Since Clover arrived HOME Sept 13, she has been practicing being home alone in her crate -- with us faking leaving 2-3 times a day for an hour or more at a time. Its an important thing to teach puppies so that they dont develop separation anxiety. Clover would really holler at first. Sometimes as much as 25 straight minutes, but the barking and howling lasted a shorter amount of time over many days. Today, for the VERY first time, Clover stayed in her crate while we were gone running errands in town for about 3-4 hours. Ginko was asleep on the sofa, but for all Clover knew (in her crate in our bedroom), she was home alone. I turned on my digital recorder, and I came home to a beautiful recording of total SILENCE. Good girl, Clover Lee!!! Ive been thinking about it a lot, and I suspect its a trust thing -- ultimately. That the puppy TRUSTS youll always return, and she learns to trust through practice. Lots and lots of practice. Thats part of what I mean when I talk about balancing bonding and independence.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 22:48:33 +0000
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