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Can I do complicated school run with a puppy?

11 replies

Feathered · 22/10/2013 18:18

Hello -
We're planning on getting an Old English Sheepdog when we move house next month. Unfortunately 2 out of 3 of my children haven't been allocated a place at the local school - so my school run is going to be complicated . . . and I'm wondering if I can manage it with a puppy??? I would need to drop ds1 off at the local school then get a train to my twins school (about 15 mins on train.) Realistically it will be an hour round trip. Is this possible? Or could I leave a new puppy for an hour in the morning and again in the afternoon?
Thank you. Fingers crossed as I have my heart set on an OES!

OP posts:
NotintheMiddle · 22/10/2013 18:30

Both taking and leaving sound ok to me. If you take the puppy you will need to carry the it until it has had its injections.

You will need to have places to pop her down for a wee during the journey. And if you have to go in the school grounds to drop off/collect do they allow dogs?

Feathered · 22/10/2013 18:36

They allow them in when they're tiny and being held, but after that they need to be left at the gate.

OP posts:
NotintheMiddle · 22/10/2013 19:31

Sounds fine to me. Depending on how heavy an Old English Sheepdog puppy is Grin

Iamaslummymummy · 22/10/2013 19:36

Would your children not be allocated transport which would make the whole thing easier?

Fuzzysnout · 22/10/2013 19:48

An old English is going to be much too heavy to carry way before you can walk it. Training it to be alone for an hour sounds like the much more sensible option, particularly given the complication of the train.

Sorry if this is stating the obvious, but presumably you have researched good breeders etc. Please don't just buy from the Internet. They are not the easiest breed to care for. Apologies if I sound like I'm teaching you to suck eggs, it's just good to know that people have done their research.

basildonbond · 23/10/2013 06:28

Definitely leave the puppy at home for the school run - my puppy is a much smaller breed than an OES but there's no way I would have managed to carry him for an hour for the last couple of weeks before his vaccinations took effect. Add in the complications of dealing with children and a train and having to get to school on time and you'd be dealing with a whole heap of stress

We've left our puppy for short periods every day and he's been fine

Floralnomad · 23/10/2013 09:46

Also even when your pup is old enough to walk please do not take it and leave it outside the school tied up ,too many dogs are stolen to make it worth the risk .

mintchocchick · 23/10/2013 13:04

It's definitely doable but you'll probably need to frequently change the way you do it as puppies change so fast. That's my experience anyway.

I agree that you couldn't carry an 8 week old OES for an hour - think ours was 5k at that age but the week before we could put him down he was 8kilo and wriggling to get down! That week I did very few socialisation trips as his wriggling & weight were too much.

So I'd leave him at home for the hour with a kong till he's had his jabs. (Unless you could get someone to go with you on one or two school runs to share the carrying as you want him to get used to trains early on)

Once he's had jabs, I'd take him some days, leave other other days. Then you can pop into school sometimes if you need to and also get a break every now and then and taking our OES on school run is really intense. Ours is about an hour as well - 20 min walk each way, but bus one way at moment as he can't walk both ways yet. The hour is full on - they pull on the lead, they love greeting people and children so a lot of restraint involved and so many people want to talk about the breed that it's hard to juggle being polite, chatting and managing an excited puppy! You couldn't do it 10 times a week.

I take minty on the school run about 3 or 4 out of the 10 now as I've realised that suits me and he's fine being left - I fact I think he needs a break after being excited throughout the daily family breakfast so flops out an sleeps!

I put a new pic on my profile of minty at 14 weeks old!

Have you got anywhere with the breeders feathered? Took us about a year (and being on three breeders lists) to find minty.

everlong · 23/10/2013 14:08

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everlong · 23/10/2013 14:10

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mintchocchick · 23/10/2013 15:23

Thank you, we do adore him. But we've hit a really barky phase and I know other OES who are barky into adulthood so I'm hoping we'll stop it before it becomes habit.

Not sure how but will be asking our dog trainer for help!

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