Need Advice......Please Help
 

I work 3rd shift and my husband normally stays home with Rascal at night, while I am with him during the day.

Well Tom(my husband) is leaving for Iraq on Tuesday and wont be back home for about 2 years.

My family is taking my daughter at nights for me, but my dogs have to stay at home. Missy my mixed breed who is 1 1/2 years old will be fine, she is potty trained and will be okay on her own.

Rascal on the other hand is 4months old (today) and has never been on his own for that long. See I will be leaving at about 7:30pm and wont be back home untill 6:45am.

I have never put Rascal in a kennel or Crate. Never needed to, I have always givin him and missy run of the house any time I have had to go anywhere.

Rascal is not completly potty trained, He still makes accidents. My concern though is that normally Tom would have let Rascal outside to do his buisness at least 2 or 3 times before I come home in the morning. Well now that no one will be home at that time he wont be able to.

I dont know what I should do, Buy a puppy playpin to put him in, buy a gate and keep him in the kitchen or bathroom, or buy a kennel and keep him in there. I dont know which one is better for him. My dad is trying to talk his landlord into letting him have Rascal at nights but his landlord is refusing to alow pets in the home.

My dad is going to try and move closer to my home so that he can go over there at night. All I need to do is find something else to do for Rascal untill that time.

Does anyone have any suggestions????? I just want Rascal to be happy and for this not to be hard on him. He is everyones baby and is use to being in bed with us at night, and having Tom or myself with him night and day.

Sorry this is so long I just want to expain my situation and try and find something to make my baby happy. I have enough on my plate to worry about right now and i just dont think I can handle having to worry about my baby while I am at work.

I have no idea what you can do i'm really sorry. can someone in your family take rascal? or maybe you can get a pet sitter... i'm not really sure. i'm sorry about tom and i'll be praying that he returns safely.

Wow...I am very sorry. Hmm like Megan said what about a pet sitter or someone you trust can take care of Rascal, or I guess a doggie daycare but I think they don't stay open all night through morning though.

thats the problem w/3rd shift
 

That is my problem with 3rd shift not many choices in babysitting.

My dad is the only one who would be able to watch him at night. Right now he cant because his landlord refuses to have pets in his home.

My dad is looking for a home closer to mine, one that will let him have a dog at nights. Untill then I need to do something else for Rascal. It will only be temporary untill my dad find a home closer to mine. He is looking for one and hopefully before my daughter starts school at the end of August he will find one.

I just wasnt sure what would be good for Rascal. I heard from someone who worked at petco that putting Rascal in the kennel for such a long time would be bad for him especially if I have not put him in one since I got him.

I was going more for keeping him in the kitchen, but I wanted YT's advice for first on what would be good for Rascal.

Thank you for your kindness it means alot to me.

Ok...how about your father comes to your house to watch Rascal? Just a suggestion.

Does the puppy snuggle up to your older dog? I do put Mya in a cage. To keep her safe she is piddlepad trained. My eldest dog does not move much so I am not worried about his safety. I had leave Mya alone for the first time for 8 hours. When I got home our eldest dog (13 years old and lame)was sleeping beside her cage to comfort her. If you do pen up your yorkie and your yorkie does like the comfort of your older dog. I would not put your Yorkie in a closed off room away from the other dog. Personally I like a large cage better due to the fact that it has a top and so the dog will not try to jump out of it which could cause it to be hung.

Thank you for the advice
 

I will take that into consideration. Missy and Rascal are close, they sleep togeather all the time.

My dad cant come over to my house becasue he takes care of my younger sister who is 19 years old. For the life of me I cant remember what it is called that she has, but it keeps her confined to a bed pretty much. She is in constant pain, it has something to do with her period. Instead of bleeding out of her body she bleed inside. She is taking some kind of treatment that is suppose to help her, the only cure for this is to have a historictame(please excuse the spelling have no idea how to spell it so I spelled out how it sounded to make sence)

Sorry way of subject, but basically she needs to stay at home and my dad cant leave her alone. I really dont want to cause problems for my family in this situation, My dad is wanting to move closer to me not just because of Rascal but also because he wants to be close in case of emergencies and so that it is easier to take cierra to him. He is going to wath my daughter at nights and lives on the other side of town. My mom, well that is a whole nother story. She cant do anything because she cant be trusted. Tom and I will go to petsmart tomorrow and start looking at some kennels.

Thank you everyone for your advice it is extremly helpful to me.

I am so sorry you are in such a situation. I think I would try to avoid the kennel, if you can provide a gated area large enough for play and potty, without damaging the floor. Ideally, if someone, like a reliable teenager, could be paid a nominal fee to let the dog out and play, that would be one option. In my neighborhood there is a dog drop in day care, no kidding. It's pricey but I can see someone doing that if they worked long hours. Good luck.

I have a puppy proof spare room that Pita stays in when she is alone, when she stays at the office I leave a gate up, but she can climb over it when she really wants to.

That is a long time to be in the crate!

Sorry you are in such a situation! I know you are going to miss your hubby so much and you have to worry about your puppy too!

Good Luck, let us know what u decide.

First I MUST say that I pray for your husband's safety. My heart goes out to you. In regard to your pup, do you have a neighbor you trust that you could ask to let him out during the day? I would suggest crate training your puppy and having a very trusted neighbor let him out. My neighbor is gone from 6:45 am to 6:30 pm. I offered to let her dog out every day and she accepted. (I told her there was no need to pay me but she does anyway). Your neighbor will get to know your dog as well as you do and will be able to let him out according to his age and needs. Once I let "Sunny" out to do his business, he is aloud to roam the house until Marsha gets home. However, if he refuses to do "both things", I recrate him. Don't feel bad crating him, it is not a punishment, but is a safe place for them. Many times when I go over to let Sunny out to pee again I find him willfully laying in his crate with his door open.

I would recommend put up a baby gate and let your puppies stay in an area w/ tile or wood flooring. That way if that have an accident, it will be easy to wipe up. Don't let them go on a rug area while you are not a home.

God bless your husband and I pray for his safe return. He is one of our heros.

Have you thought about litterbox training for the little one inside an x-pen or other safe area. This is what Tucker uses and it works well for us. I don't know anyone I would trust in my house besides family so maybe an option that brings the potty place inside...
Just a thought and prayers for your hubby's safe return.
Dana

Doggy door? I don't know what I'd do. Panic? :eek:

I would keep them in an xpen too. I put my dogs in ours when we are away and they do just fine.