It’s fun and helpful to take some time of work to bond with your new puppy and help them settle in. But there’s something super important to teach them during this time that a lot of people miss – how to be content being left alone.

If you are constantly with your puppy and then you need to go back to work or go out, there’s a sudden and stark contrast between what they’ve got used to and being alone. This can cause them to really struggle and feel very stressed and anxious alone.

Next, the owner often panics and arranges for the puppy to always have someone with them. But the longer this goes on, the harder it is to ever leave puppy alone, and you could end up with an adult dog with separation anxiety.

Part of healthy socialisation is learning, sights, sounds, smells, environments and situations that a dog needs to be able to deal with in the human world.

Part of that is learning to be happy left alone.

Another thing to be careful of is giving your puppy another dog for company from a young age meaning the puppy can become overly dependent on needing the other dog to be around and not truly learning independence even if the owners can go out.

If you have an older dog, teach your puppy to spend time totally alone without any other being around. You never know when you will need to do this and you don’t want a stressed out and anxious dog later.

If you need help with puppy training, check out the resources at our website including my online puppy course that goes through puppy raising essentials in more detail.