Hi all, So I have now had my 11 week old girl for 2 weeks. I’m a teacher and just started my summer, but will be going back to work in 8 weeks...and I’m already stressing and extremely anxious about what I’m going to do when I go back and how I’m going to manage. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with my pup. I know it will get better, but right now I’ve definitely got the “puppy blues” that others have described on here. I live by myself and am sooooo exhausted and losing sleep and..... am starting to sometimes wonder if I made a bad decision to get her . She is a Velcro puppy and is wearing me down. Crate training is not going well, house training was going well but now it seems like she’s regressing. Taking a shower every day is a stressful ordeal...sleeping is now difficult. I’ve looked like a homeless zombie person for the last 2 weeks. I am someone who when I “look good” I “feel good.” I guess this is a big reason why I feel so down right now. Like I said my biggest stressor right now is when I go back to work and I want to start now working on a morning routine so the transition back to work goes as smoothly and easy as possible. I am a morning person and getting ready for work in the mornings is my “happy time”. I like to wake up super early (4:30am) and take my time getting ready. I also like to get to work No later than 6:30am (school starts at 7:20) so I have some uninterrupted time to get stuff done. I’m not a high maintenance person, or vain, but I do like to look my best for work and I feel like it makes a huge difference In my performance and mood. My favorite time of the day is sitting in my robe, sip on my coffee while I leisurely put my makeup on. I live in Houston and the humidity makes my hair crazy so it takes a lot of work and time to manage also..lol. I currently live in an apartment on the 3rd floor (was hoping to be moving into a rent house this summer but that fell through) in Houston where we have crazy, unpredictable weather. We are having stormy weather now and all I can think about is how this is going to suck when school starts. I’m a horrible person, I know... Anyway, sorry to ramble, and hope this makes sense...I got very little sleep last night and prob just sound like a crazy woman, but I’m hoping I can come up with a morning routine where I can get her exercised and still have the “me time” without having to wake up at 3:00 am. lol. Any tips?????? This is what my typical work day will look like: 4:30am - wake up 6:30am - arrive at work 11:30 or 12:30 - quick trip home to let her out. 3:30pm - go home Any suggestions or words of encouragement would be sooooo appreciated right now!!!!! Thank you. So glad I found this site!!!
Oh dear, poor you! Early puppy days are tough and it will get better. But you might need to employ some help when you go back to work. Although 12.30 - 3.30pm will probably be okay, the early stretch is a very long one for such a young puppy. You can find lots of information on combining full time work with puppy parenting here. Doggy day care or a dog sitter will probably be the key at least for the first term. Best of luck!
Hello, I am really sorry to hear that you have the puppy blues. My partner and I are in full time work and the return to work when we brought Nala home was a massive worry. We now have a dog sitter go in mid morning, i go home on my dinner and it works well. Since having this routine she has slept better and toilet training has really come on. We also had issues with crate training and toilet training, however now her crate is her favourite place to be and toilet accidents are once a week. By the sounds of it with toilet training, i would go back to basics, regularly taking her outside to do her stuff - after play, sleep, food, etc. We started with every 20 mins, and slowly worked this up. You get to learn when your pup is 'about to go'. When it comes to the crate, we made time to make the crate the best place in the world. We would leave the door open all day, restrict her use of space in the house so that she would be more tempted to explore her crate. We would also leave a light on outside her crate at night so that she was on her own in the dark (spoilt I know but can be scary for a new pup). We put a blanket across the front to let her know that it was time for sleep. In the day, we would put toys inside whilst playing so that she would have to go in and get, and scatter small bits of kibble whilst she was doing other things so that she would get a nice surprise when she would go in her crate. We struggled with nights the most, however my Nana told me to try her with a hot water bottle with a thick fluffy cover on at night - it would feel like her brothers and sisters and bring her comfort. THIS WAS THE HOLY GRAIL. Nala took to this Hot Water Bottle like a sibling, she slept right through at night, curled up on top of this. It got to the stage where we would take her for her last we at night, put the kettle on and she would go and get in her crate whilst we were making the bottle. It may sound spoilt but if it gets you sleep then so be it. We arent using it at the moment as it is 'summer' here in the UK and too stuffy at night. We had to bite the bullet early on and let her cry it out. It was hard but worth while as now it is a struggle to get her up in the mornings (not even 6 months old yet!!) Let us know how you get on, trust me, all the struggle is worth it as you have a best friend with unconditional love for life. Love, Holly and Nala x
You’ve still got eight weeks they change so much during that time don’t worry yourself about going back to work at this stage, there’s enough to worry. I’m a teacher and we picked up our pup the first weekend of the summe4 holidays 6 years ago. My school is further from home so we set up a dog walker for him but he’d still need to wait from 7am to 9 - 9:30 in the mornings and again for a bit in the evenings after she dropped him off. I was a wreck the first day back like a mum sending her baby off to his first day at school. He soon learnt our routine and we adapted to his needs. I get up and feed him then lounge on the sofa eating breakfast, Hubby comes down played ball with him while he eats his breakfast. I go up to get ready, then Hubby goes up to get ready then five minutes before we leave he went back to his crate with a treat, now to his crate but the door is left open. It was a bit of a tag team routine at first but worked for us and the dog. Enjoy your summer!
As a proud dad of a 4 month old lab who really struggled with the puppy blues, I can wholeheartedly tell you that any negative feelings you have now will absolutely not last! I really didn't believe it at the time and like you, I'm doing this all on my own and was so stressed and came very close to rehoming my pup, but it gets so much better so quickly! (I began seeing positive changes from about age 12-13wks and every week after that got easier and easier) Regarding your main question, the way your pup is now will be completely different to 8weeks from now and I think 8 weeks is more than enough time to get her used to her own company. That said, the amount of time you're leaving her in the morning is a bit much (I think the general rule of thumb is no more than 4 hrs). Do you perhaps have a family member/neighbour who could check in mid way through the morning at all? Or alternatively get a dog walker to care for her?
We are a teaching family here too. Do you have a school dog program where you live? We are allowed to bring well-trained dogs to school and if they have passed certain levels of testi g they have different permissions in the school. If my dog can pass conformation he is allowed in any classroom or the yard with any other person who will watch him, not just me. After that he can pass Companion Dog and he is allowed to stay in classrooms alone. If he passes School Dog testing he can have free-range roaming unaccompanied at all times. Our aim is companion dog but we have a loooooooong way to go!
Omg...no we don’t but that would be awesome!!!! We do have therapy dogs come to our school right before exams. I really do think we should have therapy dogs year round. I think these kids (and adults!) would benefit tremendously!
