Advice - Leaving pup at home

krlyr

_Andy_ wrote: »

Demonstrably all breeders are in it for the money, otherwise they wouldn't take payment.

If that were the case then so is every doctor, nurse, vet, rescue staff, carer, fosterer and so on that accepts a wage. Life revolves around money - in reality, many people cannot afford to live on nothing. Reputable breeders cannot pay for health tests with good will. They have multiple costs to cover to breed properly - health tests are the tip of the iceberg but then you have the additional costs. Those related to the finding of a stud, for example - many breeders may source a stud from Europe or even further afield to get the best parentage of the litter so there's travel costs, import fees, etc. as well as the stud fee which will be higher for a decent dog (as the owner of that dog needs to cover all the costs associated with aquiring said stud and doing the necessary health tests, etc.). Costs for the birth - whelping box and other equipment, vet fees to care for a pregnant mum, potentially vet costs for emergency treatment like a caesarian. Costs of raising the litter, the cost of their time to raise the litter properly - exposing that many puppies to the right environment and stimuli requires a lot of time, nearly a fulltime job, so some good breeders do need to charge enough to make a profit to pay their living expenses to ensure they can stay at home and do the job properly.
I hae heard of many reputable breeders who've sold litters at a loss on occasion - emergency caesarian has already eaten up a chunk of their profit, litter was smaller than expected or they lost some puppies - they have less puppies to sell to recoup their expenses.
I don't begrudge a reputable breeder who has gone to the time, effort and expense of doing things properly from earning back their costs and even a little more if that's what they need to continue doing a great job. I would far rather encourage and support them than have them punished for the irresponsible behaviour of backyard breeders and puppyfarms who will certainly not be spending anywhere near as much of their profit on their breeding practices.
In 10, 15 years time when today's rescue dogs have all passed away, I want people to have the option - infact, I want it to be the ONLY option (aside from rescue dogs or privatel rehomed dogs who have genuine reason to be given up) - to go to a reputable breeder to aquire a healthy, happy dog - not just that, but the receive the information and education relating to the responsibility of dog ownership that any decent breeder will give a potential new owner. BYBs and puppyfarms will breed to demand, we need to shift that demand to responsible breeders or the BYBs will be laughing, when in 15 years time they're the only place to buy a dog from.

the_becoming

Some great advice as always on here! I just wanted to add a little about hiring a dog walker/sitter - I do this professionally and would suggest if you are really wary to install a simple webcam in the pup's room. I advise my more nervous customers to do this, they can see that all is above board, that we come when we say we will and that the pup is happy! Do let them know in advance though, its really embarrassing when you are dancing round the room singing daft songs to the puppy and you notice the little blinking light in the corner

Any decent pet sitter will have insurance docs, police checks and references and to be honest we go into 10 - 15 houses some days and have no interest in snooping around!

Hope this helps, all the best with the pup

con1888

A pet sitter is something I would need to look into if my bf gets a new job he has applied for as he will no longer be nightshift. It would only be for two days a week but luckily I know of an excellent sitter/dog walker and would not hesitate to use them for my pup.

CFC

alisara wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies, except the weird one regarding 7 weeks, I bought my pup from a reputable breeder and she was only a day of 8 weeks.

I have another week left before returning to work and have lined my sister up for one of the days, so that leaves me with 2 days to fill. I will now look for someone to pop in for same.

Thanks so much everyone. I do wonder if there is anyone else who has been in the position of leaving a pup alone, people must work?

Yes, of course people have had puppies and gone to work. 40 years ago, or indeed till the rise of the internet, nobody had heard of 'dog walkers' or 'doggy day care'. It didn't exist. And people still got puppies. And they went to work, and the kids went to school. And yes, you would come home to dog mess on the floor and you accepted that was what would happen because the dog couldn't keep it in, so you made sure they weren't shut up in a carpeted room. Let's remember that nobody worked from home before laptops were invented. Let's not just pretend that the way the world has been since the 1990's is the way that the world has always been.

Is it ideal to leave a little puppy alone? No, no it isn't.
Is it 'just life' rather than 'cruel!!!'? Yes, I think so.

