# Transition to leaving your pup while you work



## golfgal (Dec 31, 2013)

Don't you wish we could all be independently wealthy and not have to work?? Well in lieu of that, we do what we must do. 

I had transitioned out of crate when left alone at 4mths & 5mths with the respective, however that was not for more than 4 hours max. I'd gate off the kitchen or x-pen with the crate at one so he has a play area and more room. Not sure how long he'd be able to hold it though. While in theory you'd probably be okay for 6 hours, no guarantees as he's still a puppy and developing. So maybe indoor potty area for a bit to see how it goes?? Or doggy door to outside??

Having the run of the house would depend and my thought would it would be too much to go from crate to house right now. Transition over time and sometimes you take steps backward. Second chewing phase seems to occur from 9-12 mths and I have the chewed up baseboards and couch to prove it. 

If you're friend can keep coming that would make sense still. No comments on daycare as I have not used and I think there are pros/cons and good/bad stories so you'll have to make the call on that one. I do know that many daycares won't take unneutered pups so that may weigh on your decision.

There will be good days and bad days as you transition which if taken in stride will work out over time.


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## Brads035 (Apr 1, 2014)

I work full time so I have depended on a dog walker who comes everyday to take Cody for a 1-3 hour walk in the middle of the afternoon. When he was little, I did not crate him, but put him in the bathroom with lots of toys (but no where to go potty as I wanted him to stay in the habit of only going potty outside). Everytime I left, I made sure to give him a frozen stuffed kong, and lots of rubber toys and stuffed animals to play with. As he got older, I transitioned him over a weekend (as a test) to leaving him for 4-5 hours at a time in the living room/kitchen of my apartment - again with treats and toys lying around. He did well so I continued leaving him here when I go to work and I still follow the same schedule. Breakfast and walkies in the morning, then I give home a filled kong/hollow bone full of treats and some peanut butter to hold it in, sometimes a frozen marrow bone, and bully sticks, deer antlers, rubber toys, stuffies etc to keep him occupied. (I observed him with all chew toys first to make sure he never has an issue). The dog walker comes around 1/2pm to take him out for a group walk, and I come home in the evening for dinner and more walkies. He is now 2 years old. I think it would be preferable to give your puppy a good long-term confinement area (ex bathroom/kitchen) rather than just crating all day - and definitely have someone check in every 5hrs. If you use a daycare, make sure to check it out - some places just leave dogs in a crate in a back room all day, or leave all the dogs unsupervised in a big playpen. I live in Toronto and know a couple walkers who provide in-house day boarding where the dog stays with them in the home as a regular pet and then goes for all outings - there might be something similar in your area


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## DJdogman (Apr 23, 2013)

I think your plan of fencing the kitchen and having someone walk him once or twice, and going to daycare once or twice is the way to go. In fact, that's exactly what we did until we got a second dog. Derek used to be kept in the kitchen with lots of toys until he was about 1.5years, now he's allowed free reign of the house and usually spends the day up on my bed with his brother.

I found the daycare really great, and he was always still tired the following day. After an active weekend, he was tired on Mondays, went to daycare on Tues, tired again Wed, daycare Thurs, and I got home an hour early from work on Fridays. Some days there was noone available to leave him out when he was home alone, and there was the odd toilet accident but that's life with a puppy! 

I tried leaving him outside during the summer in our garden with a huge kennel and lots of toys but my neighbours informed me he just sat staring at the door for the whole day each time!! When home alone, we leave the radio on, classical station normally which is calming for dogs, and stuffed kongs as said above are great too.

The guilt never alleviates though, I still think about them all day and rush home to see them!!


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

Thanks for the input everyone. My wife and I talked about it last night, and we're going to try a few different things in the coming weeks, to try and find the best fit for our pup.

