How to Train Your Dog to Stay Home Alone?

Have you ever found yourself coping with the separation anxiety in dogs? Wondering how to train your dog to stay home alone? If yes, you just landed in the right place. In this blog, you'll learn about training your dog to stay home alone.

Part 1: The Importance of Training Your Dog to Stay Home Alone

For many pet parents, having a dog and working a full-time job may seem like two incompatible ideas. It’s really tempting to spend every minute with your new pup but eventually, you will have to leave them on their own.

Learning to be left alone and stay calm and relaxed is an important part of dog training. It will help prevent them from developing separation anxiety when they're by themselves.

Separation anxiety can even develop in a perfectly healthy dog that is left home alone. It’s easier to prevent separation anxiety than it is to fix afterward. So, training your pup to be alone is a crucial thing you can do to prevent separation anxiety.

Part 2: How to Train Your Dog to Stay Home Alone

So how long can you leave a dog home alone? To answer plainly, all dogs are created differently and have unique needs. As a general rule of thumb, you should never leave your dog alone and unsupervised for more than 8 hours a day. Even if you leave them with entertaining toys, treats, and a safe area to retreat to, they will still need their human parent to feel happy and comfortable.

As a responsible pet parent, you can do many things for your furry kids before leaving them alone in the house. The goal is to have a relaxed and self-assured dog that can be left alone for a few hours. Before your departure, you should ensure that all your dog’s needs are well taken care of. Here is how you can do:

Make them feel safe:

Create a safe space for your dog. You must provide a secure area to relax for your fur buddy before leaving him alone. This will help them to avoid any destructive and undesirable behavior. The area or surface for your dog’s relaxation can be a dog bed, a mat, or a dog crate.

Provide entertainment and mental stimulation:

Give your dog interactive toys or puzzle games to prevent your dog's boredom. You need some creative ways to stimulate your dog's mind so they don't feel anxious or feared. You can give them chew toys and opportunities for other fun activities. This will keep them busy while they're alone. Remember to keep the dangerous things out of the reach of your pup.

Provide opportunities for physical activity:

Provide sufficient exercise to your dog before you leave them alone. This will reduce their anxiety and destructive behavior. The daily walk helps your dog socialize and stimulate his mind with the sights, sounds, and scents they come across. Scenting and nose games are great mental stimulation activities for your dog.

Stay connected:

You can record your voice while using an automatic dog feeder. With the WOpet automatic pet feeder, you can record your customizable message and play at mealtimes to call your furbaby. Your dog will not feel lonely while they are having their meal.

You need to ensure that your dog continues to eat a healthy diet while you are away. With the WOpet automatic pet feeder, you can schedule what and when your dog gets fed. All you need is your smartphone.

Thanks to its Wi-Fi functionality, you can manage all the functions of this feeder from your smartphone and can feed your pet anytime, anywhere. The pet feeder can program up to 15 meals on schedule with 1-50 portions per meal. You’ll even receive an if the hopper becomes empty.

Part 3: Start Training Your Dog to Stay Home Alone At Short Intervals

Your dog requires training to stay calm and relaxed while you're away. So, instead of a long and planned absence, you can begin with a mock or graduated departure.

Your furry child needs to experience the mock departure cues for some time until he behaves calmly when left alone. Mock departures should be as much close to real departures as possible and must include all activities like changing outfits, picking keys, locking the doors, etc.

Start with only short periods of time. You should leave for 5 minutes first. As you have success with the short periods, you can gradually increase their time left alone.

Dogs respond very well to positive reinforcement techniques. All you need is to be gentle, patient, and consistently firm with your dog but not harsh. He will learn to stay calm and deal with separation anxiety. Also, remember that the more relaxed you're, the calmer your dog would feel.

Keep training fun, interesting, and challenging to attract your dog’s interest. Praising your dog and rewarding them with treats during training.

Conclusion

Dogs are capable of feeling a lot of emotions including separation anxiety, stress, and loneliness. Remember, when you bring home a dog, you are committing to a long-term relationship. It's significant to dedicate quality time to your dog and ensure that his needs are well taken care of.

Hope you enjoyed reading this article about how to train your dog to stay home alone! Did you find this piece helpful? Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

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