Leaving dog for 8 hours???

[JessesGrl]

My fiance and I got a wonderful shih tzu puppy on saturday, she is almost 11 weeks old. I have her on a strict schedual of crate, pee and poo outside, 20 minute "play time" and back in the crate. At night she sleeps in a smaller crate, wakes up around 5-5:30, goes out to pee and poo and then goes back in crate until 7am. We walk her at 10Pm-11pm each night before bed. She is doing really well....very few accidents. When she does pee inside, it is usually on the designated paper area we set up.
I am off from working for 3 1/2 weeks and am starting a new job the 2nd week in June. I will work 8-4, fiance works 9-6 ( sometimes later). She will be home alone from 8:30 until 4:30 every afternoon. I am going to BEG my FMIL to come over around 2pm to let her out so that it will hopefully only be 5.5 hours alone for now. She will be 4 months when I start work.
I am doing really well w/her now being home all day but I am REALLY worried about her well being when I go back to work.
I am torn between crating her, puting her in the bathroom w/ a baby gate or getting a puppy play pen. The play pen and bathroom option w/have a designated pee pee, poo area and a bed which I feel will be more accomodating. once she is old enough and housebroken, fiance and I hope to leave her "free" in the apartment.
Any advice, suggestions, words of encourgment???? Does anyone else work full time and leave dog alone all day???
FI and I both will be working too far from home to come home at lunch so that is not an option.

 

[JessesGrl]

Sorry for the double post- I posted under another category but thought it did not "submit"....sorry!!!!!!

 

[moremoremore]

Oh boy. That''s a tough one....I''m not a dog owner for that very reason. I think it would be very very cruel to leave the puppy locked up ... even in a pen for those hours.

Maybe some dog people will give you some advice...

 

[fire&ice]

Yes, start lengthening the times you take him out. Start crating him longer.

8 hours is max; but doable.. One can do what one can do. Dogs are den animals & really like their "den" - crate. My pups *choose* to sleep in their''s though they have the run of the house. It''s not cruel.

I would advise enlisting the aide of a dog trainer pronto.

 

[Morticia]

Unfortunately, I think that is way too long for a pup to be left alone, and especially, locked up. Can you hire a dog walker to come by? Do you have the puppy wee wee pads? You could train her with those. They are very helpful for little dogs.

Shih Tzu's are little. Unless she is going around destroying things, I wouldn't lock her up in a crate, play pen, or bathroom for that length of time. I'm not trying to come down on you but I think it is kind of mean to lock a puppy up in one of those for that length of time. I do, however, think some crate time training is good for dogs and a lot of them actually like their crate.

I'm in NYC, so when my dog is in town (she goes back and forth between me and my mom's place upstate, mostly upstate though

), she goes out with the dog walkers. Or she goes to doggie daycare, but this is NYC, and there are all kinds of crazy things to accomodate working dog parents.

Good luck. I hope your FMIL will help you out. And I hope you don't take offense to what I said. I've had dogs my whole life, all sizes, so I've just learned that puppies need more people time and time to run around. I think that out of those choices, the play pen sounds the nicest if the FMIL isn't able to help out.

 

[AndyRosse]

We used to use those child gates to close off our kitchen and leave some of those pads in case the dog really had to go. We figured the kitchen was the easiest place to clean up any accidents since we didn''t have hard wood flooring in there. Plus it was big enough that our dog could run around and not feel confined for such a long period of time.

Like MMM said, this is the exact reason why I refuse to get a dog. My FI and I are often gone for over 10 hours a day. Hence the convenience of a kitty

.

Also, you might want to look into litter box training your dog. Since she is small, it might just work!

 

[MissAva]

There are a few things you can do to ease her; NO squeky toys the rile the puppy up and then the dog wants more space to move around. This is a rule even for older dogs, don''t leave their squeky toys inside with them it isnt fair to the dog. Make sure the crate is divided into two sections if large enough one iwth the puppy pads under enough and the other with soft towels and a tshirt one of you has worn recently, this will comfort the dog.Pedigree and Animal Planet have some great info on this sort of thing and links to other really good sites. Also it only took 4-5 weeks before Ava was 100% housebroken and could be left out in the apt. At first I left her crate there for her and about half the time I would come home and shw would be sleeping there. Then I got her a dog bed from things remebered and she took stuff there to sleep or would jump in my laundry basket. However she is not a chewer so that helps. Good Luck!

