Leaving your puppy alone... for how long?

[LauraandBen]

Hello again,

So far tina is doing great in almost every aspect... but we need a little help on how to leave her alone without stressing her too much. Here is the situation:

Both Laura and I work, but Laura does a lot of home office. However sometimes she goes out, for as much as 5 hours, let’s say 2 to 3 times a week. Tina is left alone, confined to the kitchen area and the entrance corridor. This is a small area (6m2 or 60sqft aprox) and is also where she sleeps. She is trained to poop and pee in a designated space with news paper (she is still not interested in reading it.. simply poops on top of it ) and in the other corner she sleeps and eats.

So far when left alone for 2 hours after play time, with a nice apple filled Kong or a nice chewing treat, she does ok. But if left for longer hours we usually find poop where it shouldn't and yesterday... she scratched a good slice out of the entrance door.

We are wondering, how to can we manage to train her to be left alone for at least 5 hours a day without being scared to find the house on fire when we come back.

Additionally, she has not finished her vaccination program so we can't take her out for long walks or to the park... or even a puppy day care, which we are more than happy to do.

Here is an updated pic for your amusement:





Cheers!!

Laura and Ben.

 

[bullmama]

I crate trained all of my pups starting in 2002. I didn't before this and was shocked to find how beneficial it was. My bullies love their own spaces and I never worry when I leave the house.

My first real eye opener was when we were traveling back in 2004.

We had one bully named Sarah, and she was fully crate trained. We would stay in hotels pretty often and she was a nervous wreck. I would wake up in the middle of the night, and find her sitting there staring at the wall shivering! I would try to put her in the bed with me, but she could never settle and get relaxed.

I'm not sure exactly how we decided to bring her crate into a hotel room one time. Maybe we were going out to get a bite to eat and wanted her safe. But once we brought her crate into the room, she ran inside and was back to her old self knowing that she had her special place to go into. This was when we realize that her crate was not just her crate, but it was her own special den where she felt safe.

After this happened I noticed that Sarah would always go in lay down in her crate when she wanted to take a nap so I would leave the door open for her so she could go in and out as she pleased. That is when I knew how much they love their own space. Since then, I've never come home to eat no tennis shoes or messes in the house. I have to do is say "get in your bed", and they go right in with no argument.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Alice Kable]

We crate train our dogs also. They love their "houses" , their own space. Tina is adorable. No doubt she gets lonesome and bored when she is home alone and looks for ways to entertain herself.