First time puppy owner - experience, tips, breed advice

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Austen123

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Hi All,

My partner and i are looking at getting a puppy. I have had dogs growing up so know what to expect. My partner and i both work full time and are in walking distance from work so home at lunch times. I also have the option to work from home (but to into the office for meetings etc).
I have a horse (and we all know how much time that takes!) . It would work out well as i go home before i go to horse to change so can pick up dog to come with him. I am also a fitness freak to plan to take dog on run with me.
Our garden is securely but in no way huge! and we live in a 3 bed, kitchen/diner, lounge house so nothing too big and spacious.

In my head, i think a lab will suit us well. As this will be our first dog; we want something easily trainable, happy to go on runs with me, horses, and a good attitude towards kids (nephews/nieces etc). We have a cat so we thought it would be better to get a puppy so it is used to the cat from day dot.
 
Hello I love labs, and think they are perfect. However, they are very active dogs and need a lot of stimulation or they become very destructive, they are reknowned destroyers of houses if bored.
So, a few things that first spring to mind...
When you get the pup you will need to be able to spend a lot of time with it to enable house training and so on, no problem if you can take holiday for a couple of weeks. They will also not be able to be left all day (bar lunch) for ages as will get bored, but if you can work from home that is good too.
Does your yard allow dogs? And without teaching Grandma too much about eggs mucking about on a yard does not replace a walk in a dogs mind (or body).
It will not be able to go running with you for at least 12 months, longer if you run on tarmac.
Decide if you prefer a working type or a show one. Show bred are easier, quieter and require less exercise. Working ones have been bred to run and work and use their brains all day and can be a PITA for the first 5 or 6 years. Show ones may not be suitable for running partners.
 
I'm sorry but I think if you work full time you shouldn't even think about getting a puppy, they are full on, and need lots of care and attention. The first 8 weeks of getting a puppy are hard, they require pretty much round the clock supervision, even one as easy as a lab. I don't think it's fair on you or the puppy to get one unless you can spend most of your waking time with it.
 
16 hours a day alone is hard for any dog. For a pup, soul destroying.

I know plenty will say it works for them. But I think it's desperately unfair on any dog, sorry.
 
labs can be great family dogs. if you're going to get a pup, you'll need to have at least two weeks off (preferably more)to help get pup into the routine he'll need to be in when you are back at work-you'll then need to be able to let them out every 60-90mins through the day (working or not) and be prepared to let out late at night and early in the morning-for quite some weeks.

Its not fair also, to leave a young pup alone all that time even if you can let them out that often when you are working. I was able to do it as was able to take pup to work with me and had plenty of help from willing volunteers! so he had lots of friends and lots of other dogs to play with before I got a second. as you can wfh, hopefully you can work around them a bit but they are full on as young pups so Skype meetings etc might be tricky as the OH found out lol. my dogs currently come to work with me twice a week, and stay with OH at home the other three days.

I'd not run with a lab for at least 12 months. Horses and dogs aren't always a good mix-mine aren't allowed loose on the yard when the horses are about and it can be very hard to fit a young dog around a horse (been there, done that) although easier to exercise a dog in the dark.
And bear in mind small puppies are easy energy wise-its when they are 6-24months that they are hard work. I am not trying to put you off, if you and your OH are fully on board you could make it work :)
 
agree, a puppy is not really sensible if you work full time. i am retired and got my puppy last year, the first 2 weeks i didnt leave him at home and he came in the car with my other dog when i went to do the horses,i didnt ride for those 2 weeks and as my horse was out 24/7 she didnt take me long so he got used to being left in the car for 20 mins both ends of the day. i then started leaving him for short periods during the day for another 2 weeks and then got back into my usual routine of riding and he was left for 2 hours in the mornings...he is now almost 18 months and the longest i leave him (with my other dog) is 3 hours in the mornings. it is an unbelievable amount if work with a puppy if you want to do it right and i would never have considered it if i was still working. sorry not what you want to hear ....
 
so long as you are prepared that puppy will take a lot of effort- will need someone there every few hours initially then as it gets older and more active will neeed ++ stimulation (not just mooching around a yard- will need walked as well as you doing the horse,bbudget at least an hours 'sole dog' time that isnt co inciding with heart time etc there are lots who have dogs who work and if the dog is used to it and well stimulated when owners home I have no problem with it
 
I’ve made puppy and full time work work before BUT OH and I worked different shifts, we had a dog walker and existing dogs. The longest puppies were ever left was 3 hours.

