Teaching your dog to be alone: 6 months and up

Overview

Since canines are highly social creatures, being alone can be quite stressful for them. Fortunately, you can teach your pup to enjoy his alone time, or at least tolerate it. If he never grasps how to do this, you may wind up with a dog who acts out through excessive barking, digging, and chewing - or develops a very serious case of separation anxiety.

Steps to teaching your dog to be alone

1. Leave your puppy alone in his crate or puppy playroom for at least 30 minutes to an hour each day. If he's nervous about even spending this much time in a crate you can gradually increase the length of time each day. Your pup will begin to adjust to being alone, as well as learn a valuable lesson: you always come back.

We recommend you leave your dog in a safe place, either a roomy crate or puppy playroom, whenever you leave the house until they're about a year old, though some dogs may need a few extra months of training.

2. Make your pup's alone time the main time he eats, and he'll learn to enjoy these stretches more. Using kibble he'd normally get at meals, stuff a couple of Kongs and give them to your pup whenever you leave him alone.

3. Teach your dog that "quiet time" is a good thing by showing him how to settle. Every so often, interrupt his playtime with short, quiet breaks. Tell your dog, "settle down," and ask him to lie still for a second or two. Then reward him and resume playing.

At first, these intervals should be very short - just a few seconds in length. When he's able to settle successfully for these brief periods, slowly build up to longer segments - 10 to 20 seconds of settling. Your dog soon learns that quiet time is followed by playtime, and the wait is never more than he can handle.

DogTime tip: In the beginning, keep his time alone short (30 minutes at most) so he [Continued]

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Related training information

Separation anxiety

FAQ: Is my dog bored?

Breeds that hate being left alone

Dog training: Settle down

Teaching your puppy to be home alone

Preparing your home and family

Bringing your dog home

Raising a good dog

Housetraining 101

0 to 3 mos | 3 to 6 mos | 6 mos and up
Raising a friendly dog

0 to 6 mos | 6 to 12 mos | 12 mos and up
Teaching your dog to be alone

0 to 6 mos | 6 mos and up
Preventing destructive chewing and biting

0 to 6 mos | 6 mos and up
Training for basic obedience

0 to 6 mos | 6 mos and up

What to expect

A little whining or crying is normal at first. But as your dog gets used to being alone, and knows to expect a stuffed Kong (or other chewy challenge) when you leave him on his , he should gradually become more confident and comfortable.

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