Staying at home with our pets has many of us living the dream — sort of. We need to be mindful to encourage our pets' independence while we're home. When we resume our normal work schedules, we want our pets to be comfortable being home alone. 

Instead of bringing your dog along, leave the house without your dog. Go to the grocery store, for a walk, or work in your garden while your pets stay inside. Try setting up a “pets home alone“ routine.

While home together, encourage apart time. Snuggling on the sofa is comforting. Keep doing that, but be sure to encourage your pets to lay on their beds too. When your pets aren't looking, sprinkle some treats on their beds. Laying on their beds is easy to reward while you binge watch shows or take a conference call.

Practice out-of-sight stays. Ask your dog for a sit or down stay while you leave her sight. Start with a 10-second out-of-sight stay and work up to two minutes. If your dog is antsy when you leave, try giving that dog a bone for being alone. 

Maintain or train being quiet in a crate. The crate is a wonderful management tool useful for when you bring your dogs to hotels, camping, or visiting friends and family. In order to increase the dog's desire to get into the crate, I set up the crate like a food puzzle. I show the dog a tasty treat, then I toss the treat into the crate, shut the door, and lock the dog outside of the crate. I want the dog to sniff around the crate, paw at the crate, perhaps whine or bark. I'm looking for the dog to indicate to me that he really wants to get into that crate. That's when I open the door. As soon as the dog eats the treat, I call him out of the crate and start again. I work up to having the dog settle inside the crate before releasing him. Happy to show you more via tele-training! 

Being mindful to foster pet independence now can help your pets transition back to our normal work schedules later. Have questions about this? I'm only a click away! We can still be together, apart.