January 2, 2025 • 10 mins
The journey to giving your dog more freedom is paved with patience and strategy. As puppies, we manage them with crates, pens, and tethers as we train them to live in a human home. As they mature, we can graduate them to being home alone without the crate! Learn how to gradually increase their alone time with short, manageable intervals, all while keeping them entertained with toys and interactive puzzles. Baxter and Bella will be along for the ride as I share practical tips and tricks for setting your puppy up for success in the larger spaces of your home. Ensuring your puppy's transition is smooth and safe lays the foundation for a trusting and happy relationship. Let's make this exciting phase of puppy training a positive experience for both you and your dog!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We talk a lot about managing our puppies when they
first come to our homes, withcrates and pens, baby gates, etc
.
How do we then transition toopening up our entire home and
trusting them alone in thebigger space?
That's today's episode.
Welcome to the Puppy TrainingPodcast.
I'm Amy Jensen, founder ofBaxter Bella, the online puppy
(00:22):
school.
Here we are all about helpingyou create the best possible
experience raising a puppy, fromtraining tips to practical
tricks, all aimed at fostering ahappy, well-behaved dog who
truly feels like part of thefamily.
So if you are ready to enjoythe journey and strengthen the
bond with your dog, let's getstarted.
Hello everybody, I hope you'rehaving a great week.
(00:49):
We are enjoying our holiday,celebrating the new year.
Cannot believe it is 2025 soon,but here we are and it's going
to be a good one.
We're going to accomplish somegood things this year, right?
Baxter and Bella Got my dogshere with me.
They're helping me record thepodcast today.
So I want to talk today abouthow to transition our puppies
(01:10):
from being crated and in theirpens and behind baby gates and
on tethers, because we need allof that in the beginning, when
we're teaching them how tobehave in a human household and
to not be destructive and topotty outside.
But eventually, yes, we want tobe able to leave our dogs home
alone.
They can be out in the home andthey can be trusted.
So today let's dive into that.
(01:31):
We want this to be a gradualapproach, making sure along the
way that we're patient, that wetake into consideration our
puppy's skill level and all ofthat good stuff.
So first of all, we want to makesure that we choose an area
that we're going to kind of havebe our testing area, if you
(01:52):
will.
We're going to puppy proof thearea, make sure that it's a safe
, confined space.
That's not our whole entirehouse, but maybe one or two
rooms in the home that they'vebeen doing really well with
house training in.
There hasn't been any accidents, that kind of thing.
We're going to remove anythinglike electrical cords, plants,
any kind of small objects, anytempting objects.
(02:13):
I used to have a table runnerthat had some fringe on the end.
That's so exciting for puppies,especially once they get bored.
So I would just puppy proofthat room.
Basically, you're setting themup for success.
You're kind of removing anyexternal temptations in the
beginning, because that again isa bridging step from being
crated or being in a pen orbehind a gate to.
(02:34):
Okay, you have this one or tworoom area, but let's take out
some of those tempting things tosee how they do, also anything
that could be chewed or ingested.
We want to take that away andthen we establish a routine.
So if we can maintain aconsistent schedule daily where
we're feeding our puppies andthen they have a potty break and
then they know that it's timeto go on a walk or it's playtime
(02:55):
in the yard and then it's quiettime where we settle and take a
nap, and we repeat that youknow a routine will help reduce
any anxiety that our puppiesmight experience when we do
leave the house.
If they know Amy goes to thegym every morning at 9am and
about 1pm we always go on a walkand it doesn't have to be
precise or to the minute, but ingeneral, if your puppy knows
(03:15):
what to expect, they're lessanxious.
So your coming and goings willbe less stressful and if they're
less stressed they're morelikely to settle when they're
out and about in your house.
So just a reminder on make sureyour routine is in place and
that you have one and your dogunderstands the routine and how
it works, and then we just teachthem alone time in that gradual
process.
So I want you to start byleaving your puppy alone for
(03:36):
short periods of time.
