I leave the tv on for them. There’s a YouTube channel of just straight animals and nature, with no commentary. I can’t remember the name of it but yeah.

Honestly what’s helped the most, but may not be feasible for your situation, was getting a second dog. I adopted an older female dog from the shelter, and they get along great and she keeps my pup in line. My golden pup was almost a year old when I got my other dog, and was just starting to get into that puppy phase where he chews things and gets destructive. I’d leave toys out for him, but he still was tearing things up. But once I got the second dog all that behavior vanished without really even having to do much. Dogs are pack animals, and don’t like being alone.

The other thing that’s helped a ton is to run them hard before I go to work. My job is very physically demanding, so I’ve gotta stay in good shape. Prior to my accident I’d try to wake up real early and walk/run for 30min to an hour. Then I’d come home and play fetch with them in the backyard for the remaining time before I had to go in to work. Not only did it make sure they were getting a bunch of attention and exercise first thing in the day, but it’d tire them out and they’d be pooped most of the day. Then when I’d get home I’d take them to the dog park for at least an hour.

Hope those ideas might be able to help. Both my dogs are crate trained but we don’t hardly keep them in their crates anymore, even when at work. The only time they’ve really had accidents lately has been when they’ve been sick.