I need to vent my worries with someone.
I just had a call from my friend who has a 5 year old jack russell. My friend works from 7am to 5pm daily and the dog spends all day on her own, she can get out into the garden by a dog flap.This of course she is used to and seems a reasonably happy dog in spite of this. However the call i just got she told me she and her OH (who works away from home all week) are getting a jack russell puppy tonight.
She is expecting to leave this puppy all day from tomorrow morning with the other dog alone in the house. She has told me that she will drop a key off to me tonight and i will be expected to go in and see if the puppy is ok sometime tomorrow.

I expect you can imagine all my worries with this scenario.
She has never had a puppy before, the other dog came as an adult.
The puppy willl not be able to go out in the garden during the day unless it can get out the dog flap, could it get back in!!!
I told her that she would have to block off the stairs in case it gets up, falls down, gets stuck!!!!
How many feeds will it need, i dont know how old it is yet.
Oh my goodness I feel really sick to the stomach as how the poor little thing is going to cope, or me come to that. It is worrying me so much I cant stop thinking about it.
I have tried in the past to tell her that it wouldnt be a good idea, at least an older dog would be better for them.
Why do they want another dog when they are out all day.
I feel like i should go round there but who am I the puppy police????

betty this person is asking, or sounds more like demanding, that you help so you defo have a right to say something.

If the pup's less that 12 weeks old it will need 4 meals a day, and will need someone there fulltime to housetrain it. It won't automatically know how it's supposed to go outside to mess, let alone how to use he dogflap.

Their house is going to be covered in pee and poo and they're going to blame the puppy, I bet.

Yes she is definately expecting me to help, she is not even a close friend really, and i have 2 dogs of my own to cope with. What can i say that i havent said to her already.
Some people just do what they want, without taking any notice of others.

She told me that the puppy is used to using newspaper, i just chuckled to myself, like a puppy will go directly to the paper if no one is there to tell it.
Yes i know that the pup will probably need at least 3/4 meals, i wonder who will have to feed it while they are working.
I have plans this week to go out, the puppy will be alone all day.
I cant imagine how they will ever train it to go out the garden.
I am going round there now to chat with them.
Hope i dont offend them but puppy comes first.
Fingers crossed for me.

well they are not in, maybe they have gone to pick it up!!!!!!!!!!!

One evening isn't enough to make sure that the other dog will be ok with the pup, let alone being left alone with it with no supervision :(  anything could happen!!!!   poor, poor puppy :(

Indeed poor puppy, who would let anyone who is out all day have a puppy one wonders, they can't care about it's welfare very much. If you don't wish or are unable to help with this pup and they have been told then you had better tell them you will contact the RSPCA. It is not your responsibility to call in and care for the puppy but as you know about it you will have to do something and passing your concerns to the authorities it about the best you can do.

I agree with Nova, call the rspca if they do what they plan.
Our new puppy is now 14 weeks old and the last 4 weeks I have been home constantly training him and hourse breaking him, also checking him with our other girl, I would never dream of leaving them 2 alone for a whole day at any point in my life let alone when we first got him!
Their house will be filthy and covered in poo and wee, then they will blame the puppy when they get in and it will probably develop fear issues from being shouted at so much for no reason :(

> Yes she is definately expecting me to help,

That speaks volumes doesn't it. I wouldn't expect my best friend to look after a brand new puppy every day. I'd be blunt and tell her you have too much to do to look after a puppy that young and so does she. You'll end up feeling sorry for it and taking it home - free puppy day care. :( Personally if this was just an acquaintence I'd say I wouldn't be there to help at all. It is hard. I walked with someone occasionally that was making a huge mistake in my opinion. She had a couple GSD adult males, one very dog aggressive and a bitch puppy that was 4-6 months old when she went and got another bitch puppy (both GSDs). I very bluntly asked her to take the pup back to the breeder for all her dogs sake. She cried, and ignored my advice, but I had to try. Sometimes it's worth offending someone even if you don't get the results you want.

What would make my blood go hot as well, is that they are saying "We are getting a JR puppy, and YOU have to come by to make sure its ok".  Like you said, you arent terribly close, and its a lot of responsibility to put on you.  It wasnt your decision to get a pup, and they should have made arrangements well before the time of picking the pup up, as to who was going to feed it, let it out, etc. 

We all know what the house is going to look like tonight, as far as puppy poo and wee, and the poor pup will get shouted at.  Like many say, when a puppy has an accident in the house, it isnt the puppies fault, but the owners who didnt watch it well enough to ensure an accident didnt occur.

I also wouldnt dream of leaving a pup unattended for that long, with another dog.  As someone has said, one night, a couple hours, isnt long enough to trust the two together.  It was just recently, that I have let Casie and Cher be together without much supervision, because Cher was a bother to the older dog, and I didnt want a fight while I was out. 

People are going to do what they want, but it doesnt mean you need to enable them.  But I know, our hearts as dog lovers, will pull for that pup, but its a horrid spot they put you in.

my biggest worry would be that she will come home to find the jr has killed the pup!!!

crossed my mind to sam, i'd never leave any animals newly aquainted alone at all let alone a pup for the full day!  poor little thing

Just to let you know that she didnt get the puppy sunday, i didnt hear from her but she stopped my son in the street to tell me that its coming on thursday evening so I am going round there tonight to speak to her about it.She has no idea about a puppy.
And you are right when you say i will end up taking it home with me, i couldnt leave it there alone, especially as the other dog isnt too keen on other dogs!!!
I will post later tonight when i have spoken to her to let you know what happens.

