[Nickyb]

How do YOU make your pup happy while your at work? This thread is meant to help me in the future when I get a puppy and I wanted to hear different ideas and things that you do for your dog.



First off, let me tell you about what I have planned and my schedule. I work at a Logistics company and my hours are 7:30 to 4:30. This being said i leave the house @ 7 and wont get home until 5. I've been thinking of possibly bringing my pup into work when it gets mature enough where as its not barking and freaking out for me to play with it 24/7.



As for my plan with leaving him/her home during the work day. I have a room that will be dedicated to the dog while im at work. It is completely stripped and has nothing in there that I wouldn't want getting broken. This room will obviously have toys and what not to try and keep the dog entertained.



The kicker here is that this room has a window in which I will knock it out, build a ramp up to the doggy door that opens up to a fenced in area that fits my desire. (I can build it however big I want since I can always knock it down) this way the dog will have in and out access whenever it needs to go potty without having the freedom of making havoc across my backyard.



Your thoughts and inputs are appreciated.

 

[Sherryh]

We pet sit while my friend in working as a nurse. She works 12 hour shifts. She has her puppy in a crate with lots of toys. The TV is on turned low. We live right around the corner we stop by at 8:00am,11:00,3:00 and the last time at 6:00pm. The puppy, and others play in the yard for at least 30 min.
It has been real hot here we playing with hose and water. LOL! I throw a ball for them to chase after etc.

 

[Treythedobie]

My 2 cents - leaving a puppy in a room full of toys (even an empty room) all day is a bad idea, puppys like to chew and who knows what the dog may eat / destroy. My puppy chewed the baseboard and carpet in my house when I left him out alone. If you can, take him to work now and get him acclimated while he is still a pup.

I take my dobie to work with me almost every day. I didn't get him until he was 4 months old, but I started taking him right away. We had a few accidents and its a little bit of work, but if your employer is sympathetic I would bring him in asap.

 

[MeadowCat]

Honestly, I would recommend looking for an adult dog rather than a puppy. Ten hours a day five days a week is a really long time for a puppy to be alone.

 

[Nickyb]

As for the empty room, there is no floor on it just a concrete slab and it has old wooden wall panels that if the dog ripped all of them down I would be happy. I have my long term girlfriend whom, when the time comes, will be around that she can at least poke her head in and play with the dog for an hour or so if I cannot take the dog to work. I also have a few other options that I can do if some things dont work out in my favor. Im really against crating any dog, especially for that amount of time. I plan on leaving the crate in the actual room if the pup wants to go in.

 

[Adara]

I hire the squirrels to run the fenceline and keep them entertained

Unfortunately for me, I still have to work I've managed to raise puppies anyway. With 1 of the 6 only I was able to come home at lunch and that was nice. With the others, I adjusted my schedule as much as I could. I get up an hour early and stay up an hour later with puppies so we get a lot of time together. If they are crated at night, I use an xpen set up or a kennel run now that we have one during the day. I leave them with safe toys, food dispensing toys, etc. When I used an xpen I did use pee pads. I do believe it makes housebreaking a longer process. A better option might be a dog sitter to come let the puppy out to go potty.

I do let my dogs have access to indoors/outdoors once they hit about 18 months to 2 years. I do SUPERVISE and make sure the dogs are safe, they are NOT nuisance barkers, aren't digging/destorying, etc. The way my house is set up is unique. I have 7 ft fences with cement poured at all gates and 2 locks on each gate. My fence does not sit on the front of my propery so no one walks BY my fences (which might encourage dogs to bark). The fenceline is behind my house.

 

[MeadowCat]

As for the empty room, there is no floor on it just a concrete slab and it has old wooden wall panels that if the dog ripped all of them down I would be happy. I have my long term girlfriend whom, when the time comes, will be around that she can at least poke her head in and play with the dog for an hour or so if I cannot take the dog to work. I also have a few other options that I can do if some things dont work out in my favor. Im really against crating any dog, especially for that amount of time. I plan on leaving the crate in the actual room if the pup wants to go in.

Much more doable if your pup is going to get an hour break in the middle of the day. My preference in that situation is still an older pup or adult, but this is more workable than no break. You will have to be really vigilant about spending lots and lots of time with your puppy when you aren't working and doing a lot of training. It's a bit harder when you aren't around all day to discourage bad habits so you have to put in a bit more work.

 

[Nickyb]

Thank you everyone for the responses. I would really like to hear what you all do for your dog while at work. Would like to hear all options available and any new ideas i havent heard yet

 

[dobermansrule]

the simple act of me leaving makes him (and the mrs) deliriously happy.

 

[SReed912]

My 2 cents - leaving a puppy in a room full of toys (even an empty room) all day is a bad idea, puppys like to chew and who knows what the dog may eat / destroy. My puppy chewed the baseboard and carpet in my house when I left him out alone. If you can, take him to work now and get him acclimated while he is still a pup.

I take my dobie to work with me almost every day. I didn't get him until he was 4 months old, but I started taking him right away. We had a few accidents and its a little bit of work, but if your employer is sympathetic I would bring him in asap.

