Going back to work - how do you transition

[crazydog_help]

Hello

Since we got Aura the week before December she really has not been left alone. I agreed to work from home for awhile but will need to go back at least 2 to 3 days a week. I might be able to get away with another week or two before I should be 'seen' in the office. I see after reading other posts that we should probably have been putting her in the crate for some of the hours during the day. I guess I need to start doing that? I was hoping to be able to work from home for a couple of months so that we could feed her the third meal for at least the first 4 months of her life but not sure my manager is going to allow this.

I would love to hear how others have dealt with this? I guess my daughter and her husband have to think about paying for a dog walker?

 

[Doberman Gang]

Hello

Since we got Aura the week before December she really has not been left alone. I agreed to work from home for awhile but will need to go back at least 2 to 3 days a week. I might be able to get away with another week or two before I should be 'seen' in the office. I see after reading other posts that we should probably have been putting her in the crate for some of the hours during the day. I guess I need to start doing that? I was hoping to be able to work from home for a couple of months so that we could feed her the third meal for at least the first 4 months of her life but not sure my manager is going to allow this.

I would love to hear how others have dealt with this? I guess my daughter and her husband have to think about paying for a dog walker?

Dogs adapt to our lifestyle, by giving them a routine it lessens their stress.
Yes crate training should have been started day one, staying home from work was fine especially fir a young pup and feeding but without creating crate time and separation for the times that you would be gone will now possibly create a problem, separation anxiety is big in this breed and many times created by us. I would start crating for periods as if you were gone at work and not in the same room you are working in. Start off 30 minute to an hour and slowly increase. Do not repeat the same duration this needs to be random until you go back to work then your routine can be established.

 

[BamMoMoMommy]

I guess my daughter and her husband have to think about paying for a dog walker?

I would.....and do it now......so they can have a chance to meet with a few people and see how they interact with the pup.

I meet with four people before I meet one that seemed to click with the boys. The first person.....seemed to be scared of the boys.....and Bam had his bluff in on her....real quick.

I work from home...but last year I had some things taking me out of the house for six-seven hours a day on short notice. I used a popular on line service to hire someone to come in check on my guys if I had to be out of the house for more than a couple of hours.

Avrg. rate was about $25.00 per 30 minute visit...but the young man I hired....tended to stay 45ish minutes, got out in the yard and played with the boys, interacted with them and was great if I had to pop him a text and ask him to do another pass by cuz I was running late ( at a fee of course...LOL)

 

[LifeofRubie]

Even if you're working from home, you can crate her for the short times mentioned above (but maybe make sure you aren't planning on being on any calls if she decides to protest ).

Does she have crate that she sleeps in at night so she's at least used to the idea of being crated? Our dogs have crates in our room. I've been known to 'put them away' if they're being particularly annoying and I really needed to get work done. Or if we're having a party and they're over it, etc.

You could even start by doing your normal going-to-work morning routine and putting her in her crate for a bit, gradually increasing the time. There's a point in my husbands morning routine that the dogs see and will automatically go into their crates waiting for their 'treats' before he leaves.

Do you have the option of going into the office in the AM and working from home in the afternoon or vice versa? We're lucky in that we both worked very close to home so someone was able to go home over lunch but a lot of dogs don't even get that so your little one is quite lucky! My husband has been working from home since July so our dingo's aren't crated much during the date unless he leaves but I know if/when we go back to both being gone for the day, they're settle back into that routine.

 

[Ravenbird]

Have to agree with what's been said. I work from home (LOL, it's next to impossible with the new puppy) and I used an X-pen in my computer room when I couldn't watch her. Now then I'm having to crate her for when I want to go somewhere in the day without her and she doth protest MUCH. UGH. She LOVES the same crate at night and wants to go into it before I ask many times. But day time? Even when I've worn her out with play and hikes and a few mental games, she'll go in fine but the protest barking starts within 10 minutes. Wish I'd done this daily for an hour here or there since I got her. (She's almost 5 months) I'm doing it daily now, hoping it's a stage she's going through... oh come on, someone please tell me it's a stage!

