Advice please daughter's puppies

[Deleted User]

Hi
My daughter is a single mum with two sons aged 7 and 11. She works full time shift work so I do a lot of childcare at her house.

The boys have always longed for a dog and the plan was that when I retired (early 2021) I would get a puppy which would be their dog but lived with me as I would be there for it 24/7.

I'm August my daughter arrived home after a weekend away with an 8 week old puppy which was not toilet trained. Although it was still not toilet trained six weeks later my daughter arrived home with its sister who was not settling at her boyfriend's house.

Another six weeks on neither puppy is toilet trained and they wee and poo all over and sometimes eat their poo.

My own experience with training dogs is a Westie which was our family dog bought as a puppy in 1996 and he was house trained quickly as I took time off work when we first got him until he was able to be left during the day.

I am beginning to despair of the two puppies who are lovely but hard work when I'm looking after the boys.

Can anyone offer any advice please?

Hasbeen

Haldane wrote: »

Hi
My daughter is a single mum with two sons aged 7 and 11. She works full time shift work so I do a lot of childcare at her house.

The boys have always longed for a dog and the plan was that when I retired (early 2021) I would get a puppy which would be their dog but lived with me as I would be there for it 24/7.

I'm August my daughter arrived home after a weekend away with an 8 week old puppy which was not toilet trained. Although it was still not toilet trained six weeks later my daughter arrived home with its sister who was not settling at her boyfriend's house.

Another six weeks on neither puppy is toilet trained and they wee and poo all over and sometimes eat their poo.

My own experience with training dogs is a Westie which was our family dog bought as a puppy in 1996 and he was house trained quickly as I took time off work when we first got him until he was able to be left during the day.

I am beginning to despair of the two puppies who are lovely but hard work when I'm looking after the boys.

Can anyone offer any advice please?

Sorry. But if she is unable due to her circumstances to look after her children without your help. Then why 2 puppies? can you take the one she has back to your own home for training etc and give the "boyfriends" one back.

tacpot12

If you would be happy to have one of the puppies as per the original plan, then go with that, but have the puppy at your house where you can toilet train it. The second puppy needs rehoming or you need to take it on.

elsien

You do know at can take between 4-6 months to fully housetrain a puppy?
And that's without all the other training they are going to need - who is going to be doing that with them?
Are you asking advice about puppy training, or about the whole situation.
Because your daughter is being unfair on you and is also being unfair on the puppies - I have visions of two teenage untrained handfuls looking for new homes in about 6 months time.
Who is looking after the dogs while your daughter is at work and the children are at school?

HampshireH

Your daughter has been very inconsiderate here, I'd even go as far as to say selfish.

What breed are these puppies and has she explained why she brought the plan forward by 3 years with no discussion?

You should not be expected to take on 2 dogs you neither wanted or had the time at the moment to train.

Your daughter needs to be a responsible pet owner. Book some time off work and integrate these dogs into her home.

What does she do with them when both you and she are at work?

[Deleted User]

Thank you all for the replies.

My daughter has always known the reasons I didn't think taking on a dog was feasible in her circumstances hence my hope she would wait until I retire and go a!ong with what I thought was a win/win for me, her and particularly the boys.

I work 4 days a week and given the time spent before and after work on childcare me having one of the puppies is a non starter.

The puppies are left in kitchen at her house for up to 8 hours if we are both at work and there is always wee and half eaten poo to clean up for whoever arrives first.

I think that I wanted some reassurance I am justified in saying that this cannot continue and she needs to reassess.

I'm going to ask my ex-husband to support me in this as she is more inclined to listen to him than me and he often covers childcare if I'm not available so has first hand experience of the problem. (Fortunately we have remained friends since we divorced and I'm very fond of his well trained dog.)

Thanks again.

elsien

Quite honestly, as soon as they start teething she's going to be lucky to have a kitchen left. Poor babies must be all over the place.

Owain_Moneysaver

Haldane wrote: »

The puppies are left in kitchen at her house for up to 8 hours if we are both at work and there is always wee and half eaten poo to clean up for whoever arrives first.

This is not a suitable environment for puppies. Tell her either she rehomes them voluntarily or you call in the RSPCA.

It's also taking advantage of your childminding expecting you to do cleaning and puppyminding as well. Point out that if she wants a cleaner/puppyminder that will cost her £xx per hour and it won't be you.

Between them 7- and 11- year-olds should be able to have a couple of gerbils with supervision.

Sky_

Apart from all the other issues, having two puppies from a litter is not a good idea unless they are kept apart from each other because they bond with each other (rather than their owner) and will be many times harder to train than one puppy.


Could you arrange and help fund a dog walker, doggy daycare or similar support for your daughter's puppy until it is older?



The other one should surely be rehomed, since it's owner no longer even wants it!

HampshireH

Could you arrange and help fund a dog walker, doggy daycare or similar support for your daughter's puppy until it is older?!

I am a dog owner /pet lover but I really cannot see how this is the OPs financial responsibility

The daughter needs to adult and accept responsibility

hollydays

Eating poo is something many dogs do and grow out of.