(photo by Roger Abrantes).
You can teach your dog to be home alone in five steps. The earlier you begin, the better.
Number one canine problem behavior is “home alone.” Don’t panic if someone tells you that your dog suffers from separation anxiety. It’s probably not the case. Anxiety is a severe disorder, and most dogs don’t have any anxiety when left alone. They are either under-stimulated and burn their surplus energy by wrecking the furniture, they’re having fun and don’t know that it is wrong to destroy human possessions, or the owners have not taught them the desired routines when left home alone. There is a good chance that you can solve the problem with my five-step program.
You’re not alone. Problems with dogs that can’t be home alone (I call it CHAP=Canine Home Alone Problem) are the most common issue worldwide when we keep dogs as pets. Everybody seems to have a different idea of how to solve the problem. Remember the principle: too many cooks spoil the broth. If you choose to follow some other method, please do it and don’t even bother reading the following. If you decide to follow my five-step method, stick to it and don’t listen to what others tell you.
Teach your dog to be home alone in five steps:
- DLO means desired learning objective.
- QC stands for Quality Control and refers to the number of consecutive times (or similar criteria) you must successfully complete your DLO before advancing to the next step.
1. Teach the dog to associate the bed (crate, blanket, spot, or whatever you have chosen) with positive experiences.
DLO: The dog likes to lie down on the bed.
QC: The dog often and voluntarily goes to its bed.
- Throw a couple of treats on the dog’s bed (without the dog seeing it) whenever there are none left.
- Whenever the dog lies on the bed, reinforce it verbally (don’t exaggerate, so that the dog gets up).
- Sometimes, pet the dog when it lies on the bed (calmly).
- Send the dog to bed with a specific signal, such as “bed,” 10-20 times daily.
- Send the dog to its bed often when you watch TV, read the news, do computer work, etc.
2. Teach the dog the meaning of the word “bed.”
DLO: The dog goes to the bed after you say “bed” without any problems.
QC: Ten successive correct behaviors.
- Send the dog to the bed by saying “bed” and pointing to it or throwing a treat on it.
- Use only the word “bed.” Don’t say anything else.
- Reinforce it verbally, calmly, so it remains on the bed.
3. The dog lies down on the bed even if you walk away.
DLO: The dog lies down on the bed even if you walk away.
QC: Ten successive correct behaviors.
- Tell the dog to go to the bed with the word “bed.”
- Reinforce it verbally, calmly, so it remains on the bed.
- Stop reinforcing it immediately if it should leave within 10 seconds, and ignore it for a couple of minutes. (Important: those two minutes must be particularly boring for the dog).
- Start over until the dog stays on the bed even when you walk away.
4. Teach the dog to stay on the bed.
DLO: The dog lies on the bed for three minutes after you leave the room.
QC: Ten successive correct behaviors.
- Reinforce the dog verbally as soon as it lies on the bed after you say “bed.” Be calm.
- When the dog lies quietly on the bed, leave the room for two seconds, then come back.
- Repeat, leaving the room at irregular intervals and for irregular periods, e.g., 5 s, 30 s, 4 s, 1 minute, etc.
- If the dog remains on the bed, do nothing.
- Should the dog leave its bed, send it back and start all over.
5. Teach the dog to stay on the bed when you leave the room and close the door.
DLO: You can leave the dog and close the door without any problem.
QC: Ten successive correct behaviors.
- As soon as you can leave the room for three minutes without the dog leaving its bed, repeat procedures in point 4, but begin to close the door.
- The first few times, don’t close the door; just touch it.
- The following times, leave the door ajar.
- Then, leave the room, close the door for two seconds, open it, and enter the room. If all is all right, ignore the dog. Otherwise, start all over with point 5.
- Finally, leave the room, close the door, stay out for irregular periods, open it, and enter the room. If all is all right, ignore the dog.
Maintaining good behavior
- Even when you’re home, you sometimes leave the dog alone. Do not constantly pay attention to it.
- Always stimulate the dog properly before leaving. Remember: too little and too much are equally wrong.
- Give the dog something to do when you leave. You don’t even need to invest in expensive toys. A plastic bottle full of treats will keep the dog busy for a while, figuring out how to take them out (watch the dog the first couple of times and encourage it, if necessary, to toss the bottle around and not bite it).
- Place the dog’s bed in a central place in the house (living room). Most dogs don’t like to feel isolated.
- Continue using “bed” and continue making the bed attractive with occasional treats, verbal reinforcement, and petting (all very calmly).
- Make sure the bed is not too clean (most dogs don’t appreciate our fragrance-drenched laundry), nor too dirty, and is doggy-comfortable.
