Puppy left alone at home

Guys,

For how long is it acceptable to let a puppy alone at home ?

Cafu is 10 weeks old and he is learning everything very fast. He plays only with his toys, doesnt destroy anything at home and is already learning basic commands and bite inhibition.

I work from 9am to 6pm from monday to friday, and I go home for 1 hour of lunch(maybe one day a week I cant go home for lunch), so basically he stays alone for about 5 hours twice a day and occasionally 10 hours when I cant go home for lunch. What do you think about all this time alone ? Is it unhealthy for the puppy ? In the morning I spend about half hour playing with him and at least one hour in the night.

Personally I would say that is far too long to leave a pup.
They are very much a breed that needs company as do all dogs.
Can you not get someone to go in through the day to have a play with him and let him out for a toilet?  

Yes, I would say it's unhealthy.

As Inez says, the best course of action would be to get somebody to pop in during the day - a friend/relative/dog walker - to let him out to do his business and to interract with him. Staffords are very much people dogs.

At 10 weeks, even 5 hours is too long, in my opinion.

On the one hour I spend home for lunch I am doing that, I am going to get someone to play with him on the days i cant go for lunch.
Do you 5hours twice a day is too long ?

I agree with inez, 10 hours although occasionally is far to long, can someone look in on him? Or perhaps a dog sitter for and hour or so?

arivarjr wrote:On the one hour I spend home for lunch I am doing that, I am going to get someone to play with him on the days i cant go for lunch.
Do you 5hours twice a day is too long ?

IMO yes too long My boy only gets left no more than 3 hours in any one day and he is not a pup, they need to toilet more often as their bladders are not strong at that age.
It may lead to problems later on.  

arivarjr wrote:On the one hour I spend home for lunch I am doing that, I am going to get someone to play with him on the days i cant go for lunch.
Do you 5hours twice a day is too long ?

Personally, yes I do. It's ok for an older dog, but a pup needs to learn so many things, toilet training being one of them. They can't be expected to hold their pee/poo for 5 hours, when they don't gain full control of their bladder/bowels until they're at least 6 months old.

arivarjr wrote:On the one hour I spend home for lunch I am doing that, I am going to get someone to play with him on the days i cant go for lunch.
Do you 5hours twice a day is too long ?

Yes I think it's to long, Darcy is 14 months and is only ever left 3/4 hours and that's not very often

I know it's difficult, and I've been through much the same situation myself, but I have to agree with the comments above. Staffies are such people orientated dogs that ideally, if they have to be left alone at all especially when they are babies, the length of time should gradually be built up over weeks. If you can find someone (even a professional dog-walker) who can come in every couple of hours at the most, that would be so much better for your pup.

aww i feel sorry for your puppy thats a shame,you need to sort out your situation i feel one way or another

we leave our 2 for a maximum of 4 hours and then we get a MENTAL welcome home........ie Chloe nearly takes my nose off..... I feel guilty leaving them for the 4 hours and they have a big room, with a sofa, duvet on the floors and the telly on, yet still they've missed us so much. I agree, they are very people orientated

Ive got a 5mth old pup and thought a lot about how he would fit with my routine before I got him and stilll I feel guilty about leaving him through the day even though its only just 3 hours.

Your lil one is alone through the night as well as the 10 hours through the day.  Not enough time together and not enough routine will cause you both to feel fed up.  

Is he crate trained?? If not I would crate him as when he starts to chew it wont be safe for him or the house.

Have you got doggy day care near you - could that me an option for half a day a couple of times a week this would help with boredom and socialisation??  Have you got a neighbour how could take him for walks and have him in their house a couple of afternoons a week??  Any local dog walkers/sitters??

Got to agree with what everyone else has said, it's too long, especially for such a young pup! He must be so lonely! My boy is a year old and I don't leave him alone for more than 3-4 hours, if I'm at work then I get someone to come in to take him out and spend even 20 mins playing with him.

I understand what you all say, but i cant change my routine. He doesnt have problems with toilet, cause I have a safe place outside where he is already using for toilet even when I am not at home.
He also stopped chewing things at home, he really behaves very well when I am not here, but I am sure he feel lonely. I wanted to know if 5 hours is too much for a puppy, as you all said it is I will try to ask a neighbor to come once a day to play with him.

Now I would like to hear from people that were in the same situation as me and tried to let the dog alone for some hours. Is there anyone here that has been in this situation ?

Without sounding too harsh, no you cant change your routine but maybe a little more thought should have gone into this before you got your fur baby.
Its very much about social interaction especially at this early important age. Its what stands them in good stead for the future.
If you can get someone to pop in then that would be an improvement. 

I would say no longer than an hour at 10 weeks!!

This isnt a situation its a lifestyle and will be like this for at least 10yrs. Did you get the pup by accident or did you know before you got him he would be alone 18hrs a day???

There are so many staffs currently in rescue due to people not having thought through what they were doing before they entered into being a parent.

Nel is now 5 months old had haler from a pup. Now I leave nel alone for a max of 4 hours a day (I work five mins down the road so when I have my lunch hour it's a full hour with her) Ben like that since I have had her. I totally agree 10 hours totally for to long to leave your little one alone and to be honest when I had nel I had 3 weeks off as holiday so I could get her used to the place to me to her crate to training and to get her prepared for when I was going to be out. People's views will differ on what I have done but nel is happy she gets lots of love and attention when I am there I don't crate her at night she has her own bed in my room next to my bed so I think it's all about the dogs personality as well.

