Hi I have just found out I have a problem next week. We got our new lab puppy on saturday and he is 8 weeks old. I have taken this week off work to be with him but Monday I go back to work. I work till 12 each day so always thought it would be ok as am in all afternoon but now found out that this first monday I go back my 6 yr old twins have got sports day from 12 till 3pm at there school~???!!! What do I do I cant face leaving my twins with no mummy watching them but pup will be alone for  7 hours!!! Will it be ok as a one off? I really dont know what to do. I have to go to work and I really dont feel able to miss sports day! It is typical if sports day had been one day later my husband could of come home in the afternoon but he cant monday as is meeting with top bosses. All advice welcome.

Can you find someone to pop into the house to be with the pup for a few hours, will you be back in the house with it from say 12.30 to 2.30 if so you will be able to feed and play with it before you leave for the school. Could you going into work and see if you can leave early, so you can get to be with the puppy for a couple of hours. Can it go back to the breeder for the day?

Are you able to pop home between work and school?
I'm just thinking that maybe you could pick him up and have him in the car, as I know my Alfie would prefer to be in the car than at home.  Does he have a crate?  Saying this, I suppose it's too early for you to know if he's happy in the car?
Mind you, I don't know what the weather forecast is for Monday, might be a bit too warm.

Can you not take him to sports day with you ? :)

not really because he obviousley cant go on the floor as yet and he weighs a lot and there is no way I can hold him for all that time.I really dont know what to do. I can possibly get home for an hour in the middle do you think this would be any good?

That would be brilliant! If you can break up the isolation he'll be a lot happier, cos he'll need something to eat at lunchtime. You'll find a way around the problem - nothing is insurmountable.
:)

I think the pup would be very distressed being with you for one week and then being left for 7 hours with no real "alone" training. I know you dont want to miss sports day but if you really cannot get someone to look after the pup, i hate to say it but you will have to!!! :( Leaving the pup for 7 hours is far too long and you are almost bound to come home to a terrible mess which won't of course be the pup's fault.

Whilst he is with you this week, start to pop him behind a childgate separate  from you with a tasty stuffed kong for just a few minutes; this can be the start of teaching him that you are not always there and even when you are in the house you cannot give him total attention. The idea is that this is built up slowly over many weeks so that he eventually is happy being left.

The longest i have ever left my adult dog, who is happy being left, is 5 and a half hours (just the once - we got stuck in traffic!!) ; when i did homechecking we were told to advise that 4 hours should be the maximum under normal circumstances for an adult dog.

I really hope you manage to sort something out so that you can go to the sports day :)

Lindsay
X

Katy,
Now everyone has made you feel like the "owner from hell" ;-) i'll try and cheer you up a bit!

Go to your sports day and enjoy it. Yes he'll probably yell his head off, mess on the floor and chew everything in sight! However he's an 8 week puppy, so he'd probably do that if you left him for 15 minutes!

Not sure about you, but all my pups are left for 7 hours when I go to bed. At least at 8 weeks old he wont get distressed about having to hold his bladder & bowels as he'll go as soon as he needs to!

Try and relax, as I've posted somewhere else on here, owning a dog is supposed to be fun. Many of the posters on this forum seem to spend more time worrying about one thing or another than actually enjoying their dog. The more relaxed and pragmatic you are the easier you will find rearing your puppy into a relaxed, confident dog.

I'm not arguing that its ideal to leave a pup for that long, certainly not on a regular basis. However, the more you can get the dog to adapt to your life, the happier you'll both be.

Mixing small puppies and young children is hard work. I wouldnt 'inflict' it on my wife without the aid of a trusty outside kennel and run where the pup can be left for periods of the day.

Kind regards

Havoc ..I think that is very unfair ...all posters bar one gave helpful advice as requested :)

I agree with you otherwise though ..it WON'T kill the puppy for one day and yes, the oroginal poster may come back to a mess but, as you say, it isn't the end of the world

:)

Melodysk,

In my 'not so subtle' way I was just trying to cheer someone up, who (based on all their posts) is getting quite stressed and emotional about their new pup. All the advice given was kind and well meant, even where I dont agree with it. ;-)

If he was mine I'd take him to sports day with me.  Let him meet some children and their parents but not let them overwhelm him.  Unless of course the school has a no dog policy. :(  My dogs always went to the school sports day.  And my pups all went out and about in my arms at 8 weeks.

that was my line of thinking, my mum used to push one of our Afghan pups in a big old pushchair before he had his jabs so he could come and meet us from school etc... :)

THAT, I would love to have seen. :D

thank you havoc. I am trying to be calm but it is much harder work than I thought it would be and believe me I thought it would be hard. It is just really bad timing of the sports days next week. After that the kids have only one more week at school then we will all be home for 6 weeks so it will not be a regular thing I want to do to the max. I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel as max is really responding now to his name and also he is even learning sit. Nobody believes me but he will sit before I give him his dinner and he now sits if I say "no" and then "sit" if he is trying to jump up and eat me.

<<< Nobody believes me but he will sit before I give him his dinner and he now sits if I say "no" and then "sit" if he is trying to jump up and eat me.
 
I believe you. :)  Try an experiment.  Leave out the "no" and just say "sit" when he is jumping up and see what happens. ;)

Katy,
Good to read you sounding more cheerful! I'm sure that there will be occasions over the holidays when you want to take the children out without the puppy, so well worth getting him used to being left as soon as you can.

Leave plenty of things to chew, a cardboard box to trash and contain him as much as possible to prevent household damage. Personally I try and avoid dragging very young puppies all over the place too often, I'm not particularly convinced by the benefits. It doesn't sound as if you are going to have a shy, retiring little pup!

Very best of luck!