Can't you find out who the breeder is and call them to tell them that the pup will be left alone for (7am-5pm) 10 hours a day.

Trouble is when you go in to check, I bet they will expect you to clean up the poo and wee too, don't! after the first day if they still want the pup after walking into a stinking house, with chewed walls and mess, I will be surprised.

Very real problem that the pup will not be able to get back in if it follows the older pup outside too,

Very real problem as voiced by Sam that the older dog will hurt it, (it doesn't like other dogs!! ) it can take days/weeks for a resident dog to accept a pup, poor, poor puppy.

Better still as you are going to have to witness this disaray and possible injury to the dog, refuse to do it, refuse to go to the house as you do not agree with the circumstances, friend or not you do not have to be a party to it. And you do not need the guilt and upset that will go with it, walk away from the situation.  You don't have to do anything.

well went there tonight and vented all my opinions but was hit by a brick wall.The puppy is paid for and coming on thursday evening come what may.
My friend has said that she will have to get someone else to come in to see its ok, which makes me feel bad because i  will be thinking about it all the time although i would be wiping my hands of the situation.
At least if it was me going there i could keep my eye on it, and yes i would probably bring it home with me.
I tried telling her all the points that eveyone along with myself have raised but she seemes to block it all out.
I told her i dont care about her house only the pups welfare.

I even tried to say that she wouldnt leave her baby grandaughter alone for 5 mins. This is only a baby and it will be pining for its mum and siblings.
Thankfully its not quite as young as i feared, its 12 weeks. I asked if the breeder asked if they worked , she said they didnt ask. and as for feeding, its on 3 meals a day but they have been told to cut it down to 2 meals when they bring it home.
I just dont know what to do for the best.

This is NOT YOUR PROBLEM.  I know that this situation will tug on your heartstrings and they have already tried the "guilt trip" with you by saying they will have to find someone else to come in to see to the pup.  You have to try to forget about it and concentrate on your own dogs.  We can't help every poor dog, even though we'd like to.  The breeder obviously couldn't care less where the pup's going, otherwise a lot more questions would have been asked about where it was going and all the circumstances etc.  Such a shame.

Advise your friend that 12 weeks is too young for a pup to be going on to two meals a day :-(

Report her to the RSPCA.

Hi Would the RSPCA actually do anything. The pup will be fed and has shelter.Some one will be coming in during the day to check it. I know it is horrendous but the RSPCA are practically useless at times.  At best they may advice the new owner that their arrangements are not suitable for the pup.

Wendy

Your right lumphy they would not do anything, for all the reasons you have outlined,

Re: The feeding, of course 2 meals a day for a 12 week pup is obsured, the reason for more frequent smaller meals is because a pups tummy is not big enough to take two large meals, so if it just has two meals it will only be able to take small amounts in which case it will not be fed enough. :-(

The only way out of that is to leave a bowl of dry food down constantly for the pup to pick at if and when it is hungry, but of course having two dogs there and both allowed to roam free, the adult will no doubt eat the puppy food and the puppy may well try to eat the adult food, the owner will not know who has eaten what and how much.

The pup will learn to survive or it will flounder, it is out of your hands Bettyboo, you have aired your concerns, the RSPCA will not be interested pretty sure on that one, she has a neighbour coming in to check on the pup, who will no doubt clean up after it **rolleyes** and may feed it too.

I expect that we are different people, but I would walk away and think about it no more, why upset yourself with things that are out of your hands, look at how upset you have become before the pup is even here, there is nothing more you can do or anyone else, if things don't work out no doubt the pup will be back with the breeder.

There is always the chance that although not an ideal start that the pup will be ok, I doubt it will be very well trained and socialised but it may well get by. :-)

Bless you for caring, but your friend may well see you as being too intrusive now if you should continue to make it your problem.

Well thanks everyone for your thoughts on this matter. I have been told by the lady that she has her husbands mother coming to the house twice a day to see to the puppy, which i find strange because she lives about 3/4 miles or so away and is in her seventies at least, which makes me think she is telling me porkies.
But yes i have to let it go, i am sure that despite my concerns the puppy will survive. I think she did think that i thought she was a bad dog owner which i dont, but i think she is very nieve to think eveything will go smoothly to say the least. Although i wont be going in to see to it, I have said that i would love to come round and see their new addittion trying to keep good lines of friendship with her.

I think you are doing the right thing. You have told her all about the pitfalls and she hasn't listened. I know this is pulling at your heart but I am afraid that you have to come away. Obviously the breeder doesn't care, she has her sale. We just have to hope that the older dog does do any damage to the puppy, but although it upsets me to think of it, it is not your problem. Shame she doesn't see that she has a good friend.

Hi
Personally I think she is a bad dog owner leaving an adult dog alone for 10 hours a day is cruel- let alone now getting a second one. It is fine having somebody going in to tend to them but that is still too long to be left maybe you should advise owning 2 cats rather than 2 dogs. Keeping the lines of friendship open is very good of you because you naturally want to help and assist your friend- only in the long run you will end up becoming bitter and disappointed with this person for the self centred way in which they deal with owning  dogs. You will eventually leave their house more and more knowing that the way there are looking after their dogs is a rubbish life for them. I have been down this road with my own 'good friend' and sadly you realise one day you are not the same 'like minded people' you thought you were. Such a shame you feel this dog will survive only- rather than thrive. I think you have made a good decision not to be the day care for your friends new pup as with everything it sounds as if she is a user as well.