Hello All, I am wondering what the opinions are of everyone on how old your pup should be before you leave him/her alone, given that he/she has plenty of water, food, and the ability to go potty? We have left our Bailey home alone for a couple of hours without incident, but I would like to not have to bring her to work if it is extremely hot or cold outside. Any thoughts on the topic would be greatly appreciated and thanks ahead of time
What period of time do you have in mind? Is the pup used to being left for short periods already? It's something you need to build up to gradually. What would your pup be left in? A crate, pen, or a room? Not a crate I'm guessing, since you include the ability to pee and poo.
Hi Rachael. We have left her for short periods already (1 to 2 hours). Today we are leaving her at home as it is going to be a hot day. We left the house at 7:30 AM and will go back to pick her up at 11:00 or so. She barks a bit right after she realizes we are gone, but I assume she stops soon after. Each time we have left her for short periods of time, she is lying on the carpeted landing napping. We have her blocked off in our mud room, which is a fairly good size. She has two pillows, her bed, toys to play with, and water. We feed her before we leave and she poops before we leave as well. I hope we have and are doing everything right so far?
You might try leaving her with a stuffed Kong too - there's a whole thread on it somewhere! When I leave Mole I leave him with a stuffed frozen Kong (filled with wet dog food then frozen) and it keeps him busy and he the alerts til I get back. Haven't left him longer than 3 hrs though. Sam and Mole
All sounds fine But I agree with Sam that it's best to leave a filled Kong or some other food treat when you go, so something nice always happens when you leave. That might reduce the barking when you go. Since she's got plenty of room to move about and can pee etc if she needs to you could gradually build up to about 4 hours, I would say. Mix it up with much shorter periods too (like 10 mins to under an hour), using the same departure routine with the Kong. That way, when you go she knows it's not necessarily for a long time.
Peanut butter is fine, but it's pretty high in energy. Try a coating of peanut butter on the inside then filling the Kong with kibble. Mashed banana or mashed pumpkin or potato (can mix with kibble if you want) are also good. You can freeze them too (but don't do that till your pup is well used to having unfrozen ones which are easier to eat). You can put different layers of things into a Kong too.
You can also soak the kibble in warm water then fill up the Kong and put a smear of peanut butter on the top. When mine was about 16 weeks I started filling with wet puppy food and freezing. I just factored in the amounts in the kings and subtracted from his daily rations. We still use them when we go out (frozen) and so far (7.5mo) he has not chewed a single piece of furniture in the kitchen and I put that down to the Kongs as my last lab literally destroyed the house if we went out!! Sam and Mole
Oddly enough, my last Lab destroyed all my furniture as well Going to fill and freeze the Kongs tonight and thanks again for the tip!!
Hi there we both work full time and Albie was left alone between 8 and 6 in his pen when he was 13 weeks old. The dog sitter came in twice a day to let him run around and have a play! This was something we thought long and hard about before getting a puppy. Lots of people say you shouldn't have a dog if your not at home all the time but unfortunately we have to work for a living and love our dog to bits! We have filled Albie whilst we are out at work he seems fine although the excitement when we get home he struggles to contain