Maybe you leave the house forfive to 10 minutes and they're
in that one or two room area andyou're either in another room
or you're outside doing someyard work or going for a little
walk up and down your street andthen you come back and you see
how they did.
So make sure when you leavethat they have their toys in the
room, that there maybe is apuzzle feeder or some kind of
(03:57):
interactive toy or puzzle forthem to work on.
You can leave them with a chewthat they love, so they have a
few things to entertainthemselves with if they choose
to.
Now you might find that whenyou leave, your dog just kind of
snuggles up on their bed ornext to the door and just waits
until you get back.
That's also totally fine, butwe do want to make sure that we
provide them with things thatthey love to entertain
(04:21):
themselves if they so choose.
Now we just gradually over timeincrease the duration.
So instead of five to 10minutes if I came back in five
to 10 minutes and my puppy wasgreat.
There were no problems.
I didn't see any chewing ofbaseboards or there wasn't an
accident on the carpet or youknow that type of thing.
My puppy did fine, great.
Next time let's leave them alonefor 15 to 20 minutes and see
(04:43):
how it goes.
And then 20 minutes turns into30, and 30 turns into an hour,
and an hour turns into two hoursand pretty soon you can trust
your puppy in your house.
Now, in the beginning, youmight want to, just like I said,
start with those one to tworoom spaces, because you're
setting your puppy up forsuccess.
We're bridging the gap betweena pen to maybe several rooms of
our home to eventually, yes,your entire house.
(05:04):
So in the beginning, start withjust a couple rooms and see how
they do.
If they do fine, maybe you canleave the pillow on the couch.
Next time let's see how they dowith that.
Do they handle that fine?
Do they leave that pillow alone?
Maybe you can leave, you know,your pair of shoes by the door
that you usually have by thedoor.
Now, all of that, recognize wehave been working on the side to
(05:24):
train our puppies to do impliedleave-its.
So we've worked with leavingshoes alone and we've worked
with leaving pillows alone, andwe've worked with they spent a
lot of time in their crates andpens and on tethers with these
chew toys that we've given them.
So we're hoping at this pointthat your dog has, uh, has
learned I chew this.
I don't chew that because ofthe training that we've done as
well.
So we're pairing this processof opening up our home and
(05:48):
leaving them home alone to betrusted in that space with the
training that we've been doing.
So this is not.
I should have maybe started thisway, but this is not
necessarily for your eight weekold puppy, right, your eight
week old puppy.
Go back to our.
This is how we house, train apuppy.
Um, this is how we create,train a puppy.
This is more for, like a dog.
That's probably six months plusand, typically speaking, I'm
(06:09):
starting this process about ninemonths and about a year is when
my dogs most of my dogs have,you know, kind of freedom in my
home, so you're not in any rush.
Okay, and even those times Ikind of hesitate giving you guys
times, because then you're like, oh, at six months, my dog
should be able to do this, andat one year, my dog should be
able to do this.
It really is about your dog'sability.
(06:32):
So if your dog cannot betrusted, you know, out and about
in your home until they're twoyears old, that's totally fine,
no worries, that's okay.
So I'm going to give you theprocess today, but then
recognize, with that processthere's going to be differences
in timeframes for everyone, andthese are the signs you're going
to watch for to see if yourdog's ready for the next step.
Continuing on, we want to makesure that when we return each
(06:55):
time that we've been lengtheningout these durations, that our
dog is calm, that you knownothing's gone wrong while we
left and that they were justcontent being without us.
So then we can start to expandthe space.
Maybe the two rooms turns intothree rooms, three rooms turns
into four and so forth, untilwe've opened up our entire home
and we're trusting them to beleft alone while we're gone,
(07:16):
without the help of baby gatesand pens and things like that.
So once our puppy iscomfortable in the confined area
, we're going to start to openup the space.
We're just going to graduallyallow them access to more parts
of the house and as you addrooms you might want to shrink
the duration that you're gone.
So if you open up the third andfourth rooms, maybe you're only
gone for 10 minutes again andsee how they do Right.
(07:37):
So you're going to graduallyopen up space and gradually add
duration.
