Mila the King Charles Spaniel

We contacted Sally because we were at a loss with the issues we had with our 11 month old cavalier King Charles spaniel Mila. Our biggest problems were separation anxiety, poor sleep routine, lack of appetite and increasing poor behaviour which we felt had a lot to do with the use of treats - although we were initially taught the “click & treat” training, we had got to the point where Mila would want the treat in order to do the “task”, rather than having the treat afterwards as a reward and she wouldn’t listen at all if no cheese or sausage was on offer.

As other clients of Sally have said, she doesn’t mince her words - but then again nothing else was working so we knew we  were doing things wrong and had to change our ways. Sally takes you right back to basics again, re-learning crate training, toilet & feeding regimes etc.

Prior to our session with Sally, Mila would frequently wake up at 4 or 5 am, would bark & not go back to sleep. If she slept until 6am we would think that was a good night! We were all exhausted - except Mila who of course could sleep during the day instead of going to work! Alongside that, a dog barking at 4am doesn’t create a good relationship with the neighbours… Within 2-3 days of our initial meeting with Sally, Mila was sleeping until 6.30-7am.  We now get her up when we need to get ready for work, rather than going to work having already been awake for hours. She is also eating regularly without the need to spoon feed her (it had got to that point!) and she gets excited to eat at meal times!

The reason we have done the review today (one month after our session with Sally) is because we finally left Mila alone in the house & came back to her quietly sitting in her crate. That wouldn’t be a big deal for most dog owners but for us it is life changing. The separation anxiety had got to the point where we couldn’t leave the room to go to the toilet (literally) so to be able to leave the house is something we thought we wouldn’t achieve.

We (and Mila) still have work to do and it’s a long term project obviously, as dog training is. However, we can already see such a change in Mila’s behaviour; she is a much calmer dog who settles more easily than before. We’ll keep you posted!

Bev, Anna, Sophie & Katie