Being alone doesn't come naturally
Being alone is not natural for dogs. If you ever plan to leave your puppy home alone, you must begin training alone time from day one, and while you are home.
Start with short sessions in the crate with a stuffed Kong or other chew item. Good times to crate your puppy come up all day:
- While you're watching TV
- Paying bills
- Talking on the phone
- Eating dinner
Having your puppy in the crate while you are home lets them experience zillions of short absences instead of one long, scary one.
It's nice having them follow you everywhere, but you don't want that forever: it gets old fast when your dog is 3 years old and still following you every time you go to the bathroom, get a drink from the kitchen, wash your hands, answer the phone... you get the idea.
No unsupervised free run, ever
Never, ever, leave your puppy unattended with unsupervised free run of the house.
If you do, and they pee or poop or destroy something (and they will), you will get upset, and that is not fair to them. Don't set them up for failure.
- How long is too long: hours equal months of age plus one, capped at four or five hours for any young puppy in a crate during the day.
- If the day is longer than that, the answer is a person: a family member, a neighbor, a walker or a sitter dropping in to break it up.
The rest of this guide
- The drag-line: managed freedom in the house
- Set them up to succeed
The full guide, and the step-by-step video exercises it pairs with, is included with Puppy Foundations, our at-home puppy course. A few minutes a day, from first steps to confident manners.
Free: the housetraining plan
The routine we give every puppy family, as a printable PDF with a one-page sheet for the fridge.
