Puppy left at home all day.... :(

LouisMarmaduke

Hi Everyone,
Im rather upset and desperatly need some advice! Please

Basically I work Monday - Friday and I work 13.15 - 21.15. I leave the house around 12.15 and get back about 21.45. I recently bought a chihuahua puppy, He is about 12 weeks old now. I put a lot of time and effort into researching before I got him about leaving him whilst I was at work etc etc. I have a cat also who is nearly a year old. They get on quite well together and havent fought etc , I have had puppy from Friday last week so its a week tommorow. I went back to work on Wednesday cause I wanted to give him a good start and keep him company for the first few days. He has lots of toys and is trained on his puppy pads and the cat is also a house cat so they both sort of have each other.

I live alone so basically when I go out there on their own all day, My cat is used to this and adjusts himself and hes fine. I love my little puppy to bits and even the thought of going out makes me really upset and I hate to leave him but obviously I have to go to work. I feel really selfish on him by leaving him when hes such a little baby. Before I got him I read various advice etc and they all said as long as hes got plenty of toys he will sleep most of the time. I know its only been 2 days and it probably will take some time for him to get used to the routine but Ive had no complaints or anything thats hes barking or anything but when I come in he is so happy but I cant help but feel bad for keeping him alone all day . I cant bear the thought of not having him , I wouldnt have got him if I was just to give him up. My neighbours are mostly elderly or work themselves therefore I cant ask them to look in on him . and I dont really have any family that could drop by. Also dog sitters/walkers would probably cost too much for me to do this all of the time.


Has anyone else done this ? and will he adjust to it ok ? or am I being really cruel ?

I just feel awful and have been really worried at work for the past couple of days.

I try to leave the TV on etc for him when Im out to give him some noise. Any advice would be soooo appreciated.

Sorry for the long post but just want some reassurance that Im being ok but I can handle the truth if you think im being horrible.

Thanks

Dollardog

You would be much better to copy this post over to the pet board, you'll get a lot more replies from pet owners.

LouisMarmaduke

thanks ! never even realised there was a pet board , sorry

Dollardog

You are not going to like this, but to be honest, I think it is far to long to leave him, especially as a pup too.
When I have a long day at work, one of my neighbours has my dog.
You say you have some elderly neighbours, have you tried asking if any of them would have him for a few hours?
Sometimes there are people who for various reasons can't have a dog, like my neighbour, but are ok to have one for a few hours or so.

Dollardog

LouisMarmaduke wrote: »

thanks ! never even realised there was a pet board , sorry

That's ok, I just thought you would get more replies and advice that was all.

foreign_correspondent

nine and a half hours is too long for any dog, never mind a pup - how on earth do you intend to house train him??

My old, placid dog is left very occasionallly for that long (only when its unavoidable, eg. if I've been unavoidably delayed - generally she gets a mid day wee break and fuss if I'm out for more than about 6 hours) and I feel bad when that happens because it is too long...

It's not fair on a pup, especially fiive days a week... what sort of research did you do? I cant imagine much info out there would suggest it is ok to do this...

did the breeder know this was your intention, and if so, what did they say?

Uniscots97

you'd be surprised how many retired people would jump at the chance to dog-sit for a few hours. It means they get company without the fuss. There's an elderly gentlemen lives near us that dog sits for a family we know. I know he gets a small token payment and a bottle of malt at Christmas as a thank you. Its quite nice as you see him walking up the street during the day with the dog walking happily alongside. Can you ask any of your neighbours?

shegirl

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

nine and a half hours is too long for any dog, never mind a pup - how on earth do you intend to house train him??

My old, placid dog is left very occasionallly for that long (only when its unavoidable, eg. if I've been unavoidably delayed - generally she gets a mid day wee break and fuss if I'm out for more than about 6 hours) and I feel bad when that happens because it is too long...

It's not fair on a pup, especially fiive days a week... what sort of research did you do? I cant imagine much info out there would suggest it is ok to do this...

did the breeder know this was your intention, and if so, what did they say?

That's what I was about to ask.Being puppy pad trained is one thing but he needs to be house trained and if you aren't home to be taking him out at regular intervals it's not going to happen.

nuttybabe

One of my elderly neighbours dog sits as well. he loves it as it gets him out of the house following illness.

my neighbour sometimes pops round on a weekend and asks to borrow our dog. she loves going for long walks and feels stupid walking alone so takes him and also takes him to see her mum as they looked after Rex for a night and her mum took a bit of a shine to him.

so worth asking your neighbours to see if they want to help.

*max*

You are going to have to find a solution to this, one way or the other. 9 hours is much too long for a dog to be on its own, nevermind a puppy who needs LOTS of attention.

You can't compare your puppy to your house cat either, in any shape or form. A cat will most likely be perfectly fine left alone for that long, a puppy will not. And your cat will not be company for your dog, he will be avoiding him most of the time as puppies are so boisterous.

I second the idea of asking your elderly neighbours if they would have him in their house for the time you are away. Or maybe put a card up in a local shop for dogsitters? It shouldn't cost you that much honestly, and you wee dog will be much happier for it. Dogs are very social creatures, and as a puppy especially need human interaction. I hope you find a solution!

Uniscots97

LouisMarmaduke, I don't know where you stay but if you get no joys with your neighbours then try the local vets (most will have knowledge of who might be interested especially if they've lost their own pet and decided another pet full time would be too much), and also sites like this: http://petsitterswap.com/Welcome.asp