Ready For A New Puppy Now... But

[tikira]

Hi everyone

We lost our Jack Russell in March, and we still have an 8 year old Border Collie, who needs a companion- so do we, it is too quiet here.

BUT

We have a pre-booked holiday in September, and know the sensible thing is to wait until we return from that, but are not sure we can wait that long.

We will be putting in a LOT of training for our new Jack Russell, we have experience in this area, but wonder if we went away, how much is he likely to go backwards?

Has anyone had to go away while their puppy was under a year old? Did this affect their training much? We would hope to get family to pet sit, but they are not dog trainers, and would let him run amok. OR we could kennel him, but we have never kennelled our dogs, always choosing to have a trusted friend visit them in our very secure house and yard each day, which worked very well with our couch potato dogs. I think our Border would fret in a kennel situation.

I recognise this would depend a lot on the puppy, but Kira is very mature and settled, so what do you think, should we wait, or should we take a risk with a family member- and leave them a LONG list of do's and dont's.

Is four- five months long enough to instill the basics into a new puppy so that they will remember their routine when we get back?

Thanks for your opinions, they will all be weighed carefully, against the backdrop of our own situation and knowledge of our own dogs.

Di

[DeltaCharlie]

In all honesty, at that age all of my puppies seem to forget all of their training regardless, the joys of the teenage years :D You will only be gone 2 weeks, I personally don't believe it would be an issue. Yes, the pup may forget some things but if you have put the foundations in there beforehand, they won't take too long to return once the routine has returned. My preference would be to keep a pup of that age out of kennels though. I wouldn't want anything negative to happen at such an impressionable age. In your house, with the BC and family members- I think it could well be a positive experience for the pup.

[W Sibs]

If you're going on holiday, the pup deserves a holiday too :p

In all honesty, 2 weeks won't do much damage to the pup's training if they already have a strong foundation. Puppies will forget, but you can get them back on track in no time :)

If you could, leave the dogs at home together with a family member and not go to a kennel. It's still young and probably be more comfortable around familiar surrounding and people.

[Lisey]

I had this same situation last year :) I already had a pre-booked holiday in September (for 3 weeks) and I picked Booker up the start of July. He was already 4 months old when I got him. However I had already discussed it with his breeder and told her I had a holiday and would it be ok for him to stay with her for the 3 weeks. She was happy to do this - I have had another dog from her previously though so we already knew each other. My older dog Eva (4 years old) stayed at my house still with my mum looking after her (which is what I previously arranged) but I thought a puppy as well would be too much to ask of mum.

His training hasn't suffered - if anything it's good for him when he stays with his breeder :)

[fuzzy82]

We went away for a week when my puppy was 5.5 months old, and we boarded them. He was fine, didn't affect his training at all. I was mostly worried about his houstraining, with peeing on the floor in the kennel, but it was a non-issue.

Mind you, we found a really good kennel with very competent and caring people. The dogs had access to a play area with a pool every day, and were let out in a grassy run twice a day, and I suspect that because he was a puppy he did get a lot of attention.

[Lisey]

We went away for a week when my puppy was 5.5 months old, and we boarded them. He was fine, didn't affect his training at all. I was mostly worried about his houstraining, with peeing on the floor in the kennel, but it was a non-issue.

Mind you, we found a really good kennel with very competent and caring people. The dogs had access to a play area with a pool every day, and were let out in a grassy run twice a day, and I suspect that because he was a puppy he did get a lot of attention.

I would be interested to know what kennel that is?

[Nushie]

Jager was 6 months old when we went away for 10 nights, he stayed with my brother and his routine changed alot, and they didnt do any training sessions with him (just the general, sit to eat, manners etc.) and when he came home we got stuck back into the training and he picked it all back up in a snap just had to remind him and guide him the first few times.

I think you will get a solid training foundation going before you go away you should be fine, even if your pup forgets it all, they bounce back and remember it pretty quickly.

[Cosmolo]

Having seen many young dogs kennelled i wouldn't say it has affected their training at all- however often when young dogs have stayed with well intentioned friends and family there has been a few issues, i believe because the context is similar rather than when in kennels.

We have some owners that leave their pups with us to look after if they are going away and that works well as we know what they are working on.

[Dogsfevr]

I think the biggest issue to consider is leaving a young pup with your older dog.no matter how well behaved your older one is i wouldn't be expecting it to work perfectly & leaving them unattended except for the visit each day by a family member .

I gather when your previous dog had passed it was older & your 8 yr old got on well together.

Now it will be a young pup that wants to play all the time .

If the right pup comes along i would consider boarding the JR so it can have fun & get a family member to watch the BC .

or wait until you are home

[LisaCC]

Can't really help, but I'm glad you are getting a new pup Tikira :)

[Rosetta]

We went away for a week when my puppy was 5.5 months old, and we boarded them. He was fine, didn't affect his training at all. I was mostly worried about his houstraining, with peeing on the floor in the kennel, but it was a non-issue.

Mind you, we found a really good kennel with very competent and caring people. The dogs had access to a play area with a pool every day, and were let out in a grassy run twice a day, and I suspect that because he was a puppy he did get a lot of attention.

I would be interested to know what kennel that is?

Me too - is it in Brisbane?

[temperamentfirst]

Hi everyone

We lost our Jack Russell in March, and we still have an 8 year old Border Collie, who needs a companion- so do we, it is too quiet here.

BUT

We have a pre-booked holiday in September, and know the sensible thing is to wait until we return from that, but are not sure we can wait that long.

We will be putting in a LOT of training for our new Jack Russell, we have experience in this area, but wonder if we went away, how much is he likely to go backwards?

Has anyone had to go away while their puppy was under a year old? Did this affect their training much? We would hope to get family to pet sit, but they are not dog trainers, and would let him run amok. OR we could kennel him, but we have never kennelled our dogs, always choosing to have a trusted friend visit them in our very secure house and yard each day, which worked very well with our couch potato dogs. I think our Border would fret in a kennel situation.

I would get a reliable dogsitter to come and stay. Leaving the young dog alone for most of the day with just a visit from a family member is asking for trouble and I would not risk it - I don't even risk it with my mature dogs.

[tikira]

Thanks all for your replies so far.

Just to make things a little clearer for you- IF we chose to get a puppy before September ( or it chose us), the family members would be staying at the house. While in the past we have gone away and left our dogs for short periods, we would never do that with a puppy, that only happened with our other two after many years.

It seems there are a lot of different thoughts on this, and we welcome other input. We have some thinking to do, which is a good thing- but oh it is hard to wait when it is so quiet here...... :)