Hi, i would welcome your advice.  I am hoping to get a mini  dachshund, my only concern is that i work part time 2/3 days a week and would be out of house for approx 6 hours.  I live faiarly local to my work, so
could pop home for 20 mins during break.  Alternatively I am considering getting a pet sitter to call in
as I dont know if the 20 mins is long enough break for the pup.  I have spoken to various breeders and have had lots of conflicting info, have also asked advice from 2 local vets who adv that pup should cope fine with this.  Would welcome your comments especially from anyone who has been in a similar situation.  Thanks.

I would have said this would be perfectly OK.  Housetraining may be a little slower but if you are very consistant with it when you are around I would not envisage too much trouble, although I understand this breed can be a little tricky in that department :)  I would start from the very beginning leaving the puppy for an hour or so even if not going to work, preferably when it is sleepy anyway, to establish a pattern, everything is new to puppies so they are generally ameniable to accept whatever  is going on and you should have plenty of time left in the week to provide your little dog with the company it will need.

Although on the face of it the time you will be away from the pup seems small, this will make for much harder house-training..and it is enough time for the pup to develop destructive or noisy habits.  You will come home to mess in that 20 minutes without doubt..so you have to be aware that in that 20 minutes you might be cleaning the floor and won't have time to spend with the puppy !  Puppies need consistency - if you worked say three hours I would say go for it....but I do feel six hours two to three days per week is too long and I, personally, wouldn't sell a puppy into this situation.  I would perhaps look into the idea of a pet-sitter...or better still, a puppy creche, where you can take the puppy to stay in a home environment while you work...although these facilities are limited depending on the area.  If the puppy is bred locally it might be possible for the breeder to have the puppy back on a ' creche ' basis? - even if it's only until you can gradually build up the time the pup is left as it matures...for payment of course.  Try to think laterally, it will inevietably cost money but it will be of huge benefit to any puppy you aquire.

The other alternative would be to take on an older rescue dog?

Hope you can sort something out - best wishes
Genie

You come home to mess if you leave a puppy for an hour :)  I use a puppy pen about 5' x 3' bottomed with a, paper lined plastic tray so puppy can be scooped out and left to play about the kitchen (after a pee stop outside) enjoying my company as I clean the pen out, I give no chastisement for any mess and it doesn't seem to interfer too much with the general housetraining which I usually crack in about 10 days.  The clean up process takes no more than five minutes even when puppies paws' need a wet wipe.   I generally argue against full time workers having puppies :) but this really does seem reasonable to me.

Hi, thanks for your help.. Do you put puppy in pen all time you are out and overnight then.  Some people have reccommended getting a cage /pen.  Do you know where the best place to get these is?

I use a crate at night for my puppies until they reach a more responsible age (which will vary :)) it means I don't have to worry about damaging or dangerous chewing and I think helps towards bladder training.  I use the pen at night if I have a litter or if I am leaving a singleton for more than about an hour in the day or whilst house cleaning etc. as, personally, I feel to cage again is a bit restricting for them. You can buy a very large plastic tray and appropriately sized mesh puppy panels from Croft
I think you could get a cage, though, from Argos at perhaps a better price and I'm sure big enough for your puppy.

hi isabel
how do you house train in 10 days? coz im thinking of getting another dacs ive been advised to wait 6mths as ive only had my first 1 for 4wks shes 6. ive never housetrained a dog befor so advice would be much appreciated!:)

Just be being very consistant.  Every time they wake from a nap, every time they finish a meal or every 45 mins or so when they are just playing you go outside with them and wait for a performance.  At first you will carry them out but you will soon get them trotting behind you if they know praise is likely to occur.  As soon as they start to squat use a command, I say Get Busy but anything will do followed by praise.  After about a week of consistantly doing this you will find you can give the command as soon as they start looking for a spot and the squat will follow quickly, to collect the praise :) in time they will start looking for some where to go as a response to a command which is extremely useful when you are in a hurry.  You will also quickly learn when a poo is likely to appear, usually following eating, so obviously wait in the garden until all jobs are done.  I never chastise for any mess they do when I am not there to let them out nor on the very rare occasion that it happens in front of me.

