WFH with puppy

[Pupppp]

Hoping to get a lab puppy soon.

Both DH and I work mostly from home, him 4 days a week at home and 1 in the office, I do 1 school day from home and 1 school day in the office. We could both take a bit of holiday over the first few weeks so that puppy has attention whilst the other person is working, but obviously this wouldn't be possible long term.

At what sort of age would puppy be happy to go for a walk first thing and then chill out in the same room as someone working till lunchtime (with a mid morning toilet trip/quick play)?

I don't have the answer but my puppy is now 5 months and still won't chill on her own - we have to enforce naps in the crate otherwise she would never sleep!
She will play by herself for 5 mins or so, which is a huge improvement, but if we're there in the same room she basically wants to be playing with us or chewing while sitting on us!
I assume this differs from breed to breed and puppy to puppy.
This is really not what I was picturing before I got a puppy at all tbf - I was thinking puppy would nap by my feet while I worked...

It very much depends on the puppy.

I know someone who's lab has been very chilled from day one and has been regularly snoozing at their feet while they work, with the odd breaks for playtime/walks.

The pup I have is into everything and a proper handful so I can only work when she's asleep in the crate. I got a good food/toileting/play/sleep routine going so she does sleep for a couple of hours at a time. Luckily I'm freelance so I can work when it suits me (and the puppy!)

For us this started around 5 months, golden retriever. We tried with crate for first month but it was miserable and he was so unhappy about it. He sleeps when he’s knackered so a good walk involving off lead running around means he will definitely chill. Also you can get long lasting chews that help keep them occupied. It’s unpredictable though, you don’t know the character of the pup you will get. Tbh I hated the first couple of months, so incredibly hard, but now at nearly 7mo he’s a darling and fits into our life how we expected.

Does it have to be a puppy, have you considered an older dog? Ours was more than happy to chill (snooze on a chair) between walks.

owner of 2 year old lab here. 5 to 6 months if you’re lucky. They need very frequent wee and poo trips outside. They will destroy anything and everything if not watched like a hawk. They nap in short bursts. They need lots of short training sessions to get the basics right too.

it’s doable but it’s relentless. I wouldn’t do it that way again. They also have no consideration for when you’re on video calls either 😅

Would be very happy work an older dog but haven't seen any on rescue websites that can be homed with kids under 12, with the exception of a 13yo terrier that was already at death's door (and I think some of the Romanian ones will let you take a puppy, but, there's still the puppy thing then). Don't want to get an older dog off gumtree or similar.

This does sound relentless! What was your/your partner if you have one's working pattern like for the first few months?

Napping at your feet while you work is the dream! My brother's older dog does this all day but he can't remember how long it took to get to that point...

It sounds like a solid daily routine could be the key here?

@bailarbailar i could’ve written this. My 5 month old is the same, at the moment she’s very into everything & hasn’t learned how to set settle without the crate. But she happily goes in there.

weve had rescues before & not a puppy, I don’t think we’d do it again!

I think it depends on the puppy!

Ours is 7 months old now and we've worked from home since day 1 (alternating who is home) and she's always been happy to snooze most of the morning, have a play at lunch and then snooze again all afternoon until she has a walk.

Some days she's a bit more boisterous and we give he enrichment toys, but it's not been a distraction from work or anything. If i know I have a meeting booked I let her out beforehand and then shut her in the hall (we don't use a crate) and she just sleeps.

@littlefireseverywhere glad to hear I'm not alone. I definitely wouldn't have a puppy again! I think you can tell when out on walks those who have had nappers vs those of us who haven't lol

I went back to work when our lab was 5 months. I could have probably managed wfh a bit earlier but our pup was fairly chilled in the house and I also have the sort of job when I can be fairly flexible in working, so 5 mins of training whilst making a coffee etc. She wouldn't just have snoozed all morning/afternoon. I also worked from the kitchen for a while so pup could be contained there and easy access to garden for toilet trips etc.

if you are crate training and the crate becomes their safe space to sleep/ snooze i had that next to me so pup could sleep and if they found it hard to settle I’d shut the door but rarely needed too.

Make sure your working in a puppy safe space so you aren’t having to worry about them chewing things they shouldn’t.

they also learn quickly that when you’re working they need to settle & chill.

you do need to be able to get up and take them out when they give signs of wanting to go though which means you can’t be to rigid in timings.

for most dogs a walk is exciting and actually mentally stimulating the dog with a frozen kong/ hidden treats long last ring chew etc can be just as tiring.

Especially as a young pup isn’t going to be able to do very long walks for a good while.

I’ve done this with two puppies (not at the same time) in the space of the last 18 months and it was a special kind of hell. As others have said, it does depend on the puppy but all puppies need you to be available for toilet training and they all go looking for mischief. I think it depends on the nature of your work. I’m a therapist on zoom calls, let’s just say it was hair raising and I have very understanding clients.
You can’t walk a puppy very much to begin with so forget taking them for long walks to tire them out - they want and need attention from you, enforced naps and various types of enrichment.
if you have the kind of job where you aren’t on phone/ video calls and can get up and attend to a pup regularly it’s more doable but thank god I won’t have to do it again for a long time. My youngest is 8 months and although generally good still turns into a horror between 3-5pm and has just started experimenting with barking…

They can only be walked for 1 minute per week of age
So a 10 week old puppy has a 10 minute walk

The toileting would be very time consuming so about every 30 minutes outside

It depends how flexible your WFH is

If you have the type of work you can break off anytime to take them out all the time and supervise then you might get through it relatively unscathed. If you have calls and meetings you will struggle.

