The Working Household

Today's pup is often raised by working owners, and special adjustments have to be made by owners to be sure the pup's needs are taken care of.  While the canine is a pack animal (meaning he prefers living within a family group), with some forethought and planning, you can help him adjust to being alone during the day.

Housebreaking and training will take just a little bit longer in working households.  It is unrealistic to think a pup can hold his urge to eliminate all day long.  You must also realize that the very young up will be stressed and lonely in the beginning, but there are ways you can minimize his distress.

If you've planned to take the first few days off from work with your new puppy, you can begin helping him get used to being alone by leaving him on his own a few hours at a time.

Follow the suggestions below, and your pup should adjust very quickly to your schedule.

• Leave a light on.

• Leave a radio or TV on.

• Have a neighbor, friend, relative, or youngster check in on the pup and let him out at mid-day.

• Many kennels offer day care for pups at reasonable rates. This service provides your pet excellent opportunities for socializing with people and pets and keeps your pup occupied during the day.

• Leave safe, chewable, dog toys to play with.  Make sure your toys are too big to be swallowed.

• Leave food and water.

• Make sure he eliminates before you leave.

• Give him enough room so he doesn't have to lie in his own mess, should he have to eliminate.

• Last, but perhaps most important-make your departures and homecomings as uneventful and unemotional as possible.

Make sure the area you are leaving the dog in during the day has been "dog-proofed."  Remove any and all things that could be destroyed.  Make sure the dog cannot open cabinets.  Store poisons, cleaner, etc., in upper cabinets.  Try to choose an area small enough to be covered with newspaper.

Ideally, dogs in working households should be left in a safe, dog-proofed place, such as a utility room or garage, with a doggy door leading to a padlocked chain-link enclosure with a top and bottom.  In such a situation, the dog is safe from the elements.  He cannot do damage to himself or to his surroundings.  He is able to eliminate, and he is protected from theft.

While we don't recommend crating a dog for as long as an eight-hour working day, if you can find no alternative, please purchase a crate in which the pup can stand up and stretch out fully, turn around, and still have some space left over.  Then, make sure someone can let the pup out during the day until. he's old enough to hold himself all today.

Some pups do well in a portable wire exercise pen which can be set up anywhere and lined with newspapers.  Most portable exercise pens are lightweight and can be folded when not in use. Most have eight two-or three-foot-wide panels and come in a variety of heights.  We recommend you use a pen 42 to 48 inches tall.

The disadvantage of exercise pens is that some clever dogs learn to climb out of them, so they must sometimes be covered.  Wire spacing is sometimes so wide on some pens that little jaws can get caught, so some supervision is necessary as you begin to train your pup to use an exercise pen.

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