You might have to, you know,decrease duration when you add
space and then, if you addduration, maybe we have to
decrease the space, justdepending on what you come home
to.
But we are watching for signsthat when we come home our dog's
been relaxed.
You know they're fine withoutus If you want to leave up a
little camera and watch whatthey're doing when you're gone.
(07:58):
But we don't want signs ofstress like panting, pacing,
chewing baseboards, destroyingpillows.
Those would all be signs thatthere's some anxiety when we're
gone and we'll probably want totake a step back in the process
and go more slowly To help yourdog stay calm.
When you leave, don't make a bigfuss about it.
So whether I'm leaving orcoming home, it doesn't need to
be this big, exciting, grandevent.
(08:19):
Simply leave them with theirtoys and shoes, get what you
need to leave, exit the housewhen you come back in, set your
things down, take off your shoesthat kind of thing.
We want to normalize comingsand goings as much as possible.
Setbacks are a natural part ofthe process.
If you do experience a setback,then we just want to, number
one, reassess the environment.
Make sure the space is trulypuppy proofed.
(08:40):
Remember to go back and removethings that might be tempting to
your puppy and make sure thatthey have their shoes and toys
available to them.
Also, making sure that beforeyou leave, they've their shoes
and toys available to them.
Also, making sure that beforeyou leave, they've had mental
and physical stimulation.
So a training session or a playsession outside in the yard or
down the hallway where they wereable to get out their physical
energy and some mental energy aswell.
(09:00):
This will increase thelikelihood that they'll lay down
and take a nap while you'regone.
You can always return to shorterdurations or a more confined
space until your dog regainsconfidence and shows better
behavior as well.
We want to avoid punishment.
We don't scold our dogs foraccidents or destructive
behaviors.
We want to address instead theroot cause.
Figure out is it boredom, is itanxiety?
(09:21):
What is causing my dog to dothese behaviors in my absence?
And let's work on that.
If you need help, please reachout to us.
We're happy to coach youthrough this entire process and
get you the tools that you needto be successful at teaching
your dog to be trusted alone inyour home.
Thanks for tuning in to thepuppy training podcast.
I hope today's tips help youfeel more confident and excited
(09:43):
about raising your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency you can
create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your family.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review and share it withfellow puppy parents.
For more resources, visitBaxter and Bella online.
Until next time, happy training.
We talk a lot about managing our puppies when they
first come to our homes, withcrates and pens, baby gates, etc
.
How do we then transition toopening up our entire home and
trusting them alone in thebigger space?
That's today's episode.
Welcome to the Puppy TrainingPodcast.
I'm Amy Jensen, founder ofBaxter Bella, the online puppy
(00:22):
school.
Here we are all about helpingyou create the best possible
experience raising a puppy, fromtraining tips to practical
tricks, all aimed at fostering ahappy, well-behaved dog who
truly feels like part of thefamily.
So if you are ready to enjoythe journey and strengthen the
bond with your dog, let's getstarted.
Hello everybody, I hope you'rehaving a great week.
(00:49):
We are enjoying our holiday,celebrating the new year.
Cannot believe it is 2025 soon,but here we are and it's going
to be a good one.
We're going to accomplish somegood things this year, right?
Baxter and Bella Got my dogshere with me.
They're helping me record thepodcast today.
So I want to talk today abouthow to transition our puppies
(01:10):
from being crated and in theirpens and behind baby gates and
on tethers, because we need allof that in the beginning, when
we're teaching them how tobehave in a human household and
to not be destructive and topotty outside.
But eventually, yes, we want tobe able to leave our dogs home
alone.
They can be out in the home andthey can be trusted.
So today let's dive into that.
(01:31):
We want this to be a gradualapproach, making sure along the
way that we're patient, that wetake into consideration our
puppy's skill level and all ofthat good stuff.
So first of all, we want to makesure that we choose an area
that we're going to kind of havebe our testing area, if you
(01:52):
will.
We're going to puppy proof thearea, make sure that it's a safe
, confined space.
