Can I have some advice please?

[gregssausageroll]

We're keen on a mini wirehaired dachshund. Ideally we'd like 2 from puppy age. Thing is they would be left from approximately 8.45 to 4.30 pm 2 days per week.

Does this rule puppies out altogether?

Not if you put in proper provisions, eg a dog walker who does puppy care to come in several times a day during those hours, at regular intervals so puppy gets into a routine.

It rules out a puppy from any decent breeder as a) they will not home a puppy to a household where the puppy will be aone for so long and b) they will not home two puppies together. So that leaves puppy farmed puppies or puppies from BYB's who don't give a stuff about the dogs they breed and aren't much better than puppy farmers and do you really want to encourage a breeder like this?

If you get two puppies together, they are more than twice the work of a single puppy and if left alone together for long periods of time will be spending more time with each other than you, which means they will always be more interested in each other than you, which in turn makes training very difficult at best.

If the puppies are left alone (without human supervision) for long periods of time, it will be very difficult to toilet train them and it is not appropriate to crate them for long periods of time during the day. They are also much more likely to become chewers and not only destroy your things, but be in danger themselves, depending on what they decie to/are able to chew.

I wouldn't get a puppy unless someone can be home with them for most of the day, they need a lot of time and attention.

Even with an older dog that sounds quite long leaving hours, could you get a dog walker to come during the day?

The sensible and undisputed advice from dog experts would be do not get two puppies from the same litter at the same time. For the reasons Midori says and more!

I personally would not get a puppy if it were to be left for two whole days. However people do do it. You would need a puppy walker who would have to visit several times during the early weeks (also be prepared for this to dramatically slow down the house training). You would have to factor in the cost of the puppy walker about £7.50-£12.00 depending on where you live. Your bonding with the dog would be less and training would be slightly harder if the dog was not with you for two days a week.

Again the sensible advice would be to wait until you had more time and commitment to give to the dog.

OK. Thank you. Might be better looking at an older dog from a rescue place that is used to being left from time to tme.