 

[sjz]

Date: 5/12/2005 10:35:06 AM
Author: fire&ice
Yes, start lengthening the times you take him out. Start crating him longer.

8 hours is max; but doable.. One can do what one can do. Dogs are den animals & really like their ''den'' - crate. My pups *choose* to sleep in their''s though they have the run of the house. It''s not cruel.

I would advise enlisting the aide of a dog trainer pronto.

I agree, crate training is not in the least cruel. Our dog goes in her crate on her own all the time when she''s tired and wants to sleep. She always sleeps in the crate at night, too.

When we have to be gone for more than a couple of hours, I leave Daisy''s crate door open and put a baby gate up so that she''s confined to the kitchen and laundry room. She has access to her food and water, and her indoor potty area (which is a rug in the laundry room). Sometimes I will leave the little TV in the kitchen turned on so that she doesn''t get lonely. Most of the time when we come home, she''s sleeping in her crate.

 

[con17]

I also agree...if your pup does well in the crate now and doesn''t seem to mind being in there for a while at a time then crate training is great for potty training your pup. As far as leaving her for 8 hours..that''s way toooooo long for a puppy. I''m sure your vet will tell you the same thing. You just can''t leave a pup for that long without going to the bathroom and giving her water, etc.

There are a lot of services where someone will come over and walk your dog.

 

[sjz]

Date: 5/12/2005 12:14:48 PM
Author: con17
I also agree...if your pup does well in the crate now and doesn''t seem to mind being in there for a while at a time then crate training is great for potty training your pup. As far as leaving her for 8 hours..that''s way toooooo long for a puppy. I''m sure your vet will tell you the same thing. You just can''t leave a pup for that long without going to the bathroom and giving her water, etc.

There are a lot of services where someone will come over and walk your dog.

True, eight hours is a long time for a puppy. Once the dog is older, 8 hours is definetly doable. Especially if she can be left at home without being confined to the crate and has some where to potty and access to water.

Everything I''ve read and the talks I''ve had with experts pretty much say the same thing. You should have an area of your home or apartment where it''s safe to leave the dog unattended for periods of time, and where it won''t be difficult to clean up a mess if the dog has and accident and goes potty on the floor. If you have to be gone as long as 8 hours and leave your puppy, you should absolutely have someone check on the puppy for you at least once or twice during the time the puppy is to be alone. When you go back to work, I''d suggest the same thing that other''s have suggested...a dog walker or maybe a doggy daycare until the puppy is older.

 

[Bikergirl]

I don''t think crate training is cruel, however I don''t crate train my animals. Nothing wrong with it I just don''t prefer it.

DH and I have a 15 year old dachshund, a 4 year old Jack Russell (we rescued her last summer) and a 2 year old pomeranian we bought from a breeder when she was 11 weeks old.

They make litter boxes for dogs, and there is a special kind of litter that dogs like, too. The litter boxes are deeper than a cat''s and kind of curve in on the top (so the litter doesn''t go flying out if they try to cover their mess).

The dogs now have free run of the house and have a doggie door to the back yard, so the litter box is no longer necessary. However, all three used the litterbox when we lived in a condo (had a front yard, but nothing fenced). It was fairly easy to train them to use the litterbox, and made things much easier for all of us.

I wouldn''t let the puppy have free run of the entire house until it is completely trained. Containing in one room works very well in the meantime.

When my Pom was a puppy, the longest I could expect her to wait was about 5 hours, and she was VERY uncomfortable at the end of that time. It took her until about 1 year to be able to hold for 8 hours. Now she does really well and is OK for extended periods of time (we recently travelled to Chicago and had some issues in the airport trying to come home. She pottied when we first got to the airport, but we didn''t touch down in Dallas until almost 9.5 hours later, and she was fine). Granted, those situations are VERY rare, but I know she''ll be OK.

