Never Do This When You Leave Your Dog Alone

leaving your dog alone is tough while you head out for work errands or a night out your Pooch experiences real anxiety feeling unsure if or when you'll return many dog owners try to ease their dog's loneliness only to make things worse without realizing it in this video we'll go over 12 common mistakes people make when leaving their dogs alone and show you what to do instead by the end of this video you'll know how to leave in the right way and smooth their anxiety if you haven't already hit the Subscribe button to join our community

of dedicated dog lovers number 12 some people are morning people most people aren't for people who find mornings a chore it can be tempting to leave everything to the last possible moment just set everything up the night before sleep for as long as you can manage drag yourself out of bed grab a coffee grab a snack wave goodbye to the dog and rush out the door to catch your bus but is that really what's best for your dog to help your dog feel better about being left all on their Lonesome it might be a good

idea to sacrifice those extra few seconds of sleep the things we do for our fur babies right getting up that bit earlier can allow you to take your pup for a nice long walk before you go out for the day yes you might be a bit more sleepy throughout the day but crucially so will your dog if you make the effort to help Tire your fur baby out before you leave they'll hopefully be able able to spend the bulk of the day sleeping and then wake up when you get home again if they're asleep they

can't miss you number 11 leaving your dog alone especially for the first few times will always be difficult you set them up with their food and their toys you check and double check that the water dish is filled you give them some pets before you leave and then right after you rush out the door you give into the urge and rush back inside to give them one last pet for luck after all how could you resist that little face peering out from out the window how can you risk letting them think even for a moment

that you going away means that you don't love them but although it might feel like you need to do everything you can to reassure your pup before you leave them making a big deal out of the moments before you walk out the door might be doing your fur baby more harm than good in the long run remember it's likely that your dog makes their decisions about how they're going to react to certain situations based on how you react to them you're the big wise Human After All if you think things are fine then they probably

are this can be a problem however when it comes to leaving your dog for the day you making a big fuss of your dog right before you leave might feel like the best way to show them that you care but the message that your dog is receiving from this behavior is this is a big deal the human is acting like it's a big deal action stations Panic time if you want your dog to feel like being left alone isn't a big deal you need to behave from the start like it isn't a big deal a

low-key goodbye is better for your dog even if it might seem a little cold from your perspective number 10 equally as tempting as it might feel don't make too big of a deal of your Homecoming this is likely to be pretty hard because your pup is probably going to make a big deal even if you've been leaving them alone and then coming back every day for years a lot of dogs will insist on reacting like they haven't seen you for over a decade you don't have to rebuff their affections although you might want to try

and get them to tone it down a bit when it comes to jumping up and down and trying to wash your face unless you like having a face covered in dog saliva and dirty paw prints all over your work clothes but you should avoid rewarding it too much when you come in the aim should be to get your dog to calm down settle in a bit and then give them all the pets that you want to give them otherwise you risk rewarding them for their OV excited reaction which prompts them to continue working themselves up

whenever you leave number nine separation anxiety can cause your dog to do more than just feel a bit nervous some dogs in an attempt to soothe themselves may start to act out when left alone soiling in the house for example is a common reaction for dogs who have separation anxiety peeing and pooping in the house help spread their scent around satisfying their instinct to mark their territory and making them feel better about being alone if your dog is being left alone for more than a few hours of course then they're going to need toilet brakes

regardless of how comfortable they are if you need to leave your dog for a long time and notice that they're either soiling in the house or seeming extra desperate for their toilet break when they get home then you might need to consider booking a dog walker or getting a friend to pop in halfway through the day to let them go out other dogs might try working off their anxious energy by chewing on things if you're lucky it'll be their chew toys if you're unlucky it'll be your Furnishings however your dog expresses their separation anxiety the

