Hi, I am looking for advice regarding getting a puppy.  I work 3 days a week and my husband spends a lot of time at home as well.  I am wondering if it is possible to have a dog. I grew up with an Irish setter and a Jack Russell but not has a dog for a few years.  I work just along the road from where I live also. I am wondering if the dog has to be left for a time what breed would be best to get? I was looking at a Miniature Schnauzer x poodle.  I don’t know that much about this breed YET and was hoping for any advice available. Also a breed that would be easy to potty train.  Thank you for yourhelp

The breed (or crossbreed) is not your first concern yet. The fact is that you work quite a lot of days and no puppy of any breed can be left for more than a couple of hours at a time if you want to stand any chance of a stress free toilet training. Pups need to go out very very frequently, with you, to monitor them for the first couple of months at least. To go to work in the morning and pop home lunchtime for an hour is acceptable once the puppy is older and can hold on for long enough. It's not perfect but it can be done. As to what breed, well it's not always a breed thing, you cannot say This breed or that breed are fine to be left but the other breed isn't. Separation anxiety affects individuals not breeds. It's something you need to train for not purchase. It can be done with taking time off work and sharing time at home with your OH. You will have to make sure the puppy is not left for more than a couple of hours at a time to begin with and as time allows you can extend this. Give a huge amount of time to thinking it through, and remember if you are a working Puppy Mum the time at home will have to be focused on the puppy to make sure he gets the quality time he  needs. Can you commit to giving over your week ends and evenings to you dog to make sure his life is as enriched as it should be ? If you have a busy social life take that into consideration.

Puppies are a lot of work. Why not consider adopting an adult dog, you would still need to take some time off work to ensure the dog settles well and adjusts, but it will be easier in comparison with a puppy.

Working doesn't nessacary mean you can't have a dog but it does mean more planning to make it work.
On the three days you work how long would the puppy be left alone for?
If it's more than 4 hours can you either pop home or get someone to let the puppy out to toilet, feed and play?
Could you take time off work to help get the puppy settled?
If your partner works could that also take some time off after your time?

As for the breed, what is it that's making you consider this cross? You will need to keep in mind if you go for a cross the puppies traits will be more unpredictable, it's temperament could take more after one breed than the other so you need to make sure either breeds temperament would be suitable for you. Poodle crosses don't always have the low shedding poodle coat and the ones who do will require much more grooming to prevent matting.

A very important thing with getting a puppy is to make sure the parents health testing is done with acceptable results. This will be harder to find in a cross breed I'm afraid as there are few good breeders of them about. For the cross your considering if it's a first generation cross (pure bred parents) the mini schnauzer and poodle should both be eye tested clear and the puppies should be eye tested being out of a schnauzer.
If it's a multi generation cross (either both parents a cross or one cross and one pure) if to a poodle the above plus DNA test for pra, if back to a schnauzer DNA tested for Mycobacterium Avium Complex. If both parents are crosses both these DNA tests need doing.

> I was looking at a Miniature Schnauzer x poodle.  I don’t know that much about this breed

Just one small point....your not looking at a breed, your looking at a cross...you may already realise this but just in case you hadn't

Have a read of this as it relates to any Poodle crosses and is from the Doodle Trust before you choose on a breed or in what you've stated a crossbreed.

http://www.doodletrust.com/adoption/before-getting-a-doodle

I and my partner both worked full time when we got our first puppy but we made huge efforts to ensure things worked out ok.
I first worked additional weekends to build up lieu time and then used that as well as a couple of weeks holiday to cover a full three weeks off. My partner then booked a weeks holiday and after that we essentially did puppy shifts for a few weeks whilst we toilet trained etc with partner starting work after I'd finished. We both worked around 45 hours a week at the time so it took some planning but it worked well.
I then took another few strategic days holiday to cover days my partner would be working during the day rather than later evening and we had a dog sitter already organised and my mum could also take him to work with her as she had to drive past my house to get there and worked in a vets.
It all worked very nicely.
Once he was about 5 months old, he started coming to work with me and staying in a kennel there three days a week and went with mum the other two days.
Once my dad got ill and mum had to give up work, I used a dog sitter/Walker for those days but by that point he could be comfortably left for a good four hours at a time.

It IS possible to work and do a decent job of raising a puppy but it's no mean feat and definitely requires effort, planning and money.

I'd be looking into dog sitters to cover some of the time you will be gone long before looking for a puppy. Get some quotes and recommendations and ensure that whoever you go with is properly insured and won't over exercise your puppy. 

All that aside, I've met a couple of poodle/schnauzer crosses and they were manic, hyperactive (bloody nuts truth be told!) and needed a lot more stimulation than the owners had anticipated.

if you do not need a pure bred/registered dog, then please consider a rescue.

The cross you are looking at, from the ones I've met/worked with, tend to be very active, barky and quite highly strung.  The one calm one I know of is very fat!  If you've not had a dog in a long time then I would look at something a little calmer, especially with you working as well.  I've met some nice enough ones but I've also worked with some very reactive ones, and that was from poor breeding combined with poor socialisation but the latter cannot undo the former.  And given that the vast majority of these little fluffy crosses are bred to make money, you'll be hard pressed to find a well bred one.

As has been suggested I would also look at older rescues, then you know what the 'final' temperament is already.