Guide Dogs for the Blind - Spokane, WA Puppy Raisers

🏠Fun Fact Friday:🏠

Did you know that we teach our puppies how to be home alone while not confined to a crate?

It is important for a mature, recall-ready puppy to be trustworthy while alone and loose in the home for at least 30 minutes. This skill is not taught until a puppy is older, comfortable being left alone in his crate for extended periods of time, and trustworthy loose in the home when people are present.

Raisers choose to start teaching home alone by blocking off some areas of the home with gates, doors, or ex-pen walls, and then gradually increasing time alone and access to more space with successful shorter sessions. Often, raisers utilize cameras to "spy" on their puppies when they leave (starting with just leaving the front door and waiting on the porch and working up to driving away for an extended time). Just like the YES space for our baby puppies, we can teach our older puppies that being relaxed while alone is achievable and ideal by providing puppies with food stuffed toys and novel chew toys to make the experience fun, rewarding, and stress-free. Many raisers report their puppies sleeping in their open crates, or right by the door waiting for their favorite people to return!

PD: Two photos of BLM Tairn working on his home alone skills. In the first, Tairn is seen in his open crate, resting comfortably and patient. In the second photo we see a snap from Tairn's raiser's living room camera. Tairn is still in his open crate while alone and you can see his toes peeping out. Tairn's raiser has partitioned their living room with some gates and ex-pen walls to give Tairn access to the entire living room and kitchen/dining area as he works on being a very good, loose boy!

6/4 Phase Report:
Forbes - 4
Kendri - T

5/21 Phase Report:
Forbes - 3
Kendri - A