Hi,

I'm new to the forum (though have read through many of the posts already) so apologies if this question has been asked before - I couldn't find anything similar when I ran a search.

We have a lovely chocolate labrador puppy, called Ruby. She's currently five months old and is doing ok with house-training, sleeping in her crate overnight, etc. We have to go away to a family 'do' in July and are not sure what's the best thing to do with Ruby. We're not sure whether she's too young to be left alone for what would probably be a  couple of days (and probably just one night) - or alternatively if she's too young to be taken away for a weekend. By that time she'll be 7 months old. We don't want to put her in kennels, but we do know of  a couple of places who may be able to take her in for a couple of nights (one is our trainer, another the pet care service who look after our cats when we're away). In both cases she wouldn't be in kennels, but in someone's home and with other dogs. The other option we have is to take her with us, provided we can book a cottage or other pet-friendly accomodation. It would entail a car journey of 200 miles - so far she's not gone more than about 10, but she's a good traveller and is crate trained so we'd make sure she was in the crate in the car, and we'd have it with us for her to sleep in once we were there. However, I'm not sure she'll be completely house-trained by then (she's doing well so far, but I'm well aware that she may not be completely house-trained until she's at least a year old). As she's a lab and we're concerned about Hip Displaysia we still wouldn't be able to walk her for more than 35 mins per day at that age, so she'd be fairly tied to staying in the accomodation which may not be much fun for her and the house-training aspect does concern me a bit.

Part of me feels it might be good for her if we went away and left her with someone else, but came back within a day or two - it would be a way of easing her in gently to times later when we might have to leave her for a week or so. Hopefully she'd realise that we weren't going to be away indefinitely. But I know my partner would much rather we took her with us, as he thinks she's too young to be left behind.

I'd be grateful for any opinions or experiences anyone can share that might help us to decide!

Thanks in advance!

> Part of me feels it might be good for her if we went away and left her with someone else, but came back within a day or two -

I agree.  Personally, by this age I would be happy to leave her in a good quality kennels.

Hi Pook, and welcome to the forum. :)

I have had a similar subject as yours in the past and was not sure what would be best for my puppy.

We had been offered by friends for them the come to our house and let our pup out for a wee and to feed her etc and then leave her again, which i was not at all happy with, as she was young and I wanted her to have human company.
I felt I did not want to put her in kennels, as I dont normally use kennels anyway and felt this would be far to strange for her to be in a very strange environment.

So we manged to find a friend that would have her stay at their home with them for the couple of days we was away, she had great fun! playing, having cuddles and walks, slepted like a baby as we took her bedding round for her.
When we came back and picked her up she was sooooo pleased to see us!! it was great!
So I would recommend you have a friend of family member that will take her in to their home, or even stay at your home while you are away to look after her :)

hi and welcome pook

> We're not sure whether she's too young to be left alone for what would probably be a  couple of days (and probably just one night)

i really hope i've misread this as its coming to the end of the day- do you mean alone in the house for that time? please no!

either a dog friendly cottage or leaving her with friends should be fine

We took our flat coated retriever on holiday for a week when he was 4 months old. Although he was completely house trained I was still a little worried about him being in a strange place but he was fine (crated at night just in case of accidents though ;-)). However if you're going to be busy with family and have concerns about house training it might be better to leave her, and it sounds like the 2 possibilities you have lined up would be great :-). We chose to take ours on holiday, and were with him 24/7, but if I had had to go to a wedding or something I would have left him with someone. If it's someone she already knows I'm sure she'll be fine and it will leave you and your partner free to enjoy yourselves without worrying about keeping checking on her and letting her out.

Hi Astarte,

Yes, you misread it. I didn't mean literally leaving her alone for that time. It would either be with someone who can look after her who is not an actual kennels, or we take her with us. My concern is whether she's a bit too young for either option.

Hi Gemini,

Thanks for your advice. Unfortunately having someone come and stay in our house to look after her is not an option. All our family members live too far away (we're near Bradford, they're all down south) and we're a bit of a couple of NobbyNoMates and don't have anyone here we know or trust well enough to do that. However, if I the trainer's able to take her for a couple of days I reckon that's the option we'd take.

Hi Isabel,

Thanks for replying, your advice is very useful.

>My concern is whether she's a bit too young for either option.

As long as a pup is fully vaccinated and old enough to go out and about on the ground it's old enough to be taken on holiday. :-)

Hi Pook and welcome

When our pup was 5 months old we went to Dublin for 5 days and left him, with our older dog, in the kennels whilst we were away.

