Teaching your dog to be alone requires patience, consistency. It can be an extremely frustrating thing for your dog. However, all dogs and puppies experience some fear when put alone for any length of time. Most dogs eventually learn how to be alone more slowly, as their owners leave them alone for longer periods of time.
A dog that is left alone for long periods of time will develop separation anxiety. They will try and avoid contact with you, and if they do enter contact with you, they may become stressed, angry or anxious. You can help your dog through this phase by being patient and supportive. Remain calm and gently encouraging. Remain focused on training and doing everything in your power to help them through this fearful stage of their life.
When your dog does enter the stage where they are less apprehensive but are slightly anxious, then you are ready to begin the training process. Here are a few dog training tricks that you can use to help make your dog comfortable when left alone. When my dog was a puppy, he would often leave my room when I came home. He would look around anxiously, his ears would perk up and he would jump on me when I came into the room. To combat this, it is important that you teach him to relax his body and mind before entering your room.
One of the dog training tricks you can use to help your dog get used to being alone is to hide treats near a dog crate. If you hide these treats near the crate, your dog will eventually become aware of the presence of treats and will begin to avoid the crate. Over time, your dog will enter the crate with less anxiety, since he will see the treat as a safe place to go.
Another dog training tricks you can use to help teach your dog to be alone is to have him sit. You want to start this dog training trick early, preferably right after he has been weaned. This way he will be more comfortable with the idea of being alone early on. Begin by sitting next to your dog while giving him a treat. If your dog begins to whimp and look around the room, then continue the sitting until he calms down.
One of the dog training tricks for helping your dog be alone is to distract him by distracting his attention elsewhere. Keep some tasty treats on hand. Make sure you keep one close by, just in case. Let your dog wander off and go find his treat. As soon as he gets the treat praise him and give him his treat. This will get your dog’s attention and start your dog training tricks for being alone.
The last dog training tricks for helping you train your dog to be alone include distracting your dog from a potential accident or confrontation by squirting him with water. Start by standing next to your dog. Slowly turn around and squirt him in the face with the water. Your dog will turn around and come right after you, hopefully missing any bad actions you do to him. If he does happen to fall, redirect his attention by giving him a treat as he goes by. Repeat these dog training tricks for how to teach your dog to be alone in short periods of time, and you will soon see that he can be a good watchdog without causing any harm to you or to those around him.
With some consistent training your dog will learn how to be by yourself quickly. If he is not used to going out on his own, you will need to spend some time with him alone teaching him this skill. Be patient and have fun with it, this is also a great bonding experience between you and your dog. Your dog will learn how to be by himself quickly and this will make him happy. In time he will even start to look forward to being alone.
