puppy walker how much and how often?

Raksha

Milford_Cubicle wrote: »

Can you speak to the breeder and ask if she/he is willing to start toilet training etc?
We're bringing our pure breed Lab home on the 17th. She'll be 7 weeks old (we're bringing her home a week early because she's very advanced and quite frankly, huge!) and already aged 5 weeks she knows that she's supposed to only pee on newspaper in the house (although she will on occasion just pee where she's sitting :rotfl: ), she's sitting on command and 'giving paw' on command as well. She'll be starting 'outdoor' training before she comes home with us, so the breeder has already laid a lot of the foundations which is going to make our lives a lot easier.

I'm sorry but your breeder has not been laying good foundations at all. Your puppy should already be getting used to not peeing indoors at all, especially not on a substrate they won't be using outside. If a puppy has to go indoors, far better that they use the same substrate as they will be outside - usually paving or grass, as the fewer things that change, the easier it is for the pup to think 'grass beneath my feet means I can pee' - when they get home to you, and you present them with grass beneath their feet AND a scarey open blue (hopefully) sky the pup will struggle to make the connection between their situation and what is required of them.

OP - puppies are like babies, they sleep for long periods and play for short ones to start with, and sleep less and play more each day. I've never found the having somebody to pop in way of doing things very succesful, as the pup normally stresses itself out when left alone, and falls asleep just in time for the dog sitter to arrive and wake it up again....... Insurance etc. is necessary - and will this person only be dealing with your pup, or will they be walking other dogs in between and possibly bringing infections in with them?

BridgetJones_2

Couldn't a relative or friend have the puppy in the day?

We had our dog from 8 weeks and I couldn't imagine leaving him on his own to be honest - he wouldn't even be left in a room on his own unless he was in his puppy pen. On the days when we both had to be in the office my mum worked from my house. She kept up the toilet training, socialising etc and he's a smashing happy dog.

moomin5

Would the breeder perhaps keep him a few weeks longer until you are on holiday?

orlao

pboae wrote: »

If you are determined to get this pup then look at doggy day care or professional dog sitters who will have your pup in their home with them on a day rate basis. It'll cost a fair whack, but at least the pup will get a good start. Although most dog sitters won't do puppy sitting for very young pups because it's such hard work, and specialised work too. Training your own pup is hard enough, but training someone else's in exactly the same way as they do, is ten times harder.

The dog walkers I use do day care and "home from home" kennelling. Day care is around £20 a day so not cheap and my concern would be that your pup hasn't had it's jabs yet so really shouldn't be around other dogs yet.

I think your best option (as other people have said) is to have someone visit while you are out but be very careful that they will do things as you will so the pup isn't confused.

Milford_Cubicle

Raksha wrote: »

I'm sorry but your breeder has not been laying good foundations at all. Your puppy should already be getting used to not peeing indoors at all, especially not on a substrate they won't be using outside. If a puppy has to go indoors, far better that they use the same substrate as they will be outside - usually paving or grass, as the fewer things that change, the easier it is for the pup to think 'grass beneath my feet means I can pee' - when they get home to you, and you present them with grass beneath their feet AND a scarey open blue (hopefully) sky the pup will struggle to make the connection between their situation and what is required of them.

It's been a slow process (as you might expect with puppies...), the newspaper is now next to the back door and the door opened (when it's not absolutely peeing it down, it seems to have done nothing but rain here). The newspaper will then be put outside, they'll then only have it outside and not inside. Then the newspaper will be taken away completely. Obviously they'll be praised lots when they pee/poo where they're supposed to and be ignored when they pee/poo in the wrong place. I don't see how the breeder isn't doing something good by doing this - at least she's making an effort to toilet train the puppies, something quite a few breeders wouldn't bother to do. Plus, it's only the beginnings - it's up to us to complete the training and I imagine there will be quite a few accidents before she's doing what she's supposed to, 100% of the time. Also - I don't understand your statement about them peeing on grass/paving indoors? Do I need to turf the kitchen?

