Working from Home with a Dog

Working from home with a dog can be joyful and a dog is great to have around to alleviate stress. That’s unless your dog barks all the time or demands all of your attention, making it impossible for you to get work done. There are ways to keep your dog quiet and busy when working from home.

Take the Time to Train Your Dog

It’s hard to fit in dog training, when you have to handle calls, deliver services, have phone meetings with employers, take care of bookkeeping and all of the tasks required to work from home. However, the time you invest in training your dog will pay dividends. Schedule 10 minute sessions three times a day until your dog masters the skills you’re working on. You can hold training sessions after meals to make it convenient for you, and to make it easier to remember to do. If you don’t take time to train your dog on a consistent basis, working from home with a barking and bored dog will be miserable for you and your neighbors.

Choose One Command to Quiet Your Dog

During your training sessions, teach your dog to obey your command to be quiet. Don’t use different commands, because that will confuse your dog. Choose one of the following:

1. Be quiet
2. “Shush”
3. That’ enough
4. Zip it
5. Stop barking

Consistently use the same command, so there’s no question what you’re asking your dog to do. Eventually, you’ll be able to give your dog the quiet command and he’ll obey, and you can continue working from home in peace and quiet.

Punish Your Dog for Disobedient

If you don’t punish your dog for disobeying your quiet command, they’ll continue to ignore you, and you’ll be wasting your time. Your dog needs to associate negative consequences with barking after you’ve told him to stop. Some ways to punish your dog include:

1. Use a spray bottle to squirt water on his nose
2. Tug on the leash collar
3. Reprimand your dog verbally using a displeased tone
4. Shake a can full of pennies near him
5. Use a citronella collar (dogs hate the smell, and it releases when the dog barks)

Very few dog owners take pleasure in punishing their dogs, and you won’t either. It’s won’t last forever. Your dog will learn to obey you, and you both will be the happier for it.

Buy Treat Dispenser Toys and Bones

Buy a treat dispenser toy designed to keep your dog busy for hours, as he works to get treats out bit by bit. You can buy treats from the store, or make your own. Dogs love these toys, and they’ll keep busy and quiet while you’re working from home. Chewy bones are another favorite of dogs, and you can find them in any store that sells pet supplies. Don’t give your dog chicken bones, because he will choke on them. Thick bones from large animals, or synthetic ones are the best.

Working from home with a dog is possible, if you take the time to train him and provide him toys and bones to keep him busy.