[Blondie]

Hello All,
I'm new to this forum and am anticipating the arrival of our first golden to be born around November 13th. I've never owned a golden before, so this is an experience that my family and I are soooo looking forward to! I've read so many books on goldens and my biggest area of concern right now is formulating a plan for crate training. I've never crate trained a dog before and even though I've read a lot on the topic, my main concern is how to go about adapting the puppy to the crate and being gone during the day at work. I know everything I read says to hire someone to come in to the home to let the puppy out. This would become an additional expense of approximately $240.00 a month at $60.00 per week. It seems a bit much, so I am contemplating working the night shift, for awhile, until I at least can get to the point to where I can leave the puppy crated for a longer period of time. Any thoughts, idea's or tips on the topic of successful crate training would be enormously appreciated.
Thank you sooo very much!
Blondie

 

[jenlaur]

Blondie, you are in for some great, and challenging times ahead. These forums are full of helpful advice. You can search to find almost anything you need. As far as letting the pup out during the day....not sure what times your local schools let out but maybe one of the kids can come by and let your baby out. I used kids quite a lot when my dogs needed to be let out. I always chose the older more responsible ones and it went well most of the time. You may even have a willing neighbor who just happens to love to play with puppies???

 

[heartofgold]

Hello All,
I'm new to this forum and am anticipating the arrival of our first golden to be born around November 13th. I've never owned a golden before, so this is an experience that my family and I are soooo looking forward to! I've read so many books on goldens and my biggest area of concern right now is formulating a plan for crate training. I've never crate trained a dog before and even though I've read a lot on the topic, my main concern is how to go about adapting the puppy to the crate and being gone during the day at work. I know everything I read says to hire someone to come in to the home to let the puppy out. This would become an additional expense of approximately $240.00 a month at $60.00 per week. It seems a bit much, so I am contemplating working the night shift, for awhile, until I at least can get to the point to where I can leave the puppy crated for a longer period of time. Any thoughts, idea's or tips on the topic of successful crate training would be enormously appreciated.
Thank you sooo very much!
Blondie

WELCOME!

Don't worry, crate training is usually not hard at all. The key about crate training is letting them out often (like every two hours at first). Also, taking pup outside immediately when it wakes up. A pup under the age of three or four months can only hold it for a few hours, three tops.

I think changing shifts at work would be a great idea as long as you have someone home to let the pup out at night too. My puppy didn't sleep through the night until about five months old. So, I was outside in the middle of the night every two to four hours in the freezing cold for many many weeks. It was almost like having a real baby in the house again.

You can look forward to alot of hard work and some sleepless nights but it will pass quickly and is well worth it.

Good luck!

 

[Blondie]

Thanks for the tips

Jenlaur~ Unfortunately there's no responsible kids in my neighborhood that I trust. I also live next door to a dog sitter, who charges $15.00 a half an hour to come and let the dog out.
Heartofgold~I'm a nurse and rotate from days to nights. When I work days, I work from 6am - 2:30pm, so I get up at 0415 and will have time to get the puppy out first thing for a morning walk. Then, I'm thinking I could either feed the pup and get it out again before I leave for work at 0530, or have the pup wait till about 6:30 to feed and get outside again and get it in the crate before leaving for the day. We get home from work and school between the hours of 3:10pm - 4:30. Makes a long day for the pup and as I mentioned before I've never crated a dog before so I am apprehensive about it with a slight anxiety, as I don't want it cooped up in that thing. But from reading so much about crate training, I feel a bit saturated with so much information out there. If I work nights for awhile, I would work 12am - 8am, and the family would have to take care of the morning routine. When I get home from work around 8:30am, I could walk the pup then and get it settled into the crate, so I could take a nap from about 9:30am to 1:30pm. I would take it out then and get ready to go pick the kids up from school and carry on with our evening routine, with the family taking over, so I can get another nap in before I go to work again at midnight. I've been sleep deprived for going on six years now, so this will be nothing new. Think I'll take a week of vacation to get the pup acquainted to our family before I go working the night shift.
Thanks,
Blondie

 

[iluvlucy]

good idea taking the week of vacay & getting in the grove with the puppy. sounds like you are getting a good start with reading golden books etc.. it make a difference! good luck- they are wonderful dogs..

 

[RSHANNING]

Congratulations on the puppy and welcome to the forum. I just brought my puppy home 3 weeks ago. puppyhood is alot of fun as well as alot of work. The one thing I can suggest about crate training is never let the puppy out when they are whining. Mine carried on for about a week at night and now she goes in and goes to sleep when I say time for condo (that is what we call her crate).

 

[Blondie]

Thanks for the tips and the welcome

Thanks iluvlucy for confirming the idea of taking a week vacation the first week we get the puppy. The more I contemplate this whole crate business, the more I realize how I don't want my pup in it for too long. I will no doubt resort to my second option to working the night shift for as long as I can. It really takes some serious wear and tear on a person's physical and emotional well-being working nights and being sleep deprived. I just can't afford my neighbor's pet sitting service which would run about $240.00/month. My husband and I have made many sacrifices in raising our children, so I'm used to sacrificing sleep and will for the love of a golden.
Thanks rshanning for the tips on crate training. I love the word condo you use. I was thinking of calling it "room," however, condo fits better.
Thanks,
Blondie

 

[Oaklys Dad]

Congratulations on the soon to be new addition. You've gotten some great advice above. I would continue your search for someone to let you pup out mid day for a bit. I'm sure there must be someone who would love to spend a few minutes a day with a golden puppy. Heck, I think I would pay for the pleasure of playing with a golden puppy. :