Puppy potty training is the bane of many new dog parents. That is why there are so many tutorials on how to housetrain a dog, with promises of how it can be simple and effortless.
The fact though, is that potty training requires time, patience, and consistency. How simple or difficult it is, will depend on our dog’s temperament and our own temperament.
Some dog breeds such as the Shiba Inu, are naturally clean and are relatively easy to housebreak. My Shiba was housebroken when we first got him at 10 weeks old.
Shiba Sephy does not even like to eliminate in our backyard. Instead, he prefers to wait until we go for a walk. In contrast, my second dog (a Siberian Husky), was more difficult to housetrain because she did not mind frolicking close to her own waste products.
It took a few weeks to housetrain her.
Puppy potty training also depends a lot on us. If we are naturally calm, consistent, and patient, housebreaking will seem easier and require less work.
Whatever the case, always remember that we can successfully housetrain a physically healthy dog, at whatever age (after the weaning off process), no matter the history.
And that is a potty training fact!
1. Set Up a Schedule
Puppy potty training begins, by setting up a schedule. Initially, we want to bring our dog out often, and reduce the chances of her making mistakes inside the house.
I observe my puppy closely, and try to identify patterns in her potty behavior. For example, she usually has to go when she wakes up, and after a bit of vigorous play. Therefore, I took her out after nap-time and after every 10-15 minutes of play. Different dogs may have different patterns depending on size, temperament, routine, and more.
I stop giving her water about 2-3 hours before sleep time, and take her out right before I crate her for the night. If I need to reward her during that time, I only use moist dog treats such as boiled chicken, so that she does not get thirsty from them.
Fact – Dogs learn through a process called conditioning. They repeat behaviors that get them good results and stop behaviors that get them bad results.
The more we reward a puppy for eliminating outside, the more she will repeat that behavior. When my puppy does her business in the backyard, I mark that behavior (Yes!). Once she finishes, I treat her with something special that she only gets for potty success, and give her some good affection. Then, I reward her more with play-time and her favorite activities.
Similarly, the more a puppy practices eliminating inside, on her own, the more she will go in the house. After all, it is convenient and nobody is teaching her that it is inappropriate behavior.
Therefore, we want to not only maximize the number of successes, but also minimize the number of mistakes. In this way, our puppy will learn that doing her business outside is extremely rewarding and fun. On the other hand, when she does it inside, she consistently gets interrupted and taken outside.
Myth – My dog cannot be housetrained because she comes from a stubborn breed, she is too stupid, she is too dominant, she doesn’t listen to me, she is too old, etc.
Any physically healthy dog can be housetrained. The key to potty training is patience and consistency. Always be around to supervise our puppy when she is inside. If I do not have the time to supervise, then I crate my puppy or put her in a long-term enclosure with puppy pads.
Myth: Screaming and hitting the dog will show her that I am boss and make her stop pottying inside the house.
Screaming and hitting a dog does not work well, and usually makes things worse. How well do you learn when somebody is screaming at you, or hitting you? It is the same way for a dog, especially a puppy.
The fastest way to housebreak our puppy, is to remain calm, and consistently let her know that going inside is inappropriate (Ack, ack), and going outside is appropriate (Yes).
2. Prevent Potty Mistakes
There are three ways to prevent mistakes inside the house:
a) Be there to supervise.
When our puppy shows signs that she has to go potty, take her outside right away. If I do not catch my puppy in time and she starts to do her business, then I interrupt her with a no-mark (Ack, ack) and take her outside.
Myth – I can potty train my puppy by rubbing her nose in it after the fact. She always looks sheepish and puts her head down when I shout at her. She knows she has done something wrong.
Dogs will only learn when we catch them in the act.
If we are not around and our dog makes a mistake, then we have missed a learning opportunity. All we can do is clean up the mess and move on. It is true that a dog may look sheepish when we shout at her after the fact. This is because she knows that we are upset, so she uses submissive gestures (e.g. putting her head down) to try and appease us.
The dog does not know what particular event has caused our anger, but just that we are angry. Shouting and rubbing a dog’s nose in her own waste does not teach her anything. All it does is confuse our dog, as well as create stress and fear. This can make things worse by causing submissive urination.
b) Crate train our dog.
Dogs do not generally like to soil where they sleep. Keeping our puppy in a crate can discourage her from pottying because she does not want to soil her sleeping area.
