Having your first dog is an amazing feeling especially when you looking at his super cute wide eyes and little squeaky voice. However, you need to leave your dog alone at home everyday. Having that dilema, you want to find the best solution for the problem. So here are 8 tips how to teach your puppy not to be afraid staying alone in the house. However, you might want to read about How To Handle With Your Dog’s First Night At Home first.
1. Create spacious cage or room to stay.
Before training your cutie pie being alone in his room, make sure that you have prepared everything including his spacious cage or room to do many activities in the house. Don’t ever let your dog alone in an empty and narrow room, that is not petting, that is a torture and you can get trouble doing it!
Prepare these 4 basic need for the puppy: place to sleep, place to eat, place to play, and place to litter. You can add other things or toys to play with, however, make sure not to add too many things so that there is no space left to play or run around.
2. Let him adjust to his room.
Before you start to train your dog to stay at his room, make sure he is comfortable enough staying in his place. Don’t make your puppy crying and suffering of your absence because he might not get used to it yet. Let him know the place to sleep, to eat, and to pop and see if he is calm and stay in his room while you are feets away.
You can buy him chewing toys which are bigger than his mouth so that he would not swallow it. Prepare abundant food and drink, you can put in in a bowl or in a dispenser if he can use it. Provide place to liter with wide and not too narrow box so that the sand would not spilled anywhere. Place a CCTV camera if you think it is necessary. You can learn more about your Dog Behavior Problems You Should Know.
3. Give rewards or treats
Teach him to stay in his room or anywhere inside your house whenever you are going outside. You can command him to stay indoor with some trainings such as to sit, stay, heel, down and wait. If he finally understands that he needs to stay inside for some hours, give him rewards.
Teach him to calmly stay inside the house. If your dog is always barking whenever you left, try and try again until he can calm down. The training needs few days or weeks for your dog to learn to calmly stay inside while you are away so be patience.
4. Set the correct room temperature
One tip to make your puppy is not to be afraid staying alone in the house is by making the house as comfortable as possible by keeping the temperature warm, not too cool and not to hot. This will calm your puppy and he might play and sleep without problem so that he would not be very stressful.
The ideal room temperature in your house is about 35 degree Celsius or about 75 degree Fahrenheit. Consult to your vet for best room temperature according to your dog breed since each dog has different characteristics. Know more about Helping Recently Adopted Dog to Rebuild Her Confidence
5. Keep potentially harmful or toxic household items out of your dog.
Before keeping a dog in your house, you must ready for the consequences, for example, adjusting your whole rooms for the dog safety. It is like having a crawling baby, you must clean your house from potentially harmful items such as small toys, or get rid of things which can make your dog traumatic such as loud machines or unsecured racks and shelves.
There are some common household items which are toxic or dangerous for dogs that must be kept away from your dog. One of them is antifreeze for your car engine because it tastes sweet but very dangerous if swallowed. Grapes, chocolate, xylitol or less sugar candies, and raisins are also toxic for dogs.
Keep your dog away from your medicines, all soaps, detergent, garbage, and pests control products since dogs are silly enough to chew anything. An ornament like sago palm tree is also known to be very toxic for dogs.
6. Set a TV or Radio on.
Setting a TV or radio on can also make your puppy feels comfortable because you create a situation just like when everybody is at home. Those sounds make your puppy think that you are home so he won’t be panicked and play in his room until you come back. Read more about similar topic here on 10 Easy Tips to House Train Your Puppy
7. Pay someone/ dog walker.
If leaving your dog alone in the house seems too impossible, pay someone who will take care of him in your house. She will both take care and train your dog not to be afraid at home alone. You can ask the information about the professionals in the vet. They will give you some contacts to choose.
8. Do walk and play time each day before leaving.
If you have some free time before leaving the house, use the time to play and train your dog as often as possible. Your dog will be healthier, happier and get tired sooner as you play with him prior. So whenever you leave, your dog might have been sleeping in his room.
Those 8 tips how to teach your puppy not to be afraid staying alone in the house are indeed not as easy as it sounds, but that doesn’t mean impossible. Be patience and make everyday is a play day with your dog. He will eventually understand your command and get used to your everyday life if you teach him consistently. You can also read more about How To Potty Train Your Puppy Effectively