Puppy raising x 9-5

[lovefaithhopeinjesus]

Everyone is saying getting a puppy while working a 9-5 is selfish. Obviously there’s lots of nuance. But how did owners get puppies before covid & wfh jobs? I’m talking 8 week old puppies. People did it forever and I’m curious how? Were the puppies crated all day? Did only people who could afford dog walkers/sitters get one? Did they rely on family/friends during the day? Any perspectives welcome.

 

[jenlo]

@lovefaithhopeinjesus I always think of the saying with raising children "It takes a village" and how accurately it represents dogs aswell. I'm assuming most of the time in the past it was the stay at home parent who looked after a pup but nowadays it seems far less feasible with both partners usually working.

I'm sure dog sitters are earning a fortune nowadays..

 

[clingingtolife]

@jenlo Im a dogwalker and can say this is true.

 

[ginaxmill]

@jenlo Right, stay-at-home parent, kids who are available to care for pets after school rather than busy "building their resumes"/on social media, extended family in the neighborhood, other neighbors who are friends and with whom mutual aid is a custom, and so on. The level of social isolation that's become the norm, at least in many parts of the US, is unprecedented, and it makes a lot of things hard, not just raising a puppy. I was reminded of this recently, when my city abruptly, late in the afternoon, declared a snow day and closed schools. Working parents were just utterly upended by this.

 

[godsgirl12]

@jenlo This is what it looked like for me as a kid with a puppy, and in fact, i remember at least one neighbor that dropped off a puppy with my mom while they worked during the day as well.

 

[brittly42]

@lovefaithhopeinjesus My partner and I when we first got our dog invested in a play pen.
It’s bigger than a crate and allows the dog to still roam within a restricted space.

 

[amrie]

@brittly42 We did that as well. Super helpful

 

[zuzi]

@brittly42 Same it was great

 

[oaktree500]

@lovefaithhopeinjesus Puppies have limited bladder control. As a general rule, they can hold it one hour for every month of age. So an 8 week old puppy will need potty breaks every 2 hours.

As for how that could work practically, there are a few options ....

• Get a slightly older puppies, like 12 weeks. At this age they can hold their pee 3 hours; not a huge difference but it might mean one fewer potty break in a workday.
• Some people would keep a dog outside during the day or use doggy doors. I strongly believe dogs should be inside most of the time for socialization and security ... but if you have a very secure yard, mild climate, and the dog always has access to proper shelter, that could work.
• Some people use potty pads - I'm not a fan of potty pads in general, since they can confuse dogs and delay the process of proper total housebreaking. But they're useful in a pinch.
• Some people hire dog walkers. It's expensive, especially during the early stages when dogs have to go out several times a day, but puppies grow up fast. By 4 to 5 months, depending on commute time, you'd only need someone to come by once a day.
• Some people come home during lunch. Many people do that throughout their dog's life; not just at the puppy stage. By 4-5 months, many dogs will be fine with just one midday potty break.

 

[bbryup]

@oaktree500 Pls repost this every day for the next 25 years....people need to understand that puppies are babies and can't wait for pee breaks ....

 

[toliver]

@oaktree500 Your second item is what my parents did. They had a large fenced in yard, a dog house out there, plus a doggy door where they could get into one room of the house and we had a garage that was not attached to the house and the door into the garage was kept open for them as well.

I only go to office 2 days a week now but do something similar. Puppy has acccess to kitchen area and doggy door to backyard.

 

[bbonilla2]

@oaktree500 No one should get an 8 week old puppy. 12 weeks minimum

 

[stickywicket]

@bbonilla2 8 weeks is pretty young for the pup to leave its mama, for sure. At least in my area, thankfully it's becoming increasingly common for breeders to wait until the pup is 12 weeks before sending them to families.

 

[ruyifa]

@oaktree500 This thing about hours = months or whatever is absolute fiction and not based on anything realistic.

Signed,

Dog trainer who has raised/trained dozens and dozens of puppies.

 

[cees]

@lovefaithhopeinjesus The only time my family got a puppy is when myself, my sister and my mom all had the summer off (mom worked for a school). My assumption is that a generation+ ago, many families had a stay at home mom.

 

[mfhorn]

@lovefaithhopeinjesus I wonder if almost everyone around reddit dog/puppy subs is in a WFH situation, or resourceful enough to hire sitters/daycare for work days, because I've googled and whenever there's the remote question about how to leave a dog for 8h a day is met with very negative and guilt inducing answers.

