Puppy/dog people

SB1512 · June 2012

How long was your process of getting your new puppy or dog used to being home alone? FI and I rescued a 13 week old puppy 2 weeks ago. I have summers off, and once fall picks up I'm in grad school 2 nights a week and will only work part time. So for now, the pup has me home with him a lot. I do however have errands to run that he can't accompany me on and I would like to resume my own routine of going to the gym or running in the mornings so I have been leaving him alone for short amounts of time starting about 5 days after we got him. So far, the longest he's been left alone in his crate is about 45-50 minutes. If I were to resume my gym schedule, between the round trip drive and the length of a class, I'd be gone about 2 hours......is it too big of a jump to increase from 50 minutes to 2 hours, or should he be able to handle it? I can def get a decent run in for the 50 minutes but I'm dying to get back to the classes I attend at the gym so the sooner I can leave him for longer periods, the better. Since he wakes me up pretty early (6am) I could also definitely take him for at least an hour long walk before running or going to the gym so he'll hopefully be tired and just sleep while I'm gone anyways.

Marrin713 · June 2012

We haven't had a dog in years, but xH and I had a lab that was crate trained. Even tho I worked f/t, I worked close enough to the house and had a long enough lunch hour to go home and let her out for at least 30 - 40 mins. Also son got home from school just about 2-1/2 hrs later and she was let out again. I guess I would just build up the time left alone in the crate. I know there's differing theories on it, but I don't think dogs are that aware of the time passing. My son will tell you different; he swears his knows when he's coming home.

ETA: meant to add that she was in crate training for about a year. But we left the crate in the laundry room with the door opened so she could just crawl in there whenever she needed. Good luck. And what kind of dog?

SB1512 · June 2012

Thanks. We hope to progress to putting his crate in the kitchen and leaving the door open and having a baby gate up to keep him confined to the kitchen. But, he's not fully potty trained and he's teething so there's a lot of chewing going on and we can't risk him gnawing on cabinets so for the time being he's restricted to his crate when we are gone. He's half wire haired jack russell and half mini poodle, so tons of energy. But, if I take him for a 45-1 hour walk in the morning he will usually sleep or be super mellow until it's time for him to eat lunch, so I think I should be ok resuming my own routine as long as he has enough walk or playtime before I head out

angelsong21 · June 2012

I agree on building up time gradually. I don't think two hours is unreasonable at all. Puppies can be a lot of trial-and-error. You'll quickly realize if you left the pup too long and you can readjust things.

Marrin713 · June 2012

I have my sigs turned off but I just caught a glimpse of Ozzie - how adorable. Yeah, we crate trained Tess exactly for those reasons too. And she was really really easy to housebreak and I have to give credit to the crate training. I was not a fan when xH proposed doing it, but it just made sense. What are you really preventing the dog from doing while you're gone - I mean it's not like he/she is going to clean the house for you or do your laundry. They either sleep or as puppies, get into mischief.

SB1512 · June 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_puppydog-people?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:14Discussion:ad5f2b62-6c67-4bd5-b3e1-e2ac6783cd14Post:7947e345-02ae-417b-a731-d3ac7832045f">Re: Puppy/dog people</a>:
[QUOTE]I have my sigs turned off but I just caught a glimpse of Ozzie - how adorable. Yeah, we crate trained Tess exactly for those reasons too. And she was really really easy to housebreak and I have to give credit to the crate training. I was not a fan when xH proposed doing it, but it just made sense. What are you really preventing the dog from doing while you're gone - <strong>I mean it's not like he/she is going to clean the house for you or do your laundry. They either sleep or as puppies, get into mischief.</strong>
Posted by Marrin713[/QUOTE]

Haha exactly. I wish he could clean the house or do the laundry though! And he loves his crate, he's always in there sleeping or playing with his toys voluntarily so I know he'll be ok in it when we leave him. I agree it will be a lot of trial and error as to how long he can be left too

MrsGandthebeag · June 2012

He'll be fine for 2 hours. When we first got our dog (a little over 2 years ago when he was 8 weeks old) we left him in the crate for 2-3 hours at a time initially, then 4 hours. Basically we had a dog walker come twice a day while we were at work, then as he got a little older, she just came once in the middle of the day while we were at work. Then we did as you're saying, left him in the kitchen, then he eventually got free range of the downstairs. It took us quite a while before we'd leave him in the house for a full 8 hours alone.

divinemsbee · June 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_puppydog-people?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:14Discussion:ad5f2b62-6c67-4bd5-b3e1-e2ac6783cd14Post:f40023ae-e065-4bdf-89aa-dc68b8478bcb">Re: Puppy/dog people</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks. We hope to progress to putting his crate in the kitchen and leaving the door open and having a baby gate up to keep him confined to the kitchen. But, he's not fully potty trained and he's teething so there's a lot of chewing going on and we can't risk him gnawing on cabinets so for the time being he's restricted to his crate when we are gone. <strong>He's half wire haired jack russell </strong>and half mini poodle, so tons of energy. But, if I take him for a 45-1 hour walk in the morning he will usually sleep or be super mellow until it's time for him to eat lunch, so I think I should be ok resuming my own routine as long as he has enough walk or playtime before I head out
Posted by SB1512[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>Awww, Archie (in my sig) is half wiry Jack Russell and half Corgi. I will say that as far as the chewing goes try Kongs filled with peanut butter and frozen. Also, spraying some bitter apple spray on the corners of your cabinets or furniture is helpful. Archie's almost a year, we got him at 8 weeks, and he's still a crazy ball of energy. Also, as far as potty training goes, try putting bells on your door (they sell bells at pet stores for this). Whenever you take him out, ring the bells that are on the door. He'll learn to ring the bells to get your attention when he wants out. They tend to not poop in the crate after a while, especially if they go right after you leave and have to sit there with it. It does suck to clean up though. </div>

