My puppy is 7 mos old and so far has two different "rest areas." One is in the bedroom where she sleeps, a crate with a pillow and blanket, the other is in the living room, a doggy "bed." The reason for this is so that I don't have to keep moving her doggy bed to the area she would like to be in (in order to be around people). Is it okay to have two areas and where should I keep her toys (I imagine next to the living room bed.)?
Hi! The only thing I would worry about is how clingy your puppy will become over time. By allowing your puppy two beds, where she can always be with people is encouraging clingy behaviour, whereas with one bed, she is more likely to just go and lay on it when nothing that involves her is going on - she learns that she doesn't have to be with the human pack 24-7. If you are home all the time, that's not a worry. But everyone has to leave the house once in a while - and you don't want to start having to deal with separation anxiety - it's not fun! Trust me... My dog Blue and I are still working on it!
At this point, can you leave your puppy alone in the house for longer periods of time? Is your puppy crate trained? Does she follow you or another family member around the house wherever you go while you're home?
The toys question is a matter of personal preference. If your dog is still needing obedience training it is good to leave one or two toys out (chew toys are good for puppies!) and retain the rest for training rewards, this way you don't have to go out and buy new toys because she's bored of hers, whenever you want a high reward toy
I know plenty of people that have a "toy chest" for their older dogs who are already skilled in obedience, while others have toy chests, but not so well behaved dogs .
Please give us some more details/questions you may have about your puppy, we are happy to help!
I think it is up to how you want to position your dog in your family. If you want her to be around all the time, you can let her choose her resting areas wherever she feels comfortable. However, I would suggest she sleeps at her designated area (in the kitchen, utility room, in a crate, or in your bed room ) at night, and another area for her to wait nicely when you human family eats.
In my house, there is no off limits for our dogs. They find their most comfortable spots closer to wherever I am (for example, by my feet right now in our home office, on the kitchen floor when I am cooking, in the spot where sunshine comes through the window, on the couch when we watch TV, etc.).
It is totally depends on what kind of life you want to enjoy with your dog. Since our dogs are used to get relaxed anywhere, even in the car while I am shopping, they are very easy going. They are around me and my husband and our grown up kids when visiting us, they are well adjusted to our human way of living. This is what WE wanted to happen so we trained them this way.
Regarding separation anxiety, if you dog has well socialized with people and living environment, usually she can cope with being left alone better than not having much contact with people. What they need is to build their self-confidence and trust toward the human family. They will soon learn that their people will come back soon or later so they will just sleep and wait till then.
