Hello We're collecting our 9 week old puppy on Sat, I've got a crate and a puppy pen as on a Wednesday I work 6 hours. A friend is going to come in mid morning to cuddle/check on him. If I put his crate in the pen, it doesn't give him much room left, but if I don't put it in will he get confused about where he sleeps? I was planning to crate train him and get him to sleep in it at night, but I don't think he should go in the crate while I'm at work, because it's too long and he'll have accidents in there. Shall I just put his vet bed from his crate in the play pen in the day so he has somewhere cosy as well as enough room to play. All advice welcome. thanks
Puppies chew stuff and I was afraid to leave any kind of bedding when I was not watching. My puppy had his full size crate, with the door open, in our gated kitchen. He chose to sleep in several different spots, moving to find a cool one when his body heated up the floor of the metal crate or just the tile floor. I'd come down and find him in lots of different places. It did not seem to confuse him and he is comfortable in the crate with the door closed, for instance when he has to wait his turn at training. The puppy before him was the same. I know two personal examples don't make it a rule for anyone. It is SO nice to have a new person come on and recognize crate time might be too long, good for you. There are no studies to back it up but my Vet thinks too long crating might be why he sees more dogs with UTI, neuroses and joint disorders. It would be really nice if your friend could come in more often. Welcome to the board.
Welcome to you. If you just put vet bed in the puppy pen the pup is likely to wee on that. I would put a plastic bed with vet bed inside it. But, three hours is far too long for a 9 week old pup to be alone. They have such a lot to learn and can't learn it alone Dogs are social animals and, unlike us, can't read a book or watch TV when alone, a bored puppy is certainly going to chew anything they can get their teeth into. Please try to have plenty of support for him while he's young. Here is our set up - .
Hi and welcome to the forum, it's so exciting waiting for your puppy to join you. What's your pup's name? It's really good to see that you have put some thought into arranging for a visit during the day when you're not there. As Mags says though 3 hours is really too long to leave a young puppy alone. How long is your friend planning to stay when she visits as puppy will need toileting and some play. How are you planning to manage puppy lunch as he will still be on 3 meals a day?
Hello and welcome! It's great that you've been thinking about things so far. If it's only the Wednesday that you're going to be out for 6 hours, I think it's manageable, although a few more visits from friends and neighbours would prevent your pup trying to destroy everything, and put your mind at rest that he's doing OK, too. Are you going to put puppy pads down for him to go to the toilet on? You could think about using filled Kongs to keep your boy occupied while you're out. If your neighbour could pop in more regularly, do toileting, have a play with him and then pop a kong in when s/he leaves, that would be fine for your Wednesdays. Or you could look at a Kong Wobbler, which rolls around (making a lot of noise, but you won't be there to hear it - blessings!) and releases bits of kibble as the pup plays with it. You'd just have to make sure that the kibble can't roll out of the pen because this could make him frustrated. Don't worry about him getting confused about where he sleeps. Puppies will sleep anywhere
thanks all, hopefully its not going to be 6 hours I will be away, was just giving the max time if stuck at work. I should be home from work earlier, and my friend likely to stay a while with him. After that it won't be for several weeks that I will have to leave him for a few hours. When he is old enough, he will go to my friend's house when I'm at work. Other days of the week, one of us is home. Ive got my kongs all ready, good point about the kibble rolling out of pen. Will look at getting a plastic bed for his pen, and use his cage at night. I've got puppy pads too. As he is so cute, I'm sure I can enlist help of neighbour for some more visits!
I don't think that I would bother with a plastic bed at the moment, he's only likely to chew it . Vet bed is good for young pups and cosy fir them to curl up on
