Don’t Mind Me! Using the Puppy YES Space

When bringing a guide dog puppy home, one of the first things you want to do is make sure they feel comfortable settling into their new digs, even when you can’t be right by their side. GDB puppies get a lot of practice playing with people and then hanging out in their kennel stalls to self-entertain (and nap!) in Guide Dogs for the Blind's Puppy Center before they start their adventures with their puppy raisers. This concept shouldn’t be new, but the environment certainly is!

This activity gradually teaches the puppy to relax in their YES space regardless of the hustle and bustle of the household, or if all humans momentarily disappear out of sight. The space is intended to be used primarily for puppies 5 months of age and younger, during the day when you cannot supervise them, as well as overnight. As the puppy matures and learns to settle calmly for longer periods in a crate, on tie-down, and loose in the home, you will transition away from using the YES space.

Be sure to review Setting Up a Puppy YES Space before you begin. Reach out if the puppy has trouble with any of these steps or is unable to progress.

What You’ll Need

• Puppy YES Space.
• Food rewards in your bait bag (don’t forget to measure out the amount you use and deduct it from their next meal!).
• A couple toys and/or food-containing toys.

Place the puppy in the YES space and offer them a toy or food-containing toy. Sit quietly nearby – close enough you could reach a hand into the play yard to soothe the puppy if needed. Pretend to be busy (e.g. read a book, scroll on your phone, watch TV, etc.) and if the puppy whines a little bit or jumps up on the play yard fencing, ignore them, as long as they aren’t about to injure themselves, to give them a chance to self-soothe. When they do settle, let them know they’re doing well in a calm voice or quietly offer a kibble, as long as the puppy remains calm and doesn’t become excited by the food.

If the puppy is doing well, you can start standing up and doing a quiet activity nearby (e.g. tidying up, folding laundry, etc.). At first, try to stay within the pup’s line of sight before you build up to disappearing out of sight for a few seconds, up to a few minutes at a time.

Gradually work up to expecting the puppy to settle while the household is busier or with you in another part of the house for longer amounts of time. If you anticipate an environment that will be too challenging (like hosting a sports watch party), be prepared to support the puppy more than usual by staying closer and/or rewarding more often and take advantage of food-containing toys like the stuffed Kong and Wobbler.

Here’s a Tip!

• Keep sessions short!
• In general, be sure the puppy is calm and quiet before you let them out of the YES space.
• If you think the puppy is truly worried and is unable to recover on their own, end the session and start at an easier step next time.
• To set the mood for calm and quiet, you can put on an audiobook or some soothing, classical music.

What if…

• The puppy isn’t interested in their toys and continues to cry when I leave? Or starts to cry as soon as they finish eating? Some puppies have a harder time than others with being alone, especially when you disappear out of sight. Reach out for support if the puppy either finds it too distressing to eat or is unable to settle after finishing their food toy. In the meantime, it’s OK to stick close by as much as possible or use other creative ways to keep the puppy feeling safe and contained to minimize stress.
• The puppy doesn’t relieve on their potty tray? Even though puppies have been introduced to similar potty grates in the Puppy Center, not all are equally careful, and even the cleanest pup may not be successful 100% of the time. If the puppy frequently misses, you can just remove the potty tray and be extra diligent about offering opportunities to relieve outside during the day. You may still want something for overnight, but you can set the puppy up for success by shrinking their YES space so their cozy crate is connected to a space just large enough to fit the potty tray. They won’t need a play space overnight, since we want them to be mostly sleeping anyway! If the puppy isn’t missing the tray but simply isn’t using their potty tray, nice work! Your pup can graduate away from needing the potty tray in their YES space whenever you have a good handle on their schedule and are able to get them outside for regular relieving opportunities.
• The puppy tries to eat their own poop in the YES space? Yuck! Did you know that poop eating is a natural behavior and often occurs in a “den” or “home” space? However, it’s not very hygienic and we need to teach our puppies to ignore this temptation. If you see your puppy checking out their poop, redirect their attention and engage with them in a happy voice if they move away from the poop and choose to come see you instead. If they are actively eating the poop, use a verbal interrupter (like a sharp "hey!"). Either way, clean up any poop quickly as soon as you see it in the YES space. For puppies who have shown this tendency, you will also want to put extra effort to get as close as you can to 100% of poops in the outside relieving area.
• The puppy starts trying to climb or push the walls of the play yard as they grow? If the pup is getting bigger and still hasn’t quite grasped the concept of settling in the YES space (especially when there is a lot of household activity or other distractions), they may grow out of being able to use a YES space in those situations. Even a sturdy play yard may not be tall or strong enough to contain a large, persistent pup. For their safety, you will need to use a crate instead.

As puppies learn and grow, they can graduate away from needing the potty tray during the day when you have a good sense of their schedule. They may still need the potty tray overnight for a few more weeks, or you may need to put it back in for a couple nights if they have an upset tummy.

For puppies doing well settling in their YES space with food-containing toys, occasionally start asking them to settle without the food-containing toys, too. Review your Rules of Three to build up their ability to settle around more challenging household distractions.