I need some advice... I wonder if anyone would give me some guidance as to how long is reasonable to leave a 6 month old lab puppy? I haven't even got him yet, but I am planning ahead... for the first 6 months he will be looked after all day by various members of the family but from 6 months old, we will need to leave him on his own for several hours on one day a week. I guess it's a question of leaving him at gradually increasing lengths of time so he gets used to it but I could really do with some advice on this.
Re: How long to leave a 6 month old lab? Hi Paul, When I have to go out I try never to leave Riley for more than 4 hours without someone coming in. Ideally when he was younger I had a neighbour popping in after 2-3 hours for a quick loo break and a romp in the garden and if it was going to be 4 or more I arranged for someone to give him a walk. Building up gradually is a good plan I think and if I was doing it again I think I'd also give Riley more down time in a separate room even if I was in the house so he's a little less attention seeking. I'm sure others will share what's worked for them but this is what we do
Re: How long to leave a 6 month old lab? Hi Paul, I have a 5 month old lab. He's our first dog but I can give you my experience so far. From the very beginning he was left in his crate for the 45 mins it takes me to do the school run, twice a day - no problems there. Then after a month he was left for a 1/12 hour school run twice a week as my youngest started pre-school and the round trip was bigger, again no problems, he just seems to sleep. Then over the last month we have left him in the evening a couple of times to go out for a family meal, the longest of these has been 3 hours. He is always left in his crate. I think the fact it was dark helped him be settled. Last week I had to leave him for 3 hours in the day - first time, no problems, it would seem we have built up to this ok. I wouldn't care to leave him for much longer than that at this point because he is left in his crate and he definitely toilets every 3 hours or so in the day. He has NEVER soiled his crate - not once. I think by 6 months 4 hours would be a definite possibility but I wouldn't fancy leaving him longer than that. One thing I have found to be incredibly useful is to teach Digby to wee on command. It means before I put him in his crate I can take him out, I then know he has been to the toilet at the last possible moment before being left. Sounds like you are really putting some thought into this pup as you haven't even got him / her yet. I was a bit obsessed to be honest before our pup arrived. This website was the best thing I found - great resources and lots of amazing advice. It has gone incredibly smoothly for us, some of this I'm sure down to my lovely natured pup and his fantastic breeder, however, I'd like to think some of it down to careful planning!!
Re: How long to leave a 6 month old lab? Thanks for your comments... I think you are right, I've not even got my puppy yet and I'm already obsessing about what will happen when he's 6 months old! The key is to take things in stages and build up gradually. None of us want to leave our dogs for longer than we have to, but there are bound to be situations when we have to pop out and leave them for a while. Thanks your help and I'll try to calm down a bit!!!
Re: How long to leave a 6 month old lab? I know every dog is different, and every owner, and I think we have had a discussion elsewhere about how much we exercise our dogs, and how long we leave them alone. Mine is pretty chilled in the house, and now she is almost 3 (gosh....where has the time gone!) she seems happy on her own whilst kids are at school and me at work (8.15 til 3.45) 3 or 4 days a week. Probably from age 6 months she was easily doing this in her crate - we dropped the lunchtime visits after 6 weeks or so as she never needed to pee when home at lunch. I'm sure from around a year we had also weaned her off the whole crating business too. It was a slow steady process though, and we had contingency plans if it didn't seem to be working. Its very good to be putting some thought into it! Don't worry though jacqui (&Lilly)
Re: How long to leave a 6 month old lab? Hi Paul, I've fretted about this too. My two were in a day creche racing about with other dogs most days all day until the youngest was about 8 months old. A combination of the cost, and one of the dogs seeming to get very anxious on creche mornings, led to me taking them out. so from 8 months in brodick's case and fifteen months in Cuillins case they had to learn to be home alone. I have to say i worried about it a lot more than they seem to! Five days out of seven they spend three-four hours in their crates a day, 2 days a week the do 3.5 hours in the morning, get an hour an a half visit from me, then three hours in the afternoon. as the others have said I just built up to this starting them at about 2 hours as they had both been left that long before anyway, and built on. they are very happy, relaxed, and don't seem bothered by this at all. In fact the other night I left them out of their crates behind a baby gate while I nipped to the shops for half an hour as an experiment to see how they would go uncrated, and when I got back I found two little faces peering out of crates....they had gone in of their own accord, think they like the security. I am about to buy large strong indoor pen that will fit nicely round the walls of the room they are in so I can leave their crate doors open so they can nip in and out if they want, but Brodick can't chew the walls to bits, as he is a bit chewy still. I dont fret about it anymore, they are happy as larry. I think as long as you establish a routine and they know what it is they just adapt and chill....
Re: How long to leave a 6 month old lab? [quote author=debsie link=topic=1186.msg7400#msg7400 date=1360577427] I think as long as you establish a routine and they know what it is they just adapt and chill.... [/quote] I think this is the key. Start slowly and build up a routine, and you should be fine. At present my other half is abroad on a three-month contract and I am at work full-time, so our 11-month old Poppy is Home Alone all day. I have someone come in at lunchtime and take her out for a short walk, and my neighbour picks her up and walks her with her own dog at around three. I have a pen, but dont even use it for her any more (she only uses it now for eating bones etc when it is too cold/wet outside). The only time it all goes wrong and The Cushion Monster strikes (see my thread of the same name ) is when I am unexpectedly late, or my neighbour can't walk her, or whatever. Work up to it gradually, and things should go well. I think it is perfectly ok to leave a 6-month old pup for three to four hours, but wouldnt like to extend it much past that (though I know people who do).