I don’t know much about labs besides the out of control ones locally who I cannot abide and my sisters two who have been nightmares for chewing etc but now they are old enough to run with her and her hubby (she does triathlons and he does ultra marathons) they are lovely dogs. They have been hard work to train though so I’m not sure I’d describe them as an easy breed.
 
Things I have learned as a first time puppy owner who works full time this year:
1. They are a massive time commitment. We would not have been able to manage if I wasn’t working at home a lot due to ill health, and the fact that my partner is able to take puppy to work with him. And then my working day becomes a lot longer as I am constantly taking him out for toilet, play and training breaks, so I have to extend how long I work for.

2. The support network you think you have may collapse. I had asked my parents and neighbours if they would be willing to support if we had a puppy. But things change, my neighbours got a foster dog who can’t have another with it, so they couldn’t watch puppy, and one of my parents has now become ill so they are taken up with hospital appointments etc. So you have to factor in if financially you can afford Day care or a walker or similar.

3. The dream you (I) has about puppy merrily trotting around the yard by your side whilst you do your jobs may not be the reality. Mine is currently massively reactive around horses and goes nuts when he sees them so he can’t come to the yard as I had planned. Which means I end up either leaving him with someone or alone. Alone is ok if I am home with him all day but if I had been out at work all day just wouldn’t be acceptable. I then rush doing the horses so he isnt alone too long, so my quality time with my horse is reduced.

4. Puppies can be stressful! They are unlikely to be the perfect bundle of joy all the time that you (I) might have pictured. Despite reading on dog training and behaviour for hours on end, and going to training and putting the hours in to make him the best dog possible, i still have a dog that over reacts to certain noises and movements, and this makes things a challenge. (Example, his herding instinct is strong and he wants to chase cars, so I can’t ask others to walk him until we crack this as the risk if they let him go or if he pulled them over is too high). I am still working with the genetics and traits nature gave him, and I’m still making mistakes.

5. Life as you know it changes. If you think a horse is a bind (bad word but you get what I mean), a dog is more so. Want to go to the cinema, or shopping, or on holiday? What are you going to do with the dog? None of it is impossible, but you always have to take them into consideration. Where I used to get up at 5am to ride before work, now I have to both ride and walk the dog before work (or I would if pony hadn’t fractured leg, in some ways he has made my life easier this summer by doing that!)

6. This is the next 16 years of your life you are committing to. If it goes a bit wrong and you have a reactive, or aggressive, or fearful, or whatever dog, that is something you better damn well put the work into as it is relying on you to keep it safe and happy for 16 odd years.

All the above said, my dog is an absolute joy, I love him to death and he has so many wonderful traits that make it all worth while. I know as I get more behavioural and training help, and give him a job to do he is going to turn out to be even more fantastic than he already is.

So the moral of the story is, if you go into it with eyes wide open you andvdog should be fine, go into it with a cute puppy fantasy and not willing to devote most of your time to it and you may be due a shock. Good luck!
 
Very good post BBP. When I was breeding I would not let a puppy go to a home where it would be left all day with only a break at lunchtime, apart from being unfair on the pup , it would make house training very difficult. A friend who has had dogs all her life, showing, breeding, working etc, has just got a puppy after a gap of 14 years, and she said to me the other day that she had forgotten just what hard work a puppy is!