Like you I was very worried about leaving him.  I was also concerned that it would wreck his housetraining.  I like our kennels, they are very good but it's still a wrench to leave the dogs behind.

Apart from some confusion over feeding arrangements (I should have said please feed them separately or watch them very closely - as the puppy sometimes ate double portions as my older often refuses his morning meal) it worked out very well and it certainly did no harm to any aspect of his training.  Whilst we were away we were also able to catch up on some of the sleep we lost when he was little.  He used to always wake us at 6am but after his kennel break he was sleeping through the night much better and allowed us a lie in til 7.15am when I get up with the children.  A big bonus :)

As you are planning to board her with friends, and with other dogs, she is bound to have a great time and she is certainly not too young to be left.  She could come with you but I suspect that she, and you, will have more fun if you go on your own.  Tell your partner it will be an educational opportunity for Ruby and a romantic one for you - perhaps that'll help.  Good luck with whatever you decide

Just a thought:  another option we've often chosen is to find a kennels near to our destination rather than near home.  That way the dogs don't need to be in as long, can sometimes day board rather than stay in full time, and we are nearby for emergencies.

Ruby will by then be fine on a long car journey I'm sure and you've still plenty of time to research a kennels.

Hi Pook,

She's not too young for either option, so it's a case of working out which would be most appropriate for this kind of family outing.  Social oocasions like that are great for getting a dog used to being away, staying in different environments and great socialisation as likely to have lots of people fussing over her, and if she's a typical lab puppy she will be in her element with that.  However if it's not the kind of family do that she can be part of then you would be best leaving her somewhere safe where she can be looked after.

You could do a trial over night somewhere before so that you know she's happy there, maybe leave her late afternoon and pick her up AM, then she will know that when you leave you are coming back soon and it will be as stress free as possible for her.  Most adjust much better than we think anyway.  It's much better to try leaving them when they are young because things like that tend to be more stressful for them as they get older.

I'm sure she'll be fine which ever option you choose :-)

Hi Karen,

It's not the sort of 'do' she could be part of (it's a meal to celebrate my mum's 70th birthday) but we'd only leave her alone on the evening of the meal and not for very long. I must admit the socialisation aspect of it does appeal to me, and it would be a great way for the extended family to meet her who otherwise might not ever see her. I like the idea of introducing her to the beach and sea, too (my parents live on the coast).

Your point about leaving dogs when they're young, so they can get used to it, is precisely why I was thinking of leaving her behind this time - it would probably just be for one night and she would know if we did it again that we'd be coming back. If we can get one of the two options I mentioned in my original post then I'd be happy because I know she'd have fun. If we can't then I think we'd take her with us, and treat it as good travelling and socialisation experience.

Thank you to everybody who has replied so far, it's really helpful!

Hi Dogs a babe,

Your comment about catching up on sleep does appeal I must admit! Another tick for the 'leave her behind' box, there ;-)

Thank you!

If it was me I would take pup with me. Or pay a pet sitter to live in my house . That way he could keep to routine  and still be at home

We took Bramble away on holiday when she was 4 months old - she had a ball - slept in her crate at night and went out with us everywhere - great socialization. We took Treacle and Bramble away when Treacle was around 6 months old. They stayed in kennels near where we were and we picked them up in the morning and dropped them off at night.
However I also agree with Isabel, all of our dogs have been acclimatized to kennels by leaving them overnight the first time, for the simple reason that I did not want them to be the kind of dogs who could never be left with anyone other than family (been there, done that and got the T-shirt with a fear-aggressive border collie and a poodle my mum used to babysit while its owner went to the hairdresser!). This would be a good opportunity to check out possible kennels that you could then use for any longer stays. Our dogs have always been fine in kennels (used the same one for 19 years now).

Hi pook ,i take all my dogs to the kennels from 5months old just for 1 night at a time for the 1st month then i leave them for 2nights twice in a month ....then betime we go away the pups and dogs love it there and they know we will be back ,ive never had any problems with them going ,i then can relax and enjoy my hols :) but if i stay here in uk i take them with me for weekends away.

good stuff :)

If you are going away for a do then i would say leave her home. Your otions are kenells, a friend or company to come and house sit and look after the dog, or someone having her at their house.
If you have accomodation while you are away it may unsettle her to be left in strange surroundings on her own while you are at the 'do'. I think you'd also be able to relax better while away if you left her and knew she was in safe hands. Us dog owners are allowed a bit of respite every now & again too :-)