So I just put a deposit down on a german shepherd puppy for my first working dog (leaning towards mondio) and can not be any more excited!! I've owned lots of dogs but it's been a long time since I've had a puppy and I had a few questions. I'm not getting my puppy til this next fall (feel SO far away!) but I'm trying to get as ready as possible before then. This will be the first time I raise a puppy all on my own and I don't think I'll be able to get home enough to let the puppy out during the work day for the first few months. I am planning on coming home during my lunch hour (I work 7:30 -4:00 and usually take lunch sometime around 1-2 or 1:30-2:30.) and was planning on having a pet-sitting service come and do a morning let out.

I'm a little nervous about using a pet sitting service just because I don't have my own yard and she will need to take my puppy out on a leash where she could potentially meet other dogs/people, etc. Does anyone have any ideas about instructions I should leave the puppy let-er out-er? For sure I don't want my puppy to meet any other dogs/people while I'm not there. I think I read somewhere on a Leerburg Q&A page that the pet sitter shouldn't overly interact with the puppy. Does anyone have any suggestions for telling them how much they can play with the puppy? Also, at what age can a puppy drop down to just a lunch time let out? Or should an 8 week old puppy be ok with just a 1x a day let out? I will probably take the first full week off when I get the puppy and gradually increase the time I leave the puppy alone during the day, so she will actually probably be 9 weeks when I go back to work. I can probably make my lunch break a little earlier - closer to 12 but it just depends on what tests we are running that day so it won't be a strict routine.


Also, how do you guys feel about leaving blankets in a puppies crates? I know my co-worker leaves peepads lining her crate to facilitate clean ups if an accident does occur and another co-worker raising a 1yr old recent rescue leaves blankets for a bed, but they've both had problems with their dogs chewing the stuff up while they are gone. I don't know if this is irrational or not, but I fear that the dog will chew something up and get an intestinal blockage or something.. but how do you guys feel about that?

One last question - is there a way to do a search for a specific phrase on Leerburg? I wanted to search some breeders/trainers/puppy training info and even if I put "quotation marks" around my phrase it still seems to return search results that include only part of the phrase. Just curious! I downloaded all the puppy ebooks and QA stuff, ordered the puppy 8wks - 8 months and the raising your working puppy vids and will be watching/reading those throughout the week and taking notes. I just wanted to ask these first couple questions since they've been running through my brain all day.

Thanks guys!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Let me start at the bottom, so at least you'll have "search" tools.

If you go here
http://leerburg.com/
and click that magnifying glass icon, upper right, you will come to a new search page where you can check (and uncheck) to narrow down your search (like discussion forum, products, entire site, etc.).

Also, with some things, like longer phrases, I might just go to Google and type Leerburg comma, followed by my phrase.

That is, if my phrase was "Michael Ellis Tug DVD," I'd Google

Leerburg, Michael Ellis Tug DVD

and Ta Da!


If you mean just this board, you usually want to use the "advanced search," upper right here, and choose the most unusual word in your phrase. Expand your date range appropriately. (It's set at one month unless you change it.)

 Quote: Em Morrison

Or should an 8 week old puppy be ok with just a 1x a day let out? I will probably take the first full week off when I get the puppy and gradually increase the time I leave the puppy alone during the day, so she will actually probably be 9 weeks when I go back to work. I can probably make my lunch break a little earlier - closer to 12 but it just depends on what tests we are running that day so it won't be a strict routine.

ok well im answering this question...no way can an 8week old puppy be let outside only once a day, not at 8 weeks, not at 9 weeks not at 10 weeks.
From a Leerburg Article:
Puppies usually can’t hold it for 8 hours until they are 16 weeks old.
Please start reading the articles on this site ... multiple times.

Here are a few to get you started.


http://leerburg.com/puppygroundwork.htm
http://leerburg.com/housebrk.htm
http://leerburg.com/articles.htm#puppy

 Quote: Em Morrison

So I just put a deposit down on a german shepherd puppy for my first working dog (leaning towards mondio) and can not be any more excited!! I've owned lots of dogs but it's been a long time since I've had a puppy and I had a few questions. I'm not getting my puppy til this next fall (feel SO far away!) but I'm trying to get as ready as possible before then. This will be the first time I raise a puppy all on my own and I don't think I'll be able to get home enough to let the puppy out during the work day for the first few months. I am planning on coming home during my lunch hour (I work 7:30 -4:00 and usually take lunch sometime around 1-2 or 1:30-2:30.) and was planning on having a pet-sitting service come and do a morning let out.

I'm a little nervous about using a pet sitting service just because I don't have my own yard and she will need to take my puppy out on a leash where she could potentially meet other dogs/people, etc. Does anyone have any ideas about instructions I should leave the puppy let-er out-er? For sure I don't want my puppy to meet any other dogs/people while I'm not there. I think I read somewhere on a Leerburg Q&A page that the pet sitter shouldn't overly interact with the puppy. Does anyone have any suggestions for telling them how much they can play with the puppy? Also, at what age can a puppy drop down to just a lunch time let out? Or should an 8 week old puppy be ok with just a 1x a day let out? I will probably take the first full week off when I get the puppy and gradually increase the time I leave the puppy alone during the day, so she will actually probably be 9 weeks when I go back to work. I can probably make my lunch break a little earlier - closer to 12 but it just depends on what tests we are running that day so it won't be a strict routine.

Good links from Wendy.

As Cindy says in the first link, it's impossible to overdo the potty trips with the baby puppy.

You probably need at least two hired potty trips, plus your midday one.

You'll see as you read on this board and the site in general about baby puppies and potty, how often they go out at that age. Setting the new puppy up for success pretty much means that the puppy is outside when s/he has to go.

