[Mantobellio]

I have never crated my dogs. The first time I left the house, just for a few minutes, I wanted to see what my dog would do. The dog was five months at the time. I left for about two to three minutes, then came right back. I noticed that my dog had got a hold of a wash cloth that was left on the couch. So for training, I put the wash cloth near her on the floor and every time she went for it, I would make a sound so she would leave it alone.

When I was convinced that she knew what I meant, I put the cloth back on the couch. This time I walked to the door with her and took her head in my hands and gave her a good scratch behind the ears and told her I would be back, then stepped out of the house. I could see her through the window, yet she could not see me. I saw her sit by the door and when I thought she might begin to act up, I came back in and gave her a big scratch behind the ears.

The next time I was leaving, I did the same thing, walked her to the door and scratched her ears and said I would be back. Then watched her through the window again. She sat by the door and waited. I stood outside for 10 or 15 minutes, then came back inside and gave her a scratch behind the ears. Since I noticed she always sat near the door, I put her favorite blanket close to the door.

The next time, I left for a longer period of time and I noticed my Rottweiler would sit near the door, then after about 15 minutes she walked to her blanket and laid down. She went to sleep after a while. After 30-40 minutes of watching her, I came back in. Once she heard the keys in the door, she was right there when I opened it. I gave her a good scratch.

Every day I would leave for short periods of time and just watch her through the window. After five days, I knew she understood what I was trying to teach her. So the final test day, I did the same routine of walking her to the door and scratching her head. This time I actually went to the store for a little over an hour. When I came back, she was right there to meet me at the door and no catastrophes were waiting for me in the house.

Every dog after that I was able to use basically the same method. If I had another dog all ready trained to do this and I brought a new dog in to become part of the family, the new one would follow what the other dog did……..so training became a lot easier.

With all my dogs, I have never puppy proofed my house, I just teach them what is mine and what is theirs. So far, with all the dogs that have come and gone and with the dogs I have now, none have ever eaten anything that was not theirs in the house.

So communicating and watching your dog through their body language to see what they are picking up and if they are understanding what you are trying to teach them goes a hell of a long ways.