That's not our whole entirehouse, but maybe one or two
rooms in the home that they'vebeen doing really well with
house training in.
There hasn't been any accidents, that kind of thing.
We're going to remove anythinglike electrical cords, plants,
any kind of small objects, anytempting objects.
(02:13):
I used to have a table runnerthat had some fringe on the end.
That's so exciting for puppies,especially once they get bored.
So I would just puppy proofthat room.
Basically, you're setting themup for success.
You're kind of removing anyexternal temptations in the
beginning, because that again isa bridging step from being
crated or being in a pen orbehind a gate to.
(02:34):
Okay, you have this one or tworoom area, but let's take out
some of those tempting things tosee how they do, also anything
that could be chewed or ingested.
We want to take that away andthen we establish a routine.
So if we can maintain aconsistent schedule daily where
we're feeding our puppies andthen they have a potty break and
then they know that it's timeto go on a walk or it's playtime
(02:55):
in the yard and then it's quiettime where we settle and take a
nap, and we repeat that youknow a routine will help reduce
any anxiety that our puppiesmight experience when we do
leave the house.
If they know Amy goes to thegym every morning at 9am and
about 1pm we always go on a walkand it doesn't have to be
precise or to the minute, but ingeneral, if your puppy knows
(03:15):
what to expect, they're lessanxious.
So your coming and goings willbe less stressful and if they're
less stressed they're morelikely to settle when they're
out and about in your house.
So just a reminder on make sureyour routine is in place and
that you have one and your dogunderstands the routine and how
it works, and then we just teachthem alone time in that gradual
process.
So I want you to start byleaving your puppy alone for
(03:36):
short periods of time.
Maybe you leave the house forfive to 10 minutes and they're
in that one or two room area andyou're either in another room
or you're outside doing someyard work or going for a little
walk up and down your street andthen you come back and you see
how they did.
So make sure when you leavethat they have their toys in the
room, that there maybe is apuzzle feeder or some kind of
(03:57):
interactive toy or puzzle forthem to work on.
You can leave them with a chewthat they love, so they have a
few things to entertainthemselves with if they choose
to.
Now you might find that whenyou leave, your dog just kind of
snuggles up on their bed ornext to the door and just waits
until you get back.
That's also totally fine, butwe do want to make sure that we
provide them with things thatthey love to entertain
(04:21):
themselves if they so choose.
Now we just gradually over timeincrease the duration.
So instead of five to 10minutes if I came back in five
to 10 minutes and my puppy wasgreat.
There were no problems.
I didn't see any chewing ofbaseboards or there wasn't an
accident on the carpet or youknow that type of thing.
My puppy did fine, great.
Next time let's leave them alonefor 15 to 20 minutes and see
(04:43):
how it goes.
And then 20 minutes turns into30, and 30 turns into an hour,
and an hour turns into two hoursand pretty soon you can trust
your puppy in your house.
Now, in the beginning, youmight want to, just like I said,
start with those one to tworoom spaces, because you're
setting your puppy up forsuccess.
We're bridging the gap betweena pen to maybe several rooms of
our home to eventually, yes,your entire house.
(05:04):
So in the beginning, start withjust a couple rooms and see how
they do.
If they do fine, maybe you canleave the pillow on the couch.
Next time let's see how they dowith that.
Do they handle that fine?
Do they leave that pillow alone?
Maybe you can leave, you know,your pair of shoes by the door
that you usually have by thedoor.
Now, all of that, recognize wehave been working on the side to
(05:24):
train our puppies to do impliedleave-its.
So we've worked with leavingshoes alone and we've worked
with leaving pillows alone, andwe've worked with they spent a
lot of time in their crates andpens and on tethers with these
chew toys that we've given them.
So we're hoping at this pointthat your dog has, uh, has
learned I chew this.
I don't chew that because ofthe training that we've done as
well.
So we're pairing this processof opening up our home and
(05:48):
leaving them home alone to betrusted in that space with the
training that we've been doing.
So this is not.
I should have maybe started thisway, but this is not
necessarily for your eight weekold puppy, right, your eight
week old puppy.
