Some people prefer their dogs to be left in a utility room or a kitchen, as the floors are easily cleaned in case of any toileting. There is nothing wrong with this but be sure not to only put your puppy in this when you’re leaving them, as they may learn to associate it with only being left alone.

Baby gates
Baby gates are great when helping puppies get used to being left alone. They aren’t as scary as a closed door as they still allow your puppy to see, smell and hear you. This will initially help your puppy get used to some distance, while you are still in the house.
Baby gates are best placed on the door to the room you have decided you will leave your puppy alone in and anywhere in the home you don’t want your puppy to access (perhaps carpeted areas while they’re being toilet trained).

Familiar items
Put a comfortable bed and water in the room you choose. Suitable chew toys can also help to occupy your puppy during training sessions.

Adding an item of clothing you’ve worn recently in your puppy’s bed may also increase their sense of security when they are left alone.

Background noise
A quiet radio provides a little background noise and ‘company’. It may also muffle any startling sounds from the outside, which might make your puppy jump. Talking stations are best, rather than loud music.

Pheromones
Adaptil products can also be of benefit as they release comforting pheromones, which can help dogs feel more relaxed.

Try to keep training short and do it randomly throughout the day.

1. Put your puppy behind the baby gate with a tasty chew, like one of the recipes here.
2. Close the baby gate behind you and busy yourself as normal but try to stay where your puppy can see and hear you.
3. After a few minutes, open the baby gate. Ideally you want your puppy to be relaxed and still engrossed in the treat. Let your puppy decide what they want to do at this point, either stay in the room or leave.
4. As your puppy gets comfortable staying in the room gradually increase the time they are left behind the baby gate. All puppies are different; for some this might take a few days and for others it might be longer. You’re aiming to get to a point where they feel relaxed enough for you to wander out of sight completely.
5. Build your puppy up to being left in this area for up to half an hour while you are busy elsewhere in the house

If you find that your puppy struggles with this, make it easier by staying in the room with them, but it’s important that you don’t interact with them – just sit there quietly. Once they’re used to the idea of being in the room with you, but not interacting with you, you can start shutting the baby gate for a few minutes and begin on the training above.

Once your puppy is comfortable with being left for half an hour with you in the house, you can start to get them used to short periods of time alone in the house. Follow the steps above, returning after a few minutes before your puppy starts to become anxious. If your puppy is comfortable with this length of time, fantastic! Repeat a few times over the course of day.

When you leave them for the first time, be sure not to make a fuss. You want them to feel like there is nothing exciting or alarming going on and to create a calm space and state of mind for them to be in while you’re gone.

Gradually increase the time you leave your puppy alone in the house to about half an hour. This can take a few days or longer, depending on your puppy so it’s important you move at their pace. If your puppy shows any sign of worry, go back to leaving them for the time where they were last comfortable. Then, you can begin to gradually increase the time you leave them again.

If you need to leave your puppy for several hours, make sure you have built them up to this.

If you find your puppy starts to look worried when you pick up your keys or put on your coat, then you will need to spend some time desensitising them to these sounds. You can do this by regularly putting your pup in their area and get them used to seeing and hearing you pick up your keys, coat or bag.

At this point, it’s important not to leave the house – just allow your puppy to get used to these sights and sounds while they are relaxed and comfortable.

Once they look calm when they see or hear these things (this may take several days), you can start again with actually leaving the house – for short periods of time.

Tip: Keep greetings friendly, calm and predictable on your return, even if you come home to find your puppy has toileted or chewed something.

The most important thing is to have slowly built up your puppy’s time alone. Whenever you leave them alone, make sure they have been exercised and have had the opportunity to go to the toilet. For some puppies, a small meal may help as this may make them feel more relaxed and sleepier.

No. Punishment does not work, can damage your relationship and cause your puppy to be fearful.

Your puppy will not associate you giving out to them with something they did before you came home, even if they are taken over to where they’ve toileted. It is not that they can’t remember what happened; they just won’t be able to make a connection between the punishment and something they did earlier.

Giving out to your puppy can make them worried about you returning home in the future and they are likely to become anxious about this as a result. Anxiety can cause all sorts of issues, and your puppy could start to chew items to calm themselves or toilet because they are worried.

If you do return home to find your puppy has toileted or chewed something they shouldn’t have, greet them normally and then clean up calmly.