My suggestion would be a closed area (bathroom or kitchen) with either a litterbox or a potty pad until the puppy is completely trained, then free run of the house.

 

[Kaleigh]

Not a good idead for a puppy. If you can''t get home at lunch to take the dog out can you hire a dog walker to come in and do it for you. An adult dog would also need a break from it''s crate too.

 

[movie zombie]

this is the reason i don''t have a dog. dogs are pack animals and really don''t like being alone....especially puppies. the dog walker/sitter idea seems like a good one. it sounds like you''re really trying to make this work out for both you and the puppy.

peace, movie zombie

 

[Diachi]

Date: 5/12/2005 10:33:38 AM
Author: crankydave
I''m a fan of crate training. My dogs were crated for up to eight hours when young. Both were very easy to housebreak.

While I too use crates for my dogs, I have to say that the concept of "crate training" has been skewed, misused as originally intended and is often abused. Using the crate to develop acceptable house manners such as housebreaking and good behavior is a valuable tool when used correctly. The concept behind it is to keep the dog in a confined space when supervision is not possible along with the necessary instant reinforcement needed to "train" certain behaviors. It should also be a temporary training method and then used in times of need, travel, emergancy, etc. At no time should the dog (and puppies even less) be subjected to over 4-5 hours in a properly-fitted crate (enough room for them to stand and turn around in).
That being said, my dogs do prefer to sleep in their crates and do so (with the door of the crate removed, it is natural for dogs to like a den or safe spot, not to be confined to it for hours on end) on a regular basis-but are gated in the kitchen with pads when left for an extended period of time (which is rare since they get to come to work with me every day!).


If she is doing well in housetraining, I would leave her gated in a kitchen or bathroom with access to puppy pads if you are unable to get her out in the middle of the day. I''d use a crate as her "den," and interchange her toys (not all at once) to keep her stimulated (a kong filled with peanut butter is wonderful, frozen ice cubes of low-sodium broth are great for teething too as long as you don''t mind a bit of a mess!

I could go on and on...now THIS subject I can claim to be an "expert" in-if only I knew so much about diamonds, LOL!!!

 

[Mara]

I highly recommend crate training but not for more than 6 hours really...Eight hours is a long time for a puppy to be penned up with nothing to do but sleep.

We leave Portia baby gated in our family room and kitchen combination, alot of room for her to move around, her toys and pillow are there, she can look out the windows and lay on the couch, water and food bowls, etc. It works great for us, the max we have ever left her was 8 hours...anything more than that and we have my parents babysit for her (which they love to do). 8 hours is also her 'max' for poddee-holding---usually when we come home after 8 hours her bladder is very full and she leaks when she says hello etc.

Anyhow, I would not have left her alone with that much space as a puppy while she was being poddee-trained, she was very unreliable. We also did the playpen gate thing with her, she had a big space with all her necessities and her litter box (back when she was litter box trained, BIG no no)...but what was happening over time is she was missing the litter box, and/or getting right in the corner (and on the carpet) and didn't understand why we got mad at her for going on the rug or floor. To her she was going where she was supposed to, near that box thing. It was very hard to teach her to keep it in the box and she had TONS of accidents around the house that we feel were attributed to 'confusion'.

Once we started training her to go outside in the grass, we have only had ONE accident in the last 8 months with her...AND that was when she was very sick and could not hold it and was just uncontrollably going. Ever since training her outside, it's amazed me how all the confusion and trauma and accidents just stopped.

So I guess I'd be leery of continuing to train her to go inside near her sleeping area etc as it may lead to confusion as she gets older which is what happened with us.

How did we wean her off the litter box and into teaching her to hold her bladder and to go outside? We started taking her out EVERY HOUR to get her used to going outside, trained her to learn 'poddee', then once we worked up to two hours we crate trained her....putting her in there for a few hours at a time (i have a flex work sched so i can come home anytime and work from home in the afternoons)...and then taking her out to go IMMEDIATELY...etc.