important thing is not to scold them for it it's important to remember that your dog won't understand why they're in trouble unless they're CAU in the act so telling them off when you get home for something they did during the day isn't going to have much of an effect except to make your dog feel confused and upset if this happens when you come home at the end of the day then eventually your dog is going to start associating you coming home with those anxious and upset feelings this will not only affect your bond with them

but will also make them feel more stressed in General on the days that you have to leave them alone number eight nobody likes to come home to a cluttered house and you might want to try and avoid tripping over things when you come home tired at the end of the day by taking the time to tidy up your house the night before but spare some thought for the one who's going to be stuck in that house while you're away in order for your dog to entertain themselves for the day they need to have some things

to entertain themselves with tidying up the toys makes things easier for you but means that your pup has fewer things to keep them engaged and distracted while you're away try spreading them out instead so as to give your pup the maximum amount of mental stimulation aside from spreading out their toys try adding some variety with interactive puzzle toys treat dispensing toys can work wonders keeping your dog engaged as they work to get to the goodies inside rotate toys each day to keep things fresh and exciting or hide a few treats in different places around the

house for your pup to sniff out if your dog enjoys chewing safe chew toys or bones can also help relieve boredom and provide Comfort while they're alone number seven where does your dog go when you leave them alone in the house maybe they have a crate that they can nap in if you're only leaving them for a shorter amount of time but even if you haven't chosen to crate train your pup you should try to provide them with some space to call their own setting up a den whether that's a crate a corner of the

room or even a car cardboard box with a blanket inside is a nice way to ensure that your dog has somewhere safe to retreat to when they're feeling anxious or overwhelmed if your pup is left without a place to hide they might be more likely to engage in some of that damaging stress releasing Behavior remember just because your dog has a place in the house doesn't mean that you have to confine them to that spot if you prefer to let them freely roam around the house then you can still allow them to do that a

den just means that once they're tired of roaming they have a nice place to come back to for a nap number six one of the things that it's easy to forget when you're leaving for work in the morning is the curtains like most people you probably have your curtains closed when you're asleep to keep your room dark when you wake up especially on those winter mornings when it might still be dark outside it can be easy to forget to swing them open again but if you're leaving your pup in the house alone it's a good

idea to remember to open those curtains up an open window can be a great chance for your dog to get some mental stimulation if you live next to a street your dog can watch people passing by if you live in a more rural area however then your Pooch will enjoy sitting in the window sill and keeping an eye out for passing birds and rabbits especially if they're a breed that would traditionally have been used for hunting the open curtains also allow your dog to have a bit more light in the house our our fur babies

are generally better at seeing in dim light than we are but that doesn't mean that they don't want some natural lighting now and then especially on summer days when there's nothing more relaxing for a sleeping dog than taking a lovely nap in a warm patch of sunlight number five if you're still worried about your pup getting bored while they're home alone then you might consider leaving the TV or radio on for them while you're out so that they can have the benefit of human voices to listen to to while you're away well this isn't actually

a bad idea but it's something that needs to be handled carefully switching the radio or TV onto a random Channel and then leaving might sound like a good idea but it can backfire if that nice chat show or classical music program later turns into something louder and more scary perhaps with a thunderstorm or gunshot sound effects these could scare your dog and since you wouldn't be there you'd have no way to comfort them and most likely no way of figuring out what scared them in the first place if you're planning to leave your pup alone

with the radio or TV it can be a good idea to queue up some kind of playlist or put on a nice DVD before you go so that you know exactly what your dog will be watching or listening to equally it can be a good idea to try and figure out what sounds bother your dog and try to make it so that they don't have to deal with them while you're out if there's some Appliance for example that they seem to hate the sound of maybe consider switching it off until you come back again number

four one of the worst things you can do when leaving your dog alone is not take the appropriate preparations your fur baby won't enjoy it if you go straight from spending all your time together to leaving them alone for hours at a time without any midpoint if you want to start leaving your puppy alone on a regular basis you need to start small give your dog some signal like saying I'll be back Terminator voice optional and then turn to leave the room once you've put a closed door between the two of you for about 5

