New puppy

[Shakespearesglobe]

We have finally decided to take the plunge and get a puppy (well DH and I have decided , kids unaware yet in case it doesn’t happen!)

I work from home on a Monday - and we were planning on using puppy daycare for Tuesday to Friday as we cannot guarantee that we will be around enough otherwise. I have found a lovely daycare place and the owner said this would be fine but am conscious that it’s their business - are puppies really okay with 4 days in day care?

Timings wise, we were planning on getting the puppy at 10 weeks. Should I then take 2 weeks off so that they can get their jabs before going to puppy day care?

If those two weeks are over Xmas is that a really bad idea? We have quiet Xmas at home so we would be around then with lots of time for puppy but don’t want to time it wrongly.

When should we start doing puppy training classes?

My parents had dogs all my life but my mum didn’t work so things were less structured for them.

Any help appreciated. Am trying to get this right and not make mistakes!
Thanks x

[Shakespearesglobe]

Thank you all, we will look into rescue dogs as well. And make sure if we do get a puppy that we have both a longer period off and then work from home more for the first couple of months so that he doesn’t go into daycare (whether professional or family looking after) before 14 weeks or so and then for no more than 3 days. I have budgeted for daycare for his entire life so if he won’t be happy with just a dog walker when he is older we can carry on with that. Lots of v helpful things to think about and change our plans with in this thread, thank you

[Oliversmumsarmy]

Personally I would skip the puppy stage and go straight for an adult dog.

Puppies are cute but so much hard work.

My ddog as a puppy was very hard work and having read other people’s experiences I don’t think i had a particularly harder time in comparison.

I would actually take the sleepless nights of a new born over toilet training a pup.

If I got another dog (I have 5 cats atm) I think a rescue fully grown dog would be my preference.

If you are going to use doggy daycare and you work then an adult dog would be a better fit

[CurryAndCobra]

I'd just get a rescue dog. Something that's under 18 months and train him. You'd be doing a good thing while making it easier for yourself. Get an easier breed like a Lab.

[Coldonthecoast]

We got our cocker spaniel puppy at 8 weeks. We had 6 weeks off between us (summer holidays).
At 14 weeks she went to daycare 5 days a week. She absolutely loves it. She’s so well socialised and has learnt so much from the big dogs.
She is delighted to see me when I pick her up though and is certainly very bonded to me.
It has worked out really well for us and i’m Sure your pup will be fine with it too. We were hoping by now at 6 months we could leave the dog at home while we work and get a friend to walk her for an hour, but she loves going to daycare so much and he takes her all over and does bits of training with her. We’d feel mean stopping her going now.
Could you maybe stretch the time you have off work a little bit? Just to give you a really good chance to bond and get toilet training started?

[Girlintheframe]

Our pup went to daycare from 13 weeks. He went and still goes an average of 2/3 days a week. He absolutely loves it. He is very bonded to us so it can work.
We sought out daycare before we got pup. They had a special puppy section, staff very knowledgeable etc
Re walking pup, he won't be able to go on adult walks with other dogs until he has fully grown, so minimum a year but will depend on the breed as some breeds will be closer to 18 months/2years.
Re training, I used to play pup socialisation sounds from you tube. So sounds like fireworks, sirens, baby crying etc. Now over a year on pup is not fazed if he hears any of these things. Pup also went and still goes to training classes weekly. We found ours through the KC website.

[Shakespearesglobe]

Thank you yamihere - I will def check those things

[Yamihere]

Ex doggy daycare worker here. Things to check: are the staff trained specifically in managing dogs, (not just a college animal care qualification)? People that care about dogs will do multiple hours of CPD a year, ask what was the last seminar/webinar, etc they attended. Also, what do the staff know about puppy development (make sure they know about fear/sensitive periods and the damage that can be done to limbs by jumping before growth plates are fully developed); and, VERY important, are puppies taught how to be calm in a daycare environment. Ask lots of questions.
Make sure that they don't control the dogs with fear or pain as that will make the pup grow up to be a bite risk to your kids. This means no yelling, squirting with water or shocks. Positive reinforcement is what your potential future dog needs to be well adjusted. Also, I would never send my dog to a daycare that did not have cameras that I could check she was being treated well. Especially in the rest/bed/crate room.

