This tutorial is on separation training or in other words teaching your dog to feel calm and relaxed when left home alone. The way I approach separation training for dogs and puppies is setting the dog up for success by training him what I do want him to do and how I do want him to feel and leaving little room for error.
It really depends on the puppy or dog and their previous training and experiences as to how fast you can progress through the steps as well as how quickly you can add duration. With my own puppy Halo the breeder had already worked with Separation from people and dogs before I got him, so I could on day one already give him alone time a few times a day when he was feeling like a nap. Tug my terrier came to me with separation anxiety, where I could not leave him alone at all. So for a month I build up the amount of time he could be left slowly and carefully to the point where I could leave for a couple of hours. By working on the settle you can tell when criteria is too high because the dog do will get up to follow you or get up and approach the barrier they are behind. It is a good visual signal for someone who is not good at reading dog body language to lower criteria without a set back in training.
Teach go to the bed:
Teach go in the crate:
The steps:
1 Reinforce a settle and calmness around food
2 Teach your dog to go to his bed and go in his crate or pen
3 Add duration while next to the crate or pen
4 Add movement away from the enclosure
5 Alone time
Information on spending too much time in a crate or pen:
Information on housetraining and setting up the pen with a litterbox:
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Happy Training!
– Emily Larlham (AKA Kikopup)
#dogtraining #professionaldogtraining #separationtraining
Wonderful video. I really appreciate the videos focusing on more behavior modifications
Thank you for this! I have a 10 month old pup that hates being alone and I will definitely try this! Better slow and steady than to force anything
i trained my dog just like this when she was a little puppy. it was a relatively fast process and there was no difficulty. great tutorial!
edit: some dogs like to have blankets over their crate and generally to have their crate in a corner where they feel safe and are not going to be bothered by people walking by etc. my dog fell asleep faster and went to her crate more often when i put a blanket over it. it was like a little cave, and it’s still her favorite spot in the house, we just never close the crate now
the blanket is an awesome idea 🙂 Just for some dogs make sure they cant pull it into the crate. I use those octagon pens, and wish loves to be in hers, its like a cave, I got sick of having it in my room, and so removed it and jsut left her bed next to my bed, but she was up all night pacing around discontented so I put it back the next day.
We do that too and we noticed she is calmer in general.
Thanks for posting another fantastic tutorial. Your commitment, time, dedication, enthusiasm is very much appreciated & exceedingly valuable. I think it’s wonderful to see a growing number of thumbs up on your dog welfare tutorials.
My next step is to try to learn how I can cope with separation from my beautiful Cavalier Queen Charles!!!
Absolutely love all what you do. Thank you so much.
yes I need to work on my problem with leaving my dogs. 🙂
@Dog Training by Kikopup I understand completely!!!
@Dog Training by Kikopup Please,dear Kikopup,i hate dog-cages and even more since look what happened to the hip-hop artist Rocky Badd(Cuban Doll did this)
Ok.No dog-cages.Alltime wrong.But starts 8 minutes and 27 seconds,a much better solution,even if the dog can’t see around.But the same dog is too sweet
as an example for this.When you explain and say”and in four weeks the new Metallica longplay gets dropped,written by the finnish drummer Lars Ullrich,alone”and
go on with the dogs,nobody would check,why changing the theme so much,cause “all eyez on me”. And this is the ultra-sweet puppy.
So much excellent advice and training tips throughout this video! Great job, as usual.
Thank you for this tutorial.
We understand better and better
the importance of the first week at home.
( We also like the joking part).
We always take a week off to transition the pup with at least one family member. Works like a charm.
I love the crate, so a nice den for the dog. It has helped our dogs and us. Wish I knew what I know now years ago. Love the videos, prayers to the journey
Started doing this with our rescue pup when this video came out, just a few days ago. Already she’s choosing to lay calmly in her crate, with the door open! It’s like someone replaced our dog with a calmer lookalike, and in only a few days.
Thanks so much for making these videos. It’s made a lot of difference for our high-strung, traumatized former stray. <3 I don't think I've seen her this calm, ever!!
Well, it’s the work you put in. It’s easy to watch a video, harder to put it into practice. So well done.
Uh this is giving me hope! We’re getting a rescue pup soon and separation anxiety is my number one anxiety since I live in an apartment and will have to leave for work etc eventually.
You are my favorite dog trainer ever! I love your way of reinforcing behaviours you want your dog to do instead of simply ignoring the bad ones. Your techniques and insights are amazing and so effective. Thank you for all the great content 🙂
Awe thanks a lot and thank you for supporting the creation of the free videos! It means a lot to me!
