DS: When buying a new pup, do you go back to work or stay at home?

I just received my new dog Thursday, and took a few days off to help her settle in. She's three years old, so I don't have to deal with the puppy stage, and she's quite content to sleep on her bed while I'm gone.

I see no problem with getting a pup and working 8 hours, it's not cruel, and not the same as leaving a child alone since dogs are not children. If you have someone come in and check on the pup, that's even better. What I don't like is people crating a pup for over 8 hours since it starts all kinds of bad habits, if you're going to crate train, the dog needs to be let out every few hours..

No system is prefect, and no one system is going to work for everyone. I had to laugh at an answer where the person said she would take a full three months off work to care for the pup, and not go back until the pup was house broke...obviously this person either stil lived at home, and didn't have to pay bills or had won the lottery..

When I am screening new puppy homes, I require that they have, at the very least, a four day weekend to spend at home, and that they have someone who will let the pup out during the day, after that. I am usually willing to keep the pup until they can make such arrangements.

My pups don't leave my home until they are potty-trained and have good house manners. I can usually get this done by 13 weeks. However, they need the new family to be able to 'read' their signals and needs, so that they are trained and successful in the new home.

If I didn't place my pups with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, I may not worry so much about it. But, I require only what's proven to work, through my own experience with this breed.

If someone is able to spend even more time with them, such as getting a paid vacation, or being able to take the time off, this may make the difference in who gets the pup.

Doesn't sound quite fair, does it? Well, it's my responsibility to place my pups responsibly, and plan for their best success. My obligation is to the pup, and not the human who wants one.

Myself, I wouldn't 'purposely' acquire a new puppy, unless I could get time off to work with one, at least his first week. I wouldn't get a new pup unless I had someone to walk him midday. That's just me.

An older dog is different. If the older dog is already house-trained, it can work to leave him during the day.

Now, talk about being 'fair'. Do you know the most common reason dogs are surrendered to a shelter? Do you know the primary cause of death to those dogs in the typical pound?

Being UNTRAINED. If a dog is surrendered for almost any other reason, he stands a chance of finding a new home. However, very few new owners want to adopt someone else's untrained dog.

It's our first responsibility to train our dogs into good canine citizens. That requires time and commitment. If a new owner doesn't have the time or commitment to begin training a new puppy, they can't be a responsible puppy owner.

That's just my view.

Of course you can work and get a puppy. There are so many options these days with dog walkers, doggy daycares, etc. As long as the dogs needs are being met and you dedicate enough time to your dog when you are home I think it is fine. There are many people home all day with their dog but do nothing but talk to it and feed it, and feed it, and feed it. They end up with fat dogs who can barely walk. Is that not abuse ???? It is the same as people who don't believe large dogs belong in an apartment. I had a lab when I lived in an apartment. She got walked in the morning, walked after work and again in the evening and long hikes and dog parks on the weekend. She was in amazing physical shape and lived until 14. I've never really seen a dog running laps by themselves in a big yard. Anyways what I'm trying to say is that yes you must make sacrifices somewhere to have a happy healthy dog but how you do that is up to you.

Now that being said. You must think seriously about what you are going to do and do it. If you aren't able to or willing to get a dog walker and you are gone 12 hours a day go to a rescue or pound and adopt yourself a nice older couch potato. Don't get a puppy and let it have the run of the house and then come home and be angry with the pup for pooping on the floor and chewing your furniture.

Since I owned my own business I was always able to bring my pups with me to stay in the office away from the dogs to be groomed.

I had to work or I couldn't have dogs. If they were not with me I went home several times a day to let them out. When I was at home I started training from the first time the dog walked in.

It isn't abuse, it isn't neglect, even if you can stay home most people would not be able to stay home long enough to have the dog housebroken or trained.

I saw one question that the person would not even go to the store and leave the dog. Dogs need to learn to be alone, they need to learn routines and boundaries. They need to learn Independence, plus when the house is quiet most of dogs take a nap. It might make house training a little harder, but I never relied on pee pads or potty patches or any crutch for them to get used to. I expected the accidents and cleaned it up. The older they got the longer they could hold it and soon they will want to wait until they are outside.

They are dogs and they are my dogs and it was my decision how I dealt with them

I dont suggest that most people get a puppy when the pup will be left in a crate alone for 8+ hours a day. If work/school schedules can be altered or arranged so someone is at very minimum, able to let the pup out to pee/poop every 3-4 hours, then it can be done....if the owners are committed to spending a lot of time in the mornings, evenings, and weekends training and socializing.