Please don't feel offended, people here on the forum are massive Staff lovers and they know how bad life is for Staffies ine here. From all the dogs in rescues centres 90% are Satffy type dogs. So everyone here trying to give you some tips to make yours and your puppy life easier. Lots of people gave up on those lovely dogs because they didn;t have enough time to train tchem and that leads to not well behave dog and that could be a problem. So if you have someone who could pop in and play with your dog that's great. You have to remember that when Staffies getting older they need more exercise. We walk Debo 3 Times a day for 30-40min, at the weekends he gets one long one like 2hrs. Plus we play with him at home ,train him.

We have a 4 months old pup and when we got her at 9 weeks old, i changed my hours at work so that i now work evenings only as i used to work a mixture of days and evenings and that was a problem because Pebbles would have been alone for about 6 hours at least twice a week.
I know i was lucky to be able to do it and that it isn't possible for everyone, but maybe as others have said you can get someone to help when you are at work?
I wouldn't feel happy leaving a pup alone for 10 hours every week day even with a break in between.
Hope you can find a solution soon.

arivarjr wrote:I understand what you all say, but i cant change my routine.

This is going to sound harsh, but maybe you should have thought about that before you got your pup?

I dont know the reason you are all sounding so aggressive. I came here to ask for help, to understand the problems/risks and to find a solution.
I really cant change my routine more than I already did, that's fact and I said if it is needed I will find someone to go there for some time during the day. Although, many of you here talk to me like I am a very irresponsible with my dog.

Anyway, thank you those who tried to help.

Your situation is not ideal. Having said that, My wife and I have travelled extensively and observed dogs who live in such terrible conditions that they would find Cafu's situation heaven. But it really is relative. As the positive input suggests try to get one of the many professional dog walkers out there to spend some time with him during the day.

I chose to wait until I retired to get another dog, not having had one for over 20 years. Bacchus is my first staffy and, as several people have stated, they are very much people dogs and I seldom leave him alone for more than a couple of hours at a time and even that is the exception. But my situation differs greatly from yours and I am lucky that Bacchus can pretty much be my constant companion and, at 16 months, he is the most loving affectionate dog I have ever had and I have been around dogs all my ( 66 year ) life. I could also be considered irresponsible because he could well outlive me. So who can hand on heart say they provide their dog with the perfect scenario? We don't know what's round the corner and can only do the best we can.

Even the negative responses on this forum are founded in the contributors love of the breed and they don't mean to be aggressive. Just do the very best you can for Cafu and you will have a most loving, loyal wee dog as a reward.

Good Luck.

With my last staffy I worked long hours sometimes when she was young, this didn't suit her or me at all, unfortunately she was lonely and bored and took to chewing everything she could find. My fault, not hers! I enlisted my parents to doggysit while I was at work, I took her to their house before work and picked her up on my way home, worked much better and I ended up with social happy and well adjusted doggy. Do you have anyone around that would be willing to share the responsibility? To give you some hope for the future, by doing this from a young age by the time she was 4 i could leave her alone for about 5-7 hours ( not that I often did) as long as she had toys, a comfy spot and the run of the house with no issues.

arivarjr wrote:I dont know the reason you are all sounding so aggressive. I came here to ask for help, to understand the problems/risks and to find a solution.
I really cant change my routine more than I already did, that's fact and I said if it is needed I will find someone to go there for some time during the day. Although, many of you here talk to me like I am a very irresponsible with my dog.

Anyway, thank you those who tried to help.

You asked for people's opinions , not people's help and everybody has said the same 10 hours or 2 x 5 hours is way too long to leave a pup .

You have not answered the question about how or why you got the pup when you knew you were not going to be home all day so can you really blame people that talk to you like you are irresponsible , what do you want us to do give you a big pat on the back tell you everything will be great ???

Sorry but not me

Roman will be 11 weeks on Saturday and I won't leave him at all yet. We are still building up to it.
If we have to do something where we can't take pup then he goes to my mother in law. For example, my better half had to go to hospital last week so Roman was with his mum for about 4 hours.
The ONLY reason we have a puppy is because I am home 24/7. I wouldn't leave ANY puppy, or adult dog for that matter, for 18 hours a day!!

Everybody's situation is different. My advice is if your pup has no behavioural issues and you spend as much time as possible with him making a fuss then don't worry about him being lonely, remember he doesn't know different. Not everyone is fortunate enough to spend 18 hours a day with their pup, no different than parenting IMO. Good luck

AussieStaff wrote:Everybody's situation is different. My advice is if your pup has no behavioural issues and you spend as much time as possible with him making a fuss then don't worry about him being lonely, remember he doesn't know different. Not everyone is fortunate enough to spend 18 hours a day with their pup, no different than parenting IMO. Good luck

I'm sorry, but that really isn't good enough. A pup needs far more than just a couiple of hours either side of work. No puppy (no matter the breed) should be left alone for more than 3 or 4 hours at the very most.

I have to agree with Caryll. A puppy is a just baby and just can't cope with being left alone for several hours a day. I know it can be difficult to arrange, but it needs to be done if you are putting in a full working day - someone must come in every hour or so to let the puppy have a wee and a poo, play with him and give him love, and feed him (small puppies need feeding every 4 hours).

We have never left sasha alone for more than a couple of hours at a time when we have to go shopping.  My hubby doesn't go out to work thats the only reason we decided to get a puppy. A friend on the other hand got their puppy the same time and is the same age and is away from their pup for 8 to 10 hours a day and you can see the difference in the puppies. Sasha is well adjusted loves people and is social around other dogs, their puppy is quiet and laid back and is a nightmare with other dogs. Shes the only staffie I have known NOT to be excited when meeting and greeting people. So it really does take a toll on the puppy in its own way. Im not saying that by your puppy will be the same but maybe something to keep in mind.

Agree with the above! We wanted one for AGES, but waited until circumstances were right.