How to Get a Puppy to Adapt to Being Home Alone
Taking care of a dog is hard work, and it's even more challenging to raise a puppy. Unlike cats, dogs crave human attention and affection. People who work fulltime cannot give their dog such attention while they are away, and unless the dog is taught to adapt, it can develop behavioral and mental problems. For instance, it can become depressed and anxious, and take to chewing things.The best time to train the dog to be home alone is when it is young.
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Instructions
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Patience and reinforcement is key
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Crate-train your puppy. Dogs are den animals and they feel safe in crates, which is also where they should sleep. You should place your puppy in a crate large enough so it can stand up and even move a bit, without being too cramped. Shut the door when the puppy is inside and utter a word or phrase that you want it to associate with going to its crate, such as "crate" or "go inside." Repeat this until the puppy enters its crate on command. Make the crate a place your puppy will want to go to. Give the puppy its meals inside the crate and place some toys it likes in there as well.
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Place the crate in a pen that your dog cannot escape from. If you are going to leave your puppy alone for longer than it can "hold it," leave the crate's door open and allow the puppy to roam around in the pen. If properly crate-trained, the puppy will likely spend most of its time alone inside the crate voluntarily and amuse itself with its toys or simply go to sleep. The purpose of crate-training and pen-training your dog is to ensure it does not roam around your house unattended and also promote its housebreaking.
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Walk your dog three or four times a day, or as often as it needs to go. Make every walk at least 20 minutes long. Your dog needs exercise and the more it gets, the more likely it will sleep through most of the time you will be away from your home. But bear in mind that very young puppies may need to be walked every three hours.
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Place newspapers in the dog's pen if you are going to be away from home longer than the dog will be able to wait. Learn where the puppy does its business most. It is likely to "go" in the spots farthest away from their crate. Once you have pinpointed these spots, reduce the number of newspapers you place in the pen gradually until they only cover those areas.
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Hire a dogwalker to take your puppy out for a walk that is 30 minutes or more during a long stretch of time in which you are not at home.
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Give your puppy its food inside a Kong toy that it can fit its mouth into. The puppy will find it enjoyable and challenging to get its food out of this chew toy that remains a favorite among dog owners. Doing so will help occupy its time while you are away.
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Play classical or other soft music while you are away, to calm the dog down. Do not play it too loudly, as dogs hear better than humans.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not overcrowd the crate with too much bedding. The puppy is likely to try to "dig" its way out of the crate and will likely shred a thick pillow or blanket. A thin but soft crate mat is enough.
Never place the puppy in a crate as punishment. It has to believe the crate is a positive environment, so that it enters it voluntarily when you are gone.
Leave it inside its crate only after it has finished its business recently and only for a few hours. Typically, a puppy can "hold it" for as many hours as the number of months it is alive, up to about eight or nine hours, depending on the size of the dog.