- Pick up your keys often (or put on your shoes, cap, or whatever you usually do before you leave) so that the dog disassociates these cues with being left alone.
Here is some explanation for those of you interested in the principles of the five-step method:
- We create a positive association with the bed so that the dog will often and voluntarily go to its bed.
- We get the dog used to lying on the bed when we are at home, either relaxing or doing our homework. After all, the ideal dog is the dog that is quiet at home and active when out.
- We teach the dog the meaning of the word “bed.”
- We got the dog used to us leaving the room and coming back as part of our regular routine.
- We teach the dog to associate the door with a regular routine.
- We create a routine for the dog so that, when there’s nothing to do at home, the best thing is to go to bed.
You maximize your chances of speedy success if:
- The dog sleeps on its bed at night, and (even better) if it doesn’t sleep in the same room as you.
- The dog is routinely well stimulated (under-stimulated dogs are more challenging to teach to be home alone)
- The dog is not hyperactive or overstimulated (overstimulated dogs have difficulties remaining in the same spot for long periods).
Important for you:
- Be calm, no matter what you do.
- Advance step by step.
- Be patient.
- Control your emotions and behavior when you succeed as well as when you fail.
- If you haven’t anything important to say to the dog, be quiet.
- It’s your responsibility alone to understand and implement this five-step program and to adjust it if needed, not the dog’s.
- If my five-step method doesn’t seem to solve the problem, it may be that your dog shows genuine separation anxiety, in which case you must contact a competent specialist.
Enjoy training your dog and remember that you train your dog primarily for the dog’s sake, not yours!
R~
Roger Abrantes 
i loved the way you talk about not allways is anxiety its like oallways talk that messy children have atention deficit
Excellent post! I agree, separation anxiety is becoming a big deal for a lot of dogs, and a lot of owners at a loss for how to deal with it.
I have an issue with your:
“Send the dog to the bed with the word “bed” by pointing to the bed or throwing a treat on the bed.”
First It is easier to send the dog to bed than out of it. After all, it is something the dog wants.
Second.pointing to the bed is absolutely irrelevant since animals, other than human, do not follow pointing. Not even primates point locations as a system of information transfer.
The pointing here is not a signal that indicates direction. It is simply a sign with a semantic meaning associated to the word bed. You could as well hit your own head while saying bed or pointing to the sky that the dog would follow the command anyway. The dog is paying attention to auditory clues, not the semantics of what you are pointing to. This is important to clarify, because naive people may assume that by simply pointing to wherever they want the dog to go, he will understand.
You are incorrect. Dogs are the only other animals that respond to gestures. Scientific fact. This is a skill that primates cannot imitate.
Dogs do in fact listen to point/hand commands. I taught a dog vocal commands along with hand gestures. Eventually it got to the point I didn’t even have to speak. I would simply point upwards and the dog would sit. I would point down and the dog would lay down. You seriously under credit the intelligence of what I animal is capable of doing and following.
I have a problem with when you said that for dogs pointing is not a signal that indicates direction. Dogs can infact learn to move in the direction in which you point. I know this for a fact as my father used to do competition with our dog and she was trained strictly on hand signals where you point in the direction you want her to go in. She even learned to look up when he pointed up. Not all dogs are able to learn this however I know it is possible.
Hi Anabela,
Thanks for your comment. You are right except that animals (we’ve tried dogs, horses, cats and seals) do follow the direction of your stretched arm once you’ve trained them into doing that. Repeatedly associating a treat thrown in the same direction of your arm functions as an SD (Sγ in SMAF) and a reinforcer (“!-food”(treat) in SMAF). After a number of repetitions the stretched arm will function as an SD (Direction,arm in SMAF). This is a common and documented signal used by most handlers in canine searching and detection work. The dog goes forward, right, or left depending on your stretched arm signal. The only thing we have to remember is that when the dog faces us and we point to the right, the dog goes to its left and opposite the other way.
I have always contended that dogs cannot know ‘right’ and ‘left,’ only ‘one way’ and ‘other way.’ Recently, in Australia, I was proved wrong. I met a dog that could do it. I tried all I could to fool it, uncover hidden clues, and it didn’t work. The dog still answered correctly. Don’t ask me how this is possible, for I have no clue and I’m still trying to find a plausible explanation, but it gives us good stuff to think about.
Enjoy your day,
R-
Hi Monica and Jen,
Thanks for your comments. I think it is important to emphasize that CHAP is not always due to anxiety. Many dog owners panic when they hear this verdict. We can resolve and prevent most cases of CHAP without having to recur to pshychopharmaca and complicated behavior modification programs.
