Leaving puppy by himself while at work?
I know the title sounds controversial but i need help!
The last week of January i'll be bringing home an 8 week pembroke puppy. I'm excited but the problem is that i'm at work 3-4 days a week from 10am-6pm.
My father is at work also, so he won't be able to be there. I can't afford anyone to take care of him for 4 days (only 21) and i don't know anyone who is willing to check up on him. We are thinking of leaving him in the kitchen with the crate open and with food, water, and toys. My father had the idea of also giving him access to the living room and block the path to the rooms. I'm also aware of all the dangers that lie inside the apartment like wires and things like that. Just to remind you this apartment is semi-small.
Anyone with any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
The last week of January i'll be bringing home an 8 week pembroke puppy. I'm excited but the problem is that i'm at work 3-4 days a week from 10am-6pm.
My father is at work also, so he won't be able to be there. I can't afford anyone to take care of him for 4 days (only 21) and i don't know anyone who is willing to check up on him. We are thinking of leaving him in the kitchen with the crate open and with food, water, and toys. My father had the idea of also giving him access to the living room and block the path to the rooms. I'm also aware of all the dangers that lie inside the apartment like wires and things like that. Just to remind you this apartment is semi-small.
Anyone with any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I just posted something on this recently. Here's what I said in the other thread. :-)
We used an exercise pen in the day and a crate at night. I don't personally recommend pads; several people have posted on here that they have trouble training the dog to stop using the pads. What we did was attach the pen to the crate so pup had access to both. We kept water and safe toys in the pen in the day, and lined the entire bottom with several layers of newspaper.
I came home every day at lunch and removed the wet papers, took puppy out to eliminate, gave pup some lunch and some play and another potty break, and then put him back with fresh papers. After a week or so I was able to see which side he used to eliminate and reduced papers to just this spot. The reason I think papers work better than pads is they are not all that absorbent, so pup is left with the puddle and doesn't really like it and so attempts to hold it. This method is a bit exhausting after a few months (and I kept this schedule til he was about 9 months old, when I slowly weaned off the lunchtime visit) but it worked well for both the housebreaking and keeping puppy happy.
That worked for us.
If no one got a puppy unless someone was home all day, very few people would have puppies. Ideally you do want to come home at lunch, or have someone check in if at all possible. Otherwise you will have a hard time housebreaking.
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Permalink Reply by Emiliano S. on
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Thanks, helped a lot!
I just finished talking with this boarding company who happen to have dog walkers; they charge $15.00. Day care is too much. I'm only 21 and i don't paid a whole lot.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin and Buddy! on
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Beth's idea was a really good one. Someone recommended the product UGoDog to my boyfriend and I and it seems like a great idea. We plan on setting up a pen in our kitchen with his crate, some toys, and the potty bin from UGoDog.
Here is a link to the UGoDog indoor potty training system: http://www.ugodog.net/
$50 is a small investment, but it is cheaper than puppy pads in the long run and it works out well if you dont have anyone to take your puppy outside during the day.
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Nice! I'm thinking about getting it. Not sure if the crate, pen, and the ugodog is going to all fit into a small space. If not the living room would have to do. Thanks!
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One more thing. What size should the exercise pen be? And what size for the crate?
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Permalink Reply by Beauty and the Beast on
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Get a pen that's 30 inches high, will be useful when the puppy is grown. You can buy soem midwest ones for real cheap with free shipping. Here's an example, but I got mine from PetLodge or something like that.
http://www.mightypets.com/product.asp?3=1559
Crate - 36X25X27 or close to that. You have a male dog, so between 35 and 40 inches long is good. You can put lots of soft pillows and toys in there while the puppy is small and then remove them as he grows.
I have a plastic variety because it's cheaper, easy to clean, cozy and easy to transport. I use the same crate in the car.
There are some good ones on dog.com but also check out petsmart for "Bargain kennel" I think, those are real cheap (under $30).
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Oh, one other thing: we bought a cheap piece of vinyl flooring from a big box store and put it over our regular floor and under the pen. It saved wear-and-tear on our real floor. You just need to make sure no edges are inside the pen, or puppy will chew it.
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Permalink Reply by Hieu and Kimi on
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The responses on here are all great ideas. We do something very similar to what Beth does. Our Pembroke, Stella, is approaching 10 weeks and stays home alone from 8am-3pm about 2-3 days a week (the other days, a family member comes to take her out to potty/play/etc.).
We also went out and bought a vinyl flooring mat from home depot which protects our hardwood floors. We then put a play pen on top of the mat and also put down a washable potty pad for her. We have tried newspapers and disposable pads, but they get torn up, shredded and eaten. Stella does not and can not shred the washable ones and it seems to work great (saves quite a bit of money as well).
We keep her crate inside the pen so she can go in there when she wants to rest. So far, it's been great - she goes potty on the mat and keeps the pen nice and clean.
When I get home at 3, I feed her a bit and take her out (she usually waits for me to come home to do the #2). Even with the potty pad, she still prefers the outdoors so when we are home, she will run to the door if she needs to go out.
This method works for us. Below are some links to the pen and pads that I use.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754775
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752867
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Thanks for the idea. Do you leave the food in water inside the pen? What about the crate? Because by the picture i'm not sure if the crate is big enough to attach to the entrance or Can you fit the crate inside the pen?
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The pen is a lot bigger than it seems. I have an intermediate sized crate and block off nearly half of it so she does not have the room to potty inside the crate. The crate goes INSIDE the pen only takes up a small portion of the pen so she has room to potty if she needs to and play.
I leave water down (ice cubes) but not food. My fiance feeds her right before she leaves and makes sure she goes outside to potty before leaving. We feed her a bigger breakfast (7am), I feed her a small meal around 2:30 when I get home, and then feed her a bigger dinner around 6-6:30pm. This schedule seems to work fine for us.
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Thank you so much and your puppy is beautiful BTW! Thanks to everyone as well.
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BTW, if you're trying to potty train your puppy I wouldn't leave water in the pen. He' won't get dehydrated in 8 hours and he's less likely to pee if he's not drinking.
Put away water bowl at night too.
Puppies do not need to be fed 3 times a day, it's optional. Twice is enough. Don't be alarmed if he's not eating well, that's normal at a new place.
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