My work is flexible but even then I had to work late into the night when my DH came home and could take over to make up for the time I had to deal with the puppy.

I am another that says 'never again' 😁

It’s hard going. OH WFH. I work a few minutes away. Our pup is now nearly 7 months and we have no kids, just an elderly cat but it’s VERY full on. We’re not sure we’d do it again. We’ve had rescues before.

The first few weeks were relentless. We’ve got a good routine now and she settles well AS LONG AS she has exercise and mental stimulation but the biggest shock is that you can’t leave them AT ALL for weeks. Now we’re building up alone time very slowly and it’s going well. Not a needy breed either and she’s a confident little soul.

They need near 24/7 input in order to turn into a nice dog. Ours is doing ok but it’s just work and puppy. Nothing else. Still.

Nobody talks about how hard it is. OH is really flexible in his work and his employer very relaxed about him needing to be there for pup. I can’t imagine having a customer facing job and managing.

Oh my employers has been amazing (I’ve been with them for 17 years and work hard) as there have been times he’s had to go out during the day and I pop home and make the time up. You need flexibility. I know people will say ‘I did it and worked full time out of the house etc’ but I really don’t know how.

Our pups routine since she was about 4 months

Up at 6.30 ish. Wee
mooch until 7 ish. Then a ‘do it yourself game’ in the kitchen (builds confidence at being away from you)
breakfast. Training - crate and some general stuff before I go to work so OH can get on with his. Lots of play.
poo before I go to work

then she goes back to sleep.

10 am - walk
11 am - 4 pm - alternating snoozing, mooching and playing. Bit of training if OH has time (we’re currently concentrating on alone training)

4 pm all hell breaks loose as THE TREAT DISPENSER IS HOME !!!!!!!! (me)

play/training/cuddles until 6pm with whoever is available at the time

6 pm tea then another poo
6.30- 8.30 snoozing

8.30 we wake her up with a chew or kong then she has that, plays, zoomies and the crashed where she’s bribed off the sofa for last wees then carried off to bed where she takes about 20 minutes to settle in her open crate in our room where she sleeps for 8 hours thankfully soundly. Then we get up and do it all again!

Depends on the dog, mine was left 3 hours per day at 9 weeks, no issues. He's super chilled

I think the hard thing you don't really get until they are here is how much you have to take them out to toilet train. It always seemed to be as soon as you look away they pee or poo and ideally you need to minimise the number of times they have accidents inside.

Also the time it takes with you standing about in the garden with them willing them to toilet so you can go inside to only have to repeat it again soon after. You do need to be outside with them as well to praise them when they toilet as well as making sure they don't turn the garden into a big chew/stone eating playground.

And for lots of puppies toilet training can last weeks/months.

It sounds like a solid daily routine could be the key here?

Well I've found it invaluable with this one, who seems to be either going at 100mph or asleep! I would definitely recommend crate training (with a cover over, lots of cosy blankets and some puppy lullabies on the Alexa!) the first few weeks are really hard work and will be you just getting to know the puppy and constantly putting it out for the loo. I've found they get hyper when they don't get enough sleep so I've gone for proper crate naps rather than letting them doze here and there.

There's a book called easy peasy puppy squeazy (I think) that comes highly recommended on here, plus plenty of online advice about crate training properly. It's important to create positive associations with the crate and do it gently rather than expect them to take to it straight away.

I've worked from home 3 days a week since we bought our pup home at 8 weeks old. At first he was in the office with me so I could keep an eye on him, then I started leaving him in the dining room. He's now 10 months old and for the last 3-4 months he's either napping in the dining room or at the bottom of the stairs whilst I work, occasionally coming up to see me and snooze next to me, but very rarely.
I do worry that it's affected how long he can be left alone. Anything past 3.5 hours will upset him.

It very much depends on the puppy.

We still had accidents up until she was 13/14 months old, unless we set alarms to take her out regardless of meetings. She would always always let us know she wanted to go but sometimes with not enough warning to get to the back door. So it took a long time to have uninterrupted work days.

Other than that it got a lot easier at about the 8 months mark. Morning walk, snooze until 11ish, have a chew, then we'd have lunch around 1 which would include some training and play. Snooze, Kong, snooze, then we'd log off. I have no idea when it started getting really easy and we no longer needed a selection of chews at our desk, but we're now 2.5 and it's morning walk, snooze, lunch with play/training/cuddles (1 or more of the 3), snooze. We can also manage much longer work days, 9am-7/8pm is fairly regular. She does got to a lovely home based daycare twice a week which helps.

Teach your dog how to settle, for a while she was on a lead by my desk. Chews are a lifesaver for important meetings.