When I got my first dog, I was a bit concerned about crating him. Here is what the Humane Society of the United States and the American Dog Trainer’s Network have to say about crate training
Myth – A crate will magically keep my dog from pottying for any period of time.
The crate is not some magical cure. A crate discourages a dog from eliminating, but if a dog absolutely has to go, she has to go.
Keeping a puppy for too long in a crate, will force her to potty in the crate, possibly traumatize her, and greatly set back our potty training program.
The maximum crate time is dependent on the age of our puppy.
| Age | Maximum time in crate |
|---|---|
| 8–10 weeks | 30–60 minutes |
| 11–14 weeks | 1–3 hours |
| 15–16 weeks | 3–4 hours |
| 17+ weeks | 4–5 hours |
Maximum crate time from ASPCA Weekend Crate Training.
Note – this is just a general guideline for the maximum crate time. I usually take my puppy outside more frequently than that. I take her out as soon as she wakes up, and right after any heavy activity.
At night, I crate my dogs in the bedroom. Keeping our dogs with us in the bedroom will help with the bonding process, and show them that they are part of the pack.
When puppies are really young, they may not be able to hold their bladder throughout the night. It may be necessary to make an extra trip outside at night, or really early in the morning. Once they get a bit older though, this will no longer be necessary.
Some puppies, e.g. pet store puppies, may already be conditioned to eliminate in their crate, because they are kept in there for overly long periods of time. In such cases, a crate will no longer be a deterrent to potty behavior.
c) Put our dog in a long-term enclosure.
If I will be away for a long period of time, I put my puppy in a long-term enclosure. This can be a secure puppy pen, or a secure and safe room (e.g. kitchen).
Make sure there is nothing dangerous in the enclosure that our puppy can destroy and swallow. Put bedding, a water bowl, some puppy pads, safe chew toys, and safe food toys, in the enclosure. Put the pads in a corner as far away from the bedding as possible.
Instead of puppy pads, we may also use an indoor grass system.
However, some dogs may not like standing on or eliminating on the indoor grass surface. Just using regular sod or grass did not work well for me because of drainage issues. The sod gets smelly very quickly because there isn’t anywhere for the pee to go.
When I tried using sod, I had to change it every other day, or my puppy refused to go onto it. This ended up being a lot more work than just using puppy pads.
Myth – We cannot train a dog to potty outside as well as on puppy pads. She will get confused and not know what to do.
Yes, it is true that if we can be around most of the time to supervise, it is better not to let a puppy do her business in the house at all.
However, if we will be away for long periods of time, if our dog has separation anxiety issues (which may cause her to need to eliminate when we leave), or if there are other medical issues (surgery) that make frequent trips outside unfeasible, then it is perfectly fine to train a dog to both potty on pads, as well as outside.
Reward a puppy for going on his pads, and reward a puppy a lot more for going outside.
3. Clean Away Mistakes Properly
During the housetraining process, there will be some mistakes. When that happens, I calmly no-mark my puppy (Ack, ack) and take her outside. Once we are outside, I praise and reward her if she continues with her business.
Then, I leave my puppy in our fully enclosed and puppy-safe backyard, come in, and clean up the mess. Cleaning up messes in front of a puppy may sometimes cause her to mimic our behavior, and engage in eating her own poop. In her mind, she is only helping to clean out the den.
Use a cleaner that is made especially for pets. A popular pet odor cleaner is Nature’s Miracle.
Do not use ammonia based cleaners as the ammonia odor, which resembles urine, may attract our dog to urinate in the area.
4. Make Sure the Mistakes Are Potty Mistakes
Not all indoor urination is the result of housetraining mistakes. Other reasons for indoor urination include:
- Submissive or excitement urination.
- Medical issues, e.g. urinary tract infection.
- Marking objects or territory.
- Stress or anxiety, which results from being alone or other psychological issues.
My friend made a very selfish decision to get a cavipoo while living in a crowded 2 bedroom apartment which does not allow pets. She has not been committed to being a dog owner from day 1, so I started puppy sitting her when she was about 4 weeks old. Now I have her about 5 days/nights a week and then she goes home to the apartment. She is 7 months old now and is still struggling with going potty solely outside at my house. It is extremely frustrating because everything I teach her gets forgotten as soon as she leaves.
