Why "wait and see" is not the best way forward

People are often told not to go back inside their home until their dog has stopped barking. I wanted to share why this advice is not only unhelpful, but also cruel.

The Problem with the "Wait for Quiet" Method

You may have heard advice that goes something like this: "If your dog is barking, don't go back into the house. Wait until they're quiet before you re-enter. If you go in while they're barking, you're reinforcing the barking."

On the surface, this sounds logical. We don't want to reinforce barking, destroying furniture, or scratching at doors. Anything positive or relieving could potentially reinforce that behaviour. However, in the context of training a dog to be home alone, we need to focus on their emotional needs, not just their behaviours. We are dealing with a serious welfare issue.

Every time a dog experiences a fear episode, that fear only gets worse.

Imagine you're locked in a room full of poisonous snakes and you're screaming. Would it be kind for a trusted person to wait outside until you stop screaming? Would that solve your problem so you don't scream next time? Of course not. It would be terrifying. Not only are you scared, but the person you rely on is refusing to help for a reason you can't possibly understand.

A Better Approach

The truth is, with well-managed home-alone training, you should never get to the point where your dog is so distressed. A great side effect of this kind of training is that you'll become an expert at reading your dog's body language.

This means you'll be back inside the moment you see even the subtlest signs of unease.

You'll return before they even start to feel like they can't cope.

Dogs show many different behaviours when they are trying to find relief from fear. Ideally, we never want to get beyond the very early signs of low-intensity unease. By learning to recognise these signals, you can step in and help your dog long before they become truly distressed.

All the best, Victoria