Hi My partner and I have a yellow lab puppy called molly, she's 9 weeks old and we've had her for just over a week now. For the first 5 days we were off work so we could socialize with her and get her used to spending some time on her own (as we both work full time). Since we are both now back at work we have a puppy sitter who comes in to play with her and give her a toilet break around midday for an hour or so. Today my partner had a phone call from a neighbour to say that she had been barking for a few hours this morning , thankfully she wasn't annoyed but just thought we should know. We've done some crate training with her and when we're around she's happy to wander into her cage and play with her toys. When we get back from work we spend time playing with her in the garden and in the house and she seems really happy! I feel like we've made a lot of progress with her sleeping during the night as she's now sleeping for 7 hours whereas for the first few nights she was crying for hours! Does anyone have any advice on what we should do? Is she barking because its only the 3rd day that she's been left while we're at work and is still getting used to it and will calm down in a few more days/weeks? or do we need to do more training? I've heard of infrared devices you can get to stop her barking but I don't really want to buy something that might not work and also I'd rather train her to stop barking than look for a quick fix that may not work in the long term. I'd really appreciate any thoughts or comments Thanks x
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work Expecting a small puppy of 9 weeks to be alone all day with just a visit from a puppy walker at midday and not to bark is simply unrealistic. You need to get your puppy used to being alone in very small increments - first leave her in her crate alone for 5 minutes, then the next day for 10 minutes, the next for 15, and work up slowly until you can leave her alone for an hour or so. I'm sorry, this is probably not the advice you wanted, but you are going to have to change the way you are looking after your pup for the next couple of months. I would advise at least having your puppy walker come in twice, if not three times during the day. At this age your puppy needs lots of human contact, not to be left alone for hours, otherwise her training and socialization will suffer tremendously. You will not be able to train her not to bark if you are not there, either. Sorry, that all sounds a bit abrupt, but honestly you cannot leave a tiny puppy alone all day and expect things to go well. I meant also to say - welcome to the forum!!
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work My spaniel puppy is 13 weeks and I wouldn't expect him to go for longer than 1.5 - 2 hours without someone taking him out for a pee and a play. If I'm not able to work from home he goes to a friend who keeps him with his lab and terrier either in the house or in a kennel and they all get on well. He's only crated if there's no-one around to keep an eye on him otherwise he has the run of the kitchen and I wouldn't crate him for longer than 2 hours total for the day. My pup barks when I take my lab outside without him for some training or a walk but it only lasts a few minutes. I agree with Karen your puppy needs more company and probably more freedom. You can get puppy pens so that she's not crated for long periods but she (and the house!) are safe. It's difficult (and expensive) to get all day cover before pups have had all their jabs but your pup really is still very little and needs company. Do you have any family or friends nearby who could stop in and play with her? Good luck !
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work Have to agree with the last two posters, I always think people who do manage to work full time with dogs are extremely lucky to have dogs who will cooperate. We worked opposing shifts for years him days me nights so we could have dogs. Now I just work PT evenings and he does days poorer in pocket but the dogs are priority.