When she first started coming over I used the puppy pads more and than going outside, but now that she is here so much I’m really trying to get her to go solely outside while she is here. She is getting it most of the time, but once in awhile she will still use her pad or even go in some random spot throughout the house.
Should I stop putting out the puppy pads while she is here-even when she has been gone for a couple of days? Should I retrain her by using the crate?
It is very frustrating for both myself and the puppy. The same thing applies for jumping up on people, barking, biting, digging, coming when called, and any of the tricks I’ve taught her. Once she comes back from the apartment she is back at square one.
Help!
Hello Erica,
It may be best to have a friendly chat with the owner and convince her to follow the same routine and training. As you have already observed, consistency in training is very important. If puppy is allowed to jump on people sometimes and not on others, then puppy will learn to try jumping first, because this may be one of those times where she is allowed to jump. The same is true for other behaviors.
If the rules keep changing, puppy will get confused as to what the rules are. With my Shiba puppy, I learned that consistency and a fixed routine were both very helpful in getting him to stay calm, building his confidence, and lowering his level of stress.
Hi, I have a 9 month old shepherd Rottweiler mix pup who’s very much potty trained when we are home, he won’t go no matter what, I only know because I’ve slacked a few days when I’ve had the flu and he’s gone all night and well into the afternoon without pottying and just laying in bed with me. But if we aren’t home(we always take him out before we leave) even for an hour, he has an accident. We were crating him, but he is very destructive and would chew and break the metal bars and plastic ones don’t stand a chance. Leaving him in a safe spot doesn’t work because he gnaws on door frames or anything close by. He gets at least an hour walk a day and has plenty of chew toys…I’ve left potty pads and came home to them chewed up and pee on our rug…it’s becoming quite frustrating and I’m not sure how to fix the problem.
Hello Jamie,
It sounds like it could be a separation anxiety issue. Some dogs may get very stressed when left alone, which may cause them to escape from crates, even to the point of hurting themselves. Stress from separation anxiety may also cause potty mistakes, chewing on furniture and walls, etc.
Here is more on Separation Anxiety
Here is a more general article on Dog Anxiety Problems
hi um i am going to get a siberian husky soon but i have a problem i waited till summer so i could train the pup and i am going to creat train her. but when school starts again i dont know how it will work. i was thinking to get it when ts nine months old so by the time school starts it can stay in the creat for twelve hours.but i have also have two cats one may be fine with the pup but the other my be to scared and i wanted to get the pup small so the scared cat would get used to te pup before it got really big but if i get her nine months old will she be to big to introduce to my ant’s two cats? my sister also has a siberian husky and when she showed the husky to the cat it kind of scard the cat ithink y sidters dog was oneyears old.if nine months is to big what are some things i can do to make the cat not scared of the pup and make sure the pup is jentl with both cats?
Hello Marisol,
I have two Siberian Huskies, Shania and Lara. They both have very high prey drive and will go after cats. They also spend a lot of time hunting for gophers and mice in my backyard.
Based on what I have read, Sibes can be trained to live with house cats but because of their high prey drive, that may be more challenging and may take a lot more patience and time. I don’t have any cats myself, so I don’t have first hand knowledge in this area. However, I always liked this post on cat training-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/7120/problem-with-cats/p1#Comment_125511
As for time in crate for potty training, that only applies to young puppies. However, Siberian Huskies are very active and energetic dogs. My Sibes are always on the go, and need a lot of structured activity throughout the day. Otherwise, they will try to escape or create their own activities, that will likely lead to property damage and who knows what else. 😀
More about Siberian Huskies.
http://www.rescueeverydog.org/husky_breed.html
Hi, I have a 4 year old male Lab and I have PERFECTLY trained him to ONLY go to the bathroom outside. I did this by taking him out every 2 hours and praising praising praising when he went (in the begining I would even have to go at 4am, 6am, UGH, and just walk walk walk until he went – I never gave up on that). Today he can (has to only in an emergency situation where I just CAN’T take him out) hold for almost a whole day (again, this rarely is the situation).
Oh well, so now I am about to get a chihuahua. I would like her to go on a weewee pad now that she is very young and can’t really go outside, and later be able to go on a weewee pad AND ALSO OUTSIDE. Do dogs do well with this kind of thing? To be ok to go “in the house” but on a weewee pad, and know to hold to go outside too?
