Quote:
Originally Posted by hairhome  Hello,
4. For those of you away from home 8 hours a day (or longer), PLEASE share with me your potty training experiences. We seem SOOO far away from allowing her to be in parts of the house other than the kitchen. She's good about using her puppy pads...but (and it's hard to ask this question): were we naive in thinking we could have a dog when we're away from home for hours a day Mon-Fri? I mean, don't most folks who have dogs.....work? |
You aren't naive. The ideal situation would be to be away no longer than 4 hours, or even better...to be able to bring them to work with you or to be able to work from home
But the reality is most people don't have the luxury of the last two. Most people leave their pets home alone 8-9 hours a day because they HAVE TO. Are they wrong for wanting to have a loving fur family member...NO! People leave their baby's in daycare 8-9 hours and think nothing of it. Sure the puppy is alone but baby's miss their mommy's too.
I'd try placing a radio or small TV with Animal planet playing all day (in an area where she can see it and if you have cable) to entertain her and make her fell less lonely. I know some people who have made a room for their furkids and put a TV in the room with things playing that restart for them throughout the day, which is what I will be doing. A lot of people potty box train their puppies too. That makes sense to me if you are not going to be able to be home for hours.
You'll get through this! Have hope and faith because you love her and she will mature and make all of these beginning issues seem like breeze later on.
