New Puppy & Work

[AdzNSarah]

Hi guys,

My finance & I both work fulltime. I am 30 mins away from home & my finance is 15 mins away. What would you recommend we do in regards to leaving our puppy during the day? We plan on crate training her as soon as we get her (approx. 3 weeks).

I’ve read many conflicting opinions about whether we should have a puppy at all because of our work hours.

Could you please give us some information about what we can do?

Thanks heaps.

Adz.

[Paganman]

If you work near home youll be able to drop in during the day and check up on her and feed her.Crate training is good but you wont be able to leave her in a crate all day.Is your yard safe and well fenced?

[kitty]

i also work about 5 minutes away from work and we got our new puppy last week.

Do you have a small-ish room you can give the pup during the day with her crate (left open) and water and toys and pee pads?

Molly has the laundry every day, with all of those things, and she's fine. Puppies usually sleep for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours (get my drift? )

I pop home during my lunch hour, give Molly her lunch, let her outside to have a supervised run around the yard, play with her toys, give her cuddles, then back in the Laundry and i'm off to work.

If you don't have a room you can give her, what about a puppy pen outside that has shelter and all of the things she would have in her room? Obviously you'd need to choose where you put the pen and pick a good spot that will give her shade and sun and shelter from the elements.

Having a puppy and working full time is totally do-able. Beware though, it will break your heart when you have to go to work and leave puppy at home, you spend all day thinking about whether they're ok :rolleyes:

One thing you should do before you go back to work is start leaving puppy at for a little bit at a time to get pup used to being alone, and if you are on good terms with your neighbours let them know so that they are aware you have a puppy and wont worry to much about the inevitable whining.

What kind of dog are you getting? and photos are a MUST!!!!

[AdzNSarah]

Thanks to you both for the information.

Our yard is well fenced & safe for Maddie.

I was thinking of making her a play pen with a roof, as we have a wooden deck down the side of our new house (moving in on Monday) that we can put her on, however because we live in Canberra, the days can be sunny but quite cold. I would hate Maddie to get sick. :rolleyes:

We can put her in the laundry but its not very big so she wouldnt have much room to move around. Having said that, most of the house is hard wood flooring so having the play pen in the corner somewhere with her crate, food, toys etc would probably be the best solution.

Maddie is a black, female lab and we get her in about 3 weeks. See pics below.

[luvsdogs]

Are you taking holidays when the puppy arrives? This gives her a chance to get to know you, settle into a routine & importantly give her her midday meal. I would do as kitty suggests & put her in a safe, easy clean room with nothing that can hurt her otherwise a baby play pen with open crate, water, chew toys like a stuffed kong & some safe toys. If you go to www.dogstardaily.com & download the book by Dr Ian Dunbar "Before You Get Your Puppy" you will see a diagram of a puppy's long term confinement area on page 56.

Edited May 8, 2009 by luvsdogs

[Tilly]

If you can't get home during the day ... maybe consider using one of those treat ball or something similar (buster cude) and use that as her mid day meal. Just make sure she has worked out how it all works first

My GSD boy arrives in about 2 weeks and I am taking 2 weeks off work to settle him in etc ... I was planning on using a treat ball as a way of providing his second meal when I went back to work.

[luvsdogs]

Awwwwwwww, she's so cute. I wanted to name my puppy Madison, Maddy for short, but my son named his daughter Maddison so I had to come up with something else.

Read as much as you can on socialisation & how to grow a healthy large breed puppy. Good luck, puppies are so much fun but a lot of work.

[kitty]

Tilly - something i found with our pup is that she doesn't have much interest in treat balls yet... their attention spans are pretty small when they are that young. What i did, was scatter some kibble and treats in her crate, and around the room, she especially loves the ones in her crate. Not sure if it's the 'right' thing to do, but i know that i couldn't rely on treat balls for Molly to feed herself during the day, and she associates her room with treats and food. I feed her in the laundry, and do all the good things, so she sees it as a place where good things happen, not a place where she is left all alone.

All good advice so far. I can't help much, but i'm going through it all right now, so i can offer what we have done.

Something else we did today was build her puppy pen outside. It has a half roof with a shadecloth over it, some flooring down under the roof part, and some sun for her to lie in, plus her crate, toys etc. (We live in QLD though, so it's still pretty warm right now.)

I come home around 11.45, and the OH's brother gets home between 2 and 3, and he'll put her in her pen for 2 hours in the afternoon so she's not cooped up in the laundry all day, plus it gives her socialisation with our other dog so they can get used to each other, but safely.

if i was the OP, i would set up the puppy pen inside, and go from there.

Personally, we had a long weekend, but i wouldn't take 2 or 3 weeks off work, because i would imagine when you go back it would be harder on your pup. Cockers like routine though, so spending a couple of days bonding, and then into her routine is what i think is best for our pup, but all dogs are different.

Gorgeous pup by the way - so so cute!!!! Puppies are definately hard work, but they steal your heart so quickly you can't imagine how you ever lived without them!

