I don’t understand why people say “Unless your home all day don’t get a puppy”.can you explain?
The majority of people especially americans work: 9-5 or some other variation and kids have school. I mean dogs aren’t people and can be alone for a bit.
I have 2 dogs…..when I got them I was not working, but my husband was. They lucked out our next dog won’t be so lucky because we will both be working.
I mean if you say “Don’t do it” than not a lot of pups will get homes.
People who work have always had dogs and I don’t think its fair to say if you work don’t get one.
My dogs had we both worked would still get adequate care….heck we spend all our free time with them, we take them everywhere with us. Its not like they don’t get to be with us.
You just have to work a little harder.
Remember they aren’t babies they are dogs and they can be left alone for a few hours while you work or go to school. Dogs seem to get better treatment than kids these days.
I just think that is an unfair thing to say……What is your take on that?
you see growing up I had two toy poodles and they were fine for the 7 hours they were home alone. The puppy though that we got later….my dad would let her our at lunch…..The had free roam most of the time.
My dogs can hold it about 7 hours but I felt bad about that the two times they had to do that…..We keep them crated when we are not home. I have a Minature Poodle and a Jack russell mix
You see i left my 12 week old puppy home for 6 hours while I temped for 2 weeks…..she never had any accidents……
You would be surprised how well crated puppies do……If I would have been gone any longer my husband would have come home from work to let her our at noon.
Puppies can be left alone that long….or confine them to an area and put down puddle pads…and work on training when you are home.
Its worked for decades
We always take a long weekend when we get a dog….My husband even took thursday, Friday, and monday off with each dog….so we would have 5 days for them to adjust. Our first dog we got when he was 9 weeks old our second dog we got when she was 11 weeks old.
The first dog was 8 months old when we got the second and we took 5 days to spend with each
By: Poodles4ever
June 24th, 2009 at 13:29
Both my husband and myself work. We brought home a mini dachshund in February and I went home every hour to let her out. Now we are getting a springer spaniel on 12/27 and my husband will go home from his job every hour. We do what we have to in order for the dogs to be well cared for.
June 24th, 2009 at 16:46
I heard the same thing when we were thinking about getting a puppy. I think as long as you are responsible and you take care of the puppy who is to say that you should not have a puppy? We leave our puppy in a safe crate while we are at work. She is kept safe and so is our house!
June 27th, 2009 at 05:11
I have a lot of dogs and have always worked. I came home at lunch every day to let them out. When I was not able to come home on lunch, I hired someone to do it. It is easier to train a puppy when you are home. But I do agree tons of people work, and get puppies, and they do just fine. I work from home now, so I have the ideal situation for my kids. I think you need to just be careful with the breed you get if you are not home for 8 hours. Most toy dogs can not hold it that long at all. Some dogs need to be active and could get destructive. I think if you do the research on the breed you are getting, they will be just fine.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:30
I agree with you. Too many people treat their dogs like human babies, so NOT true! That is the same reason they run into so many behavioral problems with their dogs!
June 28th, 2009 at 16:47
Yes I can explain that. They dont say “Unless your home all day don’t get a puppy”
they say “Unless you are home all day don’t get a puppy”
July 1st, 2009 at 16:31
It’s important to realize there is a distinction between puppies and adult dogs. Young puppies CAN’T be left alone all day. They need to be taken out every hour or two to potty, and it is cruel to expect them to ‘hold it’ for longer than about 2 hours at 8 weeks of age. They won’t be able to go all work-day without a potty break until they are adults. They require a lot of supervision and attention at a young age. If you can afford a dog walker to come by every couple hours, fine, but if you can’t (and most can’t or won’t), then it’s unfair to the puppy to get a puppy if you work all day. It’s also almost impossible to potty train a puppy on that scheule as well. I raised a puppy while working full time and won’t do it again. I had a dog walker come mid-morning and mid-afternoon to take him out, I came home at lunch, and it was expensive and a huge hassle. No lunch dates, no errands after work, and a large chunk of my pay going to the dog walker for her services. If you work full time, get an adult dog that’s fully housetrained, NOT a young puppy. If I were a breeder, unless the person wanting a puppy was willing and able to hire a dog walker to come by every two hours, I wouldn’t send a puppy to that home.