[Motorina]

House training involves an awful lot of hanging around waiting for the little darling to pee. Much more pleasant in spring/summer than January. If you have the opportunity to wait till then then I would.

[Shakespearesglobe]

And actually thinking about it another friend who lost her dog wanted very much to help and have him for a day. I just didn’t want to be cheeky and was happy to throw money at it rather than rely on favours from others. And assumed it would be worse for bonding than just paying a professional for consistency. At what age can they join in ‘normal dog walks’ as I know that they are limited exercise wise for quite a while so assumed I’d need to use day care for at least a year before they could join in linger dog walks?

[Shakespearesglobe]

We also have the option of a family member (who has 2 dogs already ) and who is retired. But I discounted it as I thought continuity would better? They have said they are happy to take him any amount from 1-4 days

[Shakespearesglobe]

Thank you so much all for the input - and apologies mustardscreams, I was probably feeling defensive too so took it a bit harshly.

We have the option of me having 6 weeks off in the summer which sounds like it might be a better settling in period. Or I can do 2 days from home plus some holiday so it’s a longer period of not being in daycare. I also perhaps need to continue looking to find a v quiet day care/walker who will take him. Lots to think about and glad I asked early on (and before I said anything to the children!). Breed wise we are planning to go for a Labrador

[Motorina]

I'll add that some breeds very much bond to an individual, which might have been more tricky. I have beagles, who happily bond to an extended family group (particularly if it comes bearing treats) and I'm very happy that she can both love me and love the daycare team without either detracting from the other.

[Motorina]

I'm going to give the flip side. My newest pup was in day care three days a week from that age. They were superb with her. Gently introduced her to other dogs, enforced downtime and naps.

I had no issues with housetraining (in fact, she's been by far the easiest of the three I've had), and is super socialised and brilliant with other dogs and people. She is very definitely my dog, and our bond is really close. We do a lot together the rest of the time - walks, trips to the beach, one or two training classes a week, little bits of training daily, she sleeps in the bed - so she gets a lot of me inspite of being in daycare. And she views the day care staff as an extended family, which I only see as a plus for her.

It worked well in part because my day care are great, and because she's always been super confident. I don't think it would be right for all dogs. But the benefits have been overwhelming and its really added to her confidence, her dog social skills, and her quality of life.

I do think you need a back up plan in case it's not right for your particular pup, but I also don't think it's a nonstarter, either.

[BiteyShark]

My puppy went to daycare 3 days a week at 12 weeks.

We used a dog walker who essentially had him in their home but left him in a crate when they walked other dogs at lunch time. They carried on the training and he still goes there but now goes on all the walks with the other dogs.

It can work out but it's a risk as others have said and we just lucky landed on our feet with our daycare.

[MaryLennoxsScowl]

I don’t know if what I’m doing is ideal either, but we got puppy at 8 weeks and each took 2 weeks off to look after him, so he was 12 weeks when he began daycare twice a week (I work for home 2x days and a family member does the 3rd day). I also found daycare that isn’t a commercial concern but an individual. She sometimes has a couple of other dogs there but it’s in her house so she’s just as concerned with toilet training etc as I am and it isn’t so hectic. He just seemed too much of a baby for a full on daycare place. Could you work from home for the first month or so even a couple of times a week?

[Starryskye]

Dogs don't belong in day care no matter the age. If it's spending the majority of the week away then don't even bother. It's not fair tbh

[missbattenburg]

Yep, 'failed' show dogs or bitches held back for breeding potential that ultimately were 'rejected' for one reason or another also are reasons breeders sometimes have these dogs for sale.

Often these dogs are exceptionally well rounded dogs having had the benefit of the breeder's knowledge and other dog's influence for so many months.

I loved battenpuppy but would happily skip the puppy months in future dogs and go straight to the adult stage so I don't think you'd be missing out not to have a dog from puppy. Most of our other dogs throughout my life have been from adult onwards and were almost all easier than battendog was/is.

[MustardScreams]

@Shakespearesglobe sorry I was short with you op. I wasn’t calling you personally selfish, just the situation. It’s just that puppies are a lot of work, even in the perfect circumstances. And I’ve seen too many given up/sold/have shit lives because someone doesn’t say the tough stuff.

But I could probably have been a bit more gentle about it!

