Do you have a puppy and work full time?

[Pressie9]

What is your routine? Is it fair to cage all day? I would be grateful for any tips.

It is both cruel and irresponsible to buy any pet knowing you can't cater for its basic needs, a dog/puppy shouldn't be left for hours on end for the majority of its life. A walk in the morning and evening isn't enough, nor is a brief daily visit from a dog walker. When are you going to have time to bond and train? What's the point of subjecting an animal to a miserable life in a cage so that you get a couple of hours of doggy cuddles in the evenings? Selfish in the extreme.

My DF had a PA who left two puppies alone in a crate all day, only took two weeks before she came home to find one dead as the other had picked it up by the collar and shook it like a rag doll breaking its neck. She shouldn't have bought them knowing she couldn't properly care for them, and has to live with the fact her negligence killed a puppy that could have had a nice life had it not had the misfortune to be bought by a selfish idiot. That's obviously a pretty extreme example, but buying a dog knowing you are going to mistreat it (and leaving it alone all day is mistreating it) and quite possibly give it life long behavioural issues is beyond the pale.

Cage all day??

Of course it's cruel , do you have a brain? Do not get a puppy unless you can afford day care. My dogs day care costs £70 a week she gets 2 walks a day. Puppies need the toilet very often , are you expecting it to sit in its piss and shit all day?

I wouldn't do this.

What's the point

I do think the OP is being unnecessarily flamed for asking a question.

Would you rather OP went out and irresponsibly bought a pet, or came on here for constructive advice before coming to a decision? None of you know the OP's full circumstances.

You really can't cage a puppy all day. Really.
If you are intending to go ahead then this is good reading

I don't think it is fairly cage all day 5days a week. What actual hours will you be out of the house?

I have a dog and a puppy who are alone for 7 hours every few weeks and I feel bad enough for that.

Please don't. Puppies especially need company, it's so important for their social development. Left in a crate all day alone would send the poor thing loopy & you would see some adverse behaviour because of it. Think SA, destruction that sort of thing.

I had a 9 year old staff who slept most of her time but on the days i worked 8-6 i had a dog walker in at least twice. It wasn't such a necessity as she literally slept but i don't think a dog should be left to its own devices for that long. It's cruel imo

Yes I have a dog and work full time.

I would never leave my dog in a crate all day and wouldn't recommend it, I would imagine mentally and pysichally this could be really damaging for a puppies growth. Mine has free reign of the house and spends most of the day at her favourite spot on the window ledge watching the world go by. Luckily shes well behaved and has never damaged anything.

I'm a shift worker so she usually gets an off the lead run either morning or afternoon as well which helps her settle.

I have a dog walker for two of the days when I'm working which gets her out for a couple of hours and a family member spends some time with her and lets her out for toilet needs on the other days. Dog walkers average £10 for an hour but my friend tends to be away for at least 2 hours with my girl.

I leave the telly on for her or music on the ipod as this is the normal noise in the house when I'm at home.

Sometimes my ex takes her on his days off if I'm working just so she isn't spending so long on her own. If I didn't have people willing to spend time with her when I can't I would have to seriously consider rehoming her.

I have a cat mate timed feeder so she has her meals and treat at routine times and then I also know what time she would need the loo based on feeding times.

We got our puppy when we both worked full time but paid - a lot - for doggy care - so he wasn't left alone more than two/three hours and we didn't cage.
It was expensive but the only way.

Dog is now 9 and I work part time which is way better.

Just dont do it and dont think a cat would be o.k either to be left all day. None of mine have been and a lot of them have been hard work with company.
Why dont you volunteer for the Dogs Trust or walk an elderly persons dog instead?Then you will have the company of a dog but no worry.
If you leave a puppy all that time its going to go mad and you are going to have a dog with behaviour problems and the neighbours are going to be complaining all the time as well.

Really? In a cage all day, Please dont get a dog.

And here lies the issue with cages / crates , because sadly there are people who do this , go to work for 8+ hours and leave dog/ pup in a cage and then sleep 8+ hours a night and leave dog in a cage so for at least 16/24 hours the dog / pup is locked in a cage . It’s not suitable for a dog not even with a dog walker in the middle of the day . At least the OP has asked , many just go ahead and do it , poor dogs .