I would think you could offer the ideal home to an older dog, say a young adult, OP. I know some rescues are stupidly fussy but sometimes breeders are looking to rehome a dog that has maybe not made the grade for showing, or has come back for rehoming for some reason, and they tend to be far more realistic about someone who is working.
 
Actually MM, good point, and if you go on lab sites on FB for instance labs that won't make the trialling grade are on there.
In fact there is a gorgeous 5 year old lab bitch looking for a home now, from a very realistic rescue, I want her but she is for a pet home only.
 
Go for an adult - plenty in rescues or even rehomes that are good with cats.

That way you cut out all the puppy silliness such as toileting and chewing, and can crack on immediately with taking the dog running with you...which you cant do with a pup for at least 12months as a bare minimum, longer if you plan on running on pavements.

Plus it should be much better equipped for being left whilst you are out - pups notoriously cannot cope with being alone for long periods and will often start to display separation issues such as barking/messing/chewing etc that arent just puppy habits but life long vices
 
We have a 6 month old terrier - she is independent, fearless and great fun. Even with such an independent dog, we are only now in the past month able to leave her for longer than half an hour/hour. Puppies are babies - they understandably get distressed by themselves and leaving them for long periods when they are young often results in a dog that will always hate being left. This was a danger with our terrier so we haven't tested it again until more recently. Now she is a bit older she is perfectly happy by herself for longer periods (not a full working day mind!). If you/OH can't be at home full-time for the next couple of months, I personally wouldn't get a puppy.

With some adjustments to your schedule, you might be ok with an older dog though. How would you feel about doggy daycare?
 
Excellent post by BBP - I work full time and have 4 dogs, with a lovely dog sitter who lets them out and sits/plays with them while I’m at work, but although my heart would just adore a puppy I know I can’t.

The most recent rescue I adopted was approx 12 months old when I got her - she’d been picked up as a stray by the dog warden and is a lurcher type - she is mad as a box of frogs but absolutely adorable and just as much fun as baby puppy! The massive advantage is that she is also sensible enough to happily take herself off to her crate (which she loves, no training required :)) and sleep while I’m out, she also has the 3 oldies for company which makes a huge difference.

I think you’d be a great home for a dog, but as others have said I would definitely go for an adult not a puppy
 
my friend recently got two puppies and she does work full time. but she has 2 adult dogs and a dog walker Monday to Friday and they normally go to the yard in the morning (she has had to puppy proof an area of the yard as they kept disappearing as she couldn't watch them all the time while mucking out) her bf also does shorter days so is often home early. It is not ideal. she did have time off over Christmas when she first got them, and then a friend who was in between jobs was around for a few weeks. they are used to it, and it probably makes a big difference that they have other dogs as company.

ultimately it is a lot of work. I have 2 rescues who I got as a 2 and 3 year old, and other than the initial settling in period and training (my collie had none at all and was in a house with no walks for 2 years!) they are already 'grown up' so in my opinion it is a lot quicker. both of them had a full history as were rehomed directly from homes who had them from puppies. it would certainly be worth considering an older dog. one of them is a Labrador, working line. so he does have quite a lot of energy- easily keeps up with or over takes the collie on walks! But when he is at home we joke that he is a 'sofa'! so chilled. we've actually known him since a puppy and he was certainly hard work then- I worked at a school and helped over the summer holiday when he was tiny, he was a big chewer. now as a three year old he has never chewed anything. he is a pain at the horses though as too much 'yummy' stuff to find and eat.
 
My daughter has a Vizsla which she bought as an 8wk pup. She and her OH are both medics and rarely work the same shifts so there is frequently someone home for at least part of the day. When they got the viz, they also had a med student lodger who was frequently around in the day and was an experienced dog person. They did plan the first few months or so very carefully, he is crate trained, their garden is dog proof, he gets loads of exercise, they now use "borrow my Doggy" and also use a great daycare facility. We have him quite a lot to cover for holidays etc and I have gone down to stay occasionally when things have been difficult. He is a lovely well trained dog and a credit to them but it has been very hard work and I know my daughter thought they had made a terrible mistake in the early days. It is possible to do but it does take committment. Our pup is now 12 months and has been easy peasy in comparison but we are both home all day and are happy to share the walks, I do think though that he would be quite naughty if he was left to his own devices for too long. someone I know had a lab and it destroyed the window sills and ate its way through a door! Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
I work full time and have a dog, had him from 8 weeks old.
I think I took a week's annual leave, then (now ex) OH took a week's annual leave; so he had two weeks with one of us around.
Then we each took it in turns to take a half day, for another 2 weeks.