ill give it a try wen i eventually get another 1. thanks for your time!
sarah x

Another tip I would give, tommielfc, is make life easy for yourself, avoid stress.  I restrict puppies to the kitchen and conservatory with its easy clean floor which are areas we spend a lot of time in anyway but even more so when we have a puppy.  Only when they are getting reliable do we allow them in the living room for short supervised spells, that way nothing horrible happens to my carpet.  I find this way I never get stressed and consequently neither does pup :)

It can be done, but you really need to put 100% of your time into watching the pup while it's awake. You can go to the loo/do the washing up/cook/read the paper etc while the pup's having a nap. When the pup's awake you can't take time out at all if you want to housetrain quickly. Unfortunately other members of the family and dogs have to be put on the back burner for the duration!
:)

Yes I should have mentioned that aspect JG :) I think its better, though, to make a real concentrated effort even at the neglect of husband etc :p because I think it is more tedious if the job drags on.

i think that would be fine a pup will make mess of course but even if you were home all day a pup can still make mess when you go into another room ect.plenty of toys and a radio for company lots of attention when you return .

Sorry, I think that 6 hours is way too long to leave a small puppy alone. I wouldn't sell a puppy to anyone who is out of the house more than 4 hours a day.

I sometimes think people really dont give dogs enough credit ... before anyone has a go i know puppies need a routine and you need to be there for them and we were with Leo... BUT people are so surprised with him because he is so "patient". We live in coventry, i go to uni in leicester and travel in each day and b/f works in Northampton - he takes Leo to the office with him, so he spends lots of time in "his" car and a lot of time in "his" office. Once a week we stay at my parents and he sometimes goes round there in the day. In fact half the time we get in the car he doesnt know where he is going.

He however, takes it all in his stride he loves his car, he loves his office and when the delivery men come they all play with him or ask where he is if he is not there, he really doesnt seem to mind anything and i think the reason is that he is used to it because he has been used to it since he was a puppy.

Anyway back to the question in point - is there anyway you can do both? you come home in your 20mins break AND get a dog sitter or friend etc to come for another 20 mins then the pup could have a break every 2 hours if you are out for 6???

I agree dogs are more adaptable than most peple think.

the only problem ive found is most repritable breeders wont sell to someone who is out all day!  i have a daschund and shes very loving and loyal they want to be with you all the time! i personaly wouldnt leave her alone in the house for that long. but everyones different! x

I wouldn't sell a puppy to someone out all day. The Op is talking about 6 hours maybe only twice a week and nipping home, I've been known to be gone that much shopping in a week :)

Unfortunately most people have to work, I work long 8 hr days 5 on 5 off, I always make sure I get home at lunchtime for an hour. I have never had a problem with any of my dogs, as soon as I put my uniform on they know I am going to work. On my days off they sleep most of the time anyway!! If you can take  some time off for when the pup arrives he will be fine. All dogs should learn they have to be alone sometimes, you just can't take them everywhere.

I am sorry, but I would not sell a pup to someone who worked more than 4hours a day either.  An 8 week old pup needs a routine. it is unfair to MAKE it have no choice but to dirty its personal area. There is a big difference between the odd accident and having to find an area in the house to go. Also, it can take anywhere up to 6 months for a puppy to be able to have any bladder control.  The OP is talking 6 hours plus 3 times a week, where is the consitency in this?  Is there any chance that you could take a couple of weeks holidays when getting the pup, this will at least give pup time to settle into its new surrounding, mabe going out a little at a time daily, lengthening the time you are away, until you return to work?  This may soften the blow a little for the pup.  Do you have someone who can come and sit with the pup for a couple of hours a day? This would certainly help until the pup was a little older. At the end of the day, it is down to the breeder to decide if they would want one of their pups to be placed into this type of situation.  Not the vets :)