Unfortunately since he's still intact, most daycare places won't take him, or if they do, he'll just spend the day in a kennel solo, so rather than spend the money right now on that, we've decided to continue to pay our friend to come to our house a couple days a week, and leave him crated at home instead. Eventually, we will get him neutered, but our vet recommended waiting as long as possible to allow further development until we do.

So our next idea, is to place him in our upstairs laundry room vs. the crate. This would allow him to move around more, but still keep him contained. It also has laminate flooring, which to date he has yet to ever go potty on (he always went to the carpet, the little bugger), so we're hoping he will do OK in there with plenty of toys. We plan to test it maybe this weekend, and leave him in there one afternoon (after long walk of course) and see how he does. So far, we've left him crated up to 6 hours one time, with no issues, and he regularly see's 4.5-5hrs at a time before someone comes and relieves him while we are at work, so our hope is, once we get him used to the laundry room, that will be his place to hang during the work week, and as he gets older, we will slowly try to push the amount of time he is left there without breaks, since again ideally we would like to be able to leave him all day while at work, and have him be OK, but we will very slowly work towards that as he ages. 

I will report back with what works for us as we figure it out, as it may be helpful to others going through similar situations.

Thanks again for the input, and please feel free to add more.


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## Goldylover2 (May 1, 2014)

My 11 month pup is still crated for 9 hours while we're at work. He's been left alone for an hour a few times as a test. One time he grabbed his food dish and chews on it a little. The same dish we used to feed our last golden for ten years and she never chewed on it. Another time he grabbed a book and practically ate half the cover. He still can't be trusted. Every dog is different. Our last golden could be left alone at 7 months old and wouldn't get into anything. This pup is going to take a little longer. I felt guilty crating him for so long. But it's for his safety also.


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

Goldylover2 said:


> My 11 month pup is still crated for 9 hours while we're at work. He's been left alone for an hour a few times as a test. One time he grabbed his food dish and chews on it a little. The same dish we used to feed our last golden for ten years and she never chewed on it. Another time he grabbed a book and practically ate half the cover. He still can't be trusted. Every dog is different. Our last golden could be left alone at 7 months old and wouldn't get into anything. This pup is going to take a little longer. I felt guilty crating him for so long. But it's for his safety also.


Yeah we definitely feel guilty too, but your right its for their own safety. This is why we are gonna try the laundry room, so at least he can get up and move around a bit more than his crate. We'll do a test run over a weekend, and see how it goes before committing during the work week, when its harder for us to run home and "save him." Thanks for your input.


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## Marcus (Aug 24, 2014)

Like a band-aid, fast and swift.
Mine has been left alone since we got him. We're home at lunch though.



West1134 said:


> I think he'll just bark/whine


Try it and find out. Give it a couple of weeks to see if he'll settle down.



West1134 said:


> . Plus weather this time of year.


I have put a dog door into my security door so he can go into the kitchen when he wants. Although it never snows here


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I got an x pen with a lid. So it's basically a giant crate. Keeps my pup contained, but more room to move around than a regular crate.

I have a 5 year old dog that still cannot be left loose in the house. I have a spare bedroom with an xpen stretched out wall to wall, so he has access to half the room. The only thing in that part of the room is a crate he can go in and out of.


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## Brads035 (Apr 1, 2014)

Maybe since he is already used to the crate when left alone, you can put the crate in the laundry room during your test weekend? But leave it open - so he can go in and out. That way the experience of being in the laundry room isn't too different from what he already knows.


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

Well our situation just got put into even more of a quick decision making experience...our friend who's been coming up twice a week, just took a new job, and won't be able to continue to help us out (talk about crumby timing, but we understand). So I think we're going to try the laundry room idea with the crate inside at first and see how it goes. I do have a webcam with audio setup so I can check in on him, and actually see how he acts while we're away.

Wish us luck!


