Whats best suggestion to have dog be more indepandant when left home alone for 8hrs?
 

I work alot of hours, I am soo afraid of leaving my boy by himself..he is only 8months old now and he is soo attached he whines all the time...Now I am afraid of leaving home since I just moved in a new place from having parents being around. I take him everywhere but hwo do you guys handle a dog that is that young to be more indepandant? When he gets older I take it he will be fine left home alone? I just hate to leave him and see his sad face also bark all day.

this is the million dollar question. plz pm me when you get the answer :confused:

i work all day long tooo and i leave lexi home for 10 hours sometimes if my mom cant stop by... just make sure you leave toys, bully sticks, water, food,
and a place to sleep and your baby will be just fine... just give all the love you have when you get home. oh and a wee pad...

Dogs are great at adapting. When I had only 1 dog and I started to leave her home alone she looked so sad but after awhile she understand that is how it was going to be and adapted to it. Most of the time she sleeps but it's always nice to leave her toys, chews and other things like what Lexi Rae suggested when they are not asleep.

I also work long hours.
 

This is what i do.
Winston is 11 weeks old today. I have done allot of reading and the books i have read say to crate train our wee babies. It is a slow process with some dogs but i was blessed that Winston has adjusted very well. You start out putting the wee guy in his crate while you stay in the room. Start with 5 mins. Then when he has settled himself etc. you take him out and prasie him. Continue this increasing the time. Then you do the same thing, now leaving the room. This teaches our wee babies to settle themselves and amuze themselves. He will feel safe in his crate, and will play.
My wee guy will stay in his crate for 8 hours. No accidents, no crying or whinning. When my husband gets home (he works 8 hours i work 12 hours) Winston makes not a sound. We have to go in and see him in his room. Winston decides to come out give kisses, play with us and so on. Winston also goes to his crate when he wants to sleep. We have a nice bed for him, and a wonderful blanket for him in the house. But HE always go to his crate. From what i have read this is their den. They feel safe there and others know this is his private time, to rest or play alone. I hope this has helped some.
I am a new puppy owner, i have had cats in the past, so i had to read and reasearch llot.
Wishing you and great day.
Heather

I think they get upset because they dont' know you are coming back. Once you get him into a routine that yes you will be gone for a little bit, but you will be back he'll be fine. Logan knows our routine to a tee and has adjusted very well. He has a special toy in his playpen, and he gets a dental chew when we put him in there in the morning. He has a peepad, comfy bed and chew bones and we also leave the t.v. on for him. It doesn't seem to bother him at all. Some mornings he's not quit ready to be put in, but he doesn't make too big a fuss.

when I leave
 

When I have to leave, is the only time I give a treat and it's a favorite treat and the only time she gets a treat
all day so she looks forward to me leaving and then no treat when I come in. I am at the point in my life where
I only have to be gone a couple hrs. It would be great if you could get someone to come in the middle of the day.

Mine is 8 months as well and I leave her alone for 8 hours a day. I started out slowly; crating her and coming home at lunch. Then I let her out of the crate but gated off an area so she could walk around (she was crate trained and potty trained in no time!). Then I came home an hour later for lunch... until she was alone all day.

I always take her out for a nice walk in the morning, so she's gotten some exercise. And when I leave, I give her a kong with her favorite treat. Most of the time she's so busy getting the treat out of the toy that she doesn't even notice I'm gone. I also leave little pieces of treats all over the area she's in (kind of hide them)... and I leave a radio on.

Every day when I come home, she's sooooooooo excited to see me. The first thing I do is give her a cuddle and take her straight out the door for a walk.

Felix barks like crazy when I leave all the time, I feel bad but I guess he will have to just get use to it. I work sometimes 10hrs day I guess I have to leave him some great toys to play with and hope he will eventually stop barking. Thats a good idea to give them treats before you go so they will look forward to it kinda, I guess I am hoping when he gets older he will stop being more depandant and stop following me through everyroom as if I am going anywhere.

That when the second Yorkie comes in. to keep him company. lol

Home Alone Doggy
 

I've had a problem that when i leave my 7 month old for too long she pees on my bed as soon as i get home. I don't think I leave her alone that much... I leave at 9 in the morning, come back at 1:30 to feed her and play with her and then go back to work at 2:30. Most times I'm home by 6. And then I'm usually home. (Mm social life has been SERIOUSLY curtailed!)
Yesterday I had her in daycare all day, picked her up at 7, took her home, played with her and fed her and then went out again to a lecture. When I got home and turned around for a second she peed on my bed. I thought the daycare would tucker her out! (She goes to daycare once or twice a week.)
She started paying on the bed when she was about 5 months old and I went away for a week and a half. My brother stayed with her in my place and when I came back she started peeing on the bed when i was gone or, just after I got home. She stopped this after a bit but now she's doing it again. Any advice would be appreciated! :-)

Toys that make her think...
Kong with frozen peanut butter.
buster cube to roll around and drops breakfast on the floor.
A long walk 20 minutes before leaving and then quiet till you leave.
a Dog walker to coming during the day.
A radio playing in the back ground.
Do not when you leave or come home interact with the little one or go poor baby for 20 minutes after you get home or leave.
Make it as boring and everyday as you can.

Good section on separation anxiety in the book Outwitting dogs by Terry Ryan.

joy

I don't know but leaving a puppy in the crate for eight hours everyday seems like a really long time to me. I would rather suggest having the crate in a playpen, he can still sleep in the crate, but walk around and play in the pen. Just my two cents.

this i really great advice! Thanks for sharing.

thats what we did got a second one because I cried everytime we had to leave Chloe.