I have a friend who got two GSD litter mates and left them at home in a room full of toys....when he arrived home not only had they torn of the baseboard and window trim, but they went as far as to dig a whole right through the drywall!! He was not pleased....


I have heard that leaving the t.v or radio on low can help.

 

[MeadowCat]

I have an almost three year old and an eight year old. They sleep on the couch in the morning. I come home at lunch time and let them outside and hang out with them for an hour. They proceed to sleep on the couch until we come home. My dogs are what I call "ready for action couch potatoes." That means they have a great off-switch and are content to be lazy until we're ready to go. At that point they're ready for a couple mile hike, playing, whatever active thing we want to do. My girl took almost two years to develop that off-switch. Simon is a rescue and came with it built in. Shanoa was not trustworthy to be left uncrated until very recently.

 

[Nickyb]

Ahh I see, thats how my GSD was. I will look into a young adult dobey also but I kind of had my mind set on the puppy. I will talk to the boss to see what he says, even if its once or twice a week I can take him/her to work, that would be a lot better.

Any other inputs? I really want to hear what everyone does even if its already been said.

 

[Lori Z]

Hire someone to come in at lunch or better yet twice a day and let the pup out. A small puppy will pee and poo all over that room at first. i would put up an xpen when it is really little. I had a 6 square by 4 high kennel for Eli that put in the garage in front of the dog door. However we didnt start this until he was about 5 mo, before that he just stayed in the kennel when I was at work. I was able to take him to work with me when he was small and then I could take him home at lunch or when a bit older walk with him in the forest at lunch, then leave him at home.

When he was 9 mos I got transferred and I had to hire someone to come at lunch time to take him out. When we moved he was about 13 mos or so and had a much larger kennel 16 long by 10wide with a top on it and I put him in there when we went to work. I no longer had anyone come to let him out but he held his poo and pee even in that large area. My days were longer away also so I got up an hour earlier., took him to play fetch and do some training and I made sure to take him to the park to run every evening. When he was about 16 mo or so I think it was about 3 mos afeter we moved in, we installed a dog door, blocked off the family room kitchen area for him, held my breath and left him. He was fine but I had been leaving him for 3 to 4 hours in the house at a time for many months before that.

As a younger puppy I always left him raw knuckle bones to chew and other toys. He had a dog house inside of the kennel with blankets. The kennel was inside my garage on the side with the large window.

I plan to get a pup next year. I work 35 min from my house so the plan is to have the puppy be put up in an xpen at a friends house who lives around the corner from where I work. She will travel with me and my carpool to and from work. I might have to drive myself a little more often for those few months but that's okay. When the pup is older I have to decide if she is still coming with me or if she will stay at home and I'll get a pet sitter to come in at lunch until she is over a year. I might bring her a couple of times a week and have a pet sitter the other days. I might do doggie day care twice a week I am not sure a lot will depend on the dog and the situation at the time. When she is really young I may be able to bring her to the office in a crate sometimes too again I will have to see. She will be the first pup I haven't had the opportunity to raise where I personally live close. I would get an older dog but I have a little yorkie mix bossy girl who would do much better with a puppy so that is the way I'll go.

 

[Nickyb]

I see, I am definatly going to try and see if I can bring the puppy into work at least once or twice a week if not all week. I don't see why not since my office only houses 4 people and were fairly spread apart.

Whats everyone else got to say!

 

[CIDHH6]

In my learning of regulations and laws concerning dogs in countries I have the potential to live in, I learned that it is illegal to leave a dog alone (for example, at home) for more than five hours, and the law is actively enforced. Very interesting!

Currently, my dog just sleeps all the time and ignores the cat biting at his tail and such while we are at work.

 

[Luckyme]

I'm lucky to work only three days a week, but they are long days. At least 13-14 hours. I use a dog sitter who comes to visit on days I work. Now that Henry is older I have started him at doggie daycare on week days I work and he seems to love it.

 

[KoaRad]

There's a doggy daycare right near my work - I drop off Koa there A LOT while I'm at work (whenever my fiance isn't home in the morning to keep him occupied). He gets tons of play, good socialization with other dogs, doesn't eat my house and is pooped when he gets home. If there is one near you, worth looking into.

 

[*Wrigley*]

When my girl was younger, she stayed in a homemade kennel. She would chew blankets, so she had bedding privileges taken away. After I got each one of my dogs, I would come home from work for lunch, but I would wean that off after a few weeks. BF would get home a couple hours later. The Doberman was 15 weeks old when I got her. She didn't have accidents using this method. Who knows, she might just be a special case.

 

[DogsR4Life]

I have someone come over to let Chase outside to pee. Other than that, I make sure he has had a lot of exercise and mental stimulation before i head out the door. This means a two hour hike/swim/run/jog then about an hour of games and training. If he starts chewing on the couch, I'm doing something wrong and have to switch it up a bit.

 

[Tperkins]

the simple act of me leaving makes him (and the mrs) deliriously happy.

This X2!!