So my two cents after all this rambling? Start weaning her off the pee and poo inside the house stuff and into outside either on grass, bark, etc. You have some time to work on this immediately...try to get as much done as possible...so that when you do start work again she will be used to going outside vs inside and then I would try to do the playpen thing with her and see how she responds OR a big crate (not too big but big enough for comfortability but not poddee)...and see what she responds best to.

We learned with our pup it was alot of trial and error.

She just turned a year and now I am experimenting with leaving her in the 'downstairs' area (which is the entryway, formal ilving room (with french doors so she can lay in the sun), dining room, kitchen and family room combo)...and baby gating the stairs to go upstairs...so far we have left her a few times for 1-2 hours with no problems (and no eating of plants and/or destruction of other things)..and yesterday I did it for 4 hours. Today again should be for about 3.5 hours. So far so good, keeping fingers crossed. Don't want to shock her into giving her tons of freedom too fast...but she's such a good girl, it's easy to want to.

You'd be surprised at how fast they learn at the age your pup is at...now is a perfect time to try teaching her what you WANT her to learn...aka to go outside and to learn to start to hold her poddee. I am AMAZED sometimes at Portia's ability to hold her poo. We take her out at night before we go to bed and she does not always go poo. Even though she ate dinner, had a treat, etc a few hours earlier. Sometimes we take her out in the AM and she doesn't go either...but there are times aka on weekends when we sleep in til 10 or 11 and then take her out (she's so good, she just waits and sleeps with us til we get up), and IMMEDIATELY she squats and offloads what seems like a whole day of poo....

...that just shows us how far she has come from the OLD days when she'd just decide to squat on the stairs on her way down, as I ran wailing towards her waving my arms. Don't miss those days!!

Good luck!

Oh one other comment! If you CAN....what about getting a dog walker to come in every day for 30 minutes (usually the timeframe) to give the pup some exercise and let her out to go to the bathroom? Craigslist is a good place to find people who can help, my girlfriend found her walker on there for $10 a visit, so it's $50 a week and $200 a month but it helps keep peace of mind. This way you could do the crate for 2 4 hour stretches and the pup gets out, gets exercise and goes poddee, and then as the pup gets older and can hold it more and is more trustworthy fee in the apartment...they can possibly hold it without the visits. I also think each dog is different in terms of when they have to go and how long they can hold it. P has never had to hold it longer than 8 hours due to my schedule...but I know some dogs who have to hold it for 9 or 10 and are fine with it.

 

[moremoremore]

Sorry F&I, I don't agree. You're going to tell me that leaving a puppy alone locked up in a bathroom all day or in a locked cage for 8 hours during the day in not cruel. Yeah, don't think so. I'm not a dog person and it's been years since I had a dog, but that's just crazy! :0
I have no problem with crate training if you're home at night and are able to take out the dog when he needs it and area able to ease the dog's nerves. But if a puppy is going to be home alone for that long alone locked in a cage with just a quick potty break, it's a no brainer. Don't get a dog. Sorry. No offense Jessesgirl. I wish you luck with the pup...post some pix!

 

[Mara]

It always blows my mind when people say crate training is cruel...it's NOT. It may not be your cup of tea but is is not cruel. Dogs are not like people, of course you wouldn't put a human in a crate for 8 hours, but dogs are different....AND personalities of dogs are different. Some dogs REQUIRE a crate to feel comfortable and safe. Other dogs do not. It's not cut and dry and it's not right to blanket statement one or the other IMO.

Portia sleeps 9/10 of the day when I am gone. When I come home she is always laying on the couch looking out the window. Even when I am home, she sleeps in the office by the window, while I work. When I have crated her in the past, I *know* all she does is sleep. While I personally don't feel comfortable leaving her for longer than 6 hours if I don't have to, and she is fine to be out in the house and on her own in designated areas, not all dogs can accept that level of freedom and be okay with it. Sometimes dogs get destructive when left to their own devices and can hurt themselves or other items in the house, which is where a safe crate comes in VERY handy. Some dogs feel uncomfortable when left out on their own and I know dogs that even if they have the whole run of the house just seek out their crate and hang out in there the whole day.

