Dog home alone

How does dog feel when left home alone?

Living in a herd, even with just two members: a pet and his owner – is the most comfortable way of life for your dog. In that way doggy gets a sense of security and support from his owner in case of any emergency. That’s why the dog left alone in the house, has the feeling of anxiety. Depending on his character –it can be more or less stressful situation, that does not match a natural way of live in the group.

We, the dog owners, should prepare our pets for moments of loneliness at home, in order to minimize their feeling of stress and anxiety.

How to teach your dog to stay home alone

• Small steps method

If we have such an opportunity, let’s try to  get the dog used to staying home alone. Try to leave him in the house several times for 15-30 minutes. This will help him to adapt to the new situation. Dog will understand that we only leave him for a while, and we always come back. It’s very important for the dog to be aware that we do not abandon him.

• How to fight off doggie boredom

Dogs left home alone often entertain themselves by destroying shoes, furniture or other things. In order to prevent this, we must ensure that the dog doesn’t face boredness while staying alone at home.

All the dog toys that the pet can play alone without our help will work perfectly. The dog toys such as BAX, REX or REX will perfectly attract the attention of the pet for long hours thanks to their rustling foil filling.

• Minimize disturbing noises

Dog treats his house as his territory, and he feels the duty to protect it. Therefore, he tries to be very vigilant, listening to all disturbing noises around him. If our flat is located in the area of places emitting noise such as streets or playgrounds it’s a good idea to close the windows so that we can reduce the influence of outside stimuli.

However, if it is not possible, we can also leave the radio on in order to fool a bit our dog’s ears. In this way we’ll make him focus on the music rhythm first. Consequently he can pay less attention to the sounds coming from behind the window.

• Take care of the dog’s comfort

Prepare your pet a comfortable place to sleep, where he will be able to relax during your absence. If your dog hasn’t had his own place in the house do far – it’s  a great opportunity to change it. A cosy and comfortable dog bed will make our dog jump in and take a nap during several hours of loneliness.

• Favourite treats within the reach of a dog’s paw

When willing to make our dog’s lonely hours at home more pleasant, in addition to the obligatory bowl of water and food, let’s also leave him his favourite treats from time to time. Perfect solution is to hide them inside of his toys. Doggy will have to get the treats out all by himself.

However, we should remember that the dog treats are recommended only in reasonable quantities. Treats excess can have a very negative impact on the dog’s health.

Dogs feel best among their companions

If we’ve put a lot of effort, but the dog still reacts with stress and anxiety when staying home alone, we should visit a specialist. Perhaps his fears are based psychologically, and we are simply not able to help him. In situations like that, a visit to a dog psychologist will be the best idea.

Under no circumstances can we approach this situation disparagingly, believing that the dog will eventually get used to the loneliness. This kind of misconception can be very harmful to a dog.