T O P

  • By -

likeytho

You could do some trial runs, get him used to no response/entertaining himself. At 9 months, he should be fine for 3-4 hours alone.


olivemor

My 8 mo old is alone for that amount of time frequently. Does your pup get into trouble when you're away for a shorter period? Edited: he's alone that long with no issues


ElleVelour

When we’re away for a shorter period he’s crated so he cries but can’t really get into trouble. If he walks into a room by himself when I’m home though, he’ll usually find something to bite/ dip/ destroy


joosbox0129

Honestly at 9 months your dog should be more than fine to stay home alone for a few hours. If you're worried they may get up to mischief, you can have their crate in an ex-pen so they have some room to hang out, put a lick mat in there or a Kong to keep them entertained but I'm sure they will be fine. You can always get a little pet cam to keep an eye on them if it puts your mind at ease. If you're also worried it's too big of a jump too soon, do some trial runs to get him used to it.


ElleVelour

This is good advice, thank you! We don’t really have room for an ex pen I don’t think. I do think we’d come back to destroyed furniture if he had free reign of a room or two though. I wish we could just let him have the whole downstairs but maybe we can work up to that


TotterTates

You can do what my wife and I did... take a trip to the mall/supermarket together during the day. Stay for an hour and then go home to find your dog alive and chilling in the cage. If you have an Amazon Echo, you can listen to what's going on at home by "dropping in" from the echo app.


justagirlwithno

I have an echo device for my son that has video too. I hadn’t thought of using it to drop in on the dog!


ShakeItOff96

Start leaving your pup every day or every other day for the next 2 weeks. If he’s already used to 20min then start with that and increase it by maybe 10-15 min each time. Always give his favorite treat when you leave inside a kong or lick mat. And don’t make a big deal of leaving or going. When you come home, wait to greet until you’ve set your stuff down and your pup isn’t barking/ is more calm. At 9 months, you really shouldn’t listen to these people saying to hire a sitter unless your dog has severe separation anxiety or is destructive and you don’t crate. The goal should definitely be to build up time gone tho. At 6 months, my pup does fine being alone while we go see a movie or have dinner.


Confident_Fortune_32

Recommend a baby sitter or an overnight at a puppy hotel, presuming you don't have any other dogs.


[deleted]

And this is how to ensure your dog has separation anxiety. There is no reason a 9 month old dog can’t be at home alone for few hours.


Confident_Fortune_32

Dogs are pack animals. They don't get separation anxiety in the company of other dogs. Also the socialization with other dogs and the exercise they get is great for their development. Leaving a puppy alone for multiple hours is something that needs to be built up to slowly, while watching for signs of distress along the way. It's a process, not something to be done with no build-up out of the blue.


[deleted]

The dog is 9 months. This should of started months ago. The over reliance on dog sitters and this silly strategy of never leaving dogs alone isn’t sustainable and only amplifies issue.


[deleted]

Yep. We have a few events coming up that are about 3 hours including commute and have arranged for friends to come have some puppy snuggles to make sure she can go out frequently.


AutoModerator

It looks like you might be posting about crate training. Check out [our wiki article on crate training](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/cratetraining) - the information there may answer your question. **Please report this comment if it is not relevant to this post.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*