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## Marcus (Aug 24, 2014)

West1134 said:


> Well our situation just got put into even more of a quick decision making experience...our friend who's been coming up twice a week, just took a new job, and won't be able to continue to help us out (talk about crumby timing, but we understand). So I think we're going to try the laundry room idea with the crate inside at first and see how it goes. I do have a webcam with audio setup so I can check in on him, and actually see how he acts while we're away.
> 
> Wish us luck!


Good luck, In all honesty I think you're going to be fine... I betting my house he will sleep 99% of the time.

Don't stress about it.

I'd love to set up a webcam...


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## golfgal (Dec 31, 2013)

Dropbox. I bought one as I wanted to watch the 'Murphycam' but it won't connect to internet other than in the one room, I don't leave the dog, my home office. 

I'm 95% certain that I wake Murphy up from his napping when I come home at lunch or end of day. The evidence, no dog in livingroom when I walk in the door and then I see him emerge from my bedroom and come yawning and stretching my way. I think you'll find Kona will survive once you transition him.


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

Marcus said:


> Good luck, In all honesty I think you're going to be fine... I betting my house he will sleep 99% of the time.
> 
> Don't stress about it.
> 
> I'd love to set up a webcam...


Here's the webcam I have, and it works fantastic!! Cheap, very robust feature set, and you can access it via iPhone, work computer, etc. has remote control activity, mic and speaker capability, and even night vision. All for under $70!

Amazon.com : Foscam FI8910W Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with Two-Way Audio and Night Vision (Black) : Surveillance Cameras : Electronics


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

My pup was in a crate when I was at work til she was a year old (14 months, actually). Her crate size grew with her, until she was in a 42" by 5-6 months old. So, it was huge, and she was safe. 

I have a dogwalker - she comes exactly halfway through my day, everyday. So I exercise my dog for at least an hour before I leave, then she gets another hour with my walker, and a meal, and she's good til I get home. When I first went back to work, when my pup was 12 weeks old, she came twice a day, but that was only necessary for the first week or two. Your dog should be fine with one visit half way through your day.


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

Sweet Girl said:


> My pup was in a crate when I was at work til she was a year old (14 months, actually). Her crate size grew with her, until she was in a 42" by 5-6 months old. So, it was huge, and she was safe.
> 
> I have a dogwalker - she comes exactly halfway through my day, everyday. So I exercise my dog for at least an hour before I leave, then she gets another hour with my walker, and a meal, and she's good til I get home. When I first went back to work, when my pup was 12 weeks old, she came twice a day, but that was only necessary for the first week or two. Your dog should be fine with one visit half way through your day.


Yeah and there in lies my issue. We are having issues finding someone to come by midday. If that was the case, I wouldn't be so worried. For me, I'm concerned about the leaving him for 9 hours without being let out. Long term I know he will eventually be able to stay inside all day while we're at work without issue, I just think he's a bit too young for it right now.

Some of my friends & co-workers keep telling me that I should just leave him out in the dog run that we have. Build a shelter at one end, and then he should be fine, would have the ability to go to the bathroom, etc. My concern there is that he's basically been an indoor dog since day 1, he would likely dig, and might get under the fence (not sure, just guessing here), and he might bark all day which we obviously don't want. With him in the crate, or laundry room as we are thinking, I can login with my IP camera and check in on him. Again, I think this goes back to me feeling guilty too.

Thanks for the input.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

West1134 said:


> Yeah and there in lies my issue. We are having issues finding someone to come by midday. If that was the case, I wouldn't be so worried. For me, I'm concerned about the leaving him for 9 hours without being let out. Long term I know he will eventually be able to stay inside all day while we're at work without issue, I just think he's a bit too young for it right now.
> 
> Some of my friends & co-workers keep telling me that I should just leave him out in the dog run that we have. Build a shelter at one end, and then he should be fine, would have the ability to go to the bathroom, etc. My concern there is that he's basically been an indoor dog since day 1, he would likely dig, and might get under the fence (not sure, just guessing here), and he might bark all day which we obviously don't want. With him in the crate, or laundry room as we are thinking, I can login with my IP camera and check in on him. Again, I think this goes back to me feeling guilty too.
> 
> Thanks for the input.


