“Since You’ve Been Gone”

Below is page 65, and the topic is what happens when the dogs are home alone. If this page does not appear correctly you can simply read the synopsis of page 65 at the bottom of this page. All material is ©2010 Debby McMullen.

Directly above this page is a list of other pages you can read from the book, How Many Dogs!?

Exerpt from

Since You’ve Been Gone

So, where do you want your crew to hang out when the humans are gone? Well, much depends on at what point you are in your multiple dog life. If you have had a successful duo, trio or more and have not crated or separated anyone and all has been well, that’s great. Don’t change what isn’t broken. But if you have recently added a new dog or even more than one new dog or if you are about to, then you cannot simply expect the new dog(s) to blend in with the resident dogs without an adjustment period. And part of this adjustment period means separating the new dogs from the resident dogs when there is no responsible adult human at home to properly supervise.

This is a management technique meant to be used while you are evaluating and integrating the mix. This is an important part of the trust in your leadership that I have mentioned previously. Anything can and might happen when you leave it to chance; there should be no chance if you can help it. Keep the crew who trusts in you safe. Remember, safety is an important resource that your dogs depend on you to provide, so separation of new dogs and resident dogs is necessary until you are comfortable leaving all your dogs together without worrying what might happen if you ran down the street for a moment.