Im lucky because I work from home and can be with my animals most of the day.

I wouldnt bring home a young puppy if I were working full time.....I dont think its fair to the dog.

Most of the people asking questions here expect the puppy to be alone all day, and then sleep all night, and somehow magically become housebroken (by osmosis, I guess). That is not reasonable, and unreasonable expectations are a big reason dogs end up in shelters.

It makes no sense to me to bring home a dog that needs to go out every couple of hours, and then leave it locked up inside all the time. Just because you managed to train your dog, that does not make it a good idea for everyone else.

Back when I actually had a job, I made a point of bringing home my ADULT fosters on Friday night, so I could spend the weekend with them and get started on housebreaking before I would be gone all day. Of course, my dogs have a doggie door, as well.

as a college student i have a bit more control over my time schedule and how many days im allowed to miss before being kicked out of a class. but if i know that sometime that year i will be getting a dog i arrange a schedule around the dog so when i am gone im not gone long enough to cause any harm.

at most gone 3 hours at a time and this semester i have outdone myself scheduling classes so that i have a 4 day weekendand only 3 days of classes for 3 hours 2 days and 2 hours 1 day. i'm finally getting my long awaited beezer.

i would feed the pup in the morning play with it then take it outside for a run and a bit of basic training after it's done its business i come inside and crate the dog with some toys and turn on the TV.

this schedule goes on for the rest of the year except for when im at my parents place in between semesters. i dont view it as abuse i view it as training and keeping the dog safe while im away no one needs a dog that is so clingy that it cant stand you leaving for even 1 hour!

when i get back home he gets another meal i study he plays then we go outside again while he plays in the water im watching him. then we get back he collapses into a stupor on his bed and i go and finish any studying or i read a book watch a movie or play a game. dont think my dog is abused at all

When i got my puppy i did take a week off unpaid leave hes nearly a year now but then went back to my job i have a dog walker that comes in and sorts the dogs out for me but i work 12 hour days sometimes more especially with Travelling so could not leave a puppy that length of time with no one coming in to see to the dog and the puppy.

My puppy was crated as well as my other dog got the puppy at 11 weeks old so he was used to a crate could not go out and allow a puppy to just roam the house to many things he could damage him self on especially all the cables from my fish tanks

I knew Before i got my puppy that i would still continue working this was one of the things i looked into so had to make provisions before hand and hire a dog walker.

I can do even better. I can take the puppy to work with me. However I would do this with only a young puppy under 12 weeks old. Over 12 weeks old the puppy can stay at home for the four hours while I'm working. I come home and let all my dogs out at noon and do some training. thankfully I have a job that allows me to do these things.

I've known people who have gotten puppies and not taken time off, but they did have a petsitter/dogwalker to come over and give a mid-day break.

Personally, I have never adopted a young puppy - I did get a young dog, 9 months old - but he was housebroken when I got him and I work close enough to come home at lunch and take him out myself or he goes to doggy daycare. And I have adopted adult dogs that were totally housebroken & had no problems 'holding it' while I was at work all day - and I also utilized doggy daycare for them, too.

I happen to know a stay-at-home mom who doesn't spend an appropriate amount of time with her dog. I work and I spend more time with my dog than the stay-at-home mom that I know.

I think everyone's situation is different and quality time with your dog is what matters, not so much the quantity --- but at the same time, people who work should be wary of "working dogs" or high-energy dogs that are going to get bored & destructive being home alone all day.

Owners need to realize that some dogs are more suited to being OK to be home alone during the workday and other dogs are not ... for example, I love border collies, they're great dogs, but would not work for me because I cannot be there during the day to give them enough stimulation that their breed really needs.

Also, a working-person who wants a dog has a means to provide & care for the dog. If only stay-at-home pet owners could have dogs, our pet overpopulation situation would be far worse than it already is. I'm an animal rescuer and I think a loving home is more important than if someone works or not ... but this also needs to be evaluated with some common sense.

I tend to be at home in the evenings. If I or my husband have something to do (hubby is a part-time student in the evenings) we work together so that 99% of the time one of us is home in the evening so the dog isn't having an extended day where we work then have to go back out -- once in a while we do have something that requires the both of us to be out together ... that is a day we will utilize daycare so the dog is playing/interacting during the day and is perfectly find/content to be home for a few hours alone in the evening.