Leaving a puppy weekend

[Pickagoddamnname]

Hi all, I’m just after a bit of advice. Basically we’d saved and planned to get a puppy this September. Then Covid happened and pushed our 2 holidays back a year as at the time we couldn’t get refunds. So now we have a 4 day weekend in May (bank holiday) booked with family and 2 weeks in August.

The sensible thing I know would be to push getting a puppy back until next year however we’ve already spent 18 months planning and talking about getting one.

I have seen a litter advertised where pups will be born at the end of November. Is it worth considering getting a pup from this litter then leaving puppy for 4 days when 5 months old? As care for puppy I’ve thought of asking the breeder who is only 1.5 hours detour from weekend. Or finding a home boarder. There are local kennels where the owner is a breeder of this breed and also does dog training but I think 5 months is too young for kennels. I could ask my in laws also but don’t think they’d be keen when pup is so young and they have no experience with dogs. We could also look at if there are any dog friendly accommodations available but I can’t see any on their website which makes me think not but this would be my first option.

Or do I just forget about this litter and wait 12 months knowing the May holiday might not go ahead anyway as it’s a group of 20 going.

I'll probably get flamed for this but we had a holiday about a month after we got rookiepup. Not as organised as yourselves and DH - who was the driver for getting a dog - is very impulsive. DDog went to the dog walkers and had a marvellous time with their dog.

I think provided Ddog is familiar with whoever is looking after them, it will be fine. We subsequently joined borrowmydoggy and now when we go away - sadly rarely this year - a wonderful lady who loves rookiedog to bits, stays in our house and looks after him.

Of course it is possible that your dog will have a more nervous temperament so it's impossible to say for sure that it will be 100% fine.

Oh and I think your instincts are correct. We've never used kennels - I'm sure some of them are fine, but they don't seem very homely, and I wouldn't be leaving a boisterous pup with people with no experience of dog ownership.

Where are you? I use a sitter on Rover and she's brill . She had ours for 2 days the second week we got him . Was fine .

I don't think your trip will be going ahead seen as it's now illegal to meet in a group of 20 😂

Oh I absolutely know @stevalnamechanger which is why I really don’t want to waste another 12 months knowing full well it won’t happen. Unfortunately we haven’t paid for the trip so we can’t just back out. We’re near Manchester. I’ve looked into (but not contacted) a few puppy sitters and dog walkers who do home boarding so we could get them familiar if they’d take pup at that age for a weekend.

Ah I'm in London . I'm sure they will especially if they are sole charge . Ours said she is always thrilled to have a puppy to stay .

Get the dog . Improves life dramatically IMO as long as you are committed to always putting their needs first . Life changing

You need to find somewhere to send your ddog, or a sitter to stay at yours. Millions of people own dogs and most go on holiday without them.

Thanks. I’ll speak to the breeder and make contact with the puppy sitter. We do feel like life is on hold for these holidays we don’t even want. We just want a dog.

It will be OK if you get a house sitter to be with them, but def too young for kennels, and really anything but a very small home boarding setup.
I use a house sitter, and my dogs much prefer it to even going to a much loved person who does home boarding, but her house is absolute chaos and they find it very tiring and stressful.

How about getting someone to house/dog sit? We have a lady in our area that does this full time and she is great. I was a little worried about having someone staying in our house at first but it was fine. We don't go away often but it's good to know we can.

Also less stressful for the puppy to be in their own home and can stick to same routine etc

Are there any responsible local teenagers - 16-18 yr olds? My DC have looked after dogs and livestock from that sort of age. They stayed in the house and keep an eye on that, too. They never looked after a puppy, but 100% would have done.

When we had two dogs we always had a pet/house sitter, with older kids who often didn't holiday with us together they were quite old by the time we needed dog sitting and it felt wrong to put them in kennels as they had never stayed away from home. Now we have one we have found a lovely family with three kids who adore dogs and they mind our dog in their own home, we get a daily photo and update, it's fab. With a puppy that young I would find someone who can come to your home but I wouldn't leave it too long before finding a sitter who would have the dog at their place.

I wouldn't leave a young puppy in sole care of a teenager. Puppy is going to be naturally anxious about change in circumstances and it's very important that the sitter doesn't leave them alone very much at all or you could come back to behavioural issues.

We went on holiday when ours was 10 weeks old. The in laws moved in. Meant they bonded really well! But the breeder would have taken her in for a couple of weeks if that hadn't worked out.

There's a couple of homestay places near us. Contac them when you've got the dog and get the puppy used to them and an overnight stay. It'll be fine and good for the puppy's confidence.

You never know what will happen with the holiday. I’d go for the puppy and work out the holiday if needed.

Get your puppy. Organise somewhere other than kennels. Regardless of age I would never leave a dog of mine at kennels.

I've worked at a few and seen the reality.

Nothing wrong with leaving puppy for 4 days, but I found unexpectedly that I wouldn't have been able to do it.

We planned to do so when he was 6 months but had to cancel due to Covid. Ended up taking a holiday in England instead where we could take him and it was a relief!