[urbanfarmer]

I have to go out of town for a week. I found someone to house/dog/critter sit, but she has longer shifts than we thought. Worse, her job is an hour a way. I've been scrambling and I've found someone who can come over three days and let the "kids" out, but that still leaves days when they will be locked in the house for up to 11 hours(!).

The dogs are young: 15 months, 6 months, and 3 months. I work at home, so they are rarely crated but are crate trained. However, it seems to me that crating them that entire time will mean they will end up sitting in their own pee at some point. I've been thinking about having the sitter leave them in the kitchen with wee pads, but they aren't wee pad trained (its something I've actively avoided), so I'm not sure they won't just shred them. Unfortunatley, they can't be boarded (puppy warts on the oldest two, not enough shots on the youngest), and also can't go to daycare (same reasons), so they are stuck here.

What do people with normal schedules do with puppies when they have to work? Any suggestions? I leave in two days, so I'm running both out of ideas and time.

Attaching a picture of the "kids" - of course the youngest has to be making a face. :

 

[vrmueller]

Way too cute!! Is there anyone at your vet's office that you would trust to come over and let the crew out and spend some time on their lunch hour?

 

[BayBeams]

Hmmm, I don't know what to suggest but I would not leave puppies alone anywhere for 11 hours.
I use a pet sitter when I need to be away for longer than 6 hours. Is there someone, like a neighbor or friend that can come in during the day? Have you checked into a local petsitter? I know the one I use is licensed and bonded and great with my pups.

 

[Max's Dad]

When we have had this situation, we have hired a professional pet sitter to come over once or twice a day for 30 minutes or so to walk the dog, feed, etc. The ones we have used have been insured/bonded. Cost was reasonable. Some pet sitters will even stay overnight.

 

[sdain31y]

We have a pet sitter come in mid-day that lets Darby out. My husband takes the other golden with him and since his schedule changes, she typically isn't left for more then 5 - 6 hrs although she does go longer when he flies nights. In emergencies the pet sitter has come and stayed and they never go more then 5 hours without a break, except overnight, but she satys here if they did need to go out.

Anyway, in your situation, I'd either hire another pet sitter or boarded somewhere. I think 11 hrs, especially as young as yours are is a bit too long.

 

[Willow52]

Is a kennel not an option? I wouldn't leave mine alone for eleven hours a day.

 

[Varmin41]

I work on the side as a pet sitter, the standard rate is around 75 dollars a day, for someone to come and stay in your home the whole time and to try to keep everything to the dogs normal routine as possible, but it would be hard to find one on such short notice. You really want to interview them and meet with them, very big deal to trust someone with your pets. In some ways I hate dog-sitting because I find the responsibility so stressful and take it very seriously.

If your dogs are all current on shots, boarding them somewhere might be the way to go, there are some great kennels out there, the old one I worked at would take the dogs out 6 times a day minimum to spend time in a fenced in area and there was lots of individual time spent with the dogs.

 

[MamaLeopard]

When we leave my dog for the day, we put him in the kitchen with something to lay on, a couple of Kongs, and another couple of toys and we put on the radio for him. We make sure he's had a good walk and a pee before going in, and the second we get home from work, he's out for a pee again. He's usually in there once or twice a week for 9 hours. It won't hurt them if it's occassional. He always gets a trip to the dog park on days like this too so that he gets all of his energy out and gets to socialize. I find it works for us. Good luck finding something that works for you