Thanks for your suggestions!

With a dog sitter, I would feed 3x a day, but it would be more like a light breakfast, a snack from the sitter and then the main meal when we get home from work. I will make sure to let them out just before I leave for work (and my boyfriend who leaves an hour after I do will let them out again just before he leaves).

As for water, I have heard different things about leaving water in the crate. Some say yes, others say no. Wouldn't it promote the puppy to need to pee if you left water in the crate, even if it was just a cup or 1/2 a cup? If I didn't leave water in the crate, I would be giving the pup a drink immediately after coming in from the first morning outing, the sitter would give a drink and then we'd let the pup have water when we got home (probably pick the water up after a certain hour at night though).

I've never restricted water, but there are many that do. What happens if something comes up after work and you're even later that you usually are? I couldn't stand it if I knew my pup was without water. IDK, that's just me I guess. If you crate or use an x-pen, I would suggest a water bottle. They keep things cleaner, (no spilled water), and they're very easy to teach the puppy how to use them.

If you're planning to have the sitter come in only once a day you will have accidents, there's no way around that. It's been awhile since I had a puppy, but I do remember taking them out at least every hour or two, maybe more. I would have the sitter come at least two to three times a day during the first few weeks just to avoid accidents as much as possible.

Also, having just a light breakfast and then only a snack during the day, I would think your pup would be starving by the time you came home. Again, it's been awhile since I had a puppy, but that doesn't sound like an optimal feeding schedule to me. At that age, all the meals are main meals, especially to a growing puppy.

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Karen, Chance, Lucy and Savanah RB



“Everyone needs a dog to adore him, and a cat to bring him back to reality”

Whew....thanks for that info....I just got a pup Neeko, he is 9 weeks old...I have a dog sitter come to the house once a day, he's in the crate 4 1/2 hrs. in the morning, then she comes for half and hour, and then he's in the crate for 4 1/2 hrs. again.., no water in his crate...something that has to be done if I wanted another dog, which we did, we do this 4 days a week..One of these days, I go into work late, like one hr. ....He is in the crate at nite, he goes to sleep at 9:30 and I dont get out of bed til 5:30 am...never hear a peep out of him, and his crate is always dry..I've done this with both my other dogs, Nitro & Nash, and they turned out to be terrific dogs....Good luck with your little one...they grow up fast, so it's only a temporary worry, til they are 8 or 9 months old...I never ever thought of the dog sitter bringing diseases back to my puppy, I know she does 4 houses a day...Thanks again for that bit of info..We make sure we spend all our other time with the lil guy...and he's adjusting rather well...its been 2 weeks now...My sitter also leaves notes, and it gives me great peace of mind...I found a neighbor, a Stay at home mom, whose kids are all in school now, and she has some time on her hands...cant wait to see pics of the puppies....Good Luck!!!

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Thank you for your suggestions/concerns!

The imagined feeding schedule was in response to bobntash only. We have NOT decided on anything concrete yet when it comes to feeding and drinking because a) we don't have the sitter yet, we are just starting the process and b) we haven't sat down with our vet yet either. I was just hypothesizing on feeding and drinking in response to that poster directly.

As for the number of times a day the sitter will be over, I didn't specify how many times anywhere in this thread, so if you are concerned it will only be once a day, I am sorry if that was what you interpreted from these posts

As for restricting water, I've done it with multiple puppies AND grown rescue dogs in the past, provided for that specific puppy or dog my vet approved. Any schedules I decided will be formed based on the dog's needs AND my vet's approval.

Maybe it's not so much in our misunderstandings/interpretations of what you've written in as much as what you have implied.

As far as a pet sitter/walker bringing in diseases to your puppy, I know that parvo is one that can be brought in on one's clothes, (usually shoes). Not likely, but still a possibility. So if you hire a sitter that also walks dogs in high traffic areas of other dogs, (especially dog parks), I would definitely want them to use precautions.

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Karen, Chance, Lucy and Savanah RB



“Everyone needs a dog to adore him, and a cat to bring him back to reality”

My guys never have water in the crate.. But I have to say that at work, sleeping in a run with mom and who else I decide to bring to work, there is water.

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Janice and The Celebration Gang -
"Samantha, George, Tiki, Emily, Mick and Basil" Gone but not forgotten, Sally(Windjammer's Ima Country Girl CDX CGC), Laney(Mandell Marlenes Celebration UD RA CGC), and Cookie(Starseeker's Kissmas Cookie CDX RE CGC).

My husband and I are gone from 5-6am to 4 or 5pm Monday - Friday.

My dogs stay home all day and don't get let out cuz we work 45+mins from our house.

Even my puppy stayed home for 8+ hours while we worked when he was 10 weeks old.

Not everyone can stay home all the time. Gotta make money to afford the dogs, right?

The dogs get a half an hour of outside time in the morning, they go out lots in the evening, and they don't have to be crated at night (except Pucci who is still too young to be left out).

Then they have freedom all weekend.

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Congrats! I definitely say crate crate crate to start with and only add extra space/freedom in small planned increments over time and with months and months of age. a young puppy has no use for an entire house anyway ....it only allows the potential for trouble...Im lucky because I can take Georgia to work but can tell you in my experience that since bringing her home I've made a few friends in the neighborhood with puppies....and when I do have to leave her home they've always here to come over and let her out....or bring her over to their place for a playdate in their yard. 1 day a week I do leave her home for 8 hours...and I do have a dog walker come that 1 day. I do this because I don't want her getting too attached to me haha ...and I have a connection to dog walker I can use in a pinch when things come up ...which they do. again my 2 cents is a 26x42 with movable divider... Crate Crate Crate! then with a well trained dog other people will jump right in to help you ...good luck.

[QUOTE=leesooim;1844331]Thanks for your suggestions!

As for water, I have heard different things about leaving water in the crate. Some say yes, others say no. QUOTE]

I think it all depends. On what? On the 1000 variables that can occur. We were fortunate that we rarely had to leave our dogs alone. Either we were home with the dogs or the dogs were out and about with us. Housebreaking was never an issue.

Personally, we never restricted access to water, but we live in Florida and have to always consider the heat. So, in my case, I would choose the possibility of an accident over the possibility of a dehydrated dog.

You seem to have a pretty good handle on this. Doing your research in advance and having a plan (and a back-up plan) is a good thing. Once you have your puppy you will quickly get a feel for what does and does not work.

Good luck.

First welcome to the forum, second IMOP this is your best option make sure you use several internet camera one on the puppy and one in the general area of the house. Our new puppy has a crate in the bathroom that has ceramic floors. We have a baby gate up, she sleeps in the crate with the door open. That way she has access to her water bowl and its not in her crate, have tried that before and it didn't work out so well. Abby has never had a accident in the bathroom or crate yet. It also give's her more room to move around if she doesn't want ot stay in the crate. Have done this with our last two puppys and it has worked well for us. Good Luck.

Mike

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