Lab puppy, while I'm at work

Hi there,

We just purchased a 7 week old yellow lab. My question is, what's the best thing to do with her while we're at work. I leave for work at 8am and my wife gets home at 3pm. After reading through some puppy books, I see that they shouldn't be in the crate for more that a couple of hours. Is she old enough to install a doggy door to the our side?

No, she's not old enough for a doggy door for many more months. 7 weeks is a little young to get a puppy, so it will be a while before she can "hold it." You are right, she should not be crated for more than an hour or two at this age. What has worked best for me is to buy an ex-pen and place it in a puppy-proof area with a cleanable floor. Keep her crate inside the pen with bedding inside the crate and the crate door open. This way, she can sleep and learn to enjoy her crate and go potty on potty pads outside her crate in the pen if she needs to. Keep in mind, this will make potty training harder later as she will learn to go in the house etc. BUT, at the young age she is now, there is no way to make her hold it and a doggy door would be down right dangerous for a young pup as they eat everything!!! Good luck.

If you could find a good dog walker to take her out every hour while you're gone, I think that's really important.

Yea get a good reliable walking service or pet sitting service to help along whilst no one is home is great. Thats what I did and I believe that helps to socialise the puppy too with other dogs and people.

Yep, Pet Sitters are great. My mom is one and what I thought was funny was that she needed a Pet Sitter when she first got her puppy. Luckily, she had me, though!

Jessie