minutes come back in and reward the dog with a treat keep doing this extending the amount of time you leave each time and then start leaving the house entirely it's a good idea to build up to leaving them for the length of a full work day over the course of several days or maybe even a week or so doing things gradually your dog is able to get used to the idea that no matter how long you leave them for you will always come back again eventually using a verbal signal can help them make this Association

in their minds that bit faster number three what time do you come home do you have a regular time dogs are surprisingly good at keeping track of time despite the fact that you'll almost never see one wearing a watch if you come home at the same time every day then your dog will derive a significant sense of Safety and Security from that Reg regular routine they will know that they don't need to worry about whether you're coming home or not until that special time of day if that time comes and goes without you returning however

then they may become anxious if you don't have a specific time of day at which you'll always return then your pup will never know whether you're coming or not they'll be constantly waiting for you to come through the door and assuming that every pair of feet that they hear walking along the sidewalk outside is you coming home to see them obviously life gets in the way sometimes and it can be difficult to manage to come home at the same time every day but attempting to get home at roughly the same time as often as possible

makes the experience of being left home alone a lot easier for your dog to handle number two nobody wants to think of their fur baby going hungry while they're home alone but leaving them alone with a big bowl of food although it might seem like the obvious solution can lead to overeating your dog has evolved for what known as a feast or famine lifestyle their wolf ancestors wouldn't have been able to guarantee getting a meal every day but whenever they made a large kill they would have suddenly experienced a massive influx of food wolves don't

have access to fridge freezers so the only thing they would have been able to do is eat as much as they can when they could before it all started going bad our pampered domestic pooches can nowadays expect a proper meal every day however old in instincts die hard and if you leave your dog with a large amount of food meant to last them the whole day they're not going to do the sensible thing and ration it out into three meals over the course of the day instead they'll be more likely to stuff it all down

as quickly as possible even if it makes them feel sick afterwards not only is being left with a large amount of food not great for your pup's Health but it's also not a good way to keep them entertained it's far better to give them smaller amounts of food than that are harder for them to access so that their interest can be held for longer why not try hiding treats for them around the house or putting some food inside a puzzle feeder so that they have to work hard to get it out again number one when

you start training your dog to get them used to being left alone you might get some people telling you to ignore them when they start freaking out about being left alone in the house let them cry it out these people say they'll get over it in time you might even be told that if you rush back in to comfort your dog when you hear them barking and whining for you you're rewarding their anxiety and making it worse in fact however leaving them alone while they're crying for you is likely to only make them more and

more panicked they won't understand why you're not coming back to them and might decide that they have to get louder in order for you to hear them instead head back inside and let them know that you're there don't go overboard with comforting them but show them some affection and let them know that you've come back and everything's all right then once they've calmed down a bit try again maybe providing them with a toy or a treat to keep their mouth occupied so they're less likely to try crying for you again the aim isn't to force

them to suppress their anxiety it's to teach them that they don't need to be anxious in the first place even after you make the effort to ensure that you're leaving your fur baby in the best possible position before you go to work for the day it can still will be hard to tell whether they're actually happy or not creating a positive association with your departures can work wonders give them a favorite toy a puzzle feeder or a treat filled Kong just before you leave so they're preoccupied and view alone time as a rewarding experience make

sure your dog gets plenty of exercise beforehand a tired dog is more likely to feel relaxed and sleep while you're gone additionally setting up a calm comforting space like a cozy bed or crate can provide them with a safe Retreat making the time alone a bit easier with consistent practice and these small adjustments you'll help your dog feel more secure and at ease when you're not home we spend so much time expressing our love who wouldn't just look at that beautiful mut but our affection does not translate naturally into doggy language forget hugs and kisses

well at least for the next 8 minutes will we'll give you other nine little things that speak even more directly to your dog's heart