i work 9-5, my fiance works shifts 6-2 & 2-10, could we have a dog?
I leave for work at 8:30 & get home at 5:30, my fiances shifts mean:
6-2: 5:15, home at 2:30,
2-10: leave at 1:15, home at 10:30.
We both grew up around dogs & would love 1 of our own, my fiance wants a puppy but i’m being more level headed about this & have been doing some research with difficulty around my circumstances. We cannot get home on our lunches & on her 6-2 shift the dog/puppy will be alone for 6 hours at the most. whereas on her 2-10 shift its alone for 4 hours at most, would say a 1yr old house trained dog be best suited to us rather than a puppy. Please do not send negative views as we’ve had numerous discussions over costs, training, house space etc which is fine.
Of course you can have a dog. You just have to plan around it. If you do want to get a puppy, you can, if you just give it some thought. Perhaps you have some vacation time coming up…that would be a good time to start. Make sure you are going to crate train, so you can safely leave your pup up to one hour for each month of its age. As far as not being home, you can make arrangements with friends, neighbors, relatives, to get involved. They can come over to walk, to feed, for playtime. You can avail yourself of a board and train program…many people don’t like those as they want to do everything themselves…but I do know several people who have done this with good outcome. You can take off vac/sick time not concurrently, but one after the other..thereby stretching out the length of time you can be with your pup. Once it is 4 months and has all its shots, you can look for doggie daycare, or an inhome pet sitting situation. There is a way to do anything. I was lucky enough to be allowed to bring my crated pup to work with me….certainly not everyone can do that..but between that and some friends and neighbors i had no problem getting sitters for my pup. I do work part time and that did make it different from your situation.
Your idea of an older pup or a young adult is also fine…but with a lot of planning, you can fit the situation to your needs. Good luck, hope you get what you want!
Whiskey Running & Puppy Training Discussion