I take my lab out for long walks to go the bathroom, raining or sunny, 3 to 4 times a day. Would a chi work on this schedule too? That is why I worry about the dual training. I am not a fan of pads =/ It seems to make the training a bit more complicated to have them go in only two places – pads or outside. Any easy to understand tips, please? =)
Thanks!!
Hello Carolina,
In general, I think it is easier to train a dog to not potty in the house and just potty outside. However, sometimes, we may not be around or it may be unfeasible to take a puppy outside frequently. For example, when Shania was young, she had to go through a series of surgeries. When she was recovering, we had to keep her activity level very low, so we mostly spent time with her in an enclosure that had bedding and potty pads. We put the potty pads in the corner, far away from the bedding. She was fine going on the potty pads, and we praised her for going on them.
Once she recovered, she preferred to go outside because when she does her business outside she gets praised, special treats, and a really fun game. Since it is much much more rewarding to go outside, she quickly learned to go to the door whenever she needs to go.
In terms of frequency and length of walks it depends on the energy level of the dog. For example, many Terriers may be small in size, but they usually have a lot of energy. I usually walk puppy separately first. That is helpful for leash training and also to gauge the energy and comfort level of the puppy. I only walk my dogs together if they have about the same energy level and are comfortable walking at around the same pace. For example, I walk Shania separately from my other dogs. She is a three legged dog and gets tired more frequently, so we have a lot more rest breaks.
Hello ShibaShake! I came across your website while looking for potty training tips for my new puppy. He’s a Havanese and 9 weeks old. I’ve been potty training him for about a week now. He is very good about using the potty pads when I restrict his play area to tile. However whenever he encounters a rug he gets very confused and pees. My questions are as follows:
Is it possible to have rugs while training a puppy with pee pads? I’ve read that puppies can’t tell the difference between the two. I’ve also read about people getting frustrated and going so far as to get rid of all the rugs in their home.
Will using a pee pad holder help? Will a pee pad in a holder feel different than a rug?
Finally, how can I correct my puppy’s offending behavior? I always praise him when he goes potty on the pad. But I can never tell when he’s gone potty on the rug until after he’s walked away. My puppy is very obvious when he wants to go poop. He circles around and does this squat walk. But I can never tell when he’s going to pee! He doesn’t sniff. He doesn’t lift his leg. Sometimes he pees in the middle of walking. Sometimes he pees while stretching.
Any advice you could give me would be a great help!
Thanks, and I love your site!
Hello Habago,
Hmmm, that is interesting but not something I have observed with my dogs. While Husky Shania was recovering from her leg surgeries, I mostly kept her inside the house. She was mostly in her enclosure area with bedding and puppy pads, but she did not really show any interest in going on the carpets or rugs in the house. My other puppy Lara also had access to puppy pads while in the house. She would sometimes make mistakes on the carpet, but in her case, it was simply a potty mistake and not confusion about pad vs. carpet. She would sometimes make mistakes on the tile floor as well. After I fully potty trained her, she stopped going in the house.
At this point perhaps puppy has learned that going on tile is not ok, but still does not understand about carpets? It could also be that puppy got accustomed to going on carpets in his old home.
Another possibility is that there may still be some left over smell from previous mistakes, which may encourage a dog to treat the area as a potty spot.
What has worked with my dogs is to reward really really well for the right behavior, especially in the beginning. When they potty outside, I praise, treat with something special that they only get for doing a good potty, and play their favorite game with them. In this way, they are highly motivated to potty outside.
As for stopping the behavior inside, we usually want to catch them in the act or as close to it as possible. I would keep observing puppy closely to see what his tells are
– Is there a specific area that he favors? During puppyhood my Sibes would pee close to the wall, so when they go sniffing at the edges, I take them out right away.
– Is his body language different when he is about to go? Does he put his head down, take his tail up, is his posture different?
– Does he usually stretch before peeing?
Hello,
We adpoted a beautiful 4 month old german shepard mix about 5 months ago. She quickly learned to go on the potty pads and has had barely any issues with pottying anywhere but her pads. Now that she is older and can hold her waste longer, I want to train her to go outside. We live in a condiminum and either my husband and I are home all the time so we usually take her outside if we see she looks like she is about to go potty on her pads. Once outside though, she sniffs around and looks like she is about to go but never does. We’ve been outside with her for hours at a time waiting for her to go but nothing. Our 8 year old Beagle knows how to cry at the door to go out and Bailey (german-shepard mix) has caught on to this but hasn’t caught on to actually going outside. This evening she has peed on our bed as well as our couch and I think it is because of all of the changes of going outside has stressed her out? I do not know what to do. Please HELP!!!!!!