 

[jim g]

My 7 month old has full run of the house when I'm at work. I leave the front blinds open so she can watch the front yard all day from the couch where she sleeps during the day. I also have an amazon echo which plays music for her all day.
"Alaxa, calm my dog" I also have the Arlo security cameras all over the place so I can see what's going on real time from work or my phone. She comes and goes outside whenever she wants through two dog doors.
She does just fine. She's never been in a crate.

 

[JanS]

Our breeders started the crate training with our pups before they came home so they were very used to it. Both of our dogs got into the routine of looking forward to going in the crates to sleep when we went to work and even after we started leaving the doors open on the crate, they'd still go in there.

I'd definitely start now and do it in short increments so she gets used to it.

 

[Ravenbird]

My 7 month old has full run of the house when I'm at work. I leave the front blinds open so she can watch the front yard all day from the couch where she sleeps during the day. I also have an amazon echo which plays music for her all day.
"Alaxa, calm my dog" I also have the Arlo security cameras all over the place so I can see what's going on real time from work or my phone. She comes and goes outside whenever she wants through two dog doors.
She does just fine. She's never been in a crate.

The last Doberman I had was born in 1991. She had a crate until she was housebroken, about age 4 1/2 months. Then it was an open nest for her. She was left in the house alone or on a trolly line in the back yard (no fence, but on an 80 acre horse farm, so no neighbor dogs). So I know it can be done, but the breed is so incredibly different now, you have a gem from the past.

 

[crazydog_help]

Thank you for all the information. She does use a crate at night. I will start putting her in the crate a couple of hours a day and she how she does. My son-in-law just started putting her back in her crate in the morning so he can finish getting ready and I can also get ready for the day. She doesn't like it but quiets down after awhile.

I am going to have to have the conversation with them about getting a dog walker midday. You guys that allow the dog alone in the house are so lucky. I feel she would definitely pee everywhere and tear up the couch or any rug corner she could find. We do have a room that we had setup for our min pin and she did fine put she also used a litter box and was certainly less 'crazy' than this new pup. When we have tried using this room she has peed and pooped and torn up her bed - may try using it a little more. If we put pee pad down she just tears them up. Love her but she is a hand full.

 

[LifeofRubie]

She's still very much a puppy. She may get to the point where can be left alone in all or part of the house but she may also never earn that trust. Neither is right or wrong. I doubt my Dobe, now at 4 years old, will ever have free reign of the house. My lab, who is almost 2, could probably not be crated and be just fine.

We actually attempted to start giving the Dobe free reign by leaving her out and crated in the kitchen of our last house. We left her for an hour or so (before we had the lab) and when we came back, we sneaked around the back of the house to peek in the windows and see what she was doing. She looked TERRIFIED. Laying on her dog bed with wide eyes and her head swiveling around at every potential sound. It was almost like it was too much space and too much responsibility for her to handle

Both dogs are in 42" crates with raised cots so basically luxury doggy hotel rooms. When I work from home, they both sleep all day, anyway.

 

[C908]

The last Doberman I had was born in 1991. She had a crate until she was housebroken, about age 4 1/2 months. Then it was an open nest for her. She was left in the house alone or on a trolly line in the back yard (no fence, but on an 80 acre horse farm, so no neighbor dogs). So I know it can be done, but the breed is so incredibly different now, you have a gem from the past.

I was thinking the same thing, no way I would leave our boy loose in the house while gone.

 

[BamMoMoMommy]

I am going to have to have the conversation with them about getting a dog walker midday. You guys that allow the dog alone in the house are so lucky.

Having someone come in for our guys...was a sanity saver for me. We didn't leave our guys out of crate alone until they were well over two years ago, by then..they were solid on the house rules...LOL.

Bam (youngest) is our wild child and if he doesn't get out four or five times a day for a good work out...he paces all night. Our oldest has to be forced out and if we don't make him motivate he is prone to weight gain.

Something they might think about doing is starting the day earlier so they can get him out for a walk before they crate him. I wear my guys out with some yard play and a 30-45 minute walk before I leave them alone for any amount of time. I tend to haul them with me when I go out..and I still do the same play and walk...so they won't be wired for 220 in my Jeep.