How much time does you puppy spend by them self's during the day? My wife is home all day with Pepper and finds it hard to get stuff done with her constant companion underfoot. She feels guilty putting Pepper in her crate except for her lunch time Kong. Do your puppies have any down time?
Re: Time alone My pup, almost 7 months, is left weekdays between 9 and 12, then out for an hour on a group walk with the puppy sitter and then alone for, 1-4, until I get home and she's absolutely fine and sleeps and plays with her Kongs in between ( I watch her on web cam). When I'm home early or at weekends or work at home days, she's more hyper and alert/ excited , so at these times I put her in the kitchen behind the baby gate so I can work and she soon clams down, I then let her back in and she sleeps by my feet , gnaws her bone etc , but that took a while!!!!! Don't feel guilty about keeping pepper in her crate/ kitchen for short periods, she has to learn to not be overly dependent and Kongs, toys etc are all great for keeping them occupied . Bella howled the house done at first when I just went to the loo, but she's great now!
Re: Time alone Hi, I'm not sure how old you puppy is, but I was at home all day with Juno and she was only left alone in the house when I went shopping which was around an hour at a tome and for French lessons one morning a week which could men she was alone for around 3 - 3.5 hours. One I needed to do jobs around the house I used to pop her in her crate with a toy so she was safe and I could do what was needed.
Re: Time alone I found that my puppy wanted to sleep a fair amount of time, so had regular times in his crate so that I could get on with other things. Dogs do need quiet times on their own. Though of course not too long, just as long as they needed to sleep.
Re: Time alone My two often spend 2 hours in the afternoon alone (they sleep in separate rooms) I think it does them good as they learn it's OK to be alone for a while.
Re: Time alone Mine has a similar day to CDM as both my husband and I work. I have her out from about 7:00-8:30 in the mornings, then out for two 30 minutes periods during the day for walks/play time, then we're home around 4 or so, and she's out until 10:30-11 PM. I do feel guilty, I want to be home with her more during the day, but she gets a lot of exercise, and we keep her busy with kongs while we're gone... she is perfectly happy. So if your wife wants to put her up for a couple hours here and there, that is completely fine. She'll get used to it.
