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Home AloneJackie Drakeford |
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Puppies need a
lot of attention, and it is a sad puppy that is expected to while its days
and nights away alone, except when its owner has time for it. Adult
dogs will spend their free time dozing, but it is a folly to expect a puppy
to do the same. They have not been around very long and everything about
them is more intense and of a shorter duration. The puppy is "now";
the grown dog is its future.
So puppies yap or howl, or mess or chew, when left alone, not because they want to annoy, but because they need company and interaction. Another puppy will keep them happy, but will also give the owner unnecessary training difficulties in the future unless each puppy is exercised, fed and trained separately. If the owner has the time to do that then there is time to give the solo puppy more attention, rather than dismissing its noise and destructiveness as irritation or even malice.
A puppy quickly learns that being left on its own is alright if it is not left alone for prolonged periods. Attention-seeking behaviour means that not enough of the right sort of attention is being given, and it is sensible - not "soft" - to have a puppy with you as much as possible, to teach it about this alien world in which it now lives and to make it secure and happy. This includes letting it curl up next to you, or even on you, for its safest sleep, to wake in trust and confidence, yawn pinkly at you and be gently escorted outside to learn more about housetraing, which is useful even with kennelled dogs, if they and you are ever likely to be invited back to other people's homes.
So puppies yap or howl, or mess or chew, when left alone, not because they want to annoy, but because they need company and interaction. Another puppy will keep them happy, but will also give the owner unnecessary training difficulties in the future unless each puppy is exercised, fed and trained separately. If the owner has the time to do that then there is time to give the solo puppy more attention, rather than dismissing its noise and destructiveness as irritation or even malice.
A puppy quickly learns that being left on its own is alright if it is not left alone for prolonged periods. Attention-seeking behaviour means that not enough of the right sort of attention is being given, and it is sensible - not "soft" - to have a puppy with you as much as possible, to teach it about this alien world in which it now lives and to make it secure and happy. This includes letting it curl up next to you, or even on you, for its safest sleep, to wake in trust and confidence, yawn pinkly at you and be gently escorted outside to learn more about housetraing, which is useful even with kennelled dogs, if they and you are ever likely to be invited back to other people's homes.
reprinted with kind permission from Alastair Balmain
Deputy Editor:Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street SE1 0SU
Tel: 020 3148 4750
Deputy Editor:Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street SE1 0SU
Tel: 020 3148 4750
| Separation Anxiety |