Hi All, I am having a little first-puppy panic. We brought our new puppy home 4 days ago (she was 9 weeks old yesterday) and thought we had done the right thing taking the first week off to spend some time getting to know our new furry friend. I am fast becoming aware though that when I start work again next week (don't worry - I do work from home), there is no way I can give her all the attention she is demanding. I think my first question is - how much of that attention does she need to be happy? We have a puppy pen that gives her about 2 square meters of space and she is happy in there at night but is it ok to pop her back in there for spells (for example when I am in teleconferences) during the day. Realistically, I will only be able to spend an hour with her (training and playing) in the morning and again at lunch and will be able to take her out quickly to use the toilet throughout the day (and we will obviously have evenings to play together), but will this be too much time in the pen (night times and maybe up to 6 hours during the day on and off)? Do I need to focus more energy on her behaviour in the room? I thought that I would be able to have her next to my desk and allow her to wander round the room (its an open plan living/dining/study) but even though we have removed everything we can and boarded off cables, she is still finding endless ways to do the things we don't want her to do. I have tried toy replacement (which occasionally works) but I worry that I am inadvertently reinforcing the bad behaviour by offering something fun to her every time she goes in for the kill on my work chair seat lever or the edge of the coffee table. walking away and ignoring her works well as she always follows but when I am working this will just not be possible and I just wont be able to watch her as much as she needs as well as doing a half decent job on my work. She seems happy enough in her crate, she has lots of toys (kongs, rope balls and sturdy dog teddies) and water - is it ok to use it so much? Or what can I do to get her to remain calm enough to chew on the designated chews and not my work chair?. I guess this brings up another issue which is if you cannot stop your puppy from chewing things, how do you behave when she does this without punishing or rewarding her? I think my rant for help is now over. sorry guys, this is just all so new to me. I thought by reading the books and buying all the stuff I'd be prepared but I was not at all prepared for just how much i'd love her and want the best possible outcome for her. Any suggestions?
I did pretty much the same thing with current puppy, now 8 years old. We both survived, BUT, it was hard to get work done. I could not trust him out of sight with chewing so he was restricted to only safe toys in his pen. Well, actually, he was in our gated kitchen so as to be close to the door for bathroom needs. Your setup might be better for observation but I could not leave him by himself unobserved in the general household. Every time I thought, maybe he's old enough now, I would either hear the tell tale sounds of crunching or the tell tale worry of quiet. LOL. Then he did go back into the kitchen where, lucky me, he did not do damage. I rotated toys, that might help you. Every night they all got put away, each morning a brand new (to him) toy would be brought out and usually there would be three throughout the day. In reality though, I found the bathroom outings to be more of a distraction for me. Sometimes it might be every 20 minutes at first. Oban was 8 weeks when he came home. And it was a very cold and snowy winter so I had to dress at least with boots and mittens. The side effect of cold, I think, was bathrooming did not take too long and once back inside (and a bit of play outside) he was ready for a snooze. I bet you find it all works out. I am heartened to see puppy is not crated all that time, she has room to move and be herself a bit. Deep breaths but unless she's very different from mine it will work. WElcome to the board. What is the little puppy's name?
I would have a line up of puppy-amusers (filled kongs, kong wobblers, filled bones, toys etc) when awake I would spend ten minutes training/playing then give the puppy-amusers. She should then sleep a while. Rinse and repeat. You will soon get into a good routine. Twiglet (19 weeks) has become really good at amusing herself for half an hour with her toys
Hi and welcome, some great advice from Boogie. Working from home with a young puppy will not be easy but you will soon get in to a routine and not forgetting puppies grow up very quickly. Enjoy your puppy as much as you can
Don't worry - they soon settle down. The key is to be aware of the cues you give that it's settle down time (and during this time, nothing exciting should happen). For example, opening your laptop, picking up the phone, sitting at your desk....all of these things come to mean "quiet time now". If you are aware of this (don't break off to have a quick play, make it a proper break or nothing) it comes a bit quicker. Making the room puppy safe is a way to speed up the process of having the puppy out and quiet while you work, but I so understand about the puppy chewing your chair etc. Sometimes that's tricky. I had a puppy pen (on lino) behind my chair and we got into a routine very quickly. He soon learned when it was play time and when it was "nothing is going to happen now, may as well go to sleep" time.