Apologies OP for taking this a little off topic but I felt the need to respond to the post by Raksha.

Echoing what others have said, do you have any family or friends who you'd trust to pop in and play with the puppy/let it out etc?
It sounds as if you're out of the house for four hours (8.30 - 1.30)? so you'd maybe need someone to pop in at 10.30ish for an hour? I imagine that when puppy wakes up and has its breakfast and a little bit of play/a wee then once you leave for work it's probably going to pass out and sleep for an hour or so. The problem you're going to have is toileting, finding the times when pup is awake and letting it out to go to the toilet. I do hope you find a solution, it sounds as if it's only going to be for a week or so until you're on Xmas holidays.

MoneySavingStudent_2

Hello!
Our Family run a business (dog sitter) and we do the odd bit of dog walking on the side.

Our prices are:
10 minutes = £3
20 minutes = £4
30 minutes = £5

We usually go to the customers house, collect the dog (usually were given a key as the owners are usually at work) walk the dog for the amount of time and then make the dog confortable until the owners come home eg. make sure it hasnt had an accident when its been by itself, make sure it has enough water etc. We charge £1.50 per mile if we have to travel via car to the owners house.

At the moment we walk a lovely dog called Oscar 3-4 times a week, we also do an option of walking with another doggie. If the dog being walked and our dogs get on (which they usually do as they have already been introduced at some stage with both owners present) then we take our dog with us and they love to play in the fields together etc hope that helps x

potsofmoney_(I_wish)

Thankyou everyone for your replies. I've decided to have a chat with my college and see if I can get 2 weeks off when pup is due to be with us. I've left a message with one insured puppy/dog walker so will use some of the time to interview people properly.

Just got to busy myself with reading the perfect puppy and the spaniel books I've got. Hopefully after xmas puppy will be settled and we can create a good routine so she is never on her own for too long.
Thanks again

suki1964

potsofmoney_(I_wish) wrote: »

Thankyou everyone for your replies. I've decided to have a chat with my college and see if I can get 2 weeks off when pup is due to be with us. I've left a message with one insured puppy/dog walker so will use some of the time to interview people properly.

Just got to busy myself with reading the perfect puppy and the spaniel books I've got. Hopefully after xmas puppy will be settled and we can create a good routine so she is never on her own for too long.
Thanks again

You really do need at least two weeks off - and maybe more - depending on the pup. It takes ages just teaching a pup that being left in a room alone is ok. And spaniels are one of the worse breeds for separation anxiety - you will read of many many owners that cant even have a wee or bath in peace and that the dogs are never happier then when velcroed to their owners foot.

Not all dogs are cut out for being left alone, some dogs take to it easy enough - others can be trained over a long period of time and others just never get there. You need to put the work in from day one if you want a well adjusted dog

Mely

I dont agree at all with what Raksha said...is the breeder to turf her lounge or something? lol.
I think the breeder is spot on with paper training the pup, and moving the paper gradually nearer the door. Especially as puppies have such weak bladders, they dont have that much control of them at this very young age. I have used this method with my dogs and with patience it works!

suki1964

Mely wrote: »

I dont agree at all with what Raksha said...is the breeder to turf her lounge or something? lol.
I think the breeder is spot on with paper training the pup, and moving the paper gradually nearer the door. Especially as puppies have such weak bladders, they dont have that much control of them at this very young age. I have used this method with my dogs and with patience it works!

lol I dont think raksha meant that at all.

Its just its so much easier not to train to paper in the first place.

Think about it, you let a pup go on paper in the house - but the idea is to teach pup NOT to go in the house. So letting it go on paper is confusing to the pup and makes hose training a tad more difficult.

The easiest way is to let pup know that outside is the only good place to go right from the start which means you just bite your lip and mop the floor when accidents occur and praise like crazy for when they go outside. This of course means you dont give them opportunity to go in the house - you make sure they are out often enough to go.

Ive had all three of my pups clean within a week or two using this method - even the wee rescue who had never been allowed in a house.

And yes you find you spend a lot of time living in the kitchen those first few weeks but its all worth it