It’s likely that they weren’t quite ready to be left for that length of time yet. Go back a few steps, keep positive and you’ll soon find you’re back on track.

Puppies and dogs can sense when their owners are upset with them, so they may look like they feel guilty:

• Their ears may go flat
• Their body may be lowered
• Their tail may go between their legs
• Some will look away, narrowing their eyes, as if they are cringing

This is not guilt, it is ‘appeasement behaviour’. It is often misinterpreted as guilt and, mistakenly, some owners believe their puppy knows what they have done is wrong.

Some owners feel that their puppy has done chewed something or toileted in the house out of spite for being left alone when in fact this isn’t the case at all.

Puppies or dogs that look guilty are doing nothing more than responding to their owner’s disappointment, upset or anger, and this is their way of easing tension in response to feeling threatened or concerned. They are using their body language to try to stop you being angry with them.

Your dog becomes distressed as soon as you leave with the first 15 minutes being when your dog is extremely upset.

All the signs of fear may be present – an increase in:
• heart rate
• breathing rate
• panting
• salivating/drooling
• activity
• need to go to the toilet

Your dog may try to follow you as you leave, scratching at doors, chewing at doorframes, scratching at carpets or jumping up at windowsills to look for a way out. They may also bark, whine or howl to try and persuade you to come back.

After this initial panicked period, your dog might try to calm themselves by chewing something that you have recently touched that still carries your scent.

Dogs often chew scented items into small pieces and curl up in the debris, so they have formed a ‘barrier’ of your scent around them for security.

When you get home, your dog may appear elated and may become very excitable.

They may be wet, either from salivating or excessively drinking due to stress.

When you’re home, your dog might attempt to follow you wherever you go in the house. They may begin to display anxious behaviours when they see you preparing to leave the house like panting, pacing or whining.

Please see our puppy advice as you can follow the same steps if you have added a new adult dog to your family.

These are the most common reasons for dogs developing separation anxiety:

• The dog has never been left alone in the home regularly or separated from a particular person
• There is something that the dog fears or is worried by either inside the house or outside. This could be something that happens daily, like a postal worker arriving or something that happened only once, like a severe thunderstorm. Dogs tend to feel much more vulnerable when they are on their own, so it is easy for them to develop specific fears, especially those who have a sensitive or nervous nature.
• Their animal friend dies. Usually, this is another dog they have lived with but it could be another species they’ve formed a close bond with, like a cat.
• Boredom. This usually affects young, energetic dogs who struggle when left to their own devices. If left alone for too these dogs may find their own ‘entertainment’, such as chewing table legs or raiding the bins.

Dogs who have been in rescue or have been rehomed several times can sometimes struggle with being left, especially in the first few weeks of being rehomed. This is probably due to a variety of factors, including the stresses experienced while in kennels and learning to adapt to a new home.

Nobody wants to get home to find their possessions chewed or an angry neighbour waiting to complain. But dogs know when we are upset with them and often display ‘appeasement behaviour’. Their ears may go flat, their body may be lowered, and their tail may go between their legs. Some will look away and narrowing their eyes, as if they are cringing.

This is often misinterpreted as guilt, and mistakenly some owners believe the dog knows what they have done is wrong. They may feel that any damage caused or mess in the house has been done on purpose or out of spite for being left alone. Unfortunately, this may mean that the dog is punished to try stop the behaviour.

Dogs that look guilty are doing nothing more than responding to an owner’s disappointment, upset or anger and it is their way of diffusing tension in response to feeling threatened. Some dogs will also do this if they think they are about to be told off if they have been so in the past.

Any punishment given on returning home won’t help stop the problem. Dogs associate punishment with what they are doing at that moment in time and so a dog will not link the telling off with their actions before their owner came home, even if they are taken over to ‘the scene of the crime’. It is not that they cannot remember what happened; they just won’t be able to make a connection between the punishment and something they did hours ago.

Punishment is not only useless, but it is also likely to make the problem worse. As well as being worried about being left, a dog will also be anxious about the owner returning, which can make any symptoms much, much worse. They may even start to toilet when they hear their owner’s approach.

If your dog has an established separation problem, then it’s best to seek professional help. All cases are different so it’s impossible to develop a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Please see www.apdt.ie for a list of trainers local to you.