[ErrolTheDragon]

An adult dog could fit better with your scenario especially a well behaved, confident one. Sometimes breeders do occasionally have older dogs that require homes,

We got our current dog when he was 10 months old - his breeder had kept him for show/stud potential but he developed 'faults' (nothing serious, just not up to crufts standards unlike his sire!) . He was so much easier than our previous dog, same breed but who we'd had from a pup. This one was housetrained (just needed to be shown the door and where he should go) and well socialised with dogs and humans. Obviously there's a lot of luck in finding this sort of gem but well worth looking out for!

[missbattenburg]

As others have said, I am not sure you're plans will match up well with reality.

Let's say you want a specific breed dog and it's relatively popular so there are 100 really great breeders of that breed in the country. They each have a litter (on average) every other year. What are the chances that any of them will have a spare puppy ready to go at Christmas? Really small. In fact, smaller than that because really great breeders tend not to have litters ready to go around Christmas time, if they can help it, because it's a tricky time of year to find good owners with the time to dedicate to the puppies. I think you need greater flexibility regarding your timings than that.

Two weeks off work is great and some puppies would cope beautifully with going from having you all day to a daycare. However, many puppies won't. The challenges are likely to be:

• after two weeks with you, the puppy will see you as their comfort and may get distressed when sperated from you; if this distress is bad enough you are risking some considerable behavioural issues later on.
• your puppy is now at the mercy of other peoples dogs. Other people's dogs tend to be little buggers and are likely to teach your puppy all the naughty things they do at home that their owners don't mind but you do
• very few daycares really cater for puppies which require a different set up and staff ratio than adult dogs. Mostly they just treat them like little adults, which is not ideal. This is likely to mean the puppy is not getting constant toilet and behavioural training, which can impact the speed at which they learn these things. Even if not, the daycare's approach to teaching them is likely to be different from yours so you won't have consistency.
• As others have alluded to, dogs are a it rubbish at applying learning to different situations so even if he learned to toilet outside at daycare, he is not very likely to automaticaly apply that at home. If he's not home very much during the week then this could delay matters.

Puppy training starts immediately and thre's some great examples of puppies learning trained, cued behaviours even before they can see or hear. However, formal training for those that do, normally starts not long after the vaccinations are complete, around 12-14 weeks.

An adult dog could fit better with your scenario especially a well behaved, confident one. Sometimes breeders do occasionally have older dogs that require homes, generally as a result of it being a puppy they bred that has been returned to them as an older dog. Rescues do as well, of course. Worth considering?

[adaline]

Yeah, I'm speaking from experience too. We sent our puppy to daycare at 17 weeks old and it wasn't right for him at all. It's a mistake we won't repeat if we get another puppy in the future.

I think you have good intentions OP but the reality of having a young dog is very different. Remember, if your dog or puppy doesn't like daycare or isn't suited to the environment, they can be asked not to return and then what will happen?

[GingerFoxInAT0phat]

Totally agree with Adaline above, daycare is usually for older settled dogs.

When I took my puppy just to socialisation classes with me there he couldn’t cope and screamed the place down. A few months down the line he is totally different and loves the company of other dogs.

[smoresmores]

To be fair I think they said "it's selfish". Which factually, it is.

Not you, but the situation you're proposing.

[Shakespearesglobe]

Okay thanks it sounds not feasible in current circumstances. For the poster who said I was being selfish - that is deeply unpleasant when the whole point of my post was questioning whether what someone had said to me was okay - purely because I wanted to ensure if we did get a puppy they would have a good life. And i immediately said perhaps it wasn’t feasible when people pointed out issues. I would have thought asking the question and taking on board comments was the opposite of selfish so there was no need to make such unpleasant comments

[adaline]

So puppy daycare is really bad? Why are people allowed to offer it if so?

Nothing wrong with daycare when it's used correctly - for settled, adult dogs whose owners are out all day and who cope well in the company of other dogs and people.

There's also nothing wrong with it for a puppy but you really need to be careful. Is this place licensed? What does it have in place to ensure the puppy is safe and can have plenty of sleep? What if the puppy doesn't like being in a new environment with lots of different dogs and becomes unsettled and unhappy there?

I think for such a small puppy you need to consider it in small doses - half a day a couple of times a week would be good, for example. But four full days a week at 12 weeks old? That's just too much.