This is a recent question from a reader of my website.
Question: My Shih Tzu is approximately 11 months old. I also have a 4 year old dog. As soon as I leave the young one gets into trash, my plants and onto the coffee table. I have watched her through the window. She does none of these when I am home. When I confine her in the bathroom when I am gone she does not get into anything. What can I do so she can stay out with the other one?
Answer: This is a very common problem. Once an owner gets the dog to the point where there are no house training accidents, no chewing, and no manners issues they want to leave the dog out during the day. The problem is that the dog knows how to be obedient while you are home. When you are gone, though, there is too much freedom for the dog to deal with. Imagine leaving your teenagers alone for the first time over the weekend. Some teenagers will not misbehave, others will throw parties with kids hanging from the rafters. Your dog doesn’t know how to deal with eight hours of freedom. Here are the steps to teach your dog how to cope with being alone for so long.
1- Make sure that the dog understands proper boundaries and house manners while you are home. Make sure that your dog won’t break the rules by getting on tables and in the trash while you are home.
2- Crate train while you are gone. It’s important that your dog doesn’t have the option to misbehave at all. Keep your dog in a crate while you are gone.
3- Gradually give your dog run of the home. Leave the house for two minutes and watch in through the window. Then five minutes, then ten, and so on. It usually takes a few months to build your dog up to a full eight hours. Gradually increase your dog’s tolerance for being alone. There will be times when you are watching and catch her in the act. You can either burst into the room and correct her or use and electric collar to correct her from outside.
By taking away the opportunities to do something wrong and correcting the misbehavior when you catch them in the act you will be able to have your dog understand house rules. Good luck.
