00:30:00] spaces. Me too. And so that instinct has been trained out. And so then we really are setting alarms and we really have to get ahead of when they have to go to train that space is really clean and use enzyme cleaners so it doesn't have any residue of smell or anything in there.

But you can really buy. Following a schedule and routine and using that space that you've already made it comfortable and happy, you can accelerate your house training so much faster.

Malena: And I'm also shocked on the flip side how long it can take if you're not fastidious about it.

Corinne: Yes. And if, adolescent pups can often reverse to having accidents and that's why we've got this space all set up and comfy. Yeah. And we can go back to our schedule and make sure that we kind of [00:31:00] end that habit, be it marking or they had to go to the bathroom as we start getting older pups.

So this is a tool that really wanna have in your back pocket for a long time. Love it. Love it. Thank you.

Malena: I'm glad you answered it. I basically, I would've wanted to say everything that you just said, but I wouldn't have thought of it.

So thank you.

Corinne: Thank you. So do you have any final tips that you feel like we didn't cover? I know I asked you tons of questions that you think our listeners should know about create comfort or training.

Malena: The bottom line last sort of wrap up thought is truly that it's up to your dog

To define what is comfortable for them. Whether that is, in a crater or many other aspects of their life. And we as human beings. We're on a time schedule, [00:32:00] right? Yes. Dogs are not that we are on digital time and dogs are not even on analog. They're on, like nature time. And now I'm like digital. That's like we're on 5G now and beyond, right? True. I used to call it the microwaves, that we're a microwave society.

Like no, we're so beyond the speed of a microwave at this point, but dogs are, they're literally working on biological speed, right? It's

Rhythms and nature is dictating whether that be house training, right? Whether that be their learning about alone time, whatever that may be. And I think that not only do we need to look at the individual dog in front of us and adjust what we are doing to their needs.

I also think that we should take a moment. To be very grateful to dogs for reminding us that we don't have to be on [00:33:00] 5G all the time. And that we can actually, metaphorically or figuratively ly stop and smell the roses.

Corinne: I totally agree. And that is a gift that they give us.

Oh, thank you. I really appreciate that. And I highly recommend if your pup has struggled with separation anxiety Milena is your go-to. She has this amazing self-study program that you could do at your own pace, but also has the resources and the team behind it that are there at your disposal called Mission Possible because it can feel pretty impossible treating separation anxiety on your own, but it is possible.

And she generously has shared a discount for our listeners, so I'll have that in the show notes. I love her books, separation Anxiety in Dogs. And feel free, I'll have in the show notes our earlier conversations, our earlier episodes [00:34:00] where we talk more about separation anxiety. But this has been such a pleasure.

Malena: So good. And I just wanna make a really last moment plug that I would assume that all of your listeners have. Already grabbed a copy of your book, if they have not, I got a sneak peek. And this is something that everyone needs on their bookshelf or in their ebook reader

Because it's not always intuitive. we really need to have those schedules when we think we don't. We need to have those instructions when we think we're just like, I've had dogs all my life. I know what to do. You need still those schedules and that instruction because each dog is so importantly in need of that gradual and systematic process that you provide in that book.

So thank you for doing that book and [00:35:00] everybody listening, go get it.

Corinne: Yes, US trainers don't always need to troubleshoot the fallout of when we don't have a rhythm with our pups. We can get ahead of it. Yes. Thank you so much, Milena. I'm going to stay on with you now if that's all right and just ask you our members question.

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