Settling Puppy Home Alone
This is a crucial aspect of your puppy’s development: **teaching your puppy to settle alone**.
Start training your pup to be comfortable and relaxed alone, from the day pup comes home. No dog or pup particularly likes being alone. Dogs are very social animals, which is why it’s unfair to have a dog and leave it home alone for long periods. You do need to train your pup that being home alone is ok, even if they’re not keen. Teach them ‘it’s no big deal,’ ‘you will be back’ and even make it a positive by giving pup something tasty and exciting to enjoy when you leave.
This is a significant step in preventing separation anxiety, helping your puppy grow into a secure and confident dog and ensuring you all get a good night’s sleep.
**Why It’s Important:**
Teaching your puppy to settle alone at night, and for periods of time during the day, in their own bed or crate helps them learn independence. This will be beneficial in the long term, especially in preventing separation anxiety. It also means you have peace of mind when you want or have to go out, leaving pup home alone.
Leaving pup home alone, during the day, has become increasingly neglected since the pandemic, when we all were confined at home. Since then, many people continue to work at home, meaning the need to leave pup is less frequent.
Pup being left home alone is something that should happen within the first few days of coming home. Settling pup to sleep alone at night will seriously help with this.
**Setting Boundaries:**
I’m not a dog trainer that says, “don’t have your dog on the bed.” You decide, set your boundaries, and be consistent with them. However, in the early days, it’s advisable to teach your puppy to settle alone, for the reasons given above.
If you do allow your dog on your bed, you MUST, have ‘on and off’ commands for your dog. Your dog should only get on the bed when you say and they must get off when you say.
**Is it Normal for Pup to Cry or Bark When you Leave?**
Yes, this is perfectly normal. It can be hard listening to your pup crying, wanting you to come back. They seem so vulnerable when you first bring them home, but a little bit of ‘tough love’ is needed.
Pup may cry for some time – 40 minutes or a little more, is not unusual. Pup may cry for a while, then settle, the cry again. All of this are pup’s attempts to bring you back, which is why you really can’t go back to pup when they are crying.
If you go back to pup when they’re crying, you’ve just convinced them that crying brings you back and they will cry all the more next time you leave them alone.
Be fair to your pup. They must learn to settle alone or you both end up with a difficult life.
If you never have to leave pup alone, so you think it doesn’t matter, think about what you would do if you had to leave pup alone for an emergency? Knowing your pup was stressed and scared, home alone, would make your emergency situation 10 x worse.
**How to Start with Settling Alone:**
There are two ways to settle your puppy to sleep on their own. They might make a fuss, for a while, or even on and off, during the first night they are left alone, or it might be a few nights later.
Crate Train your Pup
Teaching puppy to sleep in a crate and to use a crate as their ‘safe space’ makes leaving pup alone much easier. You know pup is safe and you know they can’t destroy your home while you’re gone.
If you would like a crate training sheet, please click here.
Don’t Make it a Big Deal
Don’t make you leaving or coming back into a big deal. Be calm and casual. Pop pup in their crate 10 minutes or so before you leave. Don’t rush back to pup immediately on your return. Put the kettle on, then go to pup, but be casual about it.
Avoid giving cues that you’re leaving. Do things like putting your keys in your coat pocket long before you leave. Put your shoes where pup can’t see you putting them on. Just think about the cues that say, ‘I’m leaving’ and avoid building them into habits.
The same goes for night times. Develop a good night time routine and settle pup into their crate 15 minutes before you go to bed. Be sure to be closing the crate door when pup naps in the crate during the day and you are with pup. If you only close the crate door when you leave the room, this becomes a cue to pup that you’re leaving and can become the trigger for anxiety.
Build it up Slowly
Build pup’s alone time slowly. Don’t immediately start leaving the house and not coming back for a couple of hours, but you should be able to do this within a few days of pup coming home. Just do it slowly. Don’t return to pup if they’re crying.
Monitor Pup
Separation anxiety seems to be a big thing these days, but don’t think, because pup cries that it is separation anxiety. There is a very big difference between pup crying to get you back and being seriously distressed and scared.
If you’re concerned and you’re not sure how pup is when you’re not there, think about using a camera to monitor them. That way you can see what pup gets up too. Some of the cameras you can talk through and sometimes a ‘little word’ from you can help. This ‘little word’ needs to be kind, but firm, don’t pander to the crying.
If you want more information about separation anxiety, please click here.
Conclusion
Your puppy needs to grow up secure and confident when left alone. Being confident home alone means you can live your life freely, going out to enjoy the things you want in life. It will also have an impact on your dog’s general confidence as they grow up.
Correct puppy training in good behaviour also helps to build pup’s confidence so do invest in quality, professional training.
You can check out our training services by clicking here.
Be fair to your pup – Teach ‘Home Alone’ time.
**Step-by-Step Process for Today:**
- **Establish Boundaries:**
– Decide on your puppy’s sleeping arrangements and be consistent with them. Decide where pup’s crate will be and leave it in the same place, day and night.
– Keep pup’s night time sleeping arrangement available all the time, so pup learns, when they are tired, this is the place they go for a sleep. Everyone should understand not to disturb pup when they are in their crate or bed.
- **Pre-Bedtime Routine:**
– Decide what your pre-bedtime routine will be. Settle your puppy 10-15 minutes before you go to bed.
– Ensure they have a cosy space with a comfortable bed and perhaps a cuddly toy. I know some people using a beating heart teddy. I’ve never used one so I have no idea if they really help. Most breeders will give you a blanket to bring home, that smells of their mum and litter mates. Don’t be in a hurry to get rid of this and don’t wash it.
- **Respond to Crying:**
– Don’t get up to your puppy if they cry in the night. If getting up for toileting be sure to do it before pup wakes and cries.
– Most puppies will settle quickly once they realise crying doesn’t bring attention.
- **Monitor Distress:**
– If your puppy seems distressed beyond normal crying, attend to them and seek professional help if necessary.
**Challenge for Today:**
- Decide on and establish your puppy’s sleeping boundaries.
- Set up a comfortable sleeping area for your puppy.
- Decide on and follow a pre-bedtime routine to help your puppy settle alone.
- Be consistent in not responding immediately to night-time crying (or daytime crying).
- Monitor your puppy’s behaviour and address any distress appropriately.
By following these steps, you will help your puppy learn to settle alone, which is a vital part of their development and vital for preventing separation anxiety. Pup must learn to settle day and night, alone, at an early age, to help them feel confident and comfortable home alone on the times you want to go out.
I had a customer once, who hadn’t slept in a bed for 18 months! Every time she left the room to go to bed, pup cried. She had no idea it was ok to leave pup to cry. Don’t let this be you.
For more detailed information and strategies on preventing separation anxiety, check out the VIP Package. You can do that here.
See you tomorrow for Day 5 of our challenge!
