How do you have a puppy and work?

[Anonymous]

Real question, I know most people do it, but I've never had a dog (or a pet) growing up so I have no idea. My husband had dogs growing up, but they lived at their farm house which his family visited on weekend, but the dogs were mostly outside, so not a real pet bond. I work 4 times a week and I'm out of the house for a bit less than 6 and 1/2 hours on those days (including work and travel to and from work) so the puppy would need to be alone for 6 1/2 hours. Don't they need to pee? My husband and my kids want a boxer puppy which are high energy, can they stay at home alone as puppies or do they stay in a crate? Is that normal to stay on a crate for that many hours as puppies? I'll be able to take the dog out for an hour after work (running with me after the dog grows up). I know it's difference once they are older and trained, but as little puppies how did you handle a pup and work?

[Anonymous]

You either get a dog walker to come or put them in doggie daycare. Or get an older dog instead of a puppy.

[Anonymous]

Hi op! I worked a similar schedule when we got our puppy years ago. I crated her when she was very young. I was also able to come home after she'd been home alone in her crate for about 3-4 hours. I'd quickly take her out, give her a treat, and then leave. I'd be back a couple hours after that. I did this 3 or 4 days a week and 1-2 days she'd only be home alone 3 hours. As she got older and we built more trust, I'd leave her out of the crate while I left for 15-30 minutes at first and slowly build up to leaving her home alone out of the crate for longer and longer periods of time. We got rid of the crate before she was a year old. But in the beginning, we kept her crated during the hours we were at work. We started leaving her out of the crate on the weekends when we left for short time periods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You either get a dog walker to come or put them in doggie daycare. Or get an older dog instead of a puppy.

+1

[Anonymous]

We never had a problem crating for 6.5 houtlrs at a time. When our puppies were young we kept the crate by a door or we carried the puppy from the crate to outside.

[Anonymous]

The general rule is one hour for every month of age while they are puppies. So a six month old pup would be ok for six hours. A brand new puppy (8 weeks) should not be left in a crate for more than two hours without a break. People do it, but it’s just cruel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The general rule is one hour for every month of age while they are puppies. So a six month old pup would be ok for six hours. A brand new puppy (8 weeks) should not be left in a crate for more than two hours without a break. People do it, but it’s just cruel.

Yup. They always say they never had a problem with it but the puppy did. And it won't be the case for every puppy, but the longer you leave a very young puppy the more likely you are to run into Behavioral problems.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s cruel to bring a puppy into a dual working outside the Home situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s cruel to bring a puppy into a dual working outside the Home situation.

Less cruel than dogs getting put to sleep because there aren’t enough people who meet your criteria

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s cruel to bring a puppy into a dual working outside the Home situation.

How do you feel about families that have children in "school" (daycare) from 7-7 every day and the kids only see the parents for an hour or two a day. That bothers me a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s cruel to bring a puppy into a dual working outside the Home situation.

How do you feel about families that have children in "school" (daycare) from 7-7 every day and the kids only see the parents for an hour or two a day. That bothers me a lot more.

I’m not sure that my feeling on that would be appropriate in the pet forum. We chose to have a SAHP for all of our family members who need care, pet included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s cruel to bring a puppy into a dual working outside the Home situation.

Less cruel than dogs getting put to sleep because there aren’t enough people who meet your criteria

You think? I’d say euthanizing is kinder than forcing a small creature to grow up in a cage. Half the time these dogs go into working homes where no one has time for them and end up as “problem” dogs at the shelter anyone after being destroyed by lazy owners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s cruel to bring a puppy into a dual working outside the Home situation.

How do you feel about families that have children in "school" (daycare) from 7-7 every day and the kids only see the parents for an hour or two a day. That bothers me a lot more.

I’m not sure that my feeling on that would be appropriate in the pet forum. We chose to have a SAHP for all of our family members who need care, pet included.

Who cares? It isn't necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s cruel to bring a puppy into a dual working outside the Home situation.

Less cruel than dogs getting put to sleep because there aren’t enough people who meet your criteria

You think? I’d say euthanizing is kinder than forcing a small creature to grow up in a cage. Half the time these dogs go into working homes where no one has time for them and end up as “problem” dogs at the shelter anyone after being destroyed by lazy owners.

Most people only crate their puppies until they can be safely outside it without doing dangerous things like chewing wires, etc. By one year of age puppies have lost their baby teeth and are stabilized.

In addition, many people just confine them, not crate them. They can have a huge room to themselves as long as you have baby gates.

Let's just kill all the puppies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s cruel to bring a puppy into a dual working outside the Home situation.

Less cruel than dogs getting put to sleep because there aren’t enough people who meet your criteria

You think? I’d say euthanizing is kinder than forcing a small creature to grow up in a cage. Half the time these dogs go into working homes where no one has time for them and end up as “problem” dogs at the shelter anyone after being destroyed by lazy owners.

Would love to see your studies that show that 50 percent of dogs get euthanized if they come from a home where people are employed.

If anything many more pets are abandoned by rural, poor families that cannot afford to take care of them. Most of the puppies that come to this area are rescued from rural, high-kill shelters.

So many stupid people on DCUM.