We have recently bought an 8 week old puppy home. She is a Labrador cross Doberdor and is beautiful!! She has coped very well being at the house and has not cried for her mum or other siblings, she settles at night in a pen in her bed. She does like to follow you around and if you are making a cup of tea or cooking dinner she will jump up your legs and whimper until you give her attention, this is slowly getting better since training her not to. me and my partner work full time, he goes to work at 5am, I don't leave until 8:30am, he is back at 3/4pm and I am back at 5:30pm. We have arranged for a neighbour to go round each hour or so to check on her and make sure all is okay. Today is the first day we have both gone to work and the neighbour has said when she went round an hour after I left she was pacing up and down, crying and had bit a hole in the wall (not bothered as such about that) I am just really worried about how to is coping and wanting some tips on what we can do to help her settle when were not there? We have her locked in our relatively big kitchen, there is a crate there for her to be settled in to feel safe, a baby gate so she can see through to the living room and big patio doors to be nosey outside. I left lots of toys for her, ones with treats in and also my dressing gown which she sleeps with but she still hasn't seemed to have settled. Is there anything else I can do or can someone reassure me she will get used to it? I am so worried and upset for her and just want reassuring it will get better and hopefully some advice!! Thank you in advance.
Welcome to you from Mags, Tatze and Mollie Tatze is my pet dog, a black Lab and she's three years old. Tatze means 'paw' in German. Mollie is my fourth Guide Dog puppy, a black Lab and she's nineteen weeks old. Here is the best advice for you - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/combining-a-labrador-puppy-with-full-time-work/
Hey. Sounds like you are doing a great job as pet parent so far. Good that you leave later than your husband and that he is also back earlier than you are. First you need to train it so that it learns that it can chill in the crate even when you are not leaving the house and that the crate is a safe space. The toys are a great idea. Then, do not make a fuss when leaving the house. There are certain things that our fury babies learn to associate with separation. They learn fast and can tell when you are getting ready and pick up the keys to leave. Once you dissociate departure from these things it will learn to calm down. Of cause it is a great idea for someone to check on it once in a while ensuring that it has food and drink and anything else necessary when you are not around. All the best.
Hi Michelle, welcome to the forum. He is still very little to be left on his own without someone there for company. It's going to be much more difficult to housetrain if you aren't there to take your puppy out frequently. I would second the suggestion to crate train properly and to ensure your puppy is secure in the crate in between visits from your neighbour. It's not ideal though. An option of a small playpen with a bed and puppy pads MIGHT be an option like Boogie does. Pups need company and training though and even with your neighbour coming in you might have a challenge. What are you training? How are you doing it? Does your neighbour know what and how? Are you sure they are going to visit that often? You have lots of difficulties to overcome here.
Your neighbour is very kind to check on your puppy at hourly intervals. It might be easier for her if she has the puppy with her, in her home. And nicer for your puppy. But I appreciate that is a big 'ask'. I hope you can find the time to look at the article linked above and below. There are suggestions and ideas there that may help you. for more information on this topicThe Forum Recommends Raising a puppy when you work Many people, especially here in the UK, feel that puppies should not be left alone for very long at all in the first few weeks, and one option that some working couples use is to take it in turns to take some of their annual holiday leave so that the puppy is not left alone for long periods right at the beginning. Another alternative is to get a combination of neighbours and family members to look after the puppy on different days. It's a good idea to cobble together some kind of solution like this rather than just hope the puppy will settle if left alone. Some puppies do, but others get very distressed and start exhibiting behavioural problems such as becoming excessively noisy or destructive. Obviously, puppy-sitting is better planned in advance, but better late than never. Crate training is not really going to work in your situation as it would need to be done when you are at home in the evenings- time you are going to want to spend interacting with your puppy. Even if your neighbour can be relied upon to let the puppy out at hourly intervals, or less if the puppy needs it, shutting the puppy up in the crate for 90% of the working day would be inappropriate and unkind. A large puppy pen with puppy pads or some kind of litter tray system is better in your situation.
Ours started in a puppy playpen with food ball and that was the third day she was with us. Somewhere I read start as you expect to go on. I checked her the first day let her out put her back but on the second day it was clear she was just fine on her own and didnt worry coming home at lunch after that. They will settle and sleep espeically if you give them a food toy and their own chew toys to entertain til they sleep.
