Hi everyone me and my partner are very excited and should be getting our Labrador puppy in the next few moths and we are very excited! We have been researching for a while now the biggest hurdle seemed to be the long hours we both work but with the help of a dog sitter and family and friends hope to overcome this. Our plan is to have the first to weeks off when the puppy is first brought home at 9 weeks old. Following that the schedule will be both leave for work around 8-30 dog sitter to come in around 12-30 for at least half an hour and we return from work about 6. Between the dog sitter and us coming and going to work family and friends will try to pop in as much as possible for toilet duties and a play. Whilst we have thought of things very thoroughly i realize this is not ideal for a young puppy but at the same time with effort and planning very doable. ( we really want peoples advice and experience but please do not turn this into you cant have dog if you work debate millions of people work and own happy dogs with the correct measures that are not either rich, retired or too lazy to get a job) We want to crate train our puppy but whilst there should be someone popping round every few hours it is possible some days between the dog sitter the puppy maybe alone for 4-5 hours. I am guessing a 10 week old puppy will not hold its bladder for this amount of time so we need another plan. So we are thinking a crate with a bed and then a pen attached to it with water and wee pads. Interested in if anyone has used this set up before and also how this relates to long term toilet training? as soon as we bring him home want to try and get puppy to pee and poo in one spot in the garden if possible! so this would just be when no one is home. look forward to responses thanks in advance Adam
Just briefly (oh a warm welcome by the way) I have a friend who worked and had to leave her pup for a time, and she used some turf rather than puppy pads. You might find the pup will always look for the pads, whereas turf is more natural. She put the turf in a cat litter tray.
Many thanks for the reply That was indeed one of my concerns that he/she will become used to wee pads. Although I'm going to try and get the puppy to go to the toilet at the bottom of the garden where it's mostly waste soil so maybe worth filling a tray with soil and grass? Having said that I'm sure it would just end up a mess all over our kitchen
When I got my first dog people didn't really use crates and so we left him in our laundry. At first we covered all of it in newspaper. His bed and bowls were on one side. He'd pee and poop in the half opposite to where his food and bed were. We then removed the newspaper on the half he didn't pee on. Gradually we reduced the area of newspaper to one sheet size and he just kept going to the toilet on the remaining newspaper. When his bladder was robust enough to last a few hours we removed the newspaper. During this time we did all the normal toilet training when we were home. I wouldn't say that this approach had any negative effects on him peeing or pooping in the house. I don't remember it ever being a problem. We had very few accidents.
Ha yea I thought they might! Thanks for everyone sharing their opinions. I was worried if he used puppy pads in his pen it would be hard to get him to go outdoors! So good to hear some postive responses. Good point about ripping up puppy pads though. Guess it's just pot luck on the dogs personality.
Hi and welcome . Working and having a dog is doable. Quite a few of us on here work. I only leave Harley for a max of 4 hours at a time (she is 2 years old), but that is personal choice. I have a dog walker on the 2 days I work 6 hours - he comes in around the 3 hour mark. The other days I leave her for 2-4 hours in the morning, pop home for lunch, then leave her for 1-3 hours max. I'm lucky as I only work 25 hours a week and can on occasions take her to work, and I work locally. I also use daycare with my dog walker if I'm in meetings and can't get home state lunchtime. I would really encourage you to have someone go in at least every 2 hours to start with as the pup may get distressed. I increased the time I left her over a period of 8 weeks. Bear in mind that if they get bored they might chew things or get distressed! I used to leave her with 2 Frozen kongs each time I went to work to keep her occupied. I also had her on webcam so I could check she was ok. I used a crate and had puppy pads in one end with her bowl at the other end. As she got bigger and was able to hold her bladder we removed the pads. We were lucky that she was housetrained within a few weeks and rarely needed the pads. At 2 years old now she will often sleep for 8-12 hours at night without needing the toilet. I really recommend the happy puppy book if you haven't already got it. It gives a really good insight on what yo expect. Good luck and look forward to hearing about your new pup when you get him/her.
We both work and brought up a puppy. It is doable. There will always be someone who will give their opinion on just about anything and everything about your dog and what you do with him. Luckily I'm a teacher and goy our puppy at the beginning of the holidays then when I went back to work we arranged a dog walker to pick him up in the morning and look after him and drop him off late afternoon. He still goes with the dog walker now even at three years old. He's got two families but that in no way effects his loyalty to us.
I really take my hat off to anyone who brings up a puppy. To bring one up in full-tine work must need great planning and I have nothing but admiration for anyone who embarks on this. I wish you lots of luck with your new pup. I have no advice - we have only had adult dogs - Coco is the nearest to a pup being an untrained 19 month old now. I have all the fun of the training, but he is OK to leave in the house - I work afternoons.
I work and have a dog, and I worked much longer hours in the office when he was tiny than I work now - I've changed my work so my dog isn't on his own too much. I ended up doing this because care options that I'd banked on when I got him didn't end up working out for me and my dog. I think whether you work or not is completely irrelevant - what matters, I think, is what resources you are able to access in order to meet the needs of your puppy (and later dog). Toilet training isn't a problem. I left my puppy in a pen with newspapers at one end, and I worked hard on toilet training when I was at home. I didn't have any problems, and to be honest I think that so many new puppies owners report that small puppies end up having accidents in their crates because the human hasn't been fast enough to take them out, a pen has some advantages. In terms of your plans, you maybe want to consider daycare (a puppy creche - formal or informal, not free running daycare of course) which is likely to be easier on such a tiny puppy and spend longer building up the total time he is alone. I think a target of 4 - 5 hours for an adult dog is reasonable - but that's 4 to 5 hours in a day, not 8 to 10 hours with a walk in the middle.
Sounds like the crate and pen together sound a good option and glad it hasn't had a negative effect for anyone when it comes to toilet training. Whilst we are out there will be friends and family visiting in addition to the dog sitter- walker so the puppy should have plenty of Company etc. Hopefully once the dog is old enough and fully trained she won't need the crate anymore and can have the kitchen and hall to herself! I appreciate been at home all day for a dog is better and trust me o would much prefer to be at home all day but that's life I guess
I never had any problems toilet training any of my dogs 2 were kitchen trained and one was crate trained. It was the loneliness I worried about. I used a local dog walker to come in and play with Rory when he was tiny, she also fed him. I only work 5 hours a day an live close to work so he is hardly ever left for long. Most people work full time so there are lots of services out there. We've noticed that my dogs sleep most of the time when I'm not there and seem very content relaxed dogs.