I love the concept of focusing on rewarding the behaviors you do want instead of ignoring the ones that you don’t, I think this video is really helpful and the steps are easy to practice even if you have little to non previous experience with dogs with separation anxiety, thank you for sharing 😊
Thanks Gabriela 🙂
The settle has changed my life. I have been religiously watching and rewatching your videos over the past several weeks in the preparation of getting my puppy. It of course hasn’t been easy, but I’ve had my little boy not even 1 week and every new person who meets him is in utter awe over how calm, well-behaved, and chill he is for a puppy. You have changed lives and I can’t thank you enough!
Awe thanks! I know it changed my training 🙂 I am going to release a new video about the settle either tomorrow or the next day.
Emily, you are the bomb! This video is so well organized. I love how you focus on setting the dog up to do what you want, cover the disadvantages of ignoring barking in the crate, reinforcing calm behavior and body language, demonstrate marking and rewarding calmly with increased duration and movement, how to troubleshoot, and how to give the dog more freedom in the house when s/he is ready. Awesome!
what karen said!!!!!!
I’m so
I’m so
I’m 😅
I’m so
This training has been SO helpful with separation training for my dog! I am just stuck on one step: my dog has now learned to settle/nap in her room but as soon as she wakes up (usually only 30 min to an hr) she gets restless and starts whining at the door. I leave her with puzzles and chews and stuff but she only uses them for a few min tops. How can I increase duration of her separations? A lot of ppl I know have dogs that just “sleep and relax all day” when they’re at work and I want to know how I can help my dog do that too?
I’m going to start on this first thing in the morning! Before Covid Nakia had finally learned at 6 months that being alone in living room was fine, no accidents, no barking but minimal crying. 18 months later she is so clingy, I can’t even pop into the shop for a few things without her barking and howling and crying. I tried leaving for short bursts like 5 mins 10 mins 15 mins but none of that has worked. I have 2 weeks before I go back to work. Hopefully, we can get to calmness when I leave the house in that time (though I do have a sitter that will watch her for a half day).
Thank you for this video, never seen such a helpful breakdown of how to keep the dog relaxed and calm when left alone 👍🏾
I can’t wait to try this method. We have had our puppy for a month and he is fine in crate at night but is struggling during the day, if I go out of sight etc. Ignoring the barking has not been effective so far, I think he has learned the behaviour pattern you mentioned about offering vocalisation before offering calmness, so not ideal. I think I will go back to basics with this video, thank you!
Did it work?
How did it go? 😊
Me too. 2.5w of puppy and I’m exhausted!!
Thank you so much for sharing this vlog – separation anxiety is much more common in dogs than people think – it’s important for owners to know what it is and how they can help their pups. Thanks again
awe thanks!
This is such a great video. I’m 3 days in with my puppy and have just been putting him into his crate and having him just “work it out” on his own. I’m sure this proactive approach will be more effective and get him to relax much faster than what I’ve been doing.
How long does it take to see improvements in separation anxiety? I am having a very hard time preventing my 8 month old puppy from going over threshold when I leave in the morning. Currently Using an indoor pen. It only started just about 2 weeks ago but I also work Monday-Friday so adding pen games and calming activities and doing the calming yo-yo exercise has only desensitized him partially but I still Can’t leave the room. He barks to come out when he’s done with his treats/bone, even if I’m rig next to him. I feel like I’m making it worse more than better when I leave everyday but I have to work. I’m following your recommendations here, he gets a 2 hr break where I exercise him at lunch, mental stimulation and physical before/after, it’s just a 1-2 min outburst of barking and then he settles for a nap. Thanks!!
A great reminder that even these everyday “life” behaviors need to be trained! Love your idea of having a wire crate near where you tend to settle so the dog(s) can build up a huge reinforcement history inside their confinement area as you work toward giving them freedom in the house. I can see how doing Dr. Karen Overall’s Relaxation Protocol with my two dogs must have serendipitously served me, as I did not consciously train “home alone” behaviors. A different tip that’s served me well in the past is to combine crate training with housecleaning. As my dogs could hear me rattling about the house, particularly during vacuuming, they were readily conditioned to relax and/or fall asleep in their crates long before ever being left alone. I loved seeing exactly how you set up your own dogs to relax and wait, unattended, as you leave. I would not have guessed you leave the little(s) and bigs all together in one room. But they are clearly in a calm and totally trusting state of mind about your reliable return in due time to attend to their needs. Animals just want to know what the heck is going on, what’s going to happen next. Our pups are constantly scanning us for clues. Predictable routines and consistently used cues help so much. I talk way too much to my bc. You distill your utterances to such clear, consistent language that I’m sure helps remove so much uncertainty. What a wonderful example you set, Emily. ❤
Update on Ace – I have gotten him involved in playing some of the games https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkx1_veP7CApJK_GWy_TczaMciuG64PqJeU and I can see a difference in his confidence already! My other dog played along and he became intrigued – now its a daily part of our routine – about 3 times a day we do the shell game and the muffin tin game. I am so grateful for coming upon your training techniques!