Sincerely,
Desperate Doggy Owner
Hello Jennifer,
She may think that she is only allowed to go on potty pads, and not on grass. With my dogs, I have also noticed that they prefer to go on grass, which is the surface that I initially potty trained them on.
Some things that may help-
1. Associate a verbal command with the potty action.
Initially, I associate the “Go Potty” command with the potty action. When I am pretty sure that my puppy is about to do her business, I say “Go Potty”, then I reward her especially well for doing it “on command”. I keep repeating this every time she does her business. This helps her associate the verbal with the action, so that I can later use it to communicate with her and let her know that now is a good time to potty, or this is a good spot to go potty.
2. Put a potty pad on the grass.
As a transition step, putting a potty pad on the grass may help her learn that it is ok to do her business on grass. I always make sure to reward really well when puppy potties in the right place. I give her affection, food, and also play a very fun game with her.
3. Long walks or exercise.
I have noticed that my dogs are more likely to potty after some rigorous exercise, e.g.long walks, or high energy play sessions.
It can sometimes be difficult, but I also try to be relaxed when puppy makes mistakes in the house. Dogs are usually very sensitive to their people’s energy or emotional state. When I am stressed or angry, my dogs pick up on that right away and often get stressed themselves. As you say, this can cause them to make even more mistakes.
Big hugs to Bailey. She sounds like a wonderful girl.
HI 🙂
this site is very useful ! 🙂 and your dogs are very adorable !
i recently bought a 2 month old beagle, her name is Yuri.. (btw, its my first time to take care of a dog)
we live in a condominium so we decided to let her do her thing is a small tray we provided for her.. sometimes, pees and poops on it, but most of the time, she poops anywhere… if we suspect she’s about to poop, we put newspaper right away…
my main problem is this.. during the night, we leave her outside our room, Yuri would not sleep unless there’s someone beside her, so I always sit beside until she sleeps, most of the time, I rub her belly to make her sleep… or carry her like a baby until she fell asleep…is this normal for a puppy?
i had been doing this for a week
to make things worse, whenever she poops in the middle of the night, she would scratch our bedroom door and bark to wake me up to clean her pee and poop, she would not stop until its cleaned… usually she poops at 12pm, 1am, 4am… *i am already tired but i have no choice…
we tried to put her in her cage but she keeps barking and howling… i am worried that the neighbors might complain so i did not continue with this method…
HELP!! i am very tired 😐 and frustrated…
i will take her outside when she’s old enough, the vet advised me not to take her outside yet because she might acquire bacteria, viruses etc…..
***your reply would be a big help .. THANKS A LOT 🙂
-selina
Hello Selina,
In terms of potty training, I train my dogs to only potty right on their pads. If they get used to pottying wherever in the house, then it will be more difficult to potty train them later.
With my Sibe puppy Lara, I set up some puppy pads in her long-term enclosure. In this way, she has some place to go when I am not around to supervise. I make sure to praise her and reward her for going on her pads. If she tries to go anywhere else, I no-mark her and take her to her sanctioned potty area. If she continues, then I praise her and reward her.
In terms of sleeping, my dogs sleep with me in the bedroom in their crates. With puppy Lara, I slept with her for the first couple of days, then I slowly desensitized her to her crate.
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog#crate
It is natural for puppies to whine and cry when they are not getting their way. I make sure not to reward this behavior though, because if I do, puppy will just keep repeating it. I always wait for them to be quiet before giving them anything, including my attention.
I also make my dogs work for all the things that they want, including food, toys, access to the backyard, and also for tummy rubs! 😀 I do this by following the Nothing in Life is Free program.
Here are a few more things that helped with my dogs during puppyhood-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-i-trained-my-husky-puppy
Hugs to Yuri!
Hi Shiba, thanks for your reply.
Yes, that is very unusual! Well…answering your questions…maybe we can figure it out!