July 4th, 2009 at 21:50
You are right in some of what you say, but as a dog lover I am surprised that you would say “they are not babies, they are dogs” simply because most dog lovers would cringe at such a statement.
Puppies are little and helpless and I always take a few weeks off whenever I had to care for a puppy. It is traumatic snatching them from their “pack” and mom to a new environment. You new next puppy won’t be so lonely since you have 2 other dogs, but you should at least take a few days off just to observe the pups behavior and how he/she interacts with the other dogs.
Your adults dogs might not even like the puppy and that would be a problem or they will adore it and teach it and protect it and welcome it to the pack. Your alpha dog is the one you will have to be more concerned with — this is the dog that is in charge when you or your hubby is not around. If the alpha dog attempts to harm the pup the other dog will follow.
I feel obligated to stay with my puppy because after all she did not ask me to bring her into a strange environment - I went and got her.
I had a male pup once that was so curious he fell into a barrel or rain water, had I not been around he would have drowned, he also found holes and things that no other dog ever found - each dog has a unique personality at least learn about him before leaving him alone.
GOOD LUCK
July 7th, 2009 at 03:58
I agree that it is completely ridiculous to insist that you can’t provide a good home for a dog if you work full time. That said, I would not recommend bringing home a puppy to a house where it is going to be left alone for 8 hours 5 days a week simply because at that age a puppy IS a baby and takes almost as much work as a human child. At 8 weeks, a puppy is not physically capable of holding urine or ***** for more than 3 hours…so you’re looking at at least 2 accidents before someone gets home to let them out. This makes it a lot more difficult to house train. If you want to get a puppy and you and your spouse work full time it is do-able, but you will need to get someone to come and let the puppy out during the work day. Puppies also require a lot of time an energy to properly socialize to people of all kinds and other animals and while socialization is certainly something that can be done after work and on weekends it is a lot easier to do if you have more time. Personally I prefer to adopt older puppies or adult dogs for this very reason.
July 8th, 2009 at 09:50
the keyword is PUPPIES .. not DOGS.. Adult dogs who are housetrained can be left alone for awhile.. however, puppies can NOT hold it in for long.. to housetrain, often times they need to go out every 15 minutes just to teach them.. it is also important for them to be around people..
People who work can have dogs,.. but should look into getting an older dog instead of one that needs constant supervision and training.. .. Even if it’s one person coming another going.. it can still work for a family with jobs.. as long as the puppy is not left alone for more than 20 to 30 minutes.. I had a roomate at one time who’s schedule worked perfectly with mine.. the time I had to leave for work she was coming home from work so there was only a matter of minutes where no one was there… (but even then we got an older dog)
Add on since I saw your add ons:
That doesn’t work with EVERY puppy.. it just doesn’t.. (and your decades remark is not factual.. decades ago it was common for the mother to be at home all day.. even the 80’s it was somewhat common)
The first schnauzer that I remember getting when I was a kid was confined.. this dog no bigger than a tissue box pulled 80 pounds almost on his head.. he shouldn’t have been able to get to it at all, but he did.. It isn’t fair to the dog, and being left alone too early can cause separation anxiety in many breeds.. that is hard to train away..
July 10th, 2009 at 16:19
I’m a dog lover and I currently own three dogs. Two larger breeds and one toy breed.
That being said, some people are seriously over the top with the level of attention they heap on their dogs.
I personally don’t see any problem with people working 9-5 jobs and owning dogs. Your dog will acclimate to your schedule. Just because your schedule doesn’t match that of others doesn’t make it wrong.
As with humans, not all children will experience similar upbringings and standards of living, some for better and some for worse. Either way about it, the world will keep right on turning.
July 12th, 2009 at 15:18
Many dogs are given up to shelters and rescues each year due to behavior issues (lack of house training being at the top of the list). How is a young pup suppose to learn good home behaviors, including not chewing on furniture, not going in the home if he is left alone 8-10 hours per day. ??? Older pups and dogs are usually better choices for people who have no one home during at least part of the day.
July 13th, 2009 at 14:28
i don t understand that either when i had jade she was five months old i worked but my mom has shops so she took her with her my sister let her sleep in her car and walked her she was fine