So I'm picking my puppy up the weekend of October 4th. The puppy will be 8 weeks old. I was thinking of taking the following week off of work, just to settle the puppy in, get started with house training, and of course to spend alot of time with a cute cuddly puppy! Then I was thinking maybe being home with the puppy for 10 days straight isnt the best thing if I plan to leave them home alone while I go to work after that. I am gone from about 7:15 - 2:45pm. Kids and hubby leave the house around 8am. So the puppy would get let out at 8am and then be in the crate from 8am until 11:45 (I will come home at lunch) and I will be able to let the dog out for 20 minutes or so of outside/playtime. and then it will go back in the crate until I get home for good at 2:45. After that we are home for the rest of the day usually. Or I can bring the dog places with us. So should I take the week off? I can always leave the dog alone for a little bit here and there while I run to the store and stuff like that. To clarify, I'm wondering if I should take the week off? Only take a few days? Work half days?
Re: 1st week with puppy No advice, but our puppies are twins! I'm also collecting on 4th October when he or she (not decided yet) will be 8 weeks
Re: 1st week with puppy i think you'll end up with a distressed pup and a messed crate leaving the poor thing alone for that long so early on.... get a puppy sitter... 8 - 11:45 is too long... it takes a few weeks for the pup to feel safe in your house. abandoning him so early will not be good at all.. it is distressing enough being removed from the litter without leaving him totally alone too.. i hope your neighbours are understanding
Re: 1st week with puppy [quote author=bryn_diesel link=topic=7621.msg106443#msg106443 date=1409670891] i think you'll end up with a distressed pup and a messed crate leaving the poor thing alone for that long so early on.... get a puppy sitter... 8 - 11:45 is too long... it takes a few weeks for the pup to feel safe in your house. abandoning him so early will not be good at all.. it is distressing enough being removed from the litter without leaving him totally alone too.. i hope your neighbours are understanding [/quote] Thanks for answering my original question. My husband does work from home a few times a week so he is able to bring the puppy outside for short increments. It depends on any conference calls that might be scheduled, so I didnt include that time in the mix. Neighbors all go to work so shouldnt be a problem for them! We have a cat that loves dogs so there will be some company.
Re: 1st week with puppy [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=7621.msg106441#msg106441 date=1409670697] No advice, but our puppies are twins! I'm also collecting on 4th October when he or she (not decided yet) will be 8 weeks [/quote] So exciting! What color will yours be?
Re: 1st week with puppy I recommend you take as long as you can afford to take. You will thoroughly enjoy it, and so will your puppy
Re: 1st week with puppy When I first brought my pup home I only took a couple of days off work - Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then took half days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and back to work as normal from then. I was able to come home at lunch time too. I agree with Pippa with take as much time as you can afford - maybe a week follows by a week or a few days of half days if possible? Perhaps your husband can arrange to work from home a bit more often than usual in the first couple of weeks? If you decide to take a week off in the beginning definitely get the pup used to being left alone straight away so it's not so much of a shock for them when you do decide to go back to work.
Re: 1st week with puppy Another one to recommend taking as much time off as possible. In the beginning you will be needing to take the pup outside every hour or so to toilet in the daytime, plus getting up at least once in the night to let them out. I started leaving mine for short periods of time straight away and built up to a maximum of couple of hours at a time at about 12 weeks. I am afraid you cannot expect an 8 week old puppy to last from 8-11.45 without needing to toilet! Are you planning on using a crate ? Also the puppy will need human interaction, unfortunately a cat isn't a substitute for the human company it will need. Labradors love to be around humans Chloe
Re: 1st week with puppy I agree with the last few posts , this time is so important, its a time for bonding , your puppy will quickly learn to love and trust you , take as long as you possibly can and enjoy it x
Re: 1st week with puppy Apparently conflicting advice here. Yes, take the time off to get puppy used to new home. From the second day, go out every day, just for a short time (10 minutes or so) so pup gets used to being home alone. Gradually increase the time you leave him. Most important of all. ENJOY.
Re: 1st week with puppy I agree to take as much time off as possible. That way you can really get a sense of housetraining, how long he/she can last etc. You can leave him/her for short spaces within that time and assess how they get on. I do agree with the other posts nearly 4 hours is way to long to leave a pup of about 9-10 weeks. They will need about 2-3 ish loo breaks in that time? Will they have a run/pen ? A crate will be distressing as they will not wont to mess it but cant possibly last that length. Even one day left that long at that stage will be too much. I took nearly 3 weeks off which was heaven then went back 2 school hour days but Meg was outside with a kennel and a massive run. She also had a big old Malamute for company. She was fine. I would have struggled to leave her indoors without a big pen. Do you have someone who could pop in in that time? and a good space in your home to let the pup move about? Its time to think creatively. He/she will be fine in the long run, its just the early phase that needs careful planning. Enjoy your pup and we look forward to photos
Re: 1st week with puppy Thanks all. I've done this before, but my "puppy" is 12 now, so its been awhile... I know my neighbor with a Havanese has a dog walker. I think he comes at lunch time or so. So I could see about having him stop at our house too. Maybe I could take a mid-morning "lunch break" and come home then to let the dog out. So maybe an 8 - 10 - 12 - 2 schedule? I do have neighbor that I might be able to ask to pop over for a few minutes. either in the morning or in the afternoon. My husband is usually home 2-3 days a week so this is only going to be 2 days a week or so that we will both be gone. Dog will be kept in the house, either in a large crate (made for a very large dog, it would hold my 90 pound lab with room to spare) or gated in a small mudroom with tile floors (roughly 11' x 4'). I'm not expecting the dog to be accident-free. So I am going to take vacation that week and I have the following Monday off as well for Columbus Day here in the USA. So that will give me 10 days off with the pup. With my old dog, I happened to have a friend living with us for a couple of months who was unemployeed, so she just took the dog out during the day. I didnt like leaving him in his crate when no one was home so we kept him gated in the kitchen with vinyl flooring and I came home at lunch daily and took him out and played. We had an older dog at the time so he did have company.
Re: 1st week with puppy [quote author=cubby link=topic=7621.msg106445#msg106445 date=1409671880] So exciting! What color will yours be? [/quote] I'm not sure yet. There's four yellow (very pale) and four black in the litter. Five girls and three boys. I get first pick so it'll be good to stay with them for a few days to see their little personalities. I know I'll want to take them all
Re: 1st week with puppy I am excited for you, im picking up my puppy on the 13th Sept, so will keep you all informed of my progress so you know what to expect.
Re: 1st week with puppy You will love that time with your new puppy, we got our two just before the start of the 6 week summer holidays, my sons were at hone all day with them for the first week then i had six weeks off and i loved every second! It's killing me to be back at work now! I used to leave them most days for an hour or so, increasing it to two, going to the gym or popping to the shops, or even going upstairs to clean the bathroom, so they got used to being crated. They have a huge crate now, and they go in there happily at night and when we are out. I think it helps that they have each other to cuddle up to, and they also tire each other out playing, chasing each other round the garden so when they go in their crate they sleep for hours, often not coming out even when we open the door for them. My son gets up early for work and they open their eyes and turn over and go back to sleep! Look forward to seeing pics of your new puppy xx