Each personality and each dog is different...so while crate training up to 8 hours is good for some, not good for others. Dogs are pack animals but they are FINE on their own as well. I think it takes actually having a dog and finding out what the personality is first before saying one thing or the other re: care. My two cents.

 

[moremoremore]

Just to clarify....I believe it *is* cruel to leave an 11 week old puppy in a locked crate for 8 hours a day unattended... even if MIL comes over the give her a quick walk. Hope I didn't just blow your mind

edited: although now I see the doggie will be 4 mo old at that time...i still think it's cruel. Sorry. That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it! And I'm curious as to what's going to happen at night? Back in the crate again?

 

[Mara]

Date: 5/12/2005 3:52:16 PM
Author: moremoremore
Just to clarify....I believe it *is* cruel to leave an 11 week old puppy in a locked crate for 8 hours a day unattended... even if MIL comes over the give her a quick walk. Hope I didn''t just blow your mind

edited: although now I see the doggie will be 4 mo old at that time...i still think it''s cruel. Sorry. That''s my opinion and I''m sticking with it! And I''m curious as to what''s going to happen at night? Back in the crate again?

I forgot...she is in the crate for 8 hours...at night. P goes into the crate at night during the weeks, and usu sleeps for 8 hours. When G comes downstairs in the morning to let her out, she just gazes at him from under sleepy lids from her sleeping position. Hardly clamoring to get out of her gated prison. When he opens the door, she sometimes lays there for a while longer, or stretches sleepily and comes out. Big deal.

Part of it is how you crate train the dog...don''t use it as punishment. At night when she knows it''s time to go to sleep, we get out her nighttime treat, and she barks and races to her crate and jumps in. Again, hardly animal cruelty.

I stick with MY opinion that you need to be a dog owner to understand exactly what is being discussed. Until that happens...

we can agree to disagree.

 

[moremoremore]

Do I need to be a CURRENT dog owner? Or is it ok that I HAVE owed a dog to give my 2 cents and try to wrap my pea brain around it?

 

[Mara]

Now MMM, no one said you had a pea brain, you shouldn't be so self-deprecating.

I don't know how long ago you had a dog...but from what I have heard, I don't know that crates were as popular in the past as they are nowadays, with busier schedules and both people working. I know our old family dog was not crated, but now most dogs I know are crate trained.

So again, until you are actually dealing with the issue...it's hard to knock someone else's choice, in my opinion.

 

[moremoremore]

I'll try...LOL...but I AM a cat lover...so there must be lots wrong with me ...Oops, there I go again.

p.s. actually, no, it's not that hard

...you'd think it'd be harder
p.p.s. I never said crate training was cruel, per se


But back to Jessegirl- I hope that you guys can find a solution...I'm sure it will all work out...at my hubby's workplace, they can actaully bring their dogs to work! Can you imagine...but I guess it wouldn't be a good idea showing up with a dog in your briefcase on the first day, huh?

 

[bluedawg]

My professional opinion (I am a veterinarian) is that crate training is *not* cruel and is the most effective way to housetrain a puppy. I recommend it to all new puppy owners and have trained my own dog in this manner.

It would have been advisable not to get a puppy when the owner must leave for the entire day-- but since it''s already happened, crate training is the best course of action.

As has been mentioned, a crate is typically seen as a den-- dogs will become pretty attached to theirs and often go in for comfort once they are older.

Eight hours is a long time to be alone for any dog, but especially for one with such a tiny bladder. My advice would be to get a dog sitter while you are housetraining this puppy.

Paper training a dog is confusing for many of them-- they will often see the floor as a toilet with or without paper. I wouldn''t advise using paper-training concurrent with crate training.