Go back to our.
This is how we house, train apuppy.
Um, this is how we create,train a puppy.
This is more for, like a dog.
That's probably six months plusand, typically speaking, I'm
(06:09):
starting this process about ninemonths and about a year is when
my dogs most of my dogs have,you know, kind of freedom in my
home, so you're not in any rush.
Okay, and even those times Ikind of hesitate giving you guys
times, because then you're like, oh, at six months, my dog
should be able to do this, andat one year, my dog should be
able to do this.
It really is about your dog'sability.
(06:32):
So if your dog cannot betrusted, you know, out and about
in your home until they're twoyears old, that's totally fine,
no worries, that's okay.
So I'm going to give you theprocess today, but then
recognize, with that processthere's going to be differences
in timeframes for everyone, andthese are the signs you're going
to watch for to see if yourdog's ready for the next step.
Continuing on, we want to makesure that when we return each
(06:55):
time that we've been lengtheningout these durations, that our
dog is calm, that you knownothing's gone wrong while we
left and that they were justcontent being without us.
So then we can start to expandthe space.
Maybe the two rooms turns intothree rooms, three rooms turns
into four and so forth, untilwe've opened up our entire home
and we're trusting them to beleft alone while we're gone,
(07:16):
without the help of baby gatesand pens and things like that.
So once our puppy iscomfortable in the confined area
, we're going to start to openup the space.
We're just going to graduallyallow them access to more parts
of the house and as you addrooms you might want to shrink
the duration that you're gone.
So if you open up the third andfourth rooms, maybe you're only
gone for 10 minutes again andsee how they do Right.
(07:37):
So you're going to graduallyopen up space and gradually add
duration.
You might have to, you know,decrease duration when you add
space and then, if you addduration, maybe we have to
decrease the space, justdepending on what you come home
to.
But we are watching for signsthat when we come home our dog's
been relaxed.
You know they're fine withoutus If you want to leave up a
little camera and watch whatthey're doing when you're gone.
(07:58):
But we don't want signs ofstress like panting, pacing,
chewing baseboards, destroyingpillows.
Those would all be signs thatthere's some anxiety when we're
gone and we'll probably want totake a step back in the process
and go more slowly To help yourdog stay calm.
When you leave, don't make a bigfuss about it.
So whether I'm leaving orcoming home, it doesn't need to
be this big, exciting, grandevent.
(08:19):
Simply leave them with theirtoys and shoes, get what you
need to leave, exit the housewhen you come back in, set your
things down, take off your shoesthat kind of thing.
We want to normalize comingsand goings as much as possible.
Setbacks are a natural part ofthe process.
If you do experience a setback,then we just want to, number
one, reassess the environment.
Make sure the space is trulypuppy proofed.
(08:40):
Remember to go back and removethings that might be tempting to
your puppy and make sure thatthey have their shoes and toys
available to them.
Also, making sure that beforeyou leave, they've their shoes
and toys available to them.
Also, making sure that beforeyou leave, they've had mental
and physical stimulation.
So a training session or a playsession outside in the yard or
down the hallway where they wereable to get out their physical
energy and some mental energy aswell.
(09:00):
This will increase thelikelihood that they'll lay down
and take a nap while you'regone.
You can always return to shorterdurations or a more confined
space until your dog regainsconfidence and shows better
behavior as well.
We want to avoid punishment.
We don't scold our dogs foraccidents or destructive
behaviors.
We want to address instead theroot cause.
Figure out is it boredom, is itanxiety?
(09:21):
What is causing my dog to dothese behaviors in my absence?
And let's work on that.
If you need help, please reachout to us.
We're happy to coach youthrough this entire process and
get you the tools that you needto be successful at teaching
your dog to be trusted alone inyour home.
Thanks for tuning in to thepuppy training podcast.
I hope today's tips help youfeel more confident and excited
(09:43):
about raising your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency you can
create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your family.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review and share it withfellow puppy parents.
For more resources, visitBaxter and Bella online.
Until next time, happy training.
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