Leaving Pup Home Alone.

[frufru]

Yep, part of life in the country - my brother lost one of his working dogs last week - dead on the chain in the morning - poor Wacka - gone to the rainbow bridge to work cattle

[Salukifan]

Yep, part of life in the country - my brother lost one of his working dogs last week - dead on the chain in the morning - poor Wacka - gone to the rainbow bridge to work cattle

The reason God invented the 4.10 IMO.

[frufru]

Yes, well, since he despatched a rather large brown that was frequenting the house the week before - it was probably a revenge attack :eek: (ps that was a joke - lest someone feel the need to point out the obvious to me)

Edited November 15, 2012 by frufru

[mumof4girls]

Sounds like your pup is one lucky guy ( gal sorry cant remember if you said the sex :-). I will just say I would crate train this early as its easier when young and they like the Den feel.. Rogue was in a crate from day one and he loves his crate now , really comes in handy when we go camping and we live in Brisbane :-)

Anyway good luck :-)

[persephone]

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The reason God invented the 4.10 IMO.

Snakes are welcome anywhere but round the house.

[Guest donatella]

House fires are a risk but they are one risk vs a million more outside (at least until he's older and wiser). And I'd bet my bottom dollar there are far more puppies perish from snake/tick/accident/heat stroke/theft then there are any house fire.

[Kavik]

My biggest fear with leaving dogs inside (highly unlikely but still ) is what if the aircon stops working on a hot day? Our house is an oven in summer in the middle of the day. While the aircon has never stopped working, I worry that the one day it stops would be the day I left the dogs inside on a hot day .

[Salukifan]

House fires are a risk but they are one risk vs a million more outside (at least until he's older and wiser). And I'd bet my bottom dollar there are far more puppies perish from snake/tick/accident/heat stroke/theft then there are any house fire.

My persective has alwasy been to minimise all risks to my dogs, not just the most statistically likely.

I really don't get what, in your average suburban backyard, is so dangerous??? In the country it's different.

If you think a locked door will stop a thief determined to steal your dog, think again. Whole litters have been stolen from houses. The best protection against theft is desexing and microchipping..

[Guest donatella]

I don't think you can ever minimise all risks, nothing in life is totally risk free.

I'm not against the outdoors but I wouldn't leave an 8 week old small breed puppy outdoors because Qld is hot, we have all sorts of nasties that would love to lunch on puppy (small risk but still a risk id put far above a house fire), if puppy escapes pen somehow in fret of being left alone an open back yard is a dangerous place for one so young to be in. Mine got out of a pen one day she undid the zip I was thankful she was inside and in a segregated area still.

Edited November 15, 2012 by donatella

[Guest donatella]

Let's not forget this state is full of cane toads right about now too coming up to summer, another nasty dogs like to nom on and get poisoned by.

My mum is constantly catching them around the dogs water bowl outside at her house, they are filthy and not scared of dogs.

Edited November 15, 2012 by donatella

[smisch]

at 8 weeks I certainly wouldn't leave a small breed outside on their own for huge periods unless they had company of a larger dog who could be trusted we were lucky enough when we got Amber at 10 weeks that we had Mumma Xanthe the Afghan to keep her safe, xanthe is like the surrogate mum for all our little kids and she takes them under her wing keeping them warm and looking after them, and we also hd bonehead Den who was pack leader and kept control and was great entertainment ...Amber Has grown up great and OH and I worked for 8+ hrs a day which clearly makes us horrible people but she had shelter and safety in her pack. Now Den is gone our little kids spend a good chunk of the day inside, they have their own room and they all have crates, they're all happy to spend hours at a time asleep in their crates.

to the OP you need to do what works for you but as your pup gets older there's no reason they can't spend a few hrs here and there outside, doesn't make you a bad mum.. everyone has different ways of raising a puppy and you just have to figure out what's best for your lifestyle.

Btw in relation to the PP 40 our male Lowchen lives in his no problem.where as our girl has a wire crate, each to their own

[kiesha09]

Both my two small breed dogs were kept inside in a pen (same setup as the OP described) as puppies. This was because the only outside area was a VERY small courtyard in full sun and no shade.

In hindsight I wish I had spent more time training them to accept being outside on their own. They have a doggy door to come and go as they please but as we found out from filming them while we were at work they stay inside ALL day. So probably about 10 hours. They go in and out a little bit while we're home but not much.

They also HATE being left outside by themselves and jump and scratch at the doors and whine - unless of course they have a bone.

So my advice to the OP from my own experience is that if you want to pen your pup inside while you go out that is fine, but make sure you practice putting him/her outside on their own both while you're home and when you go out. It is good for them to have some outside time without you some times without them fretting. It's all about making sure you're pup is adaptable to all situations.