How Long To Take Off Work When You Have A New Puppy?

[outatime]

My better half quit her job for our Dane puppy!!!

Now that's dedication!!

[nillasdad]

I think she regrets it now

*I know I do*

Edited May 24, 2008 by seagate

[Teebs]

I dont take any time off.

The way i see it, i would hate to have a pup, spend 24 hours a day with it, than a few weeks later up and leave it, confusing it once again.

I arrange someone to check on pup during the day, and try to get pup on a friday/saturday, but they get into my routine ASAP.

[wagsalot]

I didn't take any time off. We got Riley from the RSPCA on the Sunday morning, I had the Monday off as I worked Tuesday - Saturday. Tuesday I went back to work as normal.

I had the same reason as Terrorbull - I wanted the pup to start off on my normal routine. I didn't want him to get used to me being home all day, only to turn around a week later and leave him by himself.

Edited May 25, 2008 by wagsalot

[Teebs]

I had the same reason as Terrorbull - I wanted the pup to start off on my normal routine. I didn't want him to get used to me being home all day, only to turn around a week later and leave him by himself.

Good, i was feeling a bit mean there for a moment... now we can be mean together

[Papi_Searcher]

I have picked up my pup on Saturday and now I am going back to work - will check on him during my lunch break if I can - but having trouble with him in his play pen for an hour - so dunno how he will go ALL day!

Do you think he will be ok?

Edited May 26, 2008 by Papi_Searcher

[Jasla]

I didn't take any time off work when I got Benson as I hadn't been in the job long enough to have annual leave accrued. We collected him after work on the Friday night and had two days to settle him in, then back to work on the Monday morning. He was 10 weeks old and was fine in the back yard on his own. My kids got home from school before us and they made sure he wasn't alone for long.

i was just going to ask if anyone had not taken time off work when they got a new puppy, but you already answered!

[Guest Tess32]

It can depend on if you have other dogs and where you plan to keep your puppy too and how easy that puppy is to settle. Considering it was very hot the week I got Noah and he has no tolerance for heat or confinement, if I had put him in his run unattended for hours he would have overheated and gotten sick or I would have had the council at my door for noise complaints!

Sometimes you really need a week or so to figure out what works for that puppy and you and most puppy savvy people already know not to spend 24 hours a day with the puppy.

[corvus]

We brought our Lappie puppy home on Friday night. My partner went back to work on Monday, but I'm taking a week off. I thought about taking two, but decided I'd be bored if I did! It's been 12 years since Penny was a pup and I was at school then, so this is really my first solo effort. I wanted a week to figure out what was realistic for the boy and ease him into the routine. This week is basically all about confinement and abandonment training! I'm getting someone to come and feed him during the day from next week on.

He seems pretty well equipped to handle winter temperatures even now at 9 weeks. He gets hot in the lounge room with the heater on and starts panting and stretching out.

[TerraNik]

We picked up Jedi on the Sunday and I took Monday/Tuesday off uni. He was alone for 4 hours on the Wednesday and then my partner had 2 days off to study (nice timing!). We found that this worked well because it eased him into being alone for part of the day. Even on the weekend we tried to leave the house for a little while so he got used to it. I think it would have been different if we were both working full-time.

[joelle]

I dont take any time off.

The way i see it, i would hate to have a pup, spend 24 hours a day with it, than a few weeks later up and leave it, confusing it once again.

I arrange someone to check on pup during the day, and try to get pup on a friday/saturday, but they get into my routine ASAP.

I agree with this too. I think it would be cruel to spend weeks full time with the pup if this is not what happens usually. I got mine on Friday lunch time but was back to work on the Monday, maybe Tuesday I think, Im not sure I seem to recall being 'ill' and getting to spend the monday with the pup all by myself after a family weekend......hee hee.

we are looking at getting another JRT towards the end of the year and I will prob arrange to get 'her' on FRiday midday and have mon off again

[pennyw74]

I took a week off work when we got Izzy. I was going to try and leave her for short periods during this time but unfortunately, our garden wasn't fenced, so everytime she went outside, she jumped straight in to the garden with the bark. So, the weekend after we got her (after we fenced it off), we left her for a little while. She cried and cried but we had to go out because the following day, we were both back at work. Izzy's dad came home every lunch time and has done until now. Unfortunately, he starts a new job on Monday which doesn't allow him to pop in. I'll be having some time off in six weeks and maybe I can find work with either shorter hours and/or closer to home.

[Erny]

The way i see it, i would hate to have a pup, spend 24 hours a day with it, than a few weeks later up and leave it, confusing it once again.

The point being that taking time off allows you to more gradually (albeit efficiently) introduce the concept of independance, rather than suddenly.

Edited June 1, 2008 by Erny

[Seita]

I didn't take time off with Ella but I was only working part time and at night mostly so my OH would come home within a few hours of my leaving so she was never really on her own for longer than a few hours at first. If I'm still in the same industry when I get my next dog I'm going to do nights for a few weeks after getting pup so I have time during the day with pup and then it's on it's own for a few hours till OH gets home - works really well. I'm in in a 9-5job then I think I'll probably pick pup up on Friday night/Sat morning and take maybe a few days off the following week (if not the whole week) and use that time to get pup use to being on it's own for longer periods of time.