Did she do her business after you got home and took her out? Yes she does…but she is not doing it on her pad…she does it specially when we’re not around her…or not looking at her…and she does it on the floor, she pees a lot then because she held all day! But when we take her outside she pees and poops too…I think she likes outside…but we were not taking her outside because she still doesn’t have all shots and we live on the 34th floor! That’s why we wanted her to use the pad….but now that she is holding it…maybe it’s better to just start taking her outside?
But when we leave her alone in the kitchen all day…there is a pad there and she used to do her business there (both) but now when I get home the pad is clean…there is no signs of pee….
How is her appetite? Does she drink water regularly? Does she have water and food in the kitchen during the day? How is her energy level?
We feed her twice a day, 06h45am and 06h45pm. While we are gone for work we just leave a kong in the kitchen with some food so that she can play and also eat during the day…she drinks a lot of water too. She is full of energy and loves to run in the house!
It could be a health issue, in which case it would be best to take her to the vet for a checkup.
Did something change 10 days ago?
Well I think we didn’t established a routine…on the weekends when we’re home we don’t wake up so early and she realizes that we’re home…from Mon to Fri she is all by herself…could it be an issue?
Did she eat something she shouldn’t have? Sometimes…pieces of paper or anything she finds on the floor…we always try to keep the floor clean.
Were there any schedule changes? Yes…a lot…specially on the weekends…
Were there changes to the location of the pads and type of pads used? No…not change at all.
Any food changes? Same food
Are there any other behavioral changes? Yes…I think she is kind of…scared of us sometimes…not sure….I think she was feeling so pressured to pee on the pad that she started to hold it….I don’t know 🙁
What do you think?
Thanks again!!!
Larissa
Hello Larissa,
It is difficult to say for sure from just online communication.
This could be it. What happens when she pees in the house?
With my dogs I find that consistency and clear communication work best. I set up a clear mark and no-mark, and have clear and consistent rules for them. In this way, they know what is expected of them, and what they can expect from me. A fixed routine also helps with my dogs.
When their environment becomes uncertain, they get stressed which can result in various unhealthy behaviors. Here is more on how I train my puppy.
It may also be useful to get a professional trainer to come and observe her just for a couple of sessions. By reading her body language, a trainer will be better able to identify what is triggering her behavior.
Hello! My Boston Terrier puppy (14 weeks old now) learnt to use her pads since day one! She was perfect! Smart and was always using the pads only….but since 10 days ago she stopped using the pad…she pees and poops on the floor and her pads were no longer used, I am trying to make her go back to the pads…I don’t know what happened…she won’t use them anymore….need help please??? Also, she leart to hold it for long periods…she is only 3 months and she can be in her crate during the night (7 hours) with no problems…She stays alone all day confined in the kitchen with toys and the pad (which is about 9 to 10 hours) and for my surprise yesterday she didn’t pee or pooped at all!! She held it for 9 hours…and is only 3 months old…is this normal? Could this be related to the fact she is not using the pads anymore? Maybe she is scared? No idea….please help me!! Thanks a lot! 🙂
That is very very unusual for a young puppy. Did she do her business after you got home and took her out? How is her appetite? Does she drink water regularly? Does she have water and food in the kitchen during the day? How is her energy level?
It could be a health issue, in which case it would be best to take her to the vet for a checkup.
Did something change 10 days ago? Did she eat something she shouldn’t have? Were there any schedule changes? Were there changes to the location of the pads and type of pads used? Any food changes? Are there any other behavioral changes?
I have a 5 month shiba and she cries whenever she wants to go outside & does great with that. But at night I’ll taker her out and she will do her business, even have her on a schedule for feeding. But she still does her business in the house. We will not even be gone for too long like 2-4 hours and she still does it. I dont know what else to do. I keep her in an enclosed area with a piddle pad. She will sometimes pee on the pad then rip it up. Anything else I can do to help her get better about doing her business in the house? It’s becoming very frustrating.
Hello Matt,
Does she do her business in the house when you are around, or only when you are out? If it is only when there is nobody home, then it could be because of separation anxiety.
My Shiba, Sephy, gets very anxious whenever there are any changes to his routine. In the beginning, we would just go away for a few seconds and then come back. Then once he was comfortable with that, and started ignoring our shenanigans, we slowly extended our away time.
Here is more on my experiences with separation anxiety-
http://shibashake.com/dog/separation-anxiety-dog-why-how-reduce-dog-stress