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work Our pups were 16 weeks before I went back to work as my sons were at home the first two weeks and I had 6 weeks off as I work in a school. We have staggered start and finish times and a rota for lunchtimes. They have always been v good in their crate (which is now a giant one), I think because they have each other to snuggle up to. They always sleep all morning, and they have today even though I'm at home all day, (still fast asleep now!). Their routine seems to match ours so we have been v lucky. We have a dog walker who my friend uses and doggy day care locally which we will use a couple days a week when they are a bit bigger/older . We are lucky in that I get school holidays, one if my sons works in a college and gets a month more than me in the summer and my other son can take his Hols when he wants and avoids school holidays so they have someone at home for about 5 months out of 12. You say your neighbour rang your OH, about the barking, so does that mean they are at home during the day? If you get on well could they pop round and spend some time with her so you could break the day up more, leaving her for shorter periods of time? Or any family close by? It's worth looking out for any neighbours who already have a dog and don't work to see if they can help. Other than that I think you need the puppy sitter to come more than once a day. Do you exercise her before work? Ours have an early morning walk (6am) or a good run in the garden ( as there are two of them they tire themselves out chasing round). Hope you manage to sort something so she isn't getting distressed while you're out. Lou x
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work Karen- Yes, we will have a re-think and try to get the puppy sitter in twice a day instead. With regards to getting her used to being alone, that's what we spent the first 5 days doing when we were off work, I've read Pippa's handbook so we knew how were were going to train her. We're going to reinforce the training this weekend and hopefully she'll get used to being alone a bit more but still spend plenty of time socializing with her. Hopefully over the next few months her barking will die down as she gets used to us being at work. We can't wait until she's had her 2nd jab as we live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales NP and love going for long weekend walks and are excited to take her with us Bbrown- As I've said to karen i think we'll ask the puppy sitter to come twice a day instead. Molly isn't crated when we're out, she has access to the kitchen and her cage so has plenty of room to play with her toys. We will ask some of our family to see if they can pop in aswell so she gets some more socialization while she's so young. Looby Lou- Our neighbor is a self employed beautician so she's in and out quite a lot, I'm going to go round and speak to her tonight so I may ask if she can help a little. As she's so little she gets tired quickly but we have a 30min play in the garden before breakfast and then a 10 min toilet break before we leave for work. Yes- i think from everyones comments we have underestimated the amount of time that the puppysitter should be coming round, I'll re-arrange with her this weekend The last thing we want is to make things worse and end up going backwards with the training and making her unsettled! Thank you all for your advice
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work First off, I am on my 2nd lab puppy and both were not "barkers". Maybe I'm just lucky, maybe its good breeding (I know they came from excellent breeders and I paid for it!), but how much that has to do with barking, I dont know. I do think working fulltime and having your puppy only be looked in on once by a puppy sitter is not enough. I work part-time and I am coming home once at lunch and my puppy has been fine. She is not a barker though. She is not in her crate the whole time, she is confined to a tiled entryway that is about 12'x5'. She has been OK with just going to the bathroom at around 11:30ish. Then I am home at 2:45ish for the day. So her schedule is that she goes into her area at 8:15am, my husband leaves for work. I come home around 11:30, let her out, play, feed her lunch, I leave again at 12:15 and I come home at 2:45. Twice a week my husband works at home and she will usually stay in her area then, but he takes her out more frequently, but he almost always says she sleeps from about 8:30 - 11am.
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work Hello, welcome to the forum. Lots of people work full time and bring up healthy, happy, well adjusted Labradors. You probably do need to put in place more cover than you have, but luckily these days there are so many options to do so, I hope you have no problems. Just one comment, I might have misunderstood but you talk about socialisation as though your pup meeting people she already know helps. Socialisation is about her seeing new things - new people, trains, lorries, high streets etc. from the safety of you arms before jabs. Just thought I'd mention it in case.... I work full time, this is what I did with my pup: I went into mass production of frozen kongs, and at first left the house for a minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes… When Charlie was 9.5 weeks, I felt comfortable leaving him for up to 1.5 hours then moved to 2 hours. I had a puppy care service that called in and spent at hour with him, then left him alone for another 2 hours. This gave me a 5 hour window in which to be away from the house. Puppy service would take him out to the garden, play with him, refresh water, newspaper and leave him with more stuffed kongs. By the time Charlie was 5 months, I felt comfortable with him spending 7 hours alone 2 days a week. This is the maximum I think is reasonable for a pup under a year old. 3 hours alone, 1 hour puppy care, 3 hours alone. Other days I worked to keep the time alone to the 5 hour window (as above) or used all day puppy daycare or the dog walker would take him for the whole day. Just a word on puppy daycare - a creche is the thing to look for. Free running outside day care centres will take young puppies, and I investigated three of these. Only one was set up to handle young puppies properly alongside adult dogs (with separate pens and sleep spaces). The others thought allowing a young pup to run free with the adults all day was fine. I do not. Only one day, in the whole of the first year, my arrangements failed and I found myself legging it home between work meetings, and then back to work hoping no-one missed me. It goes without saying that you need to pack the time when puppy isn’t alone with attention and activities. I honestly think that people can be at home with a dog 24/7 and fail to provide them with activities, and that’s worse than alone time and lots of attention otherwise. Charlie got used to a very mixed care picture of puppy service, dog walkers, daycare and so on. More than a few times, when I had a nightmare work week, I paid for my Dad to travel down from North Yorkshire and stay with us. I do not think this did Charlie any harm whatsoever. In fact, I think it was good for him. He was often out and about with new people in new places, and his life was one long socialisation experience, with lots of changes and new experiences.
