Hello,

We are finally getting our puppy, after over a year of waiting   It's an Estrela Mountain Dog and we're hoping it will come home around the beginning of April.

I've been thinking about practicalities and I could use some advice please.  I know that the puppy will need house-training, socialising and I need to build up the time it spends alone to avoid separation anxiety.  However, I do have a job to go to and a limited amount of holiday (because I also have a school age child).  I only work for 4 hours per day, including travelling time.

Originally I had planned to take six weeks off work when the puppy came home.  However, its looking increasingly difficult for me to do that.  I can't take the puppy into the office with me.  I can't work from home.  I can certainly take some holiday, but not six weeks.

Do you have any suggestions?  Did any of you get a puppy whilst having a job?  How did you manage?  People keep saying to me, "Most people don't take that much time off when they get a puppy!" but I'm not sure if that's true...?

Worst case scenario - I will have to take a month of unpaid leave and two weeks of standard leave.  I'm not willing to be cruel to our beloved puppy due to circumstances, and if that's what it takes, I will do it.  But it will cause us quite substantial financial harm, so I am looking for alternatives.  Thanks in advance.

I am lucky enough not to have  to work :) but most people do there is always a way around this so dont worry.

I would take 2 wks off if at all possible to house train and crate train my new puppy. Do you have a relative good neighbour or doggy friend who could call in to let puppy out of the crate for a little play and to toilet while you are at work. As puppy gets older things will get much easier for you.
I have friends who do this for a living ie dog walking pet sitting or the dogs go to thier homes while owners are on holiday. So ask around visit  you local training school .
There are many options open to you , did the breeder not discuss this with you ?
Also I would say 4 hours is about minimum for a puppy to be left alone crated during the day especially if they are crated at night too.

HTH

Roni

Hi,
How exciting! They are lovely dogs. As you say they need a lot of socialising when young, and he (?) will take up much of your time, I'd think :p 
Have you got any friends or relatives, living nearby, who could help you out? He will grow quickly, and soon be a large dog, so a child isn't an option.
Looking forward to hearing all about him :-)
Karen
Edited; Posted at the same time Roni ;-)

I work a few hours in the morning; not every morning anymore but in the beginning it was Monday-Friday. I brought my golden puppy home on Friday afternoon and went into the office Monday morning - straight into the normal routine. He was alone for 4 hours without a problem. I do have a very large conservatory and that is what I used as his puppy containment zone. He was fine, never a peep, not stressed at all. He has always been very relaxed about being away from us and suffers no separation anxiety at all. I made a point of not crate training him because I would never want to leave a puppy in a crate that long. He would either sleep, eat his kong or watch the birds from the comfort of the conservatory chair. (and every other week had the responsibility of supervising the window washer!) The only downside was the toilet issue. He had to go in the conservatory a few times but with normal training when I was home we got by. He was fully housetrained in a couple weeks.

I did test him out for a few minutes to begin with; listened out front etc. I spoke with the neighbour too to make sure he wasn't howling or upset when he was alone. You'll have to see how your puppy is and work with their personality and needs.

So it can be done. Personally I would prefer not to use a crate for that amount of time but there are other options, like play pens, that will give the puppy more room to move around if you don't have a safe room.

Lori - can I just use your post to remind people that once (if!) summer comes around, a south-facing conservatory is NOT the best place for a dog/puppy - especially if we get a really hot spell.

In the local papers we had once incident last year, and one the year previously of dogs dying in conservatories :( .   Do make sure that they have access to another, cooler room if you leave them in a conservatory normally for two or three hours.

Just as you don't leave unattended dogs in a parked car, same ruling should apply to a south-facing conservatory.

Margot

A very good point, Margot. South-facing conservatories can quickly become ovens in hot weather.

Yes good point Margot. I never left him in a hot conservatory. I shouldn't count on all possiblities occuring to people.

Here are my knuckles for a good slapping for not mentioning that!

I think that it is being advised now NOT to have glass roofs on south-facing conservatories :)

Daisy

Hi

I took 2 weeks off when I got my puppy. I work all day and by husband gets home by 3pm, but I would come home at 12ish every day to let her out and play with her. On the days I could not make it home, then my neighbough would come in. I always left the radio on and she only had access to the kitchen when left alone. that was nearly 2 years ago and she is a lovely girl.

I am not going to say that there weren't accidents, but I would not leave to go to work until she had done her business is the morning and would not have her around when I cleared up her mess. Maybe house training took a little longer, but she got used to it and after about 3 months was dry (we got her when she was 11 weeks old as well so her breeder had done some house training with her.)

good luck with the pup.

Thank you all, you are making me feel much better!

I think I could get 3 weeks off, especially if the puppy's arrival coincides with the Easter hols, which it looks like it will.
I haven't spoken to the breeder about it yet because the puppies haven't even been born yet!  They are due in three weeks.  I'm sure she will go over everything before we take the pup home.

We don't have family near us and all my friends work.  However I could probably ask our next door neighbour to let the puppy out in the early weeks... and I could probably get home in working hours occasionally... and now I think about it, husband could take a (very) early lunchbreak some days to let the puppy out.

I'm planning to crate train, but could leave the crate open and restrict access to the kitchen while I'm at work.  If I've done three weeks of housetraining and somebody pops in during the 4 hours, hopefully we won't have too many accidents. 

Any further suggestions are welcome! Thank you very much.

3 weeks would be fine, but could you not arrange with the breeder, as the pups are due to go to their new homes at easter, she could hold him back/be the first to go in order for you to do this :)  our pups normally get 2-3 weeks full time attention from my parents, then arranged when I could get home from school and their lunch hours, we've never had a problem with having a puppy and it's worked.  Both my parents work full time.

I didn't take more than a few days off, but I have never only had one puppy at a time, I got 2 at once (eek) and then added a third. Also I work round the corner from my house so could go home without fail every lunch time, and I never work early or late - they don't pay me enough for overtime!! :-D

Only a few days when we got our GSD as she was bought as a surprize by my ex and she was fine.
I was more concerned the first morning that I had to leave my JRT pup with our then 5 year old GSD. We took 3 weeks off between us and had put her in a crate on the odd short period that we had left her but couldn't leave her in it for four hours.  
Our Gsd has the run of the house so was afraid it If I restricted the pup they would whine to be together as they seemed to have really bonded but was ever so afraid that after 3 weeks of having her tail and ears bitten sacha would take revenge. Did I breath a sigh of relief when I came home and she was curled up on her cushion fast asleep.