How to (safely!) leave puppy home alone?

[Babypuppyshark]

Hi everyone

We have a 4 month old GR and I’ve started training him to be left for a few minutes at a time, hoping to be able to increase this so I can eventually pop out for an hour or so (we’ve had him 6 weeks and he’s never been alone yet apart from to sleep)

My only problem is I am so anxious about how to safely leave him.

He is a big chewer. He has a pen and crate combo. I’m scared he might chew bits off his blankets, or that his toys aren’t safe and he’ll choke. I know he should be left with some food enrichment at first, but once he’s gone through his kong I’m worried about how to know which toys are going to be 100% safe for him!

How do you know what’s safe to leave them with and what isn’t?

(I never had this problem with our spaniel as he mouthed rather than chewed)

Thank you

I don't think you're supposed to leave a dog under 6 months. That's what I learned from the excellent Facebook group Dog Training Advice and Support. It's run by behaviourists and vets. They have an excellent book too.

That's just not even remotely possible for lots of people.

That is absolutely ridiculous, untrue and a recipe for separation anxiety

I never left toys in pups crate, only chews.

I used just a vet fleece and a safe chew
just build up time away. Encourage lots of calm - praise quiet calm behaviour - I lifted everything that might be chewed anyway. Sprayed vinegar on anything he out his mouth on (.that he shouldn’t have) he can be left no problem - I leave the radio on for him too

We leave the radio on too (Classic FM!) and safe chew when she was small. We have a water bowl on side of crate because I was worried about chew without a drink.
Now she's older but still very happy in crate with just a couple of biscuits.

I was so worried about leaving our pup.
We crate trained him and didn't properly leave him until he was almost 6 months old.

We bought a ring indoor camera so we could check on him and talk to him while we were out, it's been really useful.

We started out by leaving him in his crate with a kong or lick mat and going and sitting in the car on the drive for 5 mins then returning. He was absolutely fine.

Then the next time we needed to leave him in a bit of an emergency, we did the same thing, set the camera up and ended up being out for about an hour. He finished his kong and slept the entire time.

We did that a few more times and gradually built it up.

I had a similar thread when he was about 4.5 months old and got ripped the shreds saying it's ridiculous I hadn't left him. I just wanted to make sure he felt happy, safe and secure and I'm glad I did because he's absolutely fine being left now. He's never once been left to cry.

He's now 18 months old and the maximum time he's been left him was 7 hours. It was only once, I felt bad, it was unavoidable and he was absolutely fine. No panting, crying, he just slept.

You'll know when the time is right, but you do have to be brave and he'll probably surprise you!

This is excellent advice. I too had a camera (mine was/is a Furbo which you can actually toss treats from remotely not he's probably a bit young for this). You can start now by going into a different room and giving him a stay command. Start with 30 seconds and build it up. Good luck - ours had a penchant for tea towels!

I’ve only ever left my Golden with himself water and food.

My Golden is a prolific chewer and destroyer of all toys - even as a puppy (8 weeks) the little shit was ripping its innards out and eating them. So, it wouldn’t realistically have been safe to leave him with anything more than water and food - eating toys etc can cause serious harm and it’s surpassing how small an amount (even an amount you wouldn’t notice is gone) can do so much damage at their age. Particularly toy stuffing as its absorbent…

If yours is the same I really would advise not leaving him alone for longer than a few minutes (and always within earshot) until he’s a bit bigger. My lab as a child tried to chew the bars of his crate (and my golden tried to do likewise - like I said, arsehole) when left in at night and got his jaws stuck and I’ve never heard screaming like it. And of course when dogs panic they can really hurt themselves.

It’s entirely possible to do it with an older dog (I first left mine in the house alone at 7 months and he was fine after months of me just leaving the room and him being left in a basically empty room with just water and food for up to 40 mins at a time)!

Edit: just to clarify - every dog is different. And if yours is an eater and you are worried, then go with your instinct. Someone will come along in a bit and say you’re a crap dog mum or that I overreacted to what happened to my lab as a child…but honestly, with puppies, better safe than sorry.

@Devilshands thank you. I get this completely.

My gut is telling me he isn’t safe to be left for a long while yet. It’s difficult though knowing other people with pups this age manage to go out to work or leave them for hours at a time so I feel a bit neurotic refusing to leave him on his own!

He isn’t quite as bad a chewer as yours (he’s never ripped soft toys) but even a “dog safe” chew our trainer brought with her he managed to try and eat whole so I have to watch him like a hawk! No rope toys, no home made enrichment, and supervising everything he does. That’s why I worry - I see danger in everything!

Our old dog (cocker) had free roam of the whole house and wouldn’t ever have got into trouble so it’s a bit of a shock to the system.

My gut is telling me he isn’t safe to be left for a long while yet. It’s difficult though knowing other people with pups this age manage to go out to work or leave them for hours at a time so I feel a bit neurotic refusing to leave him on his own!

Don’t feel neurotic! Like I said, mine was seven months before I left him. He’s 14 months now and I still will only leave him with water…although he’s now allowed to stay in the same room as my other dogs (but only because he knows to sleep and not bother them…)

Keep doing short bursts whilst you’re in the house and you’ll get there!

Don't leave toys. Just water and his king and let him be. He will hopefully go to sleep.
Do not understand people who won't leave dogs on their own. What about overnight? What about when you go take a shower/do the school run? A friend ignored my advice to leave her dog for a few minutes at a time and build up. She now can't leave him without him crying and stressing by the window, and has to bring him in each room with her - she does treat him like a baby though and I think likes to be needed!

We started out by leaving him in his crate with a kong or lick mat and going and sitting in the car on the drive for 5 mins then returning. He was absolutely fine.

This is really good advice. You’re setting yourself up for a neurotic dog if you don’t start this soon.

We have a brand new pup and we are already starting to leave him, just for 2 minutes or so.

We left out ddog from 3 months as we both worked (3 days a week) We had a neighbour/friend go in twice a day to feed and let him out and we had a dog walker too. We had a large pen built for him with food water and his bed. He was absolutely fine. No separation anxiety etc for the rest of his life. Sadly we departed 5.5 weeks ago 😥

@Babypuppyshark totally understand how you are feeling. We did not leave our pup until she was 8 months old. We had been popping out, round the garden, out the front door, out the back door, returning within minutes, then a few more minutes. This reassures them, you will always return! First time we left properly,
I gave her a frozen toppl ( don't do kongs unless you have a hole through them). Returned in an hour no problem. Next time was longer and again a frozen toppl. This is always after her morning walk play train so is always tired anyway. But she can be a chewer. She has the run of the kitchen diner, tiled floor and this has always been her place. She does not like beds only towels.

We didn't leave our pup alone for any significant length of time until she was about 9 months of age. By that age she'd already started to choose not to follow us around etc and so it wasn't an issue at all. It's not true that not starting a routine of leaving them when young leads to separation anxiety.

We don't leave with anything but water.

Just remove anything dangerous, my ddog was left from 9 weeks, no issues, shut in a room with nothing to destroy. He's absolutely fine (old boy now)