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work I also work full-time, as does my husband. A couple months back, I posted here concerned about excessive crating. I agree with a couple of the others ... it's probably best to give her more than one break during the day. Can you or your husband come home at any point during the day in addition to the dog walker? We also give Rue things to do in her crate to keep her occupied: kongs, bones, new toys, hiding treats in her crate, etc. And wearing her out in the morning before you leave is also a good idea. We do a nice, long walk and a good playing session before I leave.
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work Hi and welcome I work 30 hours per week but am on flexi so I work around Harley who is 14 months old. I have a dog walker twice a week as I go the chiropractor and struggle to walk on these days. All the other days I come home for lunch. When we got Harley I had a week off, then worked reduced hours for the next 2 weeks, slowly upping the time she was alone. Harley was crated whilst I was at work until she was 6/7 months old. Im lucky that my daughter comes home from uni during the holidays so helps us out then. During this time I work extra hours so I can have more TOIL when she goes back to uni. I'm sure you will find out what works best for you over the next few weeks. Good luck and let us know how you get on
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work [quote author=skchapman1 link=topic=8447.msg119448#msg119448 date=1414153623] Karen- Yes, we will have a re-think and try to get the puppy sitter in twice a day instead. With regards to getting her used to being alone, that's what we spent the first 5 days doing when we were off work, I've read Pippa's handbook so we knew how were were going to train her. We're going to reinforce the training this weekend and hopefully she'll get used to being alone a bit more but still spend plenty of time socializing with her. Hopefully over the next few months her barking will die down as she gets used to us being at work. We can't wait until she's had her 2nd jab as we live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales NP and love going for long weekend walks and are excited to take her with us Bbrown- As I've said to karen i think we'll ask the puppy sitter to come twice a day instead. Molly isn't crated when we're out, she has access to the kitchen and her cage so has plenty of room to play with her toys. We will ask some of our family to see if they can pop in aswell so she gets some more socialization while she's so young. Looby Lou- Our neighbor is a self employed beautician so she's in and out quite a lot, I'm going to go round and speak to her tonight so I may ask if she can help a little. As she's so little she gets tired quickly but we have a 30min play in the garden before breakfast and then a 10 min toilet break before we leave for work. Yes- i think from everyones comments we have underestimated the amount of time that the puppysitter should be coming round, I'll re-arrange with her this weekend The last thing we want is to make things worse and end up going backwards with the training and making her unsettled! Thank you all for your advice [/quote] I'm sure that with your puppy walker coming in more often, and with the help of friends and neighbours you can manage to meet your puppy's needs. Good luck, and let us know if you need any more suggestions!!!
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work I was going to suggest what Julie has about puppy daycare. My sister has just put her dog in one. It might help even if it's only a couple of days a week. Your pup will definitely get lots of socialisation at a puppy crèche. There are people on the forum who use them. If you could find one Molly could perhaps go there twice a week then the dog sitter could come in a couple of times on the other days.
Re: Puppy barking when we're at work Could you leave a radio on as well just so there is some background noise.
