How To Train a Puppy to Use a Playroom While Home Alone

In this Omaha puppy training session we worked with Bear, a three-month-old Great Pyreneese who was experiencing issues with barking in the kennel and the beginning stages of separation anxiety.

After I arrived I chatted with Bear’s guardian about her main puppy behavior concern and learned that Bear started barking in the kennel while she was away at work. Since she lived in an apartment building this was disruptive to the other tenants. I showed Bear’s guardian how to set up a puppy playroom to give Bear more space to move around and entertain himself while she was away at work. Then we worked on teaching how to be quiet in the puppy playroom, which you can see in the video below.

Bear quickly started to pick up on the new rule that quiet equals getting out of the puppy playroom. First, we want to make that positive association that being calm and good gets him out of the room. Then once he learns this we can start to build up how long he is in the room alone over time. Another great puppy training tip is to give him things to chew on and entertain himself while his guardian is away, such as a KONG or carrot sticks.

By the end of the session Bear was being calmer and calmer when he was in the room by himself. He was making great progress to not develop separation anxiety as an adult by learning how to be calm while his owner is away. We wrapped up this puppy behavior session with Bear’s Roadmap to Success video, which you can watch below.