 

[Blue824]

While I don''t own a dog, I nannied to a family and sometimes I took over the dogs when they were on vacation. The rule of thumb they gave me was that the dog should not be left alone longer than the amount of months it was, until it was a year old...hense when the dog was 3 months old I was there every 3 hours, when the dog was 6 months old, I''d leave it alone for 6 hours. Their puppy was crated for a while, once it was fully trained that was stopped. The few people in my office that have dogs all have walkers come, even for their adult dogs. Don''t know if that month by month helps at all or if anyone else has done that, but it was the nanny family and another of our family friends who have used that as a guideline.

 

[Kaleigh]

I have two Bichons and have invisible fencing. When it''s nice out and I have to leave for a few hours they are very happy to be outside.

 

[aljdewey]

Well, I''ve had the perspective from both sides. I used to think it was HORRIBLY cruel to crate a dog....and now I think it''s horribly cruel NOT to crate a dog.

My first dog wasn''t crate trained, but she was gated into the back entry. That a time in my life when my younger sister was on summer vacation, so she helped in letting the dog out and playing with her mid-day. She did fine and had the run of the house before long.

My second dog....didn''t crate train her either, and it was a HORRIBLE experience. I lived in a place that was open concept where she couldn''t easily be confined, and she felt insecure. She was totally destructive (chewed little holes/foam from the carpet!, etc), frequently had accidents, etc. It was miserable; I was always upset with her and it made for a rough two years at the start. Finally I confined her to a dog carrier for a few weeks with a friend letting her out during the day for progressively longer periods, and that solved the problem.

My third (current) dog....crate trained from the start. I never forced him in....would toss his nyla bone in there and he figured out that I wouldn''t take it from him if he laid down in the crate to chew it. Then I''d shut the door. I would put him in after dinner for an hour or so and walk around/do household chores so he got used to seeing me move around and knowing that I was still there and that he was still safe and OK even though he was in the crate. When he was little, he slept in the crate overnight also....until I could reasonably trust him not to disturb things at night. (Now he sleeps in his bed in my room at night.)

At the time, my landlord/friend was home during the day, so Nicky (my dog) would go out in the morning for a couple of hours, go into crate at about 9:30, come out around 1....run around, and re-crate at 2 until I came home at 6. He came to LOVE his afternoon nap.

Now we bought our house, and Nicky is gated in the dining room and his crate is there, too, opened. EVERY SINGLE NIGHT when we come home, he''s sleeping in the crate and just waking with our arrival. Sometimes, even though he hears us, he doesn''t come out right away. When he gets nervous (thinks we''re going to the car) or whatever, he RUNS into his crate. It''s his security.

I have to say that the crate is far more humane for HIS protection. When I came home one night and his entire face was swollen, I was able to definitively say to the emergency clinic "no, there is absolutely NOTHING he could have gotten into"....turned out he was stung by a bee and had a reaction.

Crating means far less trauma in the relationship between owner/dog; less frustration with the dog, which means happier times and the dog more readily understands what is expected from him; and far safer (so they don''t get into things they shouldn''t), and provides security.

 

[mrssalvo]

I crate trained my lab until she was 2. when she was around 8-10 months old i actually felt sooo guilty leaving her for just a few hours in the crate that i let her loose. Well when we came home 3 hours later our precious had chewed all of the corners off our newly installed baseboards

hubby was not happy

back to the crate she went. now she roams our house freely, sleeps on the couch and our sons bed. i have left her for longer periods and she does fine. sleeps most of time. we also have a fenced yard but she prefers to be where the people are and won't stay out alone very long. she thinks she's a human

i too agree your doggie should be fine but if you can get someone to let it out that would be better. i would just feel soooo guilty leaving my 'baby" locked up for 8 hours

 

[fire&ice]

Date: 5/12/2005 3:37:11 PM
Author: moremoremore
Sorry F&I, I don''t agree. You''re going to tell me that leaving a puppy alone locked up in a bathroom all day or in a locked cage for 8 hours during the day in not cruel. Yeah, don''t think so. I''m not a dog person and it''s been years since I had a dog, but that''s just crazy! :0
I have no problem with crate training if you''re home at night and are able to take out the dog when he needs it and area able to ease the dog''s nerves. But if a puppy is going to be home alone for that long alone locked in a cage with just a quick potty break, it''s a no brainer. Don''t get a dog. Sorry. No offense Jessesgirl. I wish you luck with the pup...post some pix!