:doh: Sorry - I clearly read your original post WAY too quickly.

I would not leave my dog outside all day. Too much could happen. He could be hurt, stolen, escape, etc etc.

Do you have any other friends nearby who could come in? Maybe a vet tech from your vet? I do think 9 hours is too long for a young dog (for any dog, actually). I always think, I wouldn't like to not be able to go to the bathroom that long, why would my dog be okay with it?


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## golfgal (Dec 31, 2013)

Is there a highschool or middleschool near you? I know some kids are responsible enough that you could get them to come let your dog and play in yard since you may not want them walking yet. My neighbour's 14 year house/dog sits so perhaps something like that may also be solution in your area. Thanks for the camera tip. Will check it out.


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## lloyddobler (Nov 30, 2014)

One idea would be to ask your vet and/or a dog trainer who is nearby who may know of folks who would be in the market to dog walk your pup. I'm not sure where you live, but it might be worth checking out Dog Boarding for Dog Lovers | Rover.com. It's a website that pulls local individuals who are available to dog walk, dog sit during the day and/or overnights. It lists reviews from others who have used them. I found a woman near my home who is going to watch my pup for me and would also do dog walking if and when I need it. I went to her home with my pup to make sure my dog got along with her dog, etc. There is another similar website you could check as well (Dog Boarding Just Got Awesome! | DogVacay). Hope this is helpful!


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

Thanks for the input everyone. I wanted to give a little update after our weekend of discussion, and testing some things out. 

So last week we took Kona to a doggy daycare one day, and he did great, had a blast, and was so wiped from the full day of playing with two other dogs that he slept pretty much for two days after! Unfortunately we can't afford to take him there daily, and the place is quite small and focused on boarding so when there is openings in her kennels, she will do doggy daycare, but if she's full with boarding dogs, she doesn't take daycare pups. 

Next our friend who is helping out and I spoke and we have her scheduled to continue to help out on Mondays & Wednesdays for the foreseeable future, which is nice. So our new gameplan is as follows:

Mon & Weds our friend comes and lets him out midday. Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday we take him to Doggy Daycare depending on if she has an opening. Then on the Tues, Thurs, Fri (whichever day he doesn't go to doggy daycare) we will have to just leave him all day in our laundry room with plenty of toys, and if he ends up having an accident, then we will clean it up and go from there.

Obviously this isn't the best/ideal solution, but its the reality of our situation for now. I hope to find another doggy daycare nearby that we can bring him to so that twice a week he does that and it exhausts him, but again it'll all depend on availability and price, not to mention that most daycare places won't take him until he neutered, and we are holding off on doing that until he's about a year old.

So over the weekend, we tested the waters with the laundry room idea, and left him in there while we went to a friends place to watch a football game. We ended up staying a bit longer than expected and he was in there for 7 hours and did great! No accidents, didn't tear anything up, and seemed pretty happy. So today we are leaving him in there again, and our friend will let him out midday, and place him back in there when she leaves. This will obviously be the same amount of time he would typically be crated, but at least in the laundry room he can get up and move around, not to mention we have left plenty of toys for him to play with.

It was comforting too, to see him playing when I logged in our our IP Camera. (Couldn't figure out how to imbed the video, but the link should work)
http://vid143.photobucket.com/albums/r133/KKleinschmidt/Kona%20having%20fun%20in%20laundry%20room_zpsokyqa60w.mp4


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

We were fortunate to have 2 children (high school and college age) living at home the year we got Brooks and their school schedules had them in and out throughout the day. At that time I was able to work from home part of the day as well. So, we never had to deal with Brooks being alone for really long stretches.

But, regardless, there were periods of 3 or 4 hours once he got to your dog'ssage, where he was home alone. And like you, I didn't feel I could trust him to roam free in the house with no one home (we never used a crate). 