I live in a country where most people are out for that long, even families with kids (parents working, child in school full time) and the dogs are just fine. Considering that they are in a comfortable situation - potty is resolved usually with a designated spot indoors for the dog toilet.

I'm raising a puppy myself (6mo now) and that's a different story, though. He still gets alone 4 hours in the mornings and 4 during afternoons, but I'm coming home for lunch time until he becomes an adult. He is perfectly fine, and naps for most of those hours and never whines or barks (well unless his ball is stuck somewhere lol).

It's ideal? Not really, I know dogs are social beings... But I rescued this puppy and his sister from a neglect situation that would have them dead (they were the only survivors of the litter) or end up as a stray, which is a high chance of a death sentence as well. I was able to find a home for his sister but not for him, and that made me give up on my plans of getting an adult, well established dog.

Edit: Also to add, where I live, dog sitters/walkers is highly unheard of because people are really wary about strangers coming in their homes unsupervised. And doggy daycare is only in rich neighborhoods and not accessible financially for everyone.

 

[snowgirl14]

@mfhorn The amount of guilt and shame thrown at people who work full time and have/want a puppy is ridiculous. I might get downvoted to oblivion, but people need to lighten up. We can acknowledge that the situation is perhaps not ideal without making people out to be the devil or denying that there are potential workarounds. I've raised numerous puppies (Aussies, a Kelpie, and a mix) from the ages of 8-12 weeks who were left home alone while I was working or at school all day. Nobody died or developed crippling separation anxiety or anything.

I prefer to use an expen vs. a crate, and I provide a relief area for them in one corner, which I set up in our kitchen for easier cleanup on the tile floor and so they couldn't eat the flooring. This has never affected the housebreaking process for my puppies. They all learned pretty easily that pottying outside was the correct thing.

With my two most recent puppies, who are almost 5 and 10 now, I tried to come home on my lunch break to let them out, but it wasn't an option everyday. I live in a more rural area, so dog walkers aren't really a thing here. We don't even have pizza delivery, lol. I would give them toys and chews in their expen so they have some entertainment, and the bigger space gave them a little room to play.

Again, I acknowledge that my puppy raising may not be ideal, but there's no one-size-fits all and things don't have to be perfect. None of my dogs have shown any long-term or significant ill effects from being left at home while I was at work.

 

[mfhorn]

@snowgirl14

I prefer to use an expen vs. a crate, and I provide a relief area for them in one corner, which I set up in our kitchen for easier cleanup on the tile floor and so they couldn't eat the flooring.

Huge agree. Of course, in the case of crate, is pretty much obvious that leaving a puppy for +5h is abuse... I feel that's probably why crating is so alien here in Brazil. Probably people who do is just a tiny minority trying to emulate American ways - and understandable, since most resources come from there. Just to give a scope, you can't even find the 'cage-like' ones in pet shops. At best you'll see oversized plastic carriers with a wire door.

This has never affected the housebreaking process for my puppies. They all learned pretty easily that pottying outside was the correct thing.

In my case, I'm doing both. He still uses the dog toilet (a crated plastic 'mat' with a puppy pad inside) and relieves himself outside in sort of an equal rate because he still doesn't have his full bladder control yet to hold for the day, but I can already see him holding progressively more to pee outside, because he gets the high value treats. The key to make this work is making the potty oudoors a high desirable activity, which if your dog isn't afraid of something, is pretty chill to do.

Basically the dog relies on the indoors toilet only for emergencies, like if you have an issue and get very late home, or there's a storm going out. Not all house dogs are good with terrible weather conditions.

Edit: The only thing for this method I try to avoid is using the puppy pads as they are, because the texture is very similar to many other things in a household. It can work for some dogs, but not all of them... I actually stopped using them without the toilet casing because my puppy was eating them lol.

 

[snowgirl14]

@mfhorn Yes, the relief area I setup in the expen is just for emergencies when I'm not home. They don't use it while I'm home, and once they get to be old enough to hold their bladder/bowels all day, I take it away. Accidents after that have been rare, and if I tried to get any of them to use a puppy pad or anything in the house as adults, they would think I'm crazy. My dogs are also crate trained because we do dog sports, so they're crated between runs at competitions, they ride in crates in the car, and they sleep in crates at night when they're puppies.

 

[justinian]

@mfhorn Yeah I think 4 hours is reasonable for young pups. That’s what I did with my dogs. Either my ex or I would take a long lunch and go home to give them some love and a potty break. I also did this with my dogs whenever things have been stressful for them (surgery, ex and I broke up, recent move, etc).