I work full time and had a puppy (she is a 4 year old dog now)

We took lots of time off and working from home time when we first got her (8-16 weeks old)
From 16 weeks onwards, this was the routine... DH and I took it in turns to get up

6am: let her out of her crate to do a pee. Potentially deal with any accidents although they were very occasional by then. Training to get her to pee on command using a treat

6-6:30am: have a bit of a play, incorporating some basic training

6:30am: give her breakfast then straight outside for a poo. Reward her for pooing outside

7am: go and get ready for work leaving her playing with the other person

8am: trip to the garden for another pee and back in her crate with a toy when we left for work

9am: dog daycare woman arrives to collect her

9am-6pm: in doggy daycare with a qualified dog behaviourist who kept her in a small pack with some other puppies and some older dogs to teach the puppies dog manners.
Supervised and restricted playtime and a crate each for them to go to for time out
Formal training for a bit as well.

6pm: dropped back to us. Dinner, cuddles, and usually spent most of the evening asleep. Pee at 9pm, pee at 11pm, back in her crate when we went to bed

I will save my opinion for anyone who gets a puppy and doesn't have a similar routine for the first 6 months...

No you can’t. We got out our puppy this summer. She is a relatively easy, non clingy choc lab. We got her this summer because this year was the only year we could foresee arranging flexibly enough to have a puppy. For the first 3 months (8weeks to 5 months) gradually built up leaving her from 15 mind to 2 hours. Now at 7 months she is okay for up to 3 hours in the kitchen. I work flexibly so am mostly working when DP is able to be home. If we I work all day and no DP, she has daycare and if out for whole morning or afternoon then the dog-walker comes midway so she is not alone for a 4/5 hour stretch. Puppies need company and love ..... not to be in a cage alone from 8am to 6pm!!

And by the way even when she is fully grown, we plan to not leave her more than 4 hours st a stretch and are thinking either day care or hopefully clever combo with au pair.

Of course you can't. You can leave an adult dog once settled for up to four hours maximum.

Tenbob ... that sounds full on but a good way to meet her needs and work full time.

My friend had the same idea as you as some idiot told him it was better to cage train immediately. In reality I ended up spending a week of my maternity leave looking after a puppy and a newborn until they sorted a day nursery for the puppy as it was immediately apparent leaving the puppy alone in a cage all day was very much akin to leaving the newborn baby in a cage all day. She is now a regular attendee of doggy daycare and is a very happy job with very poor owners!

Op what would your answer be if someone posted 'I'm thinking of getting a baby. Is it fair to crate it all day?'

Puppies, and any dog for that matter need stimulation, attention, excersise, love and care 7 days a week. Please do not get a dog if your only option is to crate it for most of the day, 5 days a week. It would be cruel and incredibly selfish.

Ds and Dil have a puppy (15 weeks now), they both work full time. Here is the schedule.

7am - they feed and walk pup before work.
Mid morning - visit from puppysitter who plays with pup and toilets him.
Lunchtime - Dil pops home and plays in garden with pup.
Mid afternoon - either me or other Mil visit and play in garden with pup. I take my dog along too.
5pm - son or Dil home.

You're brave, OP. I work from home full-time, and got my arse handed to me on a plate last year for suggesting bunging the pup in its bed for the odd hour while working with headphones on.

No, don't even think about it.

Puppies need care and attention.

Has OP been back to visit this thread? It surely must have been a wind up?!

Of course a puppy can’t be crated all day.

We work full time, but between us do 3 days from home and the other two days our puppy has an absolute ball at daycare from 09:00 - 06:00.

We couldn’t manage if we couldn’t work from home or afford daycare.

We have a puppy and a crate he sleeps in at nights as he's not best buds with the cats yet. I work ft 5 mins away and dh is sahp right now but when he was recently shift working we managed things so that if he was at work in the daytime I would take puppy to work with me (large office to myself with door direct to outside for walks) which is VERY lucky, or I would work from home.

Right now I feed/toilet/walk first thing then he just ambles about and dh does walks/feeds/toilet till I come home. He's only crated at night. I'd feel awful leaving him for the whole working day in the crate by himself and then expect him to be a well trained and well adjusted, loving pup. It just wouldn't work and would be cruel.