Just wanted to say hello and welcome to the forum. I guess it is going to be a bit of a challenge, but lots of tips so far jac
Hi and welcome to the forum I don't think that that amount of crate/pen time will be a problem. It sounds like you're doing a good job, so don't panic Can't add to the good tips, except to say that little training sessions (training easy stuff) wear out puppy/doggie brains very effectively. You can substitute those for some of the play sessions.
Hi and welcome! I also work from home, so I know exactly what you mean. You think you're in a better position, because you're there all the time, but you also need to continue to do a good job. I don't know your situation; mine is that I'm a partner in a new and small business; this means I have to work long hours to try to build it up, but because it's "my" company, I can also be relatively flexible, as long as I'm around to have the important conversations when they're needed. Those first few weeks with Willow were hard, I have to admit. Yes, she slept a lot, but was always awake and active at just the wrong moments. You start a call, and there's the puppy, wide awake and doing something distracting. Even though they sleep all the time, you still don't feel like you have any productive time in the day, plus you're tired from the crate training at night. But, you know what? It doesn't last long at all. Mine (I got a second one from the same litter at 14 weeks) are 14 months old now, and they have learnt that when I have my laptop out, I'm boring, so they might as well sleep. I still work long hours, but I also find far more time in the day for "myself" (ie walking and training my dogs) which, despite taking time away from my computer, actually makes me a whole lot more productive in total. The one thing I would say, though, is that, depending on your dog, spending some time separated from him would be a good thing. Being with them 24/7 is great in some ways, but it doesn't prepare them for when you can't be there - shopping, dinners out etc. So, if you can, spending the odd minute, upping to five, ten minutes, eventually an hour, away from him in another room would be good for his independence - as long as you can be sure he (and your furniture!) is safe.
Train an interrupter cue - a noise that means "turn towards me". Then, when she is chewing something, make your noise and give her a reward for responding to you (not the chewing). It takes a little time to train, so in the meantime just keep her away from stuff, get her attention in anyway you can, or just pick her up and give her a cuddle! Don't stress about it, they all just grow out of the chewing stuff (mainly, anyway ).
Hi everyone, These responses have been fab, thank you all so much, and thank you for the welcomes. I have started to introduce a reward word and have spent some time trying to think of a clear indication that 'work is starting' - I think we might just carry her around the block (until she can go out for walks)before turning my lap-top on. I think there have been some great suggestions and advice, I do need to get her used to me not being around and also need to be clear about when is play time and when is just toilet time (I think that will be the hardest thing). Mainly thank you for the reassurance, it is quite a daunting thing - your first puppy - so this is all really helpful. Puppy's name is Tatti, I'm told she is a Labrador but I think there is some crocodile in there somewhere too
Hello there....sounds like you are really well prepared and doing a great job.....your post reads like many,many others we have so don't be in a panic.....You've had some great reassurances and suggestions from folk who have managed it.....this is the hardest bit ....it's amazing isn't it that being there all the time doesn't make it any easier to manage ...it just makes it different. I see you've got the hang of your Avatar so we can have a peep at Tatti but when you get a min it would be lovely to see some more photos...how did you choose her name? We've got Dexter who is 3 ...our first dog ,he's a yellow boy x
I have a signal which means 'all interaction closed for now' I show them two empty hands, palm forwards. Tatze (2 years old) and Twiglet (19 weeks) both understand it
Thanks again, it's not going so well at all yet but I suppose we are only 3 days in. I am finding the only way she will sleep during the day is if I get on the floor so she can sit on my lap. While I know this is not a behaviour I want to encourage (don't do with a 7kg pup what you don't want to do with a 27kg dog ), it is the only way I can keep her quiet while I'm on a conf call. Once she's settled I can put her wherever and she doses away peacefully. Is this really bad?? Not sure how to upload photos but I'll try.... Strangely I don't have too many of her awake- I guess I'm usually too busy
My 30kg dog sits on people all the time. No-one minds.... It's lovely in the winter to have a Labrador draped round your neck.
