Freedom in The House

The most common mistake I see owners making with regard to freedom in the house is trusting too much too soon.

There are two "flavors" of this mistake.

One variation is to base trust on puppy behaviors.

Few people start out making the mistake of leaving the puppy loose in the house all the time. They realize this is potentially disaster, and use an error-proof zone to contain their puppy when they cannot directly supervise.

When this more common mistake happens, the puppy is generally about 4-6 months old, just prior to the onset of adolescent behaviors. The puppy has been a very good puppy when they have allowed it supervised freedom. They have supervised it extensively, rarely needed to distract it from mistakes, and have decided that NOW is a good time to introduce freedom. "After all," the owner thinks, "It's been two (or four) whole months with no (or only a few minor) mistakes."

And that is true. The dog has been good. But what the owner doesn't realize is that adolescence is the timeframe when most more major mistakes occur. The adolescent brain is developing the focus to keep at something that the puppy brain would lose interest in more rapidly! Adolescents also are developing increased confidence and curiosity. They are now much more willing to investigate items in which they previously had no interest.

This is a very risky point at which to begin leaving the dog unattended. It's not impossible -- just requires slower progression from leaving 2 minutes, then 3, etc.

The second variation applies to almost everyone, whether starting with a puppy, adolescent, adult, or even senior dog.

Leaving the dog loose and unsupervised for too long!

Most dogs do the majority of any damage during the first 15 minutes of separation. This means that owners need to very gradually work up to 15 minutes of separation. Most owners try "only 20 minutes" or "only an hour" for their first (disastrous) trial.

How do we gradually work up to these time frames? Trial separation.

No, you don't need a lawyer. This means leaving the dog for short periods of time when you don't actually HAVE to leave. It's pretend leaving.

All success starts with the dog actively engaged in something. This can be chewing something appropriate, or eating some kibble sprinkled on the floor or from a bowl. If you are providing sufficient exercise, midday generally consists of laying around calmly, which is its own kind of activity.

I've had a lot of success with not mentioning anything about my leaving to my dogs. I just sort of drift away while they are engrossed. However, not everyone has this luxury. If you have a "troupe" of partner, offspring, other pets you may be leaving with -- well, they have to participate in the trial separations! If you can't avoid signaling separation to your dogs, ask them to WAIT. (WAIT is a version of stay that does not have a release command.)

Choose a good moment to begin leaving. Immediately after a tiring exercise, play, or training session is good. Midday is generally R&R on dog time. Sunrise and sunset are times when dogs would naturally engage in hunting behaviors, so the dog can be more stimulated at those times. Leave those times for later teaching.

Leave for a miniscule amount of time. If the dog begins to approach the door and whine or scratch at it immediately, don't leave! You need a better activity, a tired-er dog. Though your overall goal is to increase the time duration the dog is left unattended, you may not want the dog to not know exactly how long to expect. Once you increase the time, always do a few of shorter length times to keep your dog guessing.

However, there are dogs who enjoy and thrive on exact predictability. If you suspect this is your dog (often the more shy, not bold dogs)--use a very gentle progression of slightly and slightly longer each time. This is the exception dog, though, not the general rule.

Return calmly. Ignore the dog entirely until it is calm or ignoring you. You will be excited that the dog hasn't destroyed anything, and you'll want to reward it. Unfortunately, this moment is now too late for the dog to associate your reward with its good separation behavior. You will be creating an anticipation of reward when you walk in the door, which leads to excitement. Excitement makes your departure and arrival an event, when what you want is for it to be a non-event. Totally routine, boring, and hardly of note.

What are YOUR best activities to engage a dog when leaving?