[wut]

My wife and I have been looking into adopting a puppy for a few months now and I'm wondering what people on this forum think we can make it work given our situation.

We both work, so neither of us is currently home at all during the day. However, my work is pretty flexible and I could definitely come home once or twice a day for the first year or so. We have a small patio that is about 12ftx25ft in area that we could make accessible via doggy door.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to setup a small area indoor, probably not much larger in area than a typical crate would be, but allow the puppy access to the doggy door to the patio for when it has to go potty. The patio walls are about 6 feet high, so it is secure.

I'm an early riser and will take the puppy out in the morning before work, and like I said, come home once or twice a day until the dog is housetrained. And then a walk in the evening as well.

I guess my questions boil down to these. Will this setup help the puppy become housetrained (along with us working with the puppy)? And will the puppy be able to adjust to being home alone most of the day? I'm thinking we can slowly increase the amount of space it has indoors while we're at work and probably slowly space out my return visits to home until I don't have to come home mid-day as often.

I will also mention that we have considered adopting an adult dog and we would also be happy going that route, but our preference is definitely to adopt a puppy if we could make it work.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[Criosphynx]

I don't think a puppy is the best idea. Housebreaking when your not there is pretty much impossible. With my puppy, I had to let him use puppy pad and then retrain him to pee outside. It takes longer and not everyone can get a puppy to switch once they are used to going inside.

Also a young puppy is going to need a lot of interaction the first 4 months or so to grow up stable. You'd basically have to spend every waking moment (when your home) playing with, training, and socializing your dog or you risk behavior issues.

A dog a year or so old is probably better suited for your situation IMO Good on you guys for deciding to adopt.

 

[wut]

Thanks for the response. I have a couple of questions. I guess I thought that the puppy would be asleep most of the time anyway. If I came home every 3 hours or so (for say 45 minutes) for the first 4 months would that be enough? Also, I assumed that if the puppy had a choice between going potty where it sleeps/eats and going out the doggy door and doing its business outside, that it would choose the latter? Maybe using the doggy door just won't come that naturally to the puppy? What if my wife were to also take the first couple of weeks with the puppy off of work?

I'm not trying to be combative, but just exploring all the possibilities

 

[Criosphynx]

Thanks for the response. I have a couple of questions. I guess I thought that the puppy would be asleep most of the time anyway. If I came home every 3 hours or so (for say 45 minutes) for the first 4 months would that be enough? Also, I assumed that if the puppy had a choice between going potty where it sleeps/eats and going out the doggy door and doing its business outside, that it would choose the latter? Maybe using the doggy door just won't come that naturally to the puppy? What if my wife were to also take the first couple of weeks with the puppy off of work?I'm not trying to be combative, but just exploring all the possibilities

Your not combative! Your asking good questions.

They can hold their bladder for about an hour for every month old they are.... thats a can...not a will...lol

Taking the week or so off to supervise him and teach him how to use the door consistantly is a great idea. The door is not som'thing I'd expect and 8 wk old puppy to just "know" how to do.

While his instincts is not to soil his den, he could easily walk further into the house and go vs out the door.

 

[wut]

Ah, well, I guess what I was thinking was to initially only allow the puppy a very small space indoors, which would essentially maybe only be big enough for a "den" and if the puppy wanted to play while we were at work, then it would head out the door. I guess I envision it as "crate training" except the puppy would have the option of heading out to our patio if it wanted to be out of its create.

 

[Criosphynx]

Ah, well, I guess what I was thinking was to initially only allow the puppy a very small space indoors, which would essentially maybe only be big enough for a "den" and if the puppy wanted to play while we were at work, then it would head out the door. I guess I envision it as "crate training" except the puppy would have the option of heading out to our patio if it wanted to be out of its create.

You can certainly try it

 

[wut]

haha, fair enough, I suppose the assurance/approval I'm digging for might not exist