You might want to consider tentatively arranging for the potty trips, with the ability to tweak the schedule near the end of your week with the puppy (when you know more about him or her).


But the puppy experts will be much more help. They might say that the blanket question will probably be easier to answer when you meet your own puppy.

Again, good for you for researching now!

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

CONGRATULATIONS!

Let me start at the bottom, so at least you'll have "search" tools.

If you go here
http://leerburg.com/
and click that magnifying glass icon, upper right, you will come to a new search page where you can check (and uncheck) to narrow down your search (like discussion forum, products, entire site, etc.).

Also, with some things, like longer phrases, I might just go to Google and type Leerburg comma, followed by my phrase.

That is, if my phrase was "Michael Ellis Tug DVD," I'd Google

Leerburg, Michael Ellis Tug DVD

and Ta Da!


If you mean just this board, you usually want to use the "advanced search," upper right here, and choose the most unusual word in your phrase. Expand your date range appropriately. (It's set at one month unless you change it.)

Oh my goodness - awesome advice! I don't know why I never thought of just doing google searches and attaching "leerburg", but that makes perfect sense and is going to really help me with my research!! I just panicked when I put "pet sitter" into the discussion board search bar and it came back with something like 8004 pages worth of information.

 Quote: Wendy Lefebvre

 Quote: Em Morrison

Or should an 8 week old puppy be ok with just a 1x a day let out? I will probably take the first full week off when I get the puppy and gradually increase the time I leave the puppy alone during the day, so she will actually probably be 9 weeks when I go back to work. I can probably make my lunch break a little earlier - closer to 12 but it just depends on what tests we are running that day so it won't be a strict routine.

ok well im answering this question...no way can an 8week old puppy be let outside only once a day, not at 8 weeks, not at 9 weeks not at 10 weeks.
From a Leerburg Article:
Puppies usually can’t hold it for 8 hours until they are 16 weeks old.
Please start reading the articles on this site ... multiple times.

Here are a few to get you started.


http://leerburg.com/puppygroundwork.htm
http://leerburg.com/housebrk.htm
http://leerburg.com/articles.htm#puppy

I was in no way suggesting leaving my puppy for 8hrs at any time or only letting her out 1x/day total.. Or I guess I'm confused why you think I'm leaving her for 8 hrs?? My commute is almost negligible, so it would be 4hrs, 1 hour break, 4 hours. The last puppy we had was almost 3.5 months and she housebroke SUPER easily with no accidents with a 1 hour lunch break let out. It's just been several years since I've had an 8 week old pup and I wasn't sure if the same technique would fly or not. I know that that extra month can really make a huge difference.

Good links from Wendy.

As Cindy says in the first link, it's impossible to overdo the potty trips with the baby puppy.

You probably need at least two hired potty trips, plus your midday one.

You'll see as you read on this board and the site in general about baby puppies and potty, how often they go out at that age. Setting the new puppy up for success pretty much means that the puppy is outside when s/he has to go.

You might want to consider tentatively arranging for the potty trips, with the ability to tweak the schedule near the end of your week with the puppy (when you know more about him or her).


But the puppy experts will be much more help. They might say that the blanket question will probably be easier to answer when you meet your own puppy
Again, good for you for researching now!


I think I will maybe start with the 2 hired breaks and then my hour play break. I really like how you worded it - you can't overdo puppy potty breaks! And you're right, I can schedule breaks and then scale back or increase as need. I don't know why I'm so worried about this - I've housebroken puppies in the past and can't recall any problems (thought it's been about 10yrs... except for a frightfully easy husky/shepherd but she was a little older than my new puppy will be!) I guess I'm just sort of nervous because I have a few co-workers currently housebreaking puppies and adult dogs and they seem to be having HUGE issues. Going on MONTHS of training with no success!

I guess I also don't really like the idea of a stranger handling my puppy in her prime learning/exploring time since I've seen how easy it is to make a dog dog-reactive. Our one male husky had severe dog reactivity issues after a bad run-in with a off-leash dog while on a walk when he was young. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet though and hire one!! Thanks for the replies

I think I will maybe start with the 2 hired breaks and then my hour play break. I really like how you worded it - you can't overdo puppy potty breaks! And you're right, I can schedule breaks and then scale back or increase as need. I don't know why I'm so worried about this - I've housebroken puppies in the past and can't recall any problems (thought it's been about 10yrs... except for a frightfully easy husky/shepherd but she was a little older than my new puppy will be!) I guess I'm just sort of nervous because I have a few co-workers currently housebreaking puppies and adult dogs and they seem to be having HUGE issues. Going on MONTHS of training with no success!

I guess I also don't really like the idea of a stranger handling my puppy in her prime learning/exploring time since I've seen how easy it is to make a dog dog-reactive. Our one male husky had severe dog reactivity issues after a bad run-in with a off-leash dog while on a walk when he was young. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet though and hire one!! Thanks for the replies

" I just panicked when I put "pet sitter" into the discussion board search bar and it came back with something like 8004 pages worth of information."



Familiarity with the board here tells me that you are going to get a lot more with Google using Leerburg and "dog walker."



Also, if you are using the board search (upper right there), then it's returning the word "pet." 8004 times.

That's not what you want. With the board advanced search, you want to find the most distinctive word in your search terms (walker) and use that word.


I did that, then picked these based on titles:


http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=25232&page=1

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=25232&page=3#263881

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=24507&page=1#254689

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=19415&page=1#194936

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=25662&page=1#269071

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=25662&page=1#269126

You are too awesome I appreciate the help and I'll be reading those threads for sure!