Home Alone: Developing Skills Using the Puppy YES Space

Being able to be left home alone (loose in the home unattended) is an important life skill for all guide dog puppies, especially as the pups transition to their client, breeder custodian, or K9 Buddy family’s home. When you first started this journey, your pup learned to relax alone in their YES space, whether you were near or far. As the pup matures and gains freedom to be loose in the home while you are present, you can begin preparing for your pup to be loose in the home while you are away, too!

If the pup is still showing an interest in seeking out inappropriate household items or chewing on parts of the house or furniture that cannot be removed from your small puppy-proofed area, they may not be ready for this activity yet. If the pup has had a history of finding house manners challenging, reach out for individual support to set you and the pup up for success in this process.

What You’ll Need

• A set up YES space.
• One small area that can be readily puppy-proofed and closed off from the rest of the house (maybe a bathroom, hallway, laundry room, or kitchen). Sturdy baby gates are great for creating these smaller spaces!
• A pup who settles well in the YES space when you are away and hasn’t recently shown distress or destructive tendencies when left alone.
• A puppy who is not hungry, thirsty, or needing to potty.
• A couple toys (including suitable food-containing toys) to help the puppy self-entertain.

Set up your YES space inside the small, puppy-proofed area, to acclimate the pup to being left alone in that space. If the pup reliably settles in the YES space, start expanding the space by opening up the play yard a bit so that one of the walls of the pup’s enlarged YES space is a wall of the room. Depending on the pup and your flooring, you may need to secure the ends to furniture to avoid the pen from being pushed. Practice leaving the pup home alone for short stints with this set up before opening the space further. Keep expanding the YES space until the pup has access to the entire puppy-proofed room.

If the puppy does well, repeat the process in another area of the house, gradually building up to allowing access to multiple rooms. As the pup builds more experience acting appropriately around everyday household items while supervised, you can also gradually do less puppy-proofing that may have been necessary at first (e.g. removing the tissue box from the coffee table, putting away rugs with tempting fringe, putting kitchen towels out of reach, etc.).

Here’s a Tip!

• Keep initial introductions to home alone short, and very gradually expand duration and difficulty (amount of freedom, time of day, etc.). Remember that when you increase one, you may need to decrease the other to help the pup remain successful!
• A nanny cam (or other video device) can be a convenient way to keep an eye on the pup and offer peace of mind while you’re away. (Or tell you when to hurry back if you’ve left the puppy with too much freedom!)
• Most dogs can hear if we are milling about in other areas of the house vs. when we drive off. The first time you drive away, keep your trip very short, so any worry they have of being left behind can be quickly resolved.