Advice - Leaving pup at home

alisara

Can anyone give me some advice. I have a gorgeous little pug puppy (10 weeks old). I got her 3 weeks ago (I am currently between jobs and start a part-time post in the new year 20 hrs).

I am worried about leaving her alone while I am at work, I have always had dogs but recently I haven't had one in the last 4 years. I just adore this little dog and I am so attached to her. I have started to leave her for a few hours each day and she has been fine. I leave her in the kitchen with her food and water, a radio on toys and her bed. My new post will be for 3 days a week and I will be leaving her for 7 hours on these days and I feel awful. I have a teenage dd who would be home a bit earlier than me though.

Sorry for this post but I am just wondering if anyone had any tips etc when they leave their dogs whilst they are at work.

Welshwoofs

Could you get a dog walker to do a visit during the day? I know mine does 'socialisation visits' for people with pups who have to be out of the house.

alisara

I tried and I can't find anyone, and to be honest I wouldn't feel comfortable with someone coming into my home during the day when I am not there. I know people will say I should have thought about this before getting a pup but my new post was to be mornings only, and that would have been fine, but recently changed to 3 days per week.

susan6780

does she have a cage? this will stop her from eating your house whilst you are out, but it will give her space when she wants time out?
My puppy has a cage, he's 8 months old now and over the eating the house stage, so the cage door is left open for him, but when i get home he is lying in there fast asleep, as soon as she is old enough if you walk her before you leave then i bet she will just sleep when you are out!

Person_one

I haven't done it with a puppy, but my dogs have to be left when I go to work and I always leave them with stuff to keep them occupied. A stuffed Kong that's been in the freezer overnight is a good one as it takes a long time to tackle it and get all the food out. Stag bars are good, but I'm not sure if they're suitable for tiny pups.

You're doing the right thing by slowly building up the time, don't beat yourself up, you can't help it that your hours have changed and many many dogs spend the working day without their humans. There'd be a lot more dogs in rescue if everybody who worked gave theirs up!

Maybe when your dog is older you could look at getting a second? I know I feel much better leaving mine knowing that they have each other for company and still have two thirds of their 'pack' present.

catkins

alisara wrote: »

I tried and I can't find anyone, and to be honest I wouldn't feel comfortable with someone coming into my home during the day when I am not there. I know people will say I should have thought about this before getting a pup but my new post was to be mornings only, and that would have been fine, but recently changed to 3 days per week.

When I had a dog and worked 5 hours 2 days a week I had a dog walker. She had references and a police check so it never bothered me that she had a key to my house.

Do you have any friends, relatives or neighbours that could walk the puppy for you? 7 hours is a long time to leave a young puppy alone

krlyr

At only 10 weeks or so old, 7 hours is going to be far too long to leave her. If you're not happy with someone coming in your home, I would look for a doggy creche/daycare type place, or perhaps an individual who does dogsitting in their own home.
A puppy her age is going to have a small bladder and need frequent toiletbreaks, she will need more than one chance to toilet within 7 hours, she will need someone there to praise and reinforce toileting outside (so a dogflap isn't really a fix - not only that but a dog of her size and breed may easily become a target for a dog thief as she may fetch at least a few hundred to sell on at her age)

I know it's not ideal, but it is not ideal to leave a young pup to cope with being left for 7 hours either.

arbroath_lass

susan6780 wrote: »

does she have a cage? this will stop her from eating your house whilst you are out, but it will give her space when she wants time out?
My puppy has a cage, he's 8 months old now and over the eating the house stage, so the cage door is left open for him, but when i get home he is lying in there fast asleep, as soon as she is old enough if you walk her before you leave then i bet she will just sleep when you are out!

I was under the impressin dogs should not be left alone in the house whilst locked in a crate. Certainly not for long periods of time.

7 hours is far too long to leave a pup locked in a crate. The poor wee thing will not be able to hold its bladder that long. And how will the OP house train the dog?

In this case the dog's needs far outweigh the owner and if the OP wishes to keep the dog they need to get used to the idea of someone else coming in to see the dog. Anything else is horribly cruel.

Person_one

What about training the pup to use puppy pads for now?

rising_from_the_ashes

krlyr wrote: »

At only 10 weeks or so old, 7 hours is going to be far too long to leave her. If you're not happy with someone coming in your home, I would look for a doggy creche/daycare type place, or perhaps an individual who does dogsitting in their own home.
A puppy her age is going to have a small bladder and need frequent toiletbreaks, she will need more than one chance to toilet within 7 hours, she will need someone there to praise and reinforce toileting outside (so a dogflap isn't really a fix - not only that but a dog of her size and breed may easily become a target for a dog thief as she may fetch at least a few hundred to sell on at her age)

I know it's not ideal, but it is not ideal to leave a young pup to cope with being left for 7 hours either.

I'm afraid I agree with krlyr - there is a huge difference in leaving an adult dog for that period of time (still not ideal) and leaving a 10 week old pup!

Aside from the toileting issues - it will be really hard to toilet train her and she'll get confused if sometimes you're there and she gets put outside to toilet and other times she has to go in the house - what about feeding?

At that age she should be on at least 3 meals / day so will need fed at lunchtime.

Sorry but you're going to have to try to find a dog walker or neighbour etc. Dog walkers should be police checked and many councils runs schemes which they will be members of.

harveybobbles

Please could you remove the bit where you say the Pug is 10 weeks old and you got it 3 weeks ago. no puppy should leave its mother at 7 weeks.

I'll come back later to reply to the original question etc.