MissTar487 · June 2012

We crate-trained our dog too - granted the breeder that we got her from was already doing this so it wasn't hard to get her to go in there. The crate is supposed to be like their bedroom and thats where they go to feel safe. Dogs don't like to go to the bathroom where they sleep, so they'll try to avoid it as much as possible but as puppies its inevitable that they'll have accidents. Make sure you don't put the dog in there when you're mad at them or when they are in trouble - it shouldn't be associated with anything negative. We also made sure that we had a comfy bedding in her crate along with a little towel thats like her blankie (she gets upset when we wash it because it takes away her smell!). At 3 y.o. she still sleeps in her crate every night.
As for the chewing, get bitter apple spray (you can find it in any pet store) and spray it on furniture, shoes, anything you dont want chewed up. They hate the taste of it, so it should deter them from chewing up everything.
Oh and make sure to socialize your dog as much as possible with other dogs and people - this rounds them out really well. We took ours to Puppy Kindergarten for basic training and then we would bring her to a doggie day-care once a week, every week (she still goes every week). Fenced-in dog parks are always great too!

lulu4150 · June 2012

SB your puppy is adorable. Which rescue did you go through? We're also in CT and looking to get a puppy. Thanks!

Kindachewy · June 2012

We crate trained ours, and now we are in the process of training her to be left out for long periods of time (I work 12 hour shifts) The biggest thing we did was made the crate or "bed" as we call it a safe and awesome place. We never used it as punishment and shes always viewed it as a place she wants to. Sara will go lay in bed even when we are home!

SB1512 · June 2012

Thanks everyone! Lulu we looked on petfinde for pets within 100 miles of our zipcode and Ozzy came through Critter Calvalry Rescue (based in TN, but they have a branch in Rhode Island). Their application was very straightforward and they didn't seem too strict (some places won't give you a dog if you have never owned one as an adult on your own). We take Ozzy to a dog park daily, and we're starting puppy training classes tomorrow and they are group session so he gets plenty of socialization. Whenever he goes in his crate he gets a peanut butter filled kong, and only at crate time, so he is starting to associate the delicious treat with his crate. We never ever use the crate for punishment or force him to go in it. A lot of times he is in there on his own, but if we are watching tv and he chooses to nap on the rug at our feet we don't force him in the crate to nap, it's up to him. We are also trying to get him to ring bells for wanting to go outside. He hasn't really gotten the hang of it yet, probaby because when he was being fostered in Tennessee he was living ouside 24/7 and using the bathroom whenever he felt like it, so we had to start potty training from scratch.

Kindachewy · June 2012

The Bell idea is super cute! So far our dog scratches at the door, but I may try the bell idea. How are you doing it?

Legu · June 2012

I haven't had a puppy in 24 years [he was my first Christmas present from my parents, apparently the first words I ever said were "sit down Jasper"... Aww] but my friend got one recently, and when she started leaving him for between around an hour or three, she left the stereo on quietly with some calm music playing... Worked a treat.

SB1512 · June 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_chit-chat_puppydog-people?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:14Discussion:ad5f2b62-6c67-4bd5-b3e1-e2ac6783cd14Post:19fe49a2-b8c7-4901-850a-479c85ab6b6c">Re: Puppy/dog people</a>:
[QUOTE]The Bell idea is super cute! So far our dog scratches at the door, but I may try the bell idea. How are you doing it?
Posted by Kindachewy[/QUOTE]

We have jingle bells (literally, lol. FI's sister dug some out of her christmas bin for us) hanging on the door we take the dog outside of. We take him out the same door everytime we go outside, unless we are going for a ride in the car. We bring him to the door with the bells and use hit paw to hit them so they jingle and say "outside Ozzy" and then we take him outside.

InfinityWings · June 2012

My puppy came from a rescue, where she was being kept in a kennel/crate. I have used it for me leaving and at bedtime since I got. She was 4 months at the time, 9 months now. She WILL NOT relieve herself in her "bedroom." That alone makes it so much easier.

I have had to on leave her 8 hours, I hated it, but she made it. It was a family emergency, otherwise no more than 6 hours is the regular length she is in the crate. I have found a drop in doggie daycare nearby that she loves going to if I know I will be gone more than 5-6 hours. And I know there are dog walkers around, too.

A few of her favorite toys, a kong with PB and cherrios, and one of those water bottles they have to lick to get water. And a washable mat. She loves the kong, and when she sees it she knows it is time to go in her crate.

Hoping to eventually trust her in a room, but that isn't happening anytime soon. She is a real stinker. Jumps on counters, can open cabinates, drawers & some of the doors. And likes to re-arange sofa cusions (hasn't eaten any-yet!!)

mbuckley85 · June 2012

I wouldn't be worried about 2 hours. When my dog was a puppy I brought her anywhere I could, but I also would leave her for couple hour increments. I work nights and I brought her to my parents initially, then when I knew she could make it through the night 8 hours, I would only bring her to my parents for the 12 hour shifts I worked. As she got older, I would have someone come and take her out for the last time out at night (around 9 or 10) while I was at work and then she could make it until I got home around 8.

Now FI lives with me and he takes her out before he goes to bed and she gets up around 7:30 to go to the bathroom.

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