Can my golden stay at home?

Question

hi i have a family of five, a 16 year old teen, a seven year old and a ten year old. All of us dearly want to get a golden retreiver puppy. we have everything worked out exept there is a small period of time where it would stay at home by itself. (from about 11 am to 3:30 pm) about five hours. and not everyday either.. just a few days a week.

is it ok to leave it at home for that long. it is going to be a three month old puppy.

Answer 1

It is usually 1 hour for each month of age, plus 1 hour, so a 3-month-old puppy can only hold its potty for 4 hours at the most.  I would try a dog walker, pet sitter, family member, someone from church to help out when it is first little.  You might crate train at night, but use an x-pen with litter box method during the day, or child gate it in a kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, with the food water and bedding separate from the potty area, just until it gets a little older.  

Answer 2

I think that a five hour gap is too much for a puppy. Puppies cannot control either their bladder or bowels for this length of time. It will also feel lonely and afraid. I am aware that some people on this forum, just get a puppy and leave it alone all day. You are obviously concerned  about this and I commend you.

Could you possibly take time off from work when you get your new puppy and then get a neighbour or a professional to let it into your garden?yard whilst you are away. Your puppy will love you and need you. It will have left its mother and siblings and it will be confused. There are day nurseries in the UK where you could leave your puppy and I suppose that they are available worldwide. Your puppy will be able to play with other puppies and it will never be lonely. Your puppy could go there when you are away during the day. The benifits of this are that you will never feel guilty and should it need to have an extended stay, it will be in good hands.

Just think about this. If in the normal course of events you occassionally need to leave your puppy for five hours and then realise that you need to shop or go to the dentists, your puppy will be happy. Then, if other commitments make it a problem to take your puppy out for a walk after work, this will not be vital.

It will arrive home tired and will be less inclined to chew your carpets and furniture and you will not have any guilt trip about leaving it alone. Its a cheap remedy and it will allow you and your family to have a Golden retriever without problems or guilt. GOOD LUCK.

Answer 3

That would be about the upper limit of the length of time a puppy should be left alone without opportunity for a potty break. Any longer than that and I would recommend against getting a puppy and adopting an older dog.

I would also recommend crate training the puppy. It will save a lot of headache (chewing, accidents, etc.).

Answer 4

That's probably fine, i have four goldens and love them so dearly, they are like my children!!! I have to leave them at the house from time to time, the only thing is they have eachother. So i suggest a playmate, or something to keep him happy like toys for the time being.

Answer 5

As long as it's not longer than 5 hours, then the puppy will be fine.

The best thing to do would be to Crate train the puppy so that when you do have to leave it, you know it's safe and not getting into trouble or having accidents all over the place.

If you have to leave it for any longer than 5 hours, you will need to have someone come in to let the puppy outside and play with it mid-way through.  Either a non-working neighbor or even a pet-sitter if you have to.

Answer 6

It sounds fine to me.  My husband and I made it work with a golden puppy and a similar time gap.  We crate trained which helped immensely.  I recommend it in this situation.

Answer 7

It'll probably pee all over the place but keeping it in a confinde area, like a kitchen and put up a baby gate so he can't get into trouble. Make sure it has water, toys, food and a blanket to lie on. Golden's grow very fast so before you know it he'll be jumping on the counters so you might have to put tinfoil up. Maybe you could get a neighbour to check on him once and a while, just to rub his tummy and make sure he hasn't gotten into anything. make sure he goes out for a pee before you leave him alone.

Also, you could bring him to a Doggie Daycare, dogs love these. My 16 month old Golden loves going to Doggie Daycare and its only $25 for the day. Look into daycares.

Answer 8

HE'll be fine. just be sure to crate train right away,, its hard ot listen to but just do it then he will be much happier.