Going on holiday without dog - how long is too long?

[rookiemere]

Hi so we've not got our puppy yet, we're picking him up in July but I've got a bit of a dilemma.

Before we decided to get the dog ( I was outvoted by DH and DS who are very keen) I was in the throws of planning for a trip to NZ next Easter. I'm very keen to go out as an old friend has incurable cancer and I really want to see her, plus neither DS nor DH have ever been. However it would be a long trip - 3 weeks away - and not really worth going for any shorter period due to the travel.

Dog would be looked after by neighbour who has two lovely own dogs and will be doing doggy day care for the 2 days a week we are out of the house ( NB after the initial month or so where we will be at home all the time)

Ideally I'd wait and see how dog got on and what his temperament was like, but flight prices are now cheap and will definitely go up. But I think 3 weeks away from us when Dog will be 10 months old is probably too much, so wondering if just I should go, or DS and I.

Is it too long to go away at that age?

It could be absolutely fine but if you haven’t got the dog yet there’s no way to know. There’s a lot of variables
We went away for just under 3 weeks when Ddog was 8 months old but we didn’t book it until a month before and he stayed with a professional dog sitter who also worked as a behaviourist for Dogs Trust

If you are confident enough to leave the dog there two days a week, the quality should be such that you are confident that he will be fine for three weeks, and DDog will be bonded to that person.

Not quite the same, but I left DDog for 3 weeks at 18 months old and he was thrilled to see me but absolutely fine.

Thanks Hoppinggreen I guess I need to wait and see - its so frustrating as the flight prices are - I think - as low as they are going to go, but I don't want to book a really long trip if we're all going to be worried about how DDog is getting on.

I should have said that Neighbour dog carer is also an experienced Dog fosterer so I know that she would provide excellent care.

I left mine at 6 months - admittedly with dh and Dd - for 2.5 weeks
She also went to boarding school 3 days a week of that as they were at work and uni more than I’d have been if home
Just after I came back I took her and Dd away for a weekend and she was so Easy and chilled with change and other dogs and people
It was kinda like when a confident kid goes to nursery. They suddenly realise they can enjoy stuff out of the routine

The only thing was that she didn’t trust me not to come back for weeks. She’d be hysterical with joy when I came back into the room after having a wee
But I do think the separation from main carer (me) did her good
The holiday was booked over a year before we got her - I’ve been away for a week since and shit I missed her haha

Thanks QOD and Avocados.
In theory DH will be the main carer - he's the one who's going to be doing the night-waking and so forth - hence why I thought that DS and I could go, but as DS will be 13 by then, DH is a lot more fun and adventurous to go on holiday with than I am so I feel DS might miss out on a lot of activities if DH isn't with us.

If your neighbour has offered already then go on holiday the dog will be fine.

You dog will be absolutely fine! By then it will have settled in with you and be securely attached. Your dog will already regard the neighbour and her dogs as friends because it is seeing her two days a week so it is not as if you were dumping it at a strange kennels.

Book the tickets!

The dog will be fine and give you the welcome of all welcomes when you return. Book your flights, see you friend (hope she does well) and enjoy your dog!

You lot are so nice - I was a bit worried posting in case I'd get grief for wanting to go away !

Right I will price it up again and get DH to speak to neighbour to see if she is genuinely free for that time -he's the one organising care for DDog so don't want to muddy the waters.

Cost of dog boarding at the neighbours is another factor for booking whilst it's still vaguely affordable. And yes my main worry about using her for doggy day care and boarding is that DDog will prefer their nice exciting house with doggy friends as more entertaining than our own.

OP, as long as the pup is comfortable with the neighbour you will be OK. I have a friend who has left her 18 month old dog for 6 weeks to travel to Australia. Dog's absolutely fine and not missing my friend.

When we left Ddog ( as per my earlier post) the dog sitter said that dogs don’t have the same concept of time as we do so he wouldn’t know if we were gone for 1 week or 3. She said that the overjoyed nature of dog greetings after longer periods is just them picking up on our cues - we are more excited to see them so they respond to that.

Ha ha - so does that mean the Ddogs don't actually miss their owners at all ?

They might not miss us but they are super excited to see us when we have been gone - my DH and Dcs arent as pleased to see me on my return as DDog is!

I left mine at about 8 months old, for 4 weeks....was unavoidable. But she was fine, with our neighbours. Your set up sounds great, and I would think your dog would be just fine. Only tricky thing is, you dint know the dog yet, or if it'd get on with neighbour's dogs....but it sounds like you have some time to figure that out. Hope all goes well.

Discussed with DH he hasn’t agreed the actual dates with neighbour yet. But very reassuring that pretty much everyone thinks its ok in principle