we had once incidence where, the new owners nearly fell through the net, the hubby worked in a car sales room, his wife was a short haul stewardess, this meant that, she worked mainly nights and he worked during the day, they also had immediate family ie parents that would help out if they needed babysitters, this couple had been visiting us for some 18months 2 years, and lived fairly local to myself. everything went fine the pup went to his new home, and I was talking on the phone on a regular basis then one day the male in the family said he was having a problem with the pup as far as crating was concerned, and that the pup was getting very distressed, so I went up to their house, and only the hubby was there, he was really distressed, and pointed out to me that the pup had in fact hurt itself in the crate? I aksed him how long the pup had been in the crate, and he started to hesitate, I asked him where his wife was and he told me Canada I said what, she does short haul flights whats she in Canada for, he explained that her contracts had changed two weeks before and they didnt like telling me that she would be away longer now, and that he had taken a few days off work to settle the pup in, but he had, had to go back to wor now, and the pup had been in the crate all day, I was furious, I told him he was in breech of my contract and that I was not going to allow this to continue, I got him to sign a letter accepting that I could take the pup and refund his money less any vet fees, we took the pup to the vets and the pup had torn out a puppy tooth, he was given AB injection etc, So I refunded his money minus the vet fee and then changed over the reg papers back to myself, the pup stayed with me after that and is still with me.

Mo

It has nothing to do with the fact that people work. All adult members of our household, me included, work. But it happens to work out that because of our individual schedules, the dogs are rarely left alone.

It isn't unreasonable to suggest that a puppy being left alone for 7 hours or more a day, 5 days a week, is potentially detrimental to it. Labs are ridiculously social people dogs that are very high energy and 'busy' as youngsters. Unless you had an extremely laid back pup (which, with this breed, is unlikely) the odds of them being happy with such a routine is low. There is a reason why there are so many young adolescent Labs in rescue. People expect them to slot immediately into family life, including being left all day while the parents are at work and the kids are at school. Then, as Borderdawn said, they wonder why the pup is a hyper loony most of the time when they are around.

But....Elaine did you not buy 2 pups at the same time, so that they had company? so at some point you must have been worried about a single pup spending long spells alone

I think when people have another dog, it does help when leaving pups for long spells,

For me i think the quality of time is more important then the quanity. Yes i am out the house for 8 hours (- the 1hour at lunch) but when i am home i spend the time with the dogs and its quality time.

A busy mum or someone that works from home is not going to be able to spend all day with the dog. Take into account house work, school runs and other erronds(sp?) and they prob spend as much time as me actually with the dog. Whats the difference between the dog being confimed in the kitchen while this is done and deing in the kitchen with the radio on while someone is a work?

having a puppy follow you around while you do house work is great for the pup, it get it used to things like hoovers, and washing machines etc, school runs is also great for the pup so long as its placed in a safe position for travelling, meeting all those screaming children, travelling in car all good socialisation etc. the situation you mentioned is not a negative situation it can be put to great use training a youngster and that is just as good quality time.

Mo

Sorry, I though somewhere in the archives, you have stated taking pups home around 6/7 wks old, my mistake, so you believe along with the rest of us, 8 wks is preferred!!!

It is really sad some people ignore others successful experience and continue to discount scientific studies.

I have consistently said before 6 weeks is too early and 7-8 weeks is the best time. I see claims that breeders can begin to give a whole litter of puppies the socialization they need before 12 weeks as a feeble excuse for holding them past 8 weeks for whