Help! How do I teach my dog ​​to be alone?

Many dogs have been lucky in recent years, in that all family members were home a lot. They have become accustomed to always being with them in the meantime. Now that more people are working away from home again, it takes some time for most dogs to get used to that again. If you are still working from home at the moment, this is the ideal time to start working on preparations for when you do work outside the door more often in the future.

It is also extremely important for puppies that you teach them to be alone. Even if you’re always at home and don’t plan to leave them alone! After all, something can always happen that makes it necessary for them to be alone for a while. In that case it’s nice to know your dog can deal with it.

How are we going to teach our dog to be alone?

To begin with, you can occasionally deny your dog access to you. For example, when you are cooking in the kitchen, the dog can stay in the living room with something tasty (for example, a filled lickmat or Kong). In this way he has a distraction, and the treats also give him a positive association with being alone.
He knows you’re still in the house, but he can’t reach you for a little while. You can do this by, for example, closing the door, or by temporarily using a stair gate or fence, for example.

If that goes well, you can start expanding. Initially, stay a little longer in the other room in the house. Once you’ve built up that time, you can also start practicing being outdoors while your dog is home.
Go out the door and come back in after a few seconds. Especially if your dog has something tasty to focus on at that moment, he has had absolutely no time during that period to worry about where you went and whether you will come back.

Make sure you are back inside at all times before your dog can become restless. If he does start whining, make your next practice session shorter so you can avoid the panic. Under no circumstances wait for your pup to stop barking, because by then his fear that you won’t come back has really only been confirmed.
Build it a little further from here, and think in seconds and minutes! So don’t immediately visit family for three hours! There is a good chance that your dog will then become unsure whether you will come back. He has to learn that it’s not all that scary, and that he can be left alone for a while, because you always come back.

Does your dog suffer from separation anxiety?

For example, does he destroy stuff when you’re not home, or does he bark a lot? Then you will of course find out very quickly that your dog cannot be alone. But did you know that some dogs have a huge problem with being alone, but don’t show it in the ways mentioned above? To find out if your dog can be alone, it is best to make a video. For example, by putting your laptop on FaceTime/Skype/Zoom and watching on your smartphone, or by installing a camera. If your dog goes to sleep (a relaxed sleep!) when you’re not there, you don’t have to worry about anything. But some dogs simply do not find peace when they are alone. They keep walking around, and keep an eye on the windows and doors.

If your dog has problems with being alone, it can help to have a certified behavioral therapist take a look. They can help you with management advice, support resources, and training to teach your dog that being alone isn’t so scary. You can certainly find someone in your area through the Dutch Association of Behavioral Therapists for Dogs. If you live near me: I am also a behaviourist, through Hondenschool DogWork.

Good luck!