I wouldn't worry too much at the moment, she obviously enjoys the warmth and closeness and it helps her to fall asleep - you've replaced her litter mates . You will probably find as she settles that she takes herself off to her crate for a sleep, so it's probably best to pop her in there when she's snoozing. so at least she wakes up there. Photos and videos have to be hosted through sites like Flic.kr or Imgur with the BCCcode copy and pasted into posting box. You can't upload direct from your phone or laptop. We don't mind photos of sleepy puppies
Hey, I can understand your worries completely I was in the exact same position a month ago! I was so worried about not being able to give my pup enough attention in the day and still actually work (I work from home too) but we settled into a routine really quickly. We started with me working in the same room as Dexter but it was the living room and the sofa gave me a back ache...we do have a puppy pen but we never needed it, I have no idea how we were so lucky but Dexter entertains himself and is able to be left to his own devices without chewing everything! Can you put the puppy pen in your workspace so your still close but he is having to entertain himself? From the sounds of it I don't think ur puppy is spending too much time in the pen at all! I learnt very quickly no squeaky toys at teleconference times! And kongs definitely keep him occupied. We have just introduced frozen kongs! Dexter is now 15 weeks and our routine for work is: wake up and an hour play then he goes back into his crate and will nap in his crate for a 2ish hours while I work in the office upstairs, I'll come down for a bit of a play and then il work downstairs from the kitchen he will either play with his toys or nap on his dog bed which I put by my kitchen table, he gets half hour play at lunch time then he goes back into the crate with a frozen Kong for the last hour or for any TCs just incase he does decide to destroy anything and then after work we get to go play and walk on the fields! In the evening Dexter loves the climb on our laps and nap he's currently 12kg and growing like a bean sprout but I love it and I think he will defo still be doing it at 27kg too! ☺️
Ah Tatti,early days ,everything is very new to her...you are her comfort at the moment when she's had big changes.Pop her in her crate when she nods off and during the day give her a lovely tasty treat in there every so often,she will learn to love it and if it works like it did with my dog ,she will choose to go and settle in there. I didn't let Dexter on the furniture until he was 14 months old.....that was a long time for me to sit on the floor with him....I had an epiphany and started to let him on the couch...he's 24 kgs and sits in my lap every night .....and I wouldn't have it any other way! Next time I'll tell you about how long it took for him to make it upstairs to our bed .....the thing I said was NEVER going to happen!
I'm only commenting to hopefully make you feel a bit better. All my in focus, non-blurry photos of Oban are when he is sleeping. Awake he was just constantly in motion. And like you, the only time he was still and cuddly was when I sat on the floor with him and he fell asleep on my lap. I don't normally sit on the floor so the worry of a large, grown up dog trying to do what he did as a puppy wasn't really a factor. And, sometimes we play on the floor and I like his big warm bulk over my legs. The things I really don't want a puppy OR a grown dog to do are biting and jumping. Hugs and cuddles are always welcome.
That's reassuring, thanks all. I will stop worrying about the cuddles and just focus on getting some kind of routine down. If I have to use my lap for that then so be it and it's good, when she's snoring away on my lap, I tend to forgive the earlier destruction and biting so it's good for me too
No, it's absolutely fine. My 27Kg Tatze still snoozes on my legs in the evenings. But, if you want her to settle in her crate you could try putting the crate right next to you, that may help
