Preparing to go to work on Tuesday & Questions- help!
 

Well, we've made it through our first 3 days and things are going well so far! She finally has a name. Her name is Violet. It just "clicked" when we thought of it! She is a little luvvv girl!

I have a couple of questions - if you would be so kind as to help me. This is my first time ever having a dog, and I apologize if I sound amateur or stupid :(

1.) Violet is a little over 9 weeks. I work outside of the home 3 days per week and am gone from 7am - 5:30 pm (over 10 hours). Our current arrangement is that I have a very small kitchen that i have gated off, with her papers, food, toys, and her crate is in the adjacent laundry room.
When I leave for work on these days, do I leave her in her crate? Or can I leave her in the gated off kitchen? I'm worried if she doesn't have food/water for that long? I'm attaching a picture of my kitchen and you can see where her crate is, etc...


2.) The past 3 nights, I have put her in her crate at about 11pm. She has made it fine until about 5:30 or 6:00 am -- then she starts crying. I have just been getting up with her, taking her to papers, figuring that was probably enough time in her crate for being only 9 weeks - is this correct?

3.) When I have to do something in the house and can't carry her with me, I put her in our small, gated kitchen area. She has started crying when I put her in there and she cant see me or my daughter. Is it wrong to go in there when she cries --- i.e., are we creating bad habits?

Thank you all SO much in advance! What a tremendous resource you are!!

Cheryl (& Violet)

I would leave her gated in the kitchen with her food, water, etc. Mine would tear up the newspaper so I use pee pads with a tray that holds it down and they can not grab on to. Before I leave I give them a treat like a flossie and they are fine until I get home at night. Good Luck I am sure she will be fine.

Definitely leave her in the kitchen. She is too little to hold it more than a few hours, and you don't want her to ever go potty in her crate because she's left in there too long. We did this with Tobey when he was little. Eventually he figured out how to get over the baby gate, but by then he was totally "paper trained" to potty pads. Also, buy some potty pads, newspapers really don't absorb that well. Walmart sell them for cheaper than petstores do. we get a 50 pack for about $13. I also tape mine down with scotch tape on the corners otherwise Tobey will drag it off into the living room. If you are still working on potty training, when you are home, i recommend doing the crate training method. you can find lots of info about it on here. good luck!

I echo what the others have said. Definitely leave her in the kitchen. She will probably sleep most of the day.

Keep her confined in the kitchen, she's safe, has food and water, able to get to her crate if she'd like, safe toys to play with...but if you're training her to potty inside, use pads rather than papers. I prefer to train them to go potty outside, but if that's not possible or doable...use pads.
I think the trick is to make them want to be in there...never use it as punishment. I have always made Winston get in his bed (in the kitchen) on his own...I don't pick him up and put him there, at first I had to entice him with a treat, after a few times he just automatically goes there, waiting in his bed for his good boy treat...even before I'm ready to leave. And he has never had separation anxiety...he likes it there, and I know he's safe, comfortable and has everything there he needs. Good luck...hope it all works out well for you and Violet (such a pretty name)!!!

Definetly leave her in the kitchen gated up. I'm afraid she'd be too depressed in the crate all day.

I leave mine in the kitchen even she is potty train allready, she doesn't chew anything either, but you never know, I also have two seniors cats they good friends but I always want to make sure they are playing nicely; your kitchen look perfectly fine, I put some child safety lock in the lowers gabinets, and I always use stainless steel dishes for her she have some ceramic ones but I think stainless steel are more safe:rolleyes:

Thank you all so much!
 

I really appreciate your answers. I really thought the answer was going to be to crate her -- so I'm very glad I asked. If anyone has additonal thoughts on the crying, that would be great too. I'm sure lots of people ask this, so I'll do a few searches also and see if I can read a previous answer.

Violet says THANKS too!

Also...
 

Also, I'm going to switch her onto the pads in the next day or so. At the breeder, she was trained to go on newspaper, so I was trying to keep things as "status quo" as possible for the first few days... I'm sure she will really prefer the pads.

Thanks!!
Cheryl

You are doing good, congratulation on your new baby, I can imagine how happy your daughter is:D

She is!!
 

My daughter is just over the moon excited. She is an only child, and Violet will be her companion for many years to come!

I'm glad I have this board, it has kept the sanity in our house together!!

Cheryl

My little Maggie who is 9 weeks old also stays in my kitchen every day while I am at work. I feel so guilty leaving her but I agree with everyone that is much better than the crate. I have been trying the newspaper but she still poops on the floor sometimes. She is pee on the paper always. The problem I have with the pads is the kitty (about the same age) was getting in there with her while I was gone and tearing up the pads. I am having a very difficult time potty training. She is being treated for Coccadia and goes about 15-20 times a day. I think ithe training will take longer since I work so much. I know she is still very young but it is so frustrating. We will get thru this! Congratulations on your little baby and good luck!

Thanks Cheri. It is sooo good to know that I'm not alone.... I do feel so guilty about having to go to work. It is good to know that others do it. That is too bad about her having to go poo that much!!! Antibiotics sure do it to adults and kids, so I suppose pets wouldn't be any different! Makes it tough on owners though. Try to keep your chin up, she can't even control those poos yet... that kind of "having to go" happens too fast! She'll be back on the paper in no time I am sure.

Violet is precious! Love her name.
The first few months with a new baby are challenging, but it sounds like you are definitely on the right track - keeping her gated in the kitchen is a good bet. Congrats... you'll be a great yorkie mommy!

Violet is a lovely name and she is adorable. Looks like she has a great place to be when your at work.

May I make one suggestion. Place a towel over the back and 1/3 the way up the sides of her crate. It will make it feel more like a den.

I also leave the radio or TV on when I go out. Something nice and soothing.

Good Luck with her. She'll be fine.