Is leaving it for 7 hours in a 'crate' cruel? Hell, yes, I think so.

Haters who don't remember anything prior to 1995, gonna hate!

alisara

CFC, interesting post. Now posters do not flame me - I am hiring a pet sitter.

I have always had dogs and so have my family. I was born in the seventies! my mum worked shifts my siblings and I went to school and we had dogs, but no petsitters. When I started work in the nineties, I had dogs, no petsitter.

This can not just have been my family and I only. I am only stating a fact it must have been the same for everyone else who had pets.

I don't want to be flamed, I repeat I have got a pet sitter lined up, but I do remember not having a pet sitter nor did they exist when growing up or when I started work and nor did I have any problems with my dogs.

davsidipp

aisara good luck with your pet sitter,having a pug myself,it will help the dog thrive while your working,they love attention,and our little girl took 9 months to get clean,stubborn little breed sometimes,but once older they can be left for longer periods,best of luck.

krlyr

CFC wrote: »

Let's not just pretend that the way the world has been since the 1990's is the way that the world has always been.

But not only has the world changed but also our perception on the world and what is OK.
For a dog-related example, 'latch key' dogs used to be the norm. Dogs just allowed to wander the town as and when they pleased - it was the done thing. Some dogs probably got hit by cars, ate poisonous things, were stolen or beaten or killed by sick individuals and so on but a small percentage compared to those that came home at dinner time and lived to tell the tale. Therefore it was deemed OK to do. Nowadays we not only live a different life with far more traffic, but our attitudes are different - we recognise that it puts the dog in danger, and other people (like drivers, or people that the dog may snap at - you'd never have known if your latchkey dog had snapped at someone that'd gone to stroke it because it may not have been seen, it may not have seemed a big deal, or no one may have recognised that it was your dog). You didn't see the snapping, you didn't know (for sure) if your dog was run down, it just didn't come home one day, you didn't "know" it toileted everywhere (you could probably guess but wouldn't have seen it). Not knowing or seeing the downsides doesn't mean they didn't exist. And I think it's the same with leaving puppies for long times - we may not have seen problems with it but doesn't mean they didn't exist. The general knowledge on dog behaviour, body language, etc. has increased a lot in recent years and we're seeing things that we didn't even notice - gestures or signs that a dog is stressed, for example. We're seeing links between adult behaviours and puppihood experiences that we never knew were related. Just because puppies seemed to be OK with being left in the past, doesn't mean they were.

Can puppies be left for 7 hours? Yes. Should they? No, and not just because they'll toilet indoors, but because of the effect it will have on them mentally. I don't think it's "just life" because that implies it's out of our control. OP may not be able to change their job, but as their replies have shown, they can do something about it - in this case, get a dogsitter.

alisara

My lovely little pup, is now booked into puppy creche! And when a little older same company will come and walk her etc for up to an hour on the days I am at work.

Thank you all for your replies.

MentalMinnie

CFC wrote: »

Yes, of course people have had puppies and gone to work. 40 years ago, or indeed till the rise of the internet, nobody had heard of 'dog walkers' or 'doggy day care'. It didn't exist. And people still got puppies. And they went to work, and the kids went to school. And yes, you would come home to dog mess on the floor and you accepted that was what would happen because the dog couldn't keep it in, so you made sure they weren't shut up in a carpeted room. Let's remember that nobody worked from home before laptops were invented. Let's not just pretend that the way the world has been since the 1990's is the way that the world has always been.

Is it ideal to leave a little puppy alone? No, no it isn't.
Is it 'just life' rather than 'cruel!!!'? Yes, I think so.

Is leaving it for 7 hours in a 'crate' cruel? Hell, yes, I think so.

Haters who don't remember anything prior to 1995, gonna hate!

Cracking post! Well said!

Welshwoofs

alisara wrote: »

My lovely little pup, is now booked into puppy creche! And when a little older same company will come and walk her etc for up to an hour on the days I am at work.

Thank you all for your replies.

That's good news alisara! I'm sure she'll have great fun in it too