Edited May 8, 2009 by kitty

[Tilly]

That was a good link luvsdogs

Kitty - from what I have been told by his breeder ... my boy will probably need more then treat balls to keep him occupied. He seems like he is going to be a bundle of trouble ... cute but trouble

[Kelpie_Pup]

It would be great if you could take a bit of time off work when your puppy first arrives... allow her to become familiar with you and her new environment..it also allows you to help her adjust to having no-one at home (leaving her alone for little periods throughout the day).

I personally am against using toilet training pads inside the house. Does nothing but teach the dog to do it inside.. I really doubt that at an early age they have the ability to distinguish between where is allowed and where is not ie. the pad or the carpet....

I think outside would be fine, provided you had a crate/kennel with some warm blankets in there. From my experience, its not until they're about 4-5 months of age until they decide that dragging the blankets around the backyard is more fun than sleeping on them (see pic)

Every day she did it!!

At this stage, it would be great if you could pop in once or twice during the day to visit your pup.

And, you will need to expect that any of your training-socilisation, toilet training, bite inhibition-will take longer if she is alone for most of the day. But as long as you know that going in then it shouldn't be a problem

The breeder, if he/she is responsible, wouldn't have allowed you to take Maddy if they didn't think you would be good owners!!

[Gayle.]

Lab puppies are robust little things that don't stay little for long. She'll be happier outside than in, as long as she has a warm, safe place to go out of the weather and some toys to play with.

Don't sweat the work hours, we work, the resident kid goes to school and it didn't stop us getting puppies. When we got Dusty, I took 2 weeks off work to spend with her and she slept the whole time. I might as well have saved my holidays til she was older!

Edited May 9, 2009 by GayleK

[all that glitters]

When we got Dusty, I took 2 weeks off work to spend with her and she slept the whole time. I might as well have saved my holidays til she was older!

LMAO totally agree!! When I could have been at work, I stayed home with her a couple of days and she slept 2.5hrs straight at my feet I was like well gee I think she'll be doing a lot of zzz's when I am not home anyway! I think her crying would tire her out more too, poor bub! But they all have to go through the initial upset until they get used to your routine.

Edited May 9, 2009 by Shellectra

[Gemelo]

I think she'll be ok outside too as long as she has somewhere safe and sheltered to keep warm. We got an aussie shepherd pup a month ago who will be going outside from next week onwards, because he has become bored and destructive inside.

ETA: We didn't take holidays when we picked him up either, its now that he is 13 weeks he is getting bored.

Edited May 9, 2009 by Dotty_17301

[all that glitters]

How about a dog door so she can have some restricted inside access? My dad spent the day here today and we took out a whole panel of window pane, and replaced it with a wooden board so he can make me a doggy door! (saves spending on a store-brought one). My pup likes both inside and out, but if she had the option to go either place herself, I think it's the best possible situation for when they are home alone However it depends on your house and if that would be possible, luckily half my house is one large lino room with minimal stuff to wreck, and the dog door will lead out into the whole backyard

[AdzNSarah]

Thanks everyone for all your great advice.

We have been spending up big for Maddie & we now have a crate with a soft bed type cushion in it from the pet store, a playpen, some toys, food & a lovely warm, cosy doggie bed for her to lay in when she doesnt want to be in her crate.

Unfortunately, because we live in Canberra, the weather is still quite cold during the day for her to be outside. We're still a little unsure as to what we should do about her needing to go to the toilet etc as she will be in her play pen from about 8am - 3pm (with a visit from my mum in between).

Here she is at 7 weeks & 1 day...thought you might like to see how big she's getting. We collect her from the airport next Monday (25th). :D :D

[all that glitters]

Beautiful pup!!

[Aziah]

A touch OT but what's with the markings on her legs/feet (like brindle stripes)? Is she from a registered breeder?

ETA: just curious is all

Edited May 21, 2009 by AZIAH

[VJB]

Lab's can also eat everything of the non-food variety too. If the nice warm cosy bed you have spend some hard earned $$ on is left, a dog will often use it for entertainment purposes, even with treat balls etc around. You can try leaving disposable toys around to play with, like cardboard boxes, toilet roll tubes, etc. Most puppies do sleep lots though, so hopefully this will happen. Won't be small for long though.

[BoxersX3]

Maddie is very cute and i am sure you will have lots of fun with her.

I too live in Canberra and we got our Boxer puppy (Carter) about this time 2 years ago and i too thought it was to cold to have him out side during the day. He lived in the laundry during the day and my husband and i used to make a trip home each each day to feed him, let himout to the loo and stretch his legs.......Although at that age all they want to do is eat and sleep. I also did this for safety when he was small, then we put in a dog door in and since then he comes and goes as he pleases.....hard to imagine now that he was once little !

However if the day is sunny and you have a protected area with a kennel and blankets i am sure she would be fine outside during the day.

Best of luck with your new addition

[milzi09]

Slightly OT - but how long would you recommend leaving the puppy in the play pen for while you're at work. The main reason to do this is to stop them from learning unwanted destructive behaviours - eg chewing the furniture, peeing in the wrong places etc. but some dogs will do this up until they are say 2 years of age (even with environmental enrichment options).