Emma asked:
some of you may have seen my previous questions and you all answered so well so thank you all so much, i was just wondering how to go about leaving a rescue puppy alone i work from home so this isnt the issue its for when i need to go shopping and just general going out he is 5 months old and very timid he was found at 10 weeks old in a bin and starving i know i need to toughen up with him or i wont be doing myself or him any favours i have had him for 5 days now the problem is every time i have been out i have took him with me but peope are saying this is wrong so today i tried to leave him wen i went to the corner shop i only got to the end of my drive and i could here him crying when i went straight back he was shaking next to the door any suggestions would be greatly appreciated just to clarify i have had dogs all my life but never a destressed one xx
some of you may have seen my previous questions and you all answered so well so thank you all so much, i was just wondering how to go about leaving a rescue puppy alone i work from home so this isnt the issue its for when i need to go shopping and just general going out he is 5 months old and very timid he was found at 10 weeks old in a bin and starving i know i need to toughen up with him or i wont be doing myself or him any favours i have had him for 5 days now the problem is every time i have been out i have took him with me but peope are saying this is wrong so today i tried to leave him wen i went to the corner shop i only got to the end of my drive and i could here him crying when i went straight back he was shaking next to the door any suggestions would be greatly appreciated just to clarify i have had dogs all my life but never a destressed one xx
crate train him….pull up some info online or in a book about how to get a dog used to the crate….
at 5mo my pup stayed home for 5-6 hours by himself…in a crate…with no problems.
You might want to try crate training him. By this I mean start when your home putting in the crate when he eats or when you give him treats. He will get comfortable in the crate and he will start to see it as his own area. If you put some of his favorite toys and stuff in there you can get him to feel less afraid. Also buy yourself a pair of ear plugs and go to the corner store leaving him in his crate. It is important that he learns to be away from you for periods of time and that he doesn’t learn that every time he cries you will come running.
It is okay for him to stay by himself in the crate for a few hours at a time, he will eventually stop the crying, once he gets used to the new schedule. He doesn’t remember what happened to him, he was a young pup still is. forget about his past train/treat him like you would any other pup/dog.
Im a huge fan of crate training!! My bulldog does prefer to come w/ me everywhere, actually stands next to the door all morning in the hopes I’ll be taking her to work….we crate trained her from 8 weeks and now she feels safe and with a few toys, maybe a treat or 2, she learned to love it. (she was going in her crate on her own after about a month of consistent training (go to your bed treats when she’s inside!! everyday, couple times a day)
Now when she gets nervous, like when i break out the vaccuum, or thunderstorsm, she hustles into her crate and watches patiently til im done.
If the actual crate isnt appealing to you, you should block her into smaller room if you can, like the kitchen or porch or something with baby gates. Put down a bed, some treats, maybe even some food/water. It’s the same concept of a crate, just a little more wiggle room.
Im sure its heart breaking to hear the crying and see the shaking but it will go away in time probably. This doesnt happen immediately but if you stick with it Im sure he will get used to it in a couple of weeks. Even try to block him in while your working in another room will help him get used to it quicker…develop a schedule.
Good luck!
Start home-alone training him. Use the method where you walk out the door a gazillion times every day first for 1 second, then 5 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes etc. Keep it all as relaxed as possible and do take it one step at a time. He should be calm and okay with you leaving for the set amount of time before you increase the time-limit. If he starts getting upset, then you’ve progressed too fast.
Once he’s doing 20 minutes with no problems, then you can increase the time significantly. Until he’s home alone trained, take him with you.
Leaving him without any prior home-alone training will often result in separation anxiety and other issues, so in my opinion if you put in a lot of work at the beginning with the home-alone training it will pay off in the end.
If your dog suffers from separation anxiety don’t give him free access to every room in your house when you leave him. . If you allow him free access you are doubling his burden. As well as having separation anxiety he will think that he has to guard every room in your house.
If he is restricted to one room he will not see you leave. You could also con him into thinking that you are always at home by carrying out the following procedure.
Try to do this when you are at home all day, or in the evening when you are there. After your dog has had a long walk, put him in a room with his comfortable bed, this should be a room where you will leave him if you need to go out and where your dog will sleep at night.
Walk out of the room and close the door. Open the door immediately and go back into his room, close the door behind you and try to ignore him. Pretend or actually do something which excludes your dog, for example if he is in the bathroom you could do a bit a cleaning for a couple of minutes. Then walk out of the room, go back again immediately and continue with the pretence. Keep doing this to ensure that your dog won’t feel isolated and eventually leave a small gap before you go into his room again. Over a period of days increase the gap before going back into his room. When you know that your dog is asleep stop going into the room, however you MUST try to go onto the room before he wakes up and starts to cry. If you carry out this procedure for a couple of days, your dog will always think that you are at the other side of the door. I do this when I get a new puppy and this PREVENTS separation anxiety.
Don’t neglect his long walks and playtime in the garden whilst you are re-training him, he needs his fun
When you are leaving your dog on his own please don’t make a dramatic exit, or this will give the game away. Simply put him into his room and walk out. When you come home don’t give him a big hello, just walk into his room and let him out for a ***. You can then play with him and give him cuddles.