we’re answering all sorts of questions about the labrador and the today’s question is can they be left alone will is going to be answering this question today so i’m going to hand over to him so we all know that dogs are highly sociable beings who love nothing more than spending time with their owners and yet sometimes we just have to leave the house without them especially puppy parents often cannot help feeling guilty for having to leave their dogs to their own devices but is it really bad for them to spend time without their owners so in today’s article we’re going to discuss whether or not dogs should be left alone so then we will begin with :
the first reason why leaving your dog alone at home might actually be very good for them and that is that alone time can build confidence if you just got a new puppy you might be tempted to spend all your free time with them and there is no doubt about it with their innocent charm their adorable clumsiness and their cute cuddly looks puppies are irresistible however if you keep showering them with fuss and affection all the time you might do them a disservice now this might sound a bit bizarre because why on earth would you not show your new dog how much that you adore them now of course i’m not suggesting you should withhold love from your puppy but if you make it a habit to give your young dog the opportunity to be on their own sometimes you will thank yourself in the future guaranteed because alone time builds a young dog’s confidence like nothing else they learn valuable lessons from this such as ah my owner is leaving the house that’s not the end of the world after all they always come back and in the meantime i’ve got my tasty chew toy filled with meat pate to work on now next is around crate training being incredible for your dog now of course you’re probably going to want to build up to this gradually but by and large a puppy who is left alone in a safe place for short periods of time will learn how to calm themselves down to help you build up to a point where you can leave your dog loose in the house for several hours and to help you do that i highly recommend you get a crate invest in a safe stable version that will be large enough for your dog when they are fully grown if you select a crate with inbuilt dividers you can adapt the size to your puppy which is brilliant especially useful because dogs do not want to soil in their own dens therefore.
your puppy will at least attempt to hold their business even longer until you can let them out of the crate which is incredibly useful for also toilet training your new puppy now crates are not only fantastic training tools for your puppy but if you have adopted an adult dog into your home you can absolutely get them used to the crate as well most likely they will readily embrace the crate as their new sleeping place especially if you have made the space a nice one and an inviting place to go to do so put a soft dog pillow or a thick blanket or a bed into the crate and cover the top with a blanket in this way you create a den like atmosphere which really naturally appeals to dogs and they find very secure and safe now another tip to help manage your dog’s alone time is by planning ahead and being proactive as we said giving your dog alone time does help them to build up confidence and it teaches them to calm themselves down this skill set will serve them well in all future life situations and ideally you want your dog to develop it as soon as possible however especially .
if you have a very young puppy you do want to move slowly with this extend their alone time in the crate little by little if for any reason you cannot do that and you have to kind of throw them right in at the deep end right from the very beginning planning ahead will help you and your dog getting used to time spent away from one another hey guys sorry to interrupt the articlei wanted just to quickly let you know if you’re interested in reading more articles about me actually working with dogs following the cases of the behavior modification programmes and the different training programs that i implement as well as me training and raising my own dogs .
for example that you have to leave the house for eight hours every single day for work in this case you could plan in a long weekend right after you bring your puppy home ideally you would take one or two weeks off from work if possible and dedicate this time to your puppy this will help your dog getting settled in more comfortably but much more importantly it will also give you time to bond with them and begin that crate training in a more gradual manner rather than having to chuck them right in at the deep end if you have to go straight back to work but eventually you will have to return to your routine and to avoid making this a traumatic event for your puppy you can enlist help for example you can make arrangements for family members to come over once or twice a day especially in those early days to let your puppy out for the toilet to help on toilet training and just give them a little bit of interaction you can keep this routine up at least for the first two months then switch to maybe once a day if you were doing it twice a day and that helps as the dog is physically able to hold on to their business for longer periods of time ideally.
these visits will leave the puppy pleasantly tired and content and after they have received an appropriate dose of exercise and food and physical interaction they should be more than happy to sleep for the majority of the time they spend back in their crate if you have no family members or friends who are willing to take over these puppy duties while you’re at work you can hire a dog sitter or take your puppy to a reputable doggy daycare especially in those early days .
so in my opinion yes dogs should be taught how to be left on their own of course in the ideal world we will always have someone at hand to stay at home with our puppy at least until they are a bit older and a bit better trained to be able to be left loose in the house and ideally we would not leave them for longer than a few hours at a time however there are many ways to navigate those challenges of having to leave your dog at home and provided you are fully committed to making sure that you meet your dog’s needs especially during your absence you absolutely can make this work alone time does not have to be bad for your dog in fact it can be an incredible thing and as their loving owner and leader you simply want to manage the situation in the best interest of your dog by setting them up for success by planning ahead and being proactive as a good calm consistent canine leader always does so as always guys be your dog’s leader because leadership is love.
