Poppy is 6 1/2 months old now and whilst I try to take her everywhere... Poppy's rock climbing trip to the Dolomites... Poppy's entourage... I mostly work from home but do sometimes have to be out and about for work. So far I have just about got away at work with leaving Poppy in her crate for up to 5 hours. When I need to be out longer then my partner has to request to work from home but this isn't ideal for him. Theoretically he could come home at lunch, let her out, and then go back in but then she'd be in her crate for 9 hours. Now I don't mind her being in the crate so much in the morning because she snoozes the whole morning anyway - but the idea of putting her back in again in the afternoon is upsetting because I know she'll probably get bored and lonely. I'm toying with the idea of beginning to leave her out of the crate in the afternoon. Is this foolish? It's not going to solve the problem of her being lonely and if she gets bored then she might start being destructive - and I've been so vigilant so far that she's never chewed anything other than her toys so it'd be a real shame! I'm also worried she'd regress with house training - she's not had an accident now for months but I know it can happen around this age. So my questions are... what are your experiences of leaving your puppy home alone? What advice would you give a neurotic first time six month old puppy owner? Would you recommend doggy day care?
I certainly wouldn't want my puppy in a crate for nine hours, and not even for five, to be honest. It can be very bad for their joints to be confined for that length of time. It's good that she normally has you around all day, but for those days that you're not, I'd be looking into other options. At the very least, I'd want her to be in a puppy pen. I think you should look into getting a dog walker to come in and take her out for a good walk during those five hours, and probably twice in a nine-hour period, then they could leave her with stuffed frozen Kongs in a pen. You're right, she will become destructive if bored - but the problem isn't really the destruction, it's what it's symptomatic of, and that will be an unhappy Labrador. Doggy daycare is certainly another option, but I believe it can be hard to find the right fit; you don't want one where she's doing nothing but playing all day; it needs to have structure and lots of rest time. You also want to ensure that all the staff have the same ethic towards how to deal with any behavioural issues as you do yourself. Maybe there are other members in your area who could recommend the services they use?
I used doggy day care for Tatze from seven months old for three days a week. He had five dogs on his home, he took them for a morning walk then they snoozed on the beds or played together. He worked from home. I would never crate a pup for more than three or four hours in a day. Do you have any friends who could help out? .
I use a combination of daycare and a dog walker. If I'm having to work more than 6 hours in a day she goes to day care. The days I work 6 hours, I leave at 8.50am, dog walkers come in at 11am, drops her back around 12.15pm then I'm home by 3.15pm. I worked up to this amount over about 2 months. I decrated Harley when she was 6 months old but she wasn't a chewer and has never destroyed anything in the house. It took me ages to find a dog walker & day care set up that I was happy with. I use a husband (dog walker) and wife (daycare) setup. Harley also stays there when we go away. In day care she has 6 dogs max and uses 3 rooms plus the garden. They each get downtime in the living room or kitchen and playtime in the garden or conservatory. She rotates them regularily and I like this set up. I would really recommend visiting day care places and seeing for yourself what goes on.
I used different dog care options for my old lab over the years and from the mistakes I made - I absolutely agree it’s got to be the right fit. My dog used to come home really hyped up and manic from one of them. The minute he got home he drank loads and would then sleep for hours. In my naivety - I thought this meant he’d had a great time But a behaviourist flagged it might be stress / he’s not coping great with it. Which on reflection and once I started looking into it a bit more - I think this was true. There were far too many dogs there - they were left alone too long and it was just manic I think. So I moved him to another place where the lady just had a few in her home. He settled in great there and she was lovely but my gentle giant - who had never had a cross word with anyone, started getting a bit grumpy with some of the smaller dogs she had there. The lady was great and tried really hard to work with him on it and keeping them separate but having learnt to slowly the last time, I felt this was him saying he was unhappy again and perhaps just not suited to day care. So we then went to a dog walker who came in and took him out for a couple of hrs a day - which worked much better for us. To be honest we only used this a few times as my parents then retired and helped out loads. It was important to us that we had someone we could use on the odd occasions we needed to be out longer than 4 hrs or so and it can work work great BUT having got it so wrong the last time - I’ll do loads more research this time round with our new pup to make sure we get the right solution for him.
Oh man this just made me feel awful. I thought I'd read somewhere that the crating advice was one hour for every month of age Honestly I really try my best to look after her hips - I am so strict with the 5 minutes per month walk rule and I never let her up and down stairs or jump in or out the car. Sometimes the guilt I feel about her is really overwhelming and I just don't understand how other people are doing it - I know so many people with full time jobs and dogs, and I can't understand how they are managing it. I'm really trying my best to be a good dog owner. I thought I was past the puppy blues stage but maybe not! Anyway I guess all I can do at this point is find a solution for the future. I don't know anyone in my area so I can't ask friends or family to help or even for recommendations on doggy day care or walkers. I'm wary about hiring doggy day care or dog walkers because what if they don't keep up consistency with the training I've been doing - but I guess that looks like the best option. Thanks for your advice.