We got toilet training down, and when he was about 5 months old I think, we got a dog flap so he can let himself in and out for toilet breaks and entertainment - tunnel, toys, digging up the lawn (OK that wasn't meant to happen but... he enjoys it and I don't care that much about lawns!).

We got him used to being left gradually, first by being in a separate room from us, then building up. Puppy classes, KC Good Citizen award scheme.
We both worked close to home - I still do - so could go home at lunchtime and take him for a 30 minute walk.
Always left him (still do actually!) with something to keep him occupied - a treat, a carrot, a bone, a treat-dispensing toy with some irresistible treats in it.
He spends most of his day asleep, I work from home fairly regularly now and he STILL spends most of his day asleep in his bed, even with me around.

There are plenty of naysayers and I'm not one for leaving a dog home alone for anything upward of about 4 hours, but dogs can and do thrive even in homes of working owners.
Just choose your breed wisely, do the research on health checks required etc, and make sure your breeder is responsible and willing to be on hand to advise you throughout the puppy and adolescent stage.

You WILL at some point think "what have I done, this thing is going back to the breeder!" - I certainly did when mine was an adolescent, anyway! But they do come out of the other side of it.

It is hard to juggle with horse as well, but introduce them carefully from the beginning - make sure you do ALL socialisation, not just with dogs but horses, other animals, people, being in pubs, cars, heavy lorries etc - before the main socialisation period is over at 16 weeks. If a small-ish puppy you can do carrying walks before they are allowed to go down on the ground before their second vaccination - all about letting them see everything they're going to see throughout their life.

I say go for it, IF you are willing to change your lifestyle quite radically - good luck!
 
We got ours at the start of the school holidays so they had over a month in which to settle/toilet train.

The neighbour lets them out on the 2 days a month our hours coincide (and spent the day watching tv with them yesterday!) They’re never left more than 4 hours. I also got 2 together both times, I know it’s not recommended, but they keep each other company and encourage each other to be naughty.

I can’t take any of mine to the yard due to an aggressive yard dog.

Puppies are massively dependent and needy. Please don’t leave one at home bored and anxious.
 
We got Luna when she was 10 weeks old. We had a weeks holiday booked, which was why we waited to bring her home. At the time, D was still living with us, so someone was home most of the time whilst me and OH were at work. We also had our older Border Collie (now 12.5), so she had an older dog for company. D left in the November, so she was 5 months old then, if we’d known that was going to happen, then we would never have got a puppy. They’ve both adapted really well to being left for 8 hours a couple of days a week, the other 3 they go to my mums, as she stepped up to help. It’s not an ideal situation, but it works for us, and both seem happy enough. OH gets home before me, and he says they’re usually both sound asleep when he gets home. We also get on very well with neighbours either side who say they don’t hear a peep out of them when we’re not here. Because we aren’t with them mon-fri, we do make sure we are with them all weekend, whenever we are off work etc. They come to the horses every evening where they can run about safely and then I take them in the woods after. If we are going somewhere at the weekend where they can’t come, again, my mum has them. They are also walked every morning for at least 40mins, usually an hour.

I think it can work, but for us personally, the guilt when we do leave them at home “alone”, is really hard to deal with.
 
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Brilliant post by BBP!

IMO an older Lab (rescue or one run on by a show or working kennel) would suit your situation far better than a pup unless you can guarantee you can work at home. In that case, a pup could well work.
 
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