The S. A. Mentor

22/07/2025

You're doing amazing work with your dog, even when it feels like a tangled mess! 💖 It's incredibly common for dogs with separation anxiety to also have other struggles like noise sensitivities, confinement distress, or generalized anxiety. Your dog isn't "difficult," they're just layered, and that's perfectly normal.

Think of your dog's behavior like a layer cake 🎂—separation anxiety might be the bottom, with other challenges stacked on top. We can't just remove one layer; we need to address the whole, intricate picture with kindness and consistency.

It's okay to feel overwhelmed. Start by prioritizing safety and what feels most manageable for you and your pup right now. Progress isn't always a straight line, but every step towards more comfort and less distress is a huge win worth celebrating! You're not alone in this; reach out for professional support to build a customized plan for your unique, wonderful dog. You're showing up for them, and that's something to be truly proud of.💛

https://malenademartini.com/when-separation-anxiety-isnt-the-only-struggle-navigating-co-occurring-challenges/

22/07/2025

The latest wisdom from the incredible Malena DeMartini Price. So proud to be one of the CSAT gang worldwide! 😍

You're doing amazing work with your dog, even when it feels like a tangled mess! 💖 It's incredibly common for dogs with separation anxiety to also have other struggles like noise sensitivities, confinement distress, or generalized anxiety. Your dog isn't "difficult," they're just layered, and that's perfectly normal.

Think of your dog's behavior like a layer cake 🎂—separation anxiety might be the bottom, with other challenges stacked on top. We can't just remove one layer; we need to address the whole, intricate picture with kindness and consistency.

It's okay to feel overwhelmed. Start by prioritizing safety and what feels most manageable for you and your pup right now. Progress isn't always a straight line, but every step towards more comfort and less distress is a huge win worth celebrating! You're not alone in this; reach out for professional support to build a customized plan for your unique, wonderful dog. You're showing up for them, and that's something to be truly proud of.💛

https://malenademartini.com/when-separation-anxiety-isnt-the-only-struggle-navigating-co-occurring-challenges/

06/07/2025

If you wanted to know what my work is about…. 🤔😎🥰

Ever wonder what a day looks like for someone who lives and breathes separation anxiety work?

From morning tea and Mission-writing to heart-to-heart discovery calls and joyful graduations, Certified Separation Anxiety Trainers (CSATs) walk alongside guardians and their dogs every single day.

Whether you’re a dog guardian searching for real help—or a trainer dreaming of making a real impact—this behind-the-scenes peek into “A Day in the Life of a CSAT” was written for you.

💻 Read the full story now and find out what makes this work so unique, so personal, and so deeply rewarding.

https://malenademartini.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-csat-compassion-in-action-one-dog-at-a-time/

04/07/2025

Life gets tough at times; never more so when your best canine friend has separation anxiety. This is a shout out to all of you that do everything you can to balance the needs of your dog with living your life: the families i work with show me day after day what commitment looks like. If you're feeling it today, I see you, I'm proud of you, you matter, keep your eyes on the horizon. Thanks to Katie Abey for this awesome graphic. ❤️

26/05/2025

It's been a great week and weekend of crashing through training goals and setting PBs in calm emotions around absences for these two lovely girls who have each had their own challenges that we've had to meet head on and get creative with to get them where they are today. I've worked with an extended and integrated team for both, including their vets, physios, doggy day care and sitters, all of whom have played a part in setting these dogs up for success. Most of all, the commitment from their folks and family to persevere and keep eyes on the horizon has been immense and so rewarding. My SA families are the best!

24/05/2025

I'm so super proud of Odin today; this is Week 17 of training: his time on re-assessment - 43 minutes and 54 seconds. He walked to the door at 38 minutes from chilling out in the living room and waited here calmly until his folks came back. Odin has been one of the most complex dogs I've worked with so far - he has worked through huge issues with frustration and an inability to cope with the most minor stimuli from outside when we have been training. We have all been to the place where we wondered whether what we were doing had any value. We persevered, made changes where we needed to to set him up for success and here we are. His behaviour has also modified outside in the big wide world in terms of calmness, thoughtful actions and he's an amazing family dog. Next step, introducing him to his folks driving away in their car...... Odin the Super Star! 🌟

14/05/2025

A little bit of philosophy for this morning. ❤️

18/03/2025

From the CSAT HUB! ❤️

16/03/2025

On the BBC news feed today: How our noisy world is seriously damaging our health https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmjdm2m4yjo Don't we all know from our lives living and working with dogs how noise is the insidious stimuli that creates anxiety. ☹️ In my practice, I spend a lot of time with some families talking about how to mitigate noise with layers of sound, creating quiet(er) places for their dog to go to if feeling overwhelmed, i.e., noise cancelling and noise reduction strategies, but for some it's an ongoing challenge due to their external environment, and adding more noise to an already noisy environment, even if that noise is meant to help has a further aversive affect. A timely reminder via this article that stress, long term, can be detrimental to the health of all animals.

The BBC's James Gallagher investigates the invisible killer all around us.

14/03/2025

We so much resonate with this statement from Dog Communication. ❤️

I made this fuelled on oxytocin whilst handrearing a Twig 😂 we expect so much of puppies and take them away from everything they know and expect them to fit in our world with minimal fuss. In reality, we should be striving to understand and meet their needs as actually it’s not that difficult if you have the right mindset ❤️

10/03/2025

Heal the Dog absolutely gets this right. Those first weeks are critical in setting your pup up for success - learning to be alone takes time, and usually more than 1 or 2 weeks holiday you have from work to get your new pup acclimatised. Planning in advance to build a support network so that pup isn't left until he/ she can build the resilience to be alone, and then for the amount of time/ duration needed will take weeks if not months. Planning your pup's support network and for the longer term protects your puppy from long term stress.

23/01/2025

The power of the unconditional love of our dogs. ❤️