Someone who worked 4 hours a day could well be out of the house 5 hours with travelling to and fro, not much different to OP out of the house 6 hours.  Do you think there is a much better chance you will come home to no pees after 4 hours? :)  In my experience once a puppy gets to handle bladder control for 4 hours it is not very long at all before they can manage 6.  But really the issues of a clean kitchen would be a minor concern to me I think the issue of human companionship is far more important and I think someone depriving their puppy of company for 12-18 hours in total in a week is really not that bad compared to say the 40 hours a full time worker would be gone assuming very little travel time.  This is a just about the limit I would like for one of my puppies but I would certainly consider this case if all other aspects were favourable.

Hi
I know it's difficult but really it is not fair to keep a puppy and be at work for several hours. Perhaps as previously posted it would be better to home a dog who is a little bit older and does not expect YOUR  undivided attention. I don't blame you for wanting a companion and dogs really are the best company but be cautious in who and why you choose your next 'soulmate' . Good luck to you ALL !!!

I'm dead against people getting a puppy and then going off to work the very next day for 8-10 hours,40 hours a week! But surely 3-4 hours a few times a week isnt going to be to the detriment of the pup? Sure it might take a little longer to housetrain,but what do you do?? You could give it a big feed and tire him out with some play and hopefully he should sleep the rest of the time away. I think it would be in your and the pups best interest if you could take around a month off of work to start the training process and start slowly getting him used to being alone,5 minutes today, 20 minutes tomorrow and so on,i dont like it when people buy a weekend pup and then go straight back to work on the Monday :(

I wonder how many people tell breeders that they only work a few hours a week but really have full time jobs??

It is probaly not ideal to leave a puppy to it's own devices,in the perfect world,but it has to get used to being alone for short times eventually. I think a dog walker,pet sitter or day care is a brilliant idea :)

I also dont think it's fair to crate a pup for more than an hour and expect it to hold it's bladder and force it to soil it's den,might be a better idea to shut him in the kitchen while your'e gone. Having said that i never crated my dogs,i hate the things,nor did i ever shut them away when i went out,they always had run of the house from day 1 :)

I have the same concerns as i was thinking about getting a puppy in the near future. The dog I had that recently died was fine to be left for up to 10 hours (very rearely used to do this), but he was 4 years old when I got him.
People all used to say its unfair to leave him all day, but they saw how happy he was and how much love and affection I gave him that they soon changed their minds.
My partner wants a Rottwieler puppy, and I would be a little concerned to get a rescue dog of this breed, but if I did get one, I would a couple of weeks off work while he got used to his surroundings. I leave home at 9am to go to work, come home at lunch for an hour and my partner is home by 3.30, so the dog would be left on their own for the same amount of time.
I spoke to my vet about this last week, and he was saying that he has labradors and they have always been fine if left alone since they were puppies, and I don't think you get more destructive than labradors.
We have put our decision on hold for now as we still have my partners Staffie at home, and he doesn't really like other dogs too much, so we are going to pamper him until he leaves us.

Just a thought, have you considered getting two older dogs to keep each other company while your out?

i thought long and hard about this before answering it. I think if you can take a month off between you when you first have your pup and then afterwards only leave him for two six hour periods per week with the 20 min visit and pet sitter occasionally so some weeks its only once a week then you would be ok I dont think three days a week is fair. Saying that we have a staff and they love company and it would be cruel considering her nature to leave her for long periods but I dont know what Dach's are like 

dacs are just the same they always want to be with you,mine doesnt leave my side she goes everywere with me!!! the most i leave mine for is 2hrs a day as i have to take and pick up my little one from school and they dont allow you to take dogs!!! but if i worked im sure wede have to sort something out,i couldnt personaly leave a young pup for that amount of time alone .at that age they need you to be there most! but thats just my opinion! youde probibly be better getting an older dog as daschunds are nown for being hard to train so ude prob come home to a mess!!!
sarah x