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)?

It was hard. And it's just me. I found a routine from day 1. I did awake an hour, asleep an hour. During that asleep an hour I belted through as much work as I could. When she was awake I just tried as best I could. Meant the housework went to pot and I looked like a swamp dragon for the first few months. Also meant working later at night to make up for missed hours. Get a really good set of headphones so you can walk away from desk to allow out for pee's etc.
At say 5 months she was happy pottering around and now it's just like I thought life with a dog would be. It's mostly me going and finding her when I want a cuddle/play rather than the other way round.
I hated the first few months, but you'll get there! Next level chews and games tire them out more than walk I think at that stage. Good luck.

Thank you so much! Are there any particular chews or games you'd recommend?

@Pupppp

Anything from JR pets. They do puppy bundles as well. They smell revolting - even if they say they are low odour!
Kong - filled with yoghurt or peanut butter
Toys - snuffle mats or this long snake thing that was rolled up with treats stuffed inside them.
Ball pit left over from my babies - chucked the treats at the bottom. This one gave me rage though as the balls went everywhere!
Olive/ coffee wood chews - she still likes though.
Mine was a champion chomper and very good driven so this worked for us.
Tbh even going out into the garden and letting her sniff out kibble exhausted her at that stage - but this was last summer when the weather was more palatable.

This is triggering memories though of how tough it was, especially for meeting with camera on. It's short lived though. Oh I made sure she loved her crate as well. The crate fairy randomly stuck a different toy or pieces of chicken etc in their and she still likes to have a good sniff around.

Yep I would say 5/6 months. Certainly 8 weeks to 3/4 months they are a full time job! Obviously some are more chilled than others... but they all need watching 100% for toilet training when tiny, and they all need training and educating when small. That doesn't really fit with working. One of us was on puppy watch until he was about 3 months.

My pup is 5 month old now and will happily snooze most of the day, with potty breaks of course, and two to three walks to the park + training sessions.

I must add, he has started to do so when i deliberately stopped giving him my full attention. One day, after a long play session + walk in the park, I just started to work on my desk and very quickly he settled on his own.

My sister has a pup of similar age, and she has never really stopped working (from home) and her dog has been able to settle earlier than mine. They're both different breeds, but my point is, I'm not sure we're helping them getting independant by giving them our full attention for weeks on end. That was my mistake, as I wasn't working at this time.

My sister and her ex got a lab puppy. They split a month later and they now stay with me. I think wfh has made her way too clingy. Mostly me wfh but because she's always with someone she's a nervous anxious wreck. She isn't my dog even though I have her 65% of the time and if I were my sister I'd have done things completely different. She was allowed out 2 weeks after her jags. She goes out at lunch and around 7.30pm xx

Our pup has always been with someone (at 7 months we’ve just started home alone training and it’s going well so far). She’s a really confident happy dog who is independent enough not to be clingy but very responsive and receptive to us, excelling at training classes and is happy to play alone and amuse herself if we’re not able or don’t want to entertain her.

You can’t generalise. They’re individuals.

It worked beautifully for me. But I was just very lucky, I think. Plus my dog is a terrier and I do think that, provided they have a proper amount of exercise and stimulation in their daily routine, they quite readily settle betweentimes.
I used a doggy play-pen next to my workstation.

We have an eight month old lab with either my ds or dh wfh most days. However, we’ve struggled. He has a two hour on, and then two hour sleep routine. When he’s awake, he needs watching and rarely will just settle all the time. It was harder in the early days when he was a little dynamite.

It is getting easier but we’re not at the chilled dog stage yet, so I would say to research breeds carefully, and don’t underestimate how much time and energy (day and night) they take up.

There are definitely rescues which will rehome with children if the dog has been in foster homes with other younger children. What sort of breed were you looking for?

I have a 9 month old lab and a 7 year old lab and when I am WFH, I leave the backdoor open, they potter about, play with their toys, sleep whenever they want and bark non stop when I am on an important call

Its not been a bother to be honest.

I've found a few that say they do, but when I look at the listings it's page after page of dogs that can't live with children. One let me filter and the only they had that could live with kids was a 13yo terrier about 200 miles away.

Your experience sounds much easier than what others have described... I wonder if the puppy is entertained a lot by your older dog? Not that I want to get 2 straight off the bat!

Same here. I'm guessing it depends on the breed and the dog itself. I was dreading it after reading horror stories on here but it was nothing like that. We have a 5 month old Weimaraner and she'll pretty much just sleep or play with a toy whilst we are working. We do have an older dog in the house too though (13 and same breed) so perhaps that's made a difference.

@Pupppp I have a 15 week old puppy and work from home. So far she’s been an absolute dream. We have breakfast and go for a walk, then she snoozes until lunchtime. We go for another walk at lunchtime and she has another sleep in the afternoon. I do give her a bit of a fuss/play at points during the day but not because she demands it-she seems really happy sleeping in her bed next to my desk. She then gets lots of attention in the evening when the rest of the family gets home.
Breed and individual temperament probably play a big part in how on the go a puppy is during the day. Ours is a whippet cross and she’s fabulous. She has some chaotic moments but generally she’s really placid (the biting that got me down around ten weeks has largely subsided now thank goodness 😅)

Wfh with a puppy is hard work but doable depending on your job. The advice is to limit the duration of their walks when they are little so you can't do a big walk to tire them out in the early months. They do need lots of naps though or they get very bitey and silly. I found with ours when she was under a year I needed to take multiple breaks through the day for games and training and cuddles. She is two now and will chill out after a big morning walk, want some games in the garden about midday then be ready for another walk around 5pm. She goes to daycare twice a week which she loves and she also does agility classes and flyball all of which is great for tiring her out mentally and physically. She is a working breed so another dog might be more low maintenance.

No not really, the older one really can't be bothered with him! The little one is lying on my feet under my desk at the moment. I had put a lot of time into house training him so that he would go outside when he needed to. My partner was at home with the older one when we got him and he was pretty much the same. I do think having constant access to the garden helps (unless it's chucking it down of course!) as does having music playing in the background when I'm not on calls. I talk to them a lot, they know all about my people issues....

I got my pup at 9 weeks old and WFH full time. She's been very easy but did require very frequent toilet trips whilst house training which took til she was reliably dry around 4 months.

She's now 9 months and if anything it's less easy now as she's awake more and I feel can get bored at times. I do play with her or train in short bursts from my desk or when making drinks etc and on fine days the doors to the garden are open too.

She's a very chilled pup though, which surprises people as she's a cocker spaniel but it's a big part her temperament and part effort to train from me when she was tiny.