Twice a day seems reasonable given the stage we're at. At night, she sleeps in wire kennel (covered with red blanket btw) outside our bedroom and the same kennel is moved to the kitchen for meals and the left alone in the kennel nap times. She likes the kennel and goes in willingly at night to go to bed and to eat her meals. Should I use same red blanket to cover kennel during daytime left alones in kitchen?

Great ideas which we will now employ. Can't thank you enough! So grateful for your support. And, in summary, you are suggesting several (2-3) times a day we have her go into kennel and we leave the room? We've only been doing once a day because of our reluctance. She did stay quiet yesterday for 20 minutes during day. Should we put the same cover on the kennel during the day that we use at night? The kennel is in the kitchen during the day and right outside our bedroom door at night.

Hi Kaitlin, Please tell us your experience in training Bella to be left alone. How old was she when you started training, how long did it take, what method(s) did you follow, how many times per day did you do the training, etc. River is great about sleeping in her kennel overnight (occasionally mild whimpering but not for too long) and eats a portion of her meals in the kennel but when we try and leave her in the kennel during the day (at beginning of a nap time), she'll cry/whimper for as long as 5-10 minutes. We'll say "Hush, good girl" when she is quiet and eventually she'll stop whimpering and is quiet for maybe 10-20 minutes. One article I read said if the dog continues to cry, you are starting this training too early. Another article said leave a toy or food-stuffed kong in the kennel but I don't like the idea of leaving something in the kennel then going out. Your experiences and how you did it will help us make a plan for how to move forward. River is 13 weeks and we feel we must get this conquered or we'll never be able to leave her! Thanks so much!! Faith