Have a great day,
R-
Roger Abrantes Thank you for taking the time to inform us. The information in this post I have found to be very useful and will bookmark your site to gather any further relevant content.
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Useful information. Lucky me I found your site by chance, and I’m stunned why this coincidence did not took place in advance! I bookmarked it.
I want to keep back my dog but my promblem when my dog alone when I go to work. She will makes noise
I have a question about your method. What age is best to start your dog getting used to staying home alone? Is it better to start this as a puppy or let them get used to you being there and then start leaving them when a little older?
Hi Sarah,
Start as soon as you can, but of course gradually. Most importantly, teach your puppy to be able to entertain itself, not to depend on you all the time, not to follow you constantly.
R—
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I’m very pleased to find this web site. I wanted to thank you for your time just for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoyed every part of it and i also have you saved to fav to look at new things in your web site.
I am trying this right now, and after a year of not being bale to be left, it seems to be working. You are a god-send! Thanks so much for the advice. I agree it’s about reinforcement, repetition and keeping calm. It may not sound like much but we’re up to several minutes of Rocky being left along… hopefully by the end of today that will be longer and we can go from there. Thanks again!
It’s is very simple to teach a dog the visual signals: Left, Right, Back and Forward(marking). We use it a lot at “Golden Isle” here in Italy where the activity for people/dogs is retrieving(field trial). Kind regards, Jette
I enjoyed your podcast on dogstar about sign vs commands very much. I’ve a question to you : I’ve a pair of Caravan Hounds ( you can see them here http://caravanhound.wordpress.com/ & i’ve been told the behaviour of hounds are very different from that of other dogs….. so ” come here”/ recall may not work most of the times. Is this true ? or is it just that i’ve committed some mistakes while bringing them up. Also about leaving them ‘home alone’ till recently we had some one always used to be at home which is no longer going to be the case….. now at 20 months is it too late to attempt leaving him alone……. lem’me know & thanks a lot.
I came across your blog while searching for some advice for my dod and it’s awesome! Thank you so much for this post. My dog is young and very active and I need a solution to deal with its excess energy, but I don’t think its an ‘anxiety’ that has to be treated like a disease. It’s just normal for a small puppy! Anyway, I have to deal with that somehow. I preordered a camera and toy called Petcube to watch/play with my pup when I’m not at home, but training is essential and I will use your advice. Thank you!
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Hi,
I have just brought my new puppy home & am training her to be alone. (As on 2 weeks I go back to work as will be alone for a couple of hours in morning & afternoon) I am very nervous about separation anxiety & doing a lot of research to prevent this. I have tried to leave her for couple of mins & she cried & wee… I am worried that anxiety is happening already. Even though earlier today I put her to bed to sleep & was there for hour no problems.
However even though these are early days & want the best for her & want to train her correctly so she does not suffer from this. I want to gradually work on this so she is ready when I go back to work
I am currently trying to have her sleep through the night in her bed without me there. Her cries are really hard to ignore & nervous that letting her cry at night will create this anxiety.
I have found your reading useful & will look to implement it. Fingers crossed.
Thank you :)
Thank you :-) :-) :-) :-) :-).my dog is very well behaved . He is quiet and active . He s a good dog.
Thanks :)
Reblogged this on dogcatbehaviour and commented:
This is very good reading and useful advice so I have re-blogged for my clients/
Nice tips it’s very positive good. I am happy.
Really great article. Thank you for the advice. My dog becomes very upset when I leave the house. He is minded during the week but at weekends I need to go shopping etc. Out of interest, what breed is the dog in the photo? He looks like mine and we have to idea what he is. Many thanks, Ciara
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one using this technique – I mainly use it for a dog who are fearful to people but have used it for a dog on the dog as well. And yes, it’s true, it doesn’t work 100% of the time on a 100% of the dogs, but the percentage is definitely high enough to always try it. The only time I’ve seen it do the opposite like Tressie was mentioning, was when that another dog was still slightly unsure, or younger than the already fearful dog.
Thanks again
Hi. This is all really helpful so thank you. I am about to adopt a 16 old staffie-collie Cross hopefully. However he is very sound sensitive and has ripped down 5 sets of curtains in les than 10mins before he was taken to the Jerry Green dog rescue centre. Would his age and insecurity affect this method at all?
Great content, I love reading through anything that has to do with dog training, really interesting to me.
HI My dog has been with her partner doggie for 8 years, he has now passed on.
although now on medication to calm her, she stil cant sleep alone in in her basker in the kitchen, and wails when we go out
any ideas?
Thank you for sharing your awesome technique for “Bed” training.
Very informative and helpful, thank you!
Surely great blog for sharing your knowledge with us in an understanding way of your writing skills, nice effort,keep it up