Hello all,

I am curious on how much time most of you spend with your puppies?

How much time does your little one spend in the crate?

I am trying to come up with a harmonius balance between my family, work and my GSD puppy. I dont sleep as much as I used to and I feel frustrated sometimes dealing with her, I always try to end on a positive note.

My pup is 12 weeks old Ive had her for 3 weeks, she seems very healthy and happy.

I have been focusing a lot of time and energy on her in the hopes of building a solid foundation for her.

I have put other things on hold until she is older, I just firmly believe in laying the groundwork when shes young.

My wife thinks I worry about doing the wrong thing too much!

Id just like to hear your comments/ideas on this matter.

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Edited by JasonFitzsimmons (03/26/2007 08:38 PM)
Edit reason: Content

No comments?

anyone?

I guess this a dead thread. Ill have to be more careful in future posts to not ask what I suppose by the lack of responses is a "dumb" question.

Why can't we delete posts and only edit once. Strange policy.

Can a mod please delete this thread? Thanks

Hi, Jason.

I'm new to this forum so I thought I would respond to your question. I have a family, job and a now one year old GSD as well as a senior GSD. It is hard to balance everything.

Right now though if you are still housetraining it is necessary to spend a lot of time with the puppy anyway

I try/(tried when they were young also) to spend time walking, and exercising my dogs everyday. They come in the house in the evenings for long periods when they can be supervised and stay on a leash , "just in case" when they are still very young. Otherwise they are crated in the house and can get used to it.

Ed's video's are great and have a lot of useful information as well as this website w/all the articles and podcasts.

I am not an expert, so I hope others who have more experience will be able to give you more precise information regarding time.
Good luck and try not to worry.
Lisa

Jason,
I do not think it was a "dumb" thread. Just one that is being gone over in other posts right now also and has been discussed alot before.
If you use the search function it comes up with a whole lot of stuff.
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=135413#Post135413
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=135352#Post135352

Above are a couple that discuss pups...if you are looking for something more specific, I would make your title name refer to what you are looking for. "Time" does not stand out real well, I have also made the same mistake.

My 12 week old wakes me up at 6AM to go pee. After I take him downstairs, and clean his paws when we get home, we go to bed for another hour or so.

When we wake up, I take him to the kitchen, put him in his crate, and make him watch me eat breakfast (Pack Leadership 101 I call it, lol). After I'm done, I feed him, and take him outside as soon as he's finished.

I then take him somewhere fun at 8-8:30AM, so he can exercise and get tired, for about an hour. I go to class from 10-11:30. I get home and take him outside. I then take him to the kitchen and make him watch me eat lunch (Advanced Pack Leadership 101). After I'm done, I feed him.

I then play with him for a little while, usually tug and fetch. Before I leave at around 1:30PM, I take him outside and back to his crate.

When I return at about 3:30-4PM, I take him outside, usually for a 1/2 hour walk. Then he plays with his toys while I'm doing stuff in my laptop. He eats close to 6PM, and I take him to another 'fun' place, like the park or the beach.

When we get home, I usually have to give him a bath, or towel dry him, and brush his hair a little, clean his ears maybe, some TLC, then back to his crate.

I take him out again around 9:30PM, and if he's sleepy, or annoying, back to his crate, if not, I let him lie next to me until I go to bed. I take him outside one last time around midnight or 1AM.

Right now my social life is nonexistent, but we sure are bonding! lol

Richard,
Only someone with a new puppy could be that detailed. For me those middle of the night "outings" are a thing of the past. Your puppy is awfully cute by the way!
Lisa

I responded somewhat in my mind earlier to your post, just didn't have time to write at that time. My response was "yeah, right, harmonious balance" I will soon be facing the same situation, (only I have the husband), but, kids, house, work, and soon GSD puppy.

I'm thinking a big plus is merging as much as possible. (walks, parks, lakes with kids/spouse and pup, etc) Thankfully, my family is all in support and very much involved with the prep for the pup and will definately be up for training and the presence of pup.

Like was said in another thread about pups--RELAX. Have fun with your pup--remember black and white, it really is simple and *should* be fun.

Put the crate in the shop, downstairs, what ever you need to do to get *some* rest, cuz if youre no good, chances are your pup wont be either. Like Mike said in that other post, pup goes in crate, outside, a bit of play, then back to the crate. The crate is a GOOD thing. But, again, have fun, balance. Puppies are like babies, blink your eyes and they are all growed up.

Not a dumb thread at all, Jason...just not exactly easy to answer.

I'm at the 8 month mark with my pup and we're just beginning to loosen up a little. 8 weeks, 13 weeks...I remember all too well how much time was needed and it was exhausting, frequently frustrating, and sometimes very difficult.

At 13 weeks my pup spent no more than 5 hours crated during the day. I came home at lunch to feed, play, and exercise him. After work he would spend roughly 3-4 hours out of the crate supervised, then back into the crate for 2 hours, then out again (briefly) before bed. This was the schedule at its worst. Better days had my fiancee home and my pup out more and I have 3 day weekends that I can spend entirely with him.

They still need a lot of sleep at 13 weeks and learning to feel comfortable in the crate is a good thing.

I did make a real effort when he was young to take advantage of his "nap times" and try to do the things that would require him being crated. Since they require so much supervision I didn't want to keep popping him in and out of the crate all day long. There were/are chunks of the day devoted to the puppy and that worked well for me and for him....still does. It gets easier as they get older and you'll have laid a good foundation with your pup when you begin formal training. All the hard work IS worth it.

I think it's great you think about this...I hope this helps a little

Richard, what a delightful schedule you posted!

Love it, you took me back to when my pup was a wee one and I had a similar schedule for us


Jason: personally, I believe that the more time you can spend with a puppy the better. Sure, they sleep most of the time as babies, but why not have the crate or dog bed near you whenever possible?
Even when you're too busy to be babysitting, the puppy can still feel included and protected thanks to your close presence.
Obviously some people leave their puppies/dogs crated in complete isolation for big chunks of the day and those dogs grow up to be fine, so it's not the end of the world if you're too busy to spend all the time you'd like with your pup.
It can only help the bond though...

I followed the same philosophy as Richard with my own pup. Spent pretty much 24/7 with him until he was about 6 months old.
Never crated him, except for one time when I took him on a vacation with me and we had to fly. Even then, he was only crated in the airport and during the flight. The rest of the time he was right by my side.

I got him at the start of my summer break (no classes, yay!!) and took him along to my part-time work during the summer.
He never left my side during those first few months and our bond is phenomenal.
Even now, as an almost 12-month-old, he still sticks as close as possible to me, follows me around everywhere and is constantly attentive to me. He loves working for me more than anything and he's the most easily trained dog I've ever known. He's an absolute pleasure to work with.
When I leave the house, he sits at the door and waits there until I return (even if I'm gone for several hours!).

Needless to say, I feel guilty (and really miss him) if I leave for too long. I've had to modify my social life somewhat to fit him into it.

If the dog can't go, I don't go

Needless to say, I've had such amazing success with this method that I plan on following the same plan for every future puppy in my life. I think it's worth the extra effort and planning if possible! It helps to be as creative as possible when trying to include the puppy in your plans. Hehe.

Sometimes some of us are new here and cannot really answer fully.

I'm still learning ... and today of all days has gone badly. I feared that with Boarding my pup we would have a regression in housebreaking ... and we have, so now I have to go back to the basics all over again.

But basically, the pup spends a majority of time with me. And after the way things have gone today, he'll be in his crate all the time until we can work out the kinks here.

Cheers!