In my opinion it would be perfect if you find a dog walker or doggy daycare who would do the same training with poppy as you do. But don’t be disappointed when there isn’t. Poppy will remember how to behave and knows what you want from her. She won’t let go of this after playing with others dogs and people with another point of view on how to raise your poppy. Finn does go to dog walker and is away for the whole morning, playing with other dogs twice a week. He is exhausted when he comes home and sleeps for the rest of the day. I don’t know where you are living and if it’s available for you. Here in Holland we have a lot of dogwalking companies to choose from. When you want information you can always invite them at your place to look for the best solution for you both! Have a chat and see which one will be the best solution. Also the daycare, go and find one and visit in advance. First without poppy, later with...
Since Homer was 4 months old he's been going to a dog walker for the day. He gets picked up, morning walk, down time, pm walk then dropped back home. They are a retired couple who take a manageable amount of dogs to a field to play and a walk in the common's forest area. I had no idea how lucky I am to have found them, I researched another dog care company and was shocked at the lack of supervision and how many dogs there were all out in a field together come rain or shine. There are often people who advertise dog walks and care on our local websites, your area may have something similar or chat to other dog walkers as they may be able to help out. There's also Borrow My Dog website. I wouldn't worry too much about someone else walking your dog effecting your training. As you say its only occasionally you'll need someone to take her out.
Don't feel awful, it's a learning process for us all! I'm sure you've not done any damage, it's just a problem if it's long term. And, as you said, you're home most of the time so it's not like it's every day. She'll be fine I wouldn't worry too much about consistency of training, just so long as you get someone who only uses positive reinforcement. You don't want her being jerked around or anything nasty, but other than that, she'll learn how she's supposed to behave with you compared to the dog walker.
Ok so today I've: bought a puppy pen partner is going to come back at lunchtime until I've found a doggy day care I'm happy with if I need to go out during the day made a plan to slowly build up time she's out of her crate alone and meanwhile find a dog walker I'm happy with Thanks everyone again!
Hello Hannahandpoppy It seems we always feel guilty about the care we provide! I went back to work when Inky was about 6 months old. Before I did, I looked at daycare options, one was really horrible, loads of dogs in a room, another was a van where they pick them up and they have 1 or 2 walks depending on their age and the rest of the time was in a crate in the van. I was assured he'd be fine but didn't feel that was right. I asked around and eventually was recommended a dog walker. She came to the house to meet me and inky and we discussed what would be best for him. So that is my solution, I work shifts so times vary and I'm lucky she is flexible. Generally she does one walk and then 1 or 2 other short vists to let him out and a quick play. Otherwise he's in his crate, he's 14 months but I know he's safe there. He's always happy to go in there and in fact when he sees me get my work bag he goes straight in there so I'm assuming he's OK with this arrangement.
Nibbler (8mths)has the run of the house during the day - he does Nibble a few things but just toilet roll tubes bits of papaer nothing that can’t be picked up - he doesn’t swallow. - mostly just goes from one slobbing place to another - mostly on the sofa.Never used a crate as he howled and we gave in. We have two teenage boys at college and one is always in at a time but mostly they are sleeping in their rooms and get up and let him out and feed him at lunchtime - only one afternoon when he is alone for a few hours - he just looks up from the sofa when I leave in the morning .Seems fine with it. If things change I will get a dog walker to come and take him from home as I think he is happier here.
Update! Wow it's been over a month and I'm feeling a lot more positive about things (I honestly felt like the worst owner when I first posted this). I bought a HUGE crate and attached her current crate onto it for emergencies... however I haven't actually had to use it besides at night. I found a great family on BorrowMyDoggy. I wasn't comfortable with the first person that got in touch because they wanted to walk her for a lot longer than the 5 minutes per month of age rule and didn't seem to understand why it's important not to. But the second family are honestly so lovely - the mum is free on Wednesdays during the day (so I organise my work meetings out then) and then in return Poppy spends time with her daughters at the weekend (which is a win again for us really too because Poppy gets to socialise with small children). I've also been... gulp... de-crating whilst I'm out of the house and I feel ashamed that I didn't trust her before as there have been no accidents or destruction. So thank you for all giving me the confidence and nudge I needed, and for being so kind about it If there are any other new puppy owners out there - I would definitely recommend BorrowMyDoggy and also taking a chance on building up time out of the crate unsupervised.
Fantastic update. I'm glad you've found a nice family, it will, as you said, give Poppy a really positive experience of children. Hope all goes well.
