I have an 11 week old Boxer. I work from home (upstairs in my office) and when I am not with him I leave him in his crate. I have tried to keep him in my office but I am having to constantly watch him with cables and also incase he needs to relieve himself. I feel guilty about not being with him all the time and don't know how much time I should be spending with him. Can anyone help?!

Why did you buy him??  Puppies at that age need lots of time , patients and attention.

Henny

I only work for 15 hours a week and this is at home. I was just looking for some advice of what to do when I am at home but in an area of the house that he is not able to access.

What a stupid, unhelpful post. (Henny's I mean!)

Hi,

Would it be possible for you to have a crate upstairs with you when you're working as well?  That way he could learn that he needs to settle down quietly for the few hours you're working.  As he gets used to settling in the locked crate, you could then start leaving the door open.

Obviously, the proviso to that is that he shouldn't be charging up the stairs, so you'd have to be carrying him for a good while yet, and he'll no doubt get heavy :D

Marina

Snap, Marina!
:)

Thanks for that advice, I will give it a go

Can you have his crate in your office with you? Then you'll be able to carry on with his housetraining etc without having to go downstairs every half-hour or so to check if he needs to go out, and he won't be able to come to harm.
:)

Great minds think alike, as they say :D

<<<<I was just looking for some advice of what to do when I am at home but in an area of the house that he is not able to access.>>>>

JMO, but 15 hrs over the week, isn't a lot of time to spend being 'settled' where ever you decide his crate is to be. If there are other areas of the house he isn't to have access to, as well as your office, then now is the time to be training him for this, Not when he's older and you've carted him and his crate around from room to room with you during puppyhood :)

Yes, but he is still being toilet trained and inquisitive and it is difficult constantly watching him when I am trying to concentrate on working. He is familiar with all the rooms in the house

If you are working for an hour or so and taking  a break to see him and let him outside, have a little play etc there should be no problem leaving him in a different room for that hour or two. Obviously its a different matter if you are working 6 hours or so without tending to him :rolleyes:
If you take him everywhere with you , when the time comes when you do have to leave him for a longer period you may get seperation anxiety where by he is not used to be left alone.
Similairly if you leave him for long periods alone he is not going to learn anything

If you work from home- surely you can take breaks when you feel like and as he gets older you can work for slightly longer periods

Thanks for your response. It's a difficult juggling act too much or too little!
Cheers for all your replies

Hi,

I work from home most of the time - when my dog was a puppy I kept a crate in my office.  

You do have to accept the fact that the puppy is going to disturb you and that the fifteen hours you are acustomed to working will take about 30 hours to do for the next couple of months. :-)

Stacey

P.S. My desk is actually a long counter which is up against a window to my front garden.  I now have a dog bed on top of the desk for Abby to doze and watch what's going on outside.  Best work environment ever.

Thanks, I agree with your point about 15 hours taking 30 hours, Dogs are a great time waster!

Hi, all the time you give him now is gold in the bank, your investment in a happy well mannered dog, not wasted time. :) Like you Id rather spend time with my dog than anything else.

although its important to spend time with your dog, its also important for him to learn to be happy alone for short periods. In my experience, if you are with a dog constantly, they dont learn how to cope, and come the day you need to go out for a short time, there is a greater chance of seperation anxiety. Your dog should be fine in  a crate away from you for an hour...then you can get up maybe hourly to check. If you worry about this try using a baby alarm, the plug in type. you will be able to keep an "ear on him", but he wont know it. you will hear if he needs you. He can maybe spend some  of the day with you, some alone. I would not recommend keeping him in the same room as you 100% of he time, or he will never learn to cope.
Cathy

We're pretty much in the same situation with our 12 week old SBT, Bam. I work away at the office, but my boyfriend works from home all week. We initially had the crate upstairs in the office, but it was a pain having to lug it up and downstairs when he'd finished work, and carry Bam up and down the stairs once an hour. So, we decided to leave the crate down in the kitchen. Luckily my boyfriend's work schedule is quite flexible, so he gets up earlier to spend time with Bam (I get up at 6:30am, take Bam out before I leave, and then plonk him in bed with my boyfriend!), and takes him out at least once an hour during the day. Once Bam does his business, then they have a short play session as a reward. Bam's probably in the crate no longer than 35 minutes at a time, and as he's been getting better behaved and more relaxed, my boyfriend has been having him upstairs while he's working for short periods. One of the benefits about keeping him downstairs is that he's used to NOT being attached to a human's hip 24-7, so is able to settle when we need to go out shopping and leave him all on his lonesome.

Some other things you might consider: an ex-pen attached to his crate set up in your office, buying another crate to keep solely upstairs (we have two - a 'bed' crate in our room, and a huge play crate downstairs - soooo worth the money!) or, if you have a bathroom upstairs, then puppy-proof it and put a baby gate over the open door so he can see you. You'll still need to take him out about once every 1-2 hours at that age, though.

why do people keep trying to liken puppies to babies??? puppies learn and grow so much faster! my boy has been crate trained since I got him, first few weeks never in there for very long, but he has loved it since day one - only pee'd in there first 2 nights and been clean and dry ever since - he is now 6 months old, and if the door to the utility room where his crate is is shut, he cries to get in there for his afternoon nap!! its so good to be able to go out for a few hours in the day and know when we come home both he and the house is in tact - also like others have said on here, it is good for them to have time without you there! I left my boy for the first time ever last week, my Mum and Dad came over to look after him, sticking pretty much to the way we do things with him, but we were worried how he'd cope, but shouldnt have bothered, when we got home late in the day, he was sprawled out on my Mums lap - good going for a rather large Gordon!! - didnt even raise an eyebrow!!! this is the same dog who is so much a "Mummies Boy" - I cant even go to the loo without him sitting nose to the door till I come back!! boy did he sulk that night - but I digress, my original point being, crates are fine - a godsend really - an hour or two a day is absolutely fine, you and he will benefit from time apart!

P.S is your dogs name Murphy??? or is that you?! I only ask cos my boy is Murphy!

I would much rather use a BABY gate then lock the dog in a cage!

christine

I don't think anyone likened puppies to babies in this thread? I just mentioned the use of a baby gate as a tool. Some dogs don't like being shut in a room behind a door, and a 'baby' gate (or any old see-through barrier) will calm them down if they can see what's going on around the house.

My dog is called Murphy! Thanks for the reply

Baby gate sounds like a great idea to me