How do you teach your dog to stay alone? Tips for dealing with your dog in such situations
From birth, the puppy naturally
attaches itself to its mother. Once adopted, it will shift this attachment to
its owner, which becomes its new reference. In general, it is estimated that
detachment occurs naturally around the age of 4 months if the puppy stays with
his mother; it takes off and becomes independent. On the other hand, when the
animal is adopted from the legal age, that is to say at 2 months, it has not
yet been able to perform this detachment step. As a result, the attachment
transferred to his master is very intense. It is therefore necessary to teach
it over time how to detach itself from it.
This learning is essential for your
pet’s well-being, to teach your pet how to socialize better, to live better in
their environment, and to better accept your absence when you are not there.
You will avoid many difficulties in the face of loneliness, including the
development of separation anxiety. Of course, this learning is not intended to
distract the animal from its master, but to help it to endure loneliness by
avoiding developing a feeling of hyper attachment.
Here are our step-by-step tips to
teach your dog to stay alone.
Tip 1: Teach your dog how to cope with being away when you are there
The first step is simple. Your dog
must learn to stand alone in a room in your home or garden while you are in
another room. It is not healthy for your pet to follow you everywhere. He has
to be able to experience not seeing you all the time, and to start by teaching
him how to handle the distance of a few meters is the first step.
To do this, you can prohibit it from
a room of the house for example. So when you go there, he will have to learn to
expect you somewhere else and he will discover that you are always coming back
to him and that he is not in any danger in your absence. You can also teach him
to go to bed in his basket and stay there, even if you leave the room.
Tip 2: Initiate contacts
In positive and caring education, the
animal is taught frustration. The master is invited not to answer all the
requests of his little companion to better help him manage his absences.
Indeed, a dog that is always given a positive or negative answer when asked for
something will not understand that it is not given constant attention. So when
you are absent, he will tend to develop a behavior intended to alert you
(uncleanliness, destruction, etc.) and to show you his dissatisfaction.
The master must be the initiator of
the contact. To do this, do not answer your dog and ignore his requests. We
should not get angry or react in any way, but ignore it and wait for it to move
on to make it work. But beware, it is not a question of punishing him or
depriving him of anything. As soon as he moves on, call him and offer him the
contact (caress, play, treat, etc.). He will have received an answer, but you
initiated it. This will make them more willing to give up and put up with your
absence.
Tip 3: trivialize your departures
This step is essential to teach the
dog to accept loneliness and your absences. Indeed, your doggie knows when you
are about to leave the house because he observes your actions. If he can't bear
to see you gone, he will feel stress and anxiety about separation.
To teach her to accept your
departure, trivialize them. To do this, help your child unwind by occasionally
doing the same things as you leave, but without leaving. Put your coat on, then
put it down. take your bag and put it back; take your keys and put them back;
walk through the front door and close it behind you, then come back after a
short time and then longer.
By doing so, your dog will no longer
be able to dissociate the true departures from the false ones. He will be less
anxious when he sees you getting ready to leave since he will know you can come
back at any time.
Also, when you leave the house,
trivialize the situation. It is, therefore, preferable to avoid
"goodbye" and hugs. Do not cuddle or pat your dog to tell him or her
that you are leaving, as he or she may feel stressed and perceive your behavior
as confirmation that your distance is abnormal and that he or she should be
worried as you are trying to reassure him or her. Leave the house without
saying anything, as if you were just going to get the mail from your mailbox.
Tip 4: More positive absences
When you’re away, don’t hesitate to
leave your dog a nice toy, including a game that distributes sweets. It is
better to find it after your departure to avoid associating the toy with your
actual absences. In addition, this toy should only be made available to him
when you leave and not in self-service to make sense. So when they find it
after you leave, this toy will help them move on by doing something useful.
Also, avoid leaving the house with a
worried, sad, or fearful face. Your animal will perceive it and may be disturbed
and anxious by your fears. So act normally. Also, if you find out that he did
something stupid in your absence, do not punish him and ignore them. Prefer to
follow the principle of "not seen, not taken", because your pet will
be unable to associate the anger you manifest against it when you return with
its past stupidity. He would perceive your reaction as an injustice and the
stupidity will tend to repeat itself.
Also, do not clean in front of him;
wait until he has left the room to do so. And of course, never put his head in
his "accidents"; you would just give him the impression that you were
showing him what to do.
Tip 5: Small space
When you leave, avoid leaving the
whole house accessible to your dog. It is generally advisable to allow him
access to certain rooms equipped with games to occupy him and all his little
necessary for his well-being and comfort (sleeping, feeding, water). This way,
he will be less tempted to go everywhere to find you, to check every door and
window, or to make nonsense everywhere if there is to be nonsense.
Before your departure, if your absence is to last several hours, do not hesitate to walk him. He will have taken care of himself before being confined - which will limit the risk of an accident - and he will have spent himself, which will encourage him to sleep more when you are gone and thus to better endure loneliness!