7 month old puppy never been left alone

[BarkingHat]

7 month old velcro puppy, happy little dog. But due to lock down, DH working from home, she's never been left alone.

It's proving very difficult to get through to my husband that we need to start building her up to this. At the moment we have to tag team going to the shops. He's very reluctant to leave her...

1. how do I persuade him? 2) how slowly do we build it up?

Our pup is 5 months and we are in the same situation
I have injured my leg s not going out much so he’s used to at Least one of us being here .
We want to win Lotto and stay with him.
😊🐕‍🦺😊
I think I will push myself and go to visit a neighbour today

Good luck

1. can't your husband unstandardised that you will never be able to return to work or go out for a meal etc together again? And that doesn't bother him?
2. if the puppy is always in the same room then you need to separate during the times you are in the house, and then leave the house for 2 mins then 5 mins etc etc.

It's a shame you didn't consider this during lockdown as people were allowed to leave their homes for shopping/exercise which you could have done together and built up the time apart from the puppy very easily.

There is lots of advice online, the longer you leave it the more distressing it will be for your puppy.

www.pdsa.org.uk/taking-care-of-your-pet/looking-after-your-pet/puppies-dogs/home-alone-preventing-separation-anxiety

1). There is no cure for separation anxiety. You can only manage it. It’s in her best interest to make sure she doesn’t get it. If at some point he has to go back to work, she won’t be able to cope. You’ll end up rehoming her and she won’t be easy to find a home for. Especially considering she will be one of many pups suffering the same fate. His work might have said they are permanently working from home but this is a dog that is going to live for 10-15 years. We’ve just entered a recession - what if he gets made redundant? Or his job changes and he wants to leave? 10-15 years is a long time to say your job situation will not change at all. Even if his job doesn’t change - does he honestly not want to go for a meal, a wedding, a funeral for the next 10 years? What happens if someone has to go to hospital? What will you do then?

2). You start small. If you’re both working from home, put the dog bed in another room and send her to her bed. Keep doing it when she gets off her bed. Small amounts of time at first. Get ready to go out, grab your keys, put your shoes on and then sit down. If they have a crate, put her in there at other times for example when you’re hoovering. So she gets used to going to bed/crate at times other than being left. Get into a good routine when you leave, our dog has to get on her bed and she gets a biscuit. She is told to leave the biscuit until we are at the door and as we reach the door we allow her to have the biscuit. So us leaving is timed with having a biscuit. Try not to be anxious on leaving, she’ll pick up on your anxiety. Go out for a 10 minute walk together, then a 20 minute walk. Build up the time but throw in a few 10 minute sessions here and there. This way she knows sometimes you come straight back, sometimes it’s a bit longer.

You might want to install a camera or something to listen to her. We used a sleep recorder app on our tablets to listen to if she was getting distressed, then you know if you have to slow it down. Observe how she’s getting on and change your pace accordingly.

Start with you being in the house.

So just leave the room.

Hopefully build up to shutting the door when you have a shower for example.

Take her on her walk and on your return pop her in her bed in a room on her own to rest for an hour etc even if you are in the house in another room.

When she is happy with this you can build on duration you leave her and you being able to go out and about without her.

She isn't going to get rehomed whatever happens! We've been passing her round from in laws to other family to friends. She's happy going to them all.

I know this isn't sustainable!

DH in a happy little bubble at the moment where he gets to wfh all day with the dog at his feet.

Starting small. At the moment it's about 5 minutes before she starts barking. So I try to go back in before she starts barking. I'm doing little flits in and out of the house when DH isn't there to sabotage it.

Have a read here, most dog rescues are spotting this as an upcoming problem and expecting handovers of dogs with severe separation anxiety :(
www.dogstrust.org.uk/news-events/news/2020/dogs-trust-help-your-hound-out-of-lockdown-as-restrictions-ease