In a perfect world, no one would leave their dogs. Having been in dog rescue for years, people do what they can. Some are still mighty fine owners with happy pups.

No, it''s not cruel. I know how you feel as it defies conventional wisdom. Dogs don''t think like people. They don''t view "space" or confinement the same way. They also don''t view solid door & gating the same. There is much debate about how long a pup (4 months starts the maturation process - especially with a small dog - they mature significantly faster than larger dogs) can go without a potty break. Physically (according to my vet & all trainers), a pup at 12 weeks should be able to hold it''s urine for 8 hours. The debate lies in - are they mentally capable? Some are. Some aren''t. Quite frankly, leaving the pup to it''s own accord is truly cruel on two levels. You have to save the pup from itself. Again, defies conventional wisdom - but one example - puppy glutony - a pup will literally eat itself to death if it got out & to a food source. Also, dogs are pack animals. As such, a big open space when left alone is VERY scary. On one level, to the pup, leaving the pup alone is greater cruelty.

Cats are very different than dogs. Cats do not like to be confined.

All that being said, I wouldn''t be comfortable leaving the puppy for more than 4-5 hours for the next couple of months. That''s just my feeling and certainly not the feeling of many trainers. Baby gates are great if the pup will stay in it''s "area". None of mine tried to escape. I did the reverse. I put up baby gates in the areas that I DID NOT want them to have free access to. If possible, the best solution may be to confine the pup to a certain area that is free of potential problems (electrical cords, phone lines, food sources - get on the floor and crawl around thinking everything you see could be a potential puppy disaster). Put the crate in the area as well. Use this "area" ONLY if the pup is barrier proof - i.e. can''t knock the gate down or climb over (yes, some dogs can climb). If you have a houdini, crating is a necessity until the dog learns their boundries. They do that quite quickly. It''s been a while & I can''t remember - but I started leaving Gus out with my Heidi (grown) around 6 months.

If you can swing it, have a pet sitter come by your house. Ours charges $15.00 to feed and love on our cats & when they dog walked - the same price. This doesn''t have to be a forever cost. Another option may be doggie daycare. Yes, you can drop the dog off on your way to work & pick him up afterwards. The dogs have a blast & it''s good socialization. But, do know that the dogs are crated for periods of time.

How many times a day is the pup being feed? At this point, three? This alone may be why you need someone in the middle.

Honestly, good luck. And again, please talk to a trainer sooner rather than later.

 

[fire&ice]

Date: 5/12/2005 4:14:35 PM
Author: moremoremore
I''ll try...LOL...but I AM a cat lover...so there must be lots wrong with me ...Oops, there I go again.

Ahh, that explains it. Cats are from Venus. Dogs are from Mars.

Entirely different story. Though, we did have a cat who prefered to be in a "cage". He had an injury that forced us to confine him for a week. He LOVED that cage. We left it up for him. I think he thought it was his own carribean island.

That said, my pup did come to my work place & the pup even went to hubbies. Though, not a good idea with starting a new job.

 

[JessesGrl]

Here she is...I am so upset I feel like I am going to puke...I wish the breeder would have said something about leaving her...I have never owned a puppy before and neither has my FI. I just e-mailed the breeder to see what he says, reading the posts is very contradictory...some make me feel better, some a lot worse. I am an animal lover and I do not want to be selfish and keep her b/c WE will be happier, I rather the pup be happy. I too have always had cats but FI is allergic and we really wanted a pet..I love her after a few days...god this is a shi*tty circumstance!!!!! I am afraid the breeder us going to tell me that it''s cruel but not want to give us our money back. We are willing to take a loss but not 650 dollars, we are a young couple just starting out and that is not a feasible loss to us. I am sick over this... look at her pic..she is the sweetest thing!!! Thanks for everyones responses