Back-to-school countdown: the two-week routine reset.

For ten weeks the dog had a house full of children. In two weeks the house will be empty from seven to four, and the dogs that struggle with that are the ones that had no practice being alone all summer. The reset starts now.

The two-week reset

• Alone time daily, starting at fifteen minutes and doubling every three days
• Meals and the morning walk at the school-day times, starting this week
• The crate or the place bed as the alone-time spot, with a chew that lasts
• No big goodbye and no big hello; the door is boring

The first week of school

Watch the first week for the real separation signs: destruction near doors and windows, house soiling from a house-trained dog, howling the neighbors mention, or a dog that will not eat when alone. Boredom looks like a chewed shoe; separation anxiety looks like a chewed door frame. The first is a management problem and the second is a training case that gets worse without help. Our separation anxiety page explains what we do and how long it takes.

An August Gold stay is the other reset: the dog comes home with structure and independence in the same week the routine changes, which is the easiest week to install it.

Boredom versus separation anxiety

A bored dog chews the thing that smells most of you, usually a shoe, sometime in the middle of a long afternoon, and greets you happily. A dog with separation anxiety starts within minutes of the door closing, works at the exits, may drool or soil the house, and greets you like a dog that has been through something. The first needs a chew, a walk before you leave and a job; the second needs a rebuilt routine of independence in small steps, and it will not fix itself with a longer walk. Get the diagnosis right in week one, because the plans are different and the second one gets worse with time.

• Boredom: damage late in the day, no distress at the door, normal appetite
• Separation: damage at exits, vocalizing that starts early, refusal to eat alone
• Either: no punishment when you get home; the dog cannot connect it

The morning routine that helps

A structured walk before the school run, fifteen minutes, with the dog working rather than sniffing. Breakfast on place. Five minutes of obedience, sit, down, place, leave-it, to tire the mind. Then the crate or the place bed with a chew, and a boring departure. A dog that has worked for thirty minutes before the house empties sleeps for the first two hours. The families who build that routine in the two weeks before school starts do not call us in September; the ones who let the dog wake up to an empty house on the first day often do.

Written by

Best Dog University Team

Board and train trainers in Cypress, Houston. 16+ years, 900+ dogs. About our team