How long at home with a new dog?

[Houndofthebaskethills]

just wondering how long you need to stay at home with a puppy or rescue before being able to leave it at all?

when people say they don’t leave the dog for a few weeks I’m assuming they still pop to the shops or do the school run?

I only work out of the house 10 hours a week ( would get dog Walker) but couldn’t reasonably take more than 2 weeks off initially.

practically I’m just trying to get my head around the settling in period. My normal life would be school runs, popping to the shops and two 5 hour days at work. I’d be around much of the rest of the time but even this seems unmanageable with a new dog?

I took our puppy on school run (carried) it's a great opportunity to expose dog to noisey children, cars, fresh air etc.

I only work 2 days, 1 is at home & DH at home the other day so dog never really left. But we do leave for shopping, trips out etc. But maybe not when he was tiny?

I think you'd need help initially with the working days but eventually your dog could be left.

I wouldn't let your set up put you off getting a dog.

when people say they don’t leave the dog for a few weeks I’m assuming they still pop to the shops or do the school run?

In our case, no. Two adults at home so no need to pop to the shops in the daytime and leave pup alone. If I needed to pop to the station to pick the husband up pup would come with me.

You couldn't leave a puppy for a 5 hour working day- I wouldn't leave a fully grown dog for that long but a puppy will need company/ taking out to wee etc for months

5 hour day plus travel time? We would recommend daycare not just a walker. Would you then need to be out for the school run and shops on top on those 2 days?

Also, there’s huge variables between a puppy and a rescue and from one rescue to another depending on age, breed and history. There’s not enough info here.

6 weeks.

I didn’t leave her for longer then 10 mins for the first 2 weeks.
Iv built up the time and now leave her for an hour - 2 no more then once a week.

Id never leave her for 5 hours and certainly not a couple of weeks after getting her… even with a dog walker.

I work from home so I have no need for one and my parents have her if I need a full day out with the kids.

You need to build up the time and it will take longer than2 weeks to get there. You can also get people to come in and do puppy visits but you will need a lot of support on hand.

remember if it’s a pup they’ll still be at home during that time because of the vacs

@BadlydoneHelen really. That's extremely unusual. I train gun dogs, collies, live with DH farmer, have two terriers, a lab and a spaniel in the house. Work with the local rescues,

What if you work night shift?

Seriously, five hours is absolutely fine for a dog.
Once settled.

To begin with yes you OP,will need a dog walker for a quick play at half way point. Or a friendly neighbour.

With our rescue we could have left her for half an hour after two weeks. And then maybe two hours by a month or so. But not all dogs are the same.

Could you pop pup in a sling and take him to work with you?

Failing that you simply must place pup in a creche. Anything less would be just ghastly of you.

Thanks to Covid our Feb 2020 dpuppy wasn't left for 2 years!!
Had taken this year for her to adjust. And we have other ddogs so she still isn't really alone!
Never again!

Since our puppy slept downstairs he was used to being left overnight since he came to us. I don't see much difference between leaving them when you go to bed or leaving them when you pop out for a bit in the day (not long to start with say 20 mins then build it up)

Pup will need to go out for toilet trips every half hour or so for a few months. Mine is left up to 3 hours maybe once a week but not until she was almost a year and built up to it very gradually. Leaving a pup alone when tiny is a recipe for separation anxiety.

Did you have your dog upstairs with you at night too?

Yes, for a while then moved her down when she was a bit older. She cried left alone downstairs for a good while, but she'd just been taken away from her mum and siblings, so no surprise. She's no trouble now and loves her bed in the hall.

I was able to do the 20 minute school run after a couple of weeks. I started going out the front door for a couple of minutes at a time from day one and built up from there.

My cockers are 13 and 12 and our rule has always been that we don't leave them for more than 6 hours. With two walks a day they have been absolutely fine. My breeder said to me make sure you control the dogs and don't let the dogs control you - it's all about balance.

A lot depends on the dog

I went to work the next day, I worked 3 hours per day locally (5-10 mins away) but that week I rushed home after 2 (collected on a Wednesday) following week left him the 3 hours. All absolutely fine

@sheepandcaravan

I agree. I think it's partly breed specific. I have a collie who is very independent - once covid hit and I was wfh he still ignored me all day preferring his den under a desk to being anywhere near the the rest of the household even at lunchtime - he appeared around 3pm for attention (when I would normally have come home)

Ddog has always been left 8 hours overnight too, never whimpered or anything. Never let him out at night, puppy pad until he could go all night

Labrador - I took a month off work, when I returned to work I dropped him off with DM. As he got older I used doggy day care 1-1 (she had a dog), then a dog walker.
I crate trained, but he was never in there for very long. He chewed everything, even in his sleep so it was essential. Once he stopped chewing (around 4 months old) I left the door open. Eventually discarded the crate entirely.

@Houndofthebaskethills

Friends got a puppy each from the same litter. Friend A started as she meant to go on. Puppy slept downstairs in his crate from the first night. They took him out for s wee about every two hours, puppy was not impressed at being woken🤣🤣. They stretched out the timings quickly & he was soon going 10pm to 5 am. Then 9pm to 7am. He's an absolute dream at night!!

in the day they started leaving him for 20 mins/40 mins etc and built it up quickly.

she's lovely, but she takes no crap!!

he was soon able to be left for 2 hours and now at 16 months is fine for 4-5 hours (probably longer but not really tried as I'm happy to go over if it's longer) He's only ever been fed dog food, he never gets human food (so never from your plate) & never pesters for food.

Friend B totally babies hers, he sleeps with them, never gets left for even 5 minutes, cries if she leaves the room & gets fed 'treats' (human food, from their meals etc) & pesters for food.

seeing the contrast in how they've been raised (so far) is eye opening. (There's lots more bits & pieces too). I love them
both (friends & dogs!) but A is sooo much easier to look after, a real pleasure. B is lovely too, but... I'm slightly less thrilled when the phone goes!

all you can do is try, build up & see how it goes. Use a camera so you can see how doggo is when you're not there!!

I don't think you should leave a dog for more than 4-5 hours once fully trained. I would say though as soon as you get your dog start all the training. It is like having a baby and consistent hard work to get them toilet trained and responding to commands. Also it is really important after a couple of days to start going out for a short while so the dog knows you will be back. You can then extend the time. When you return to the house carry on with normal activities and don't rush to fuss the dog (I know this can be hard). This will build up the dogs confidence and reduce the chance of separation anxiety. Also when you get a puppy keep them in one area of the house until you feel they are able to deal with more space. This helps with training as you can see if they need to go out etc. I worked in a pet shop and so many people had problems because they didn't start like this.

See we never left our pup much at all when young but she can be left with no issues now she's older. Friends with a dog the same age did everything by the book in terms of leaving their dog, building up gradually etc. and have ended up seeing a behaviourist for separation anxiety.