Our place for him to stay when he was home alone was a mudroom with absolutely nothing in it except his bed, water dish and his toys (this room had been recently added on to our house so it was completely empty). So if you can create a small, safe place for him similar to that, maybe this might work?


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

lgnutah said:


> We were fortunate to have 2 children (high school and college age) living at home the year we got Brooks and their school schedules had them in and out throughout the day. At that time I was able to work from home part of the day as well. So, we never had to deal with Brooks being alone for really long stretches.
> 
> But, regardless, there were periods of 3 or 4 hours once he got to your dog'ssage, where he was home alone. And like you, I didn't feel I could trust him to roam free in the house with no one home (we never used a crate).
> 
> Our place for him to stay when he was home alone was a mudroom with absolutely nothing in it except his bed, water dish and his toys (this room had been recently added on to our house so it was completely empty). So if you can create a small, safe place for him similar to that, maybe this might work?


Yeah, that is what our laundry room is for Kona. So far its been working well. We've got him lined up for doggy daycare today, and our friend coming again Weds, so Thurs & Fri will be our first test days with leaving him all day. Although, I'm thinking of coming home at lunch on one of those days, so that he only has one long day this week vs. two, especially as we transition him into it.


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## Kora2014 (Sep 15, 2014)

We have just started to leave Kora for the majority of the day by herself. Luckily it is only 3 days a week that she is home for 8 hours. I am fortunate to work 10 minutes from home, so I come home at lunch. 

I take her for a 20 minute walk, give her lunch and then head back to work! We are on day 3 and so far so good!

Kora does have full access to the house and has since she was about 4 months old.

I still feel super guilty about leaving her all day, but if she wants nice toys and expensive bully sticks...we have to work!

I am sure Kona will be fine...I have to keep reminding myself that animals are not like people and don't really have a sense of time! They are just happy when we get home and forget that they are mad at us for leaving them all day!!


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

Kora2014 said:


> We have just started to leave Kora for the majority of the day by herself. Luckily it is only 3 days a week that she is home for 8 hours. I am fortunate to work 10 minutes from home, so I come home at lunch.
> 
> I take her for a 20 minute walk, give her lunch and then head back to work! We are on day 3 and so far so good!
> 
> ...



Today is day one of us trying to leave him at home all day. It was supposed to be last Thursday, but the little bugger got sick Weds night with diarrhea and then vomiting into the night and next morning. A full day of vet trips, and a bunch of $$$ later we concluded he didn't have a blockage and must have eaten a chunk of fabric from a toy (I found a .25 size piece of fabric in his stool from his diarrhea the next morning). He's back to normal now, and I'm eager to see how he did today. 

I've got a webcam setup so I've checked on him a few times and so far so good. We took him to doggy daycare yesterday where he got to run all day with other puppies his age and he was so wiped when we picked him up that he wouldn't get out of the car when we got home, and slept most the evening before we put him up for bed. So we're thinking he would sleep most of today, and from what I can tell on the cam he has. The longest we've left him before was 7hrs (time got away from us going into town) and he did fine. Today I'm leaving work a bit early and he'll be in there 8hrs. Once we know he can do this, he'll be staying in the laundry room for 9hrs/day 1-2 days a week. Then 2 days a week we have someone come midday, and 1-2 days a week we take him to doggy daycare.


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## West1134 (Nov 3, 2014)

Well day one of being left by himself in the laundry room without a midday break went well! No accidents, and didn't destroy anything. He was in there a total of 8hrs (I left work a little early) vs. the normal 9hrs we're gone. Took him for a solid 2.5 mile walk after with some intermittent jogging mixed in, then came back trained and played for a bit. He was a good little pup last night. 

We are going to try and keep this to only one day a week that he doesn't have a midday break for awhile, and ensure he has a full day of puppy play at doggy daycare the day before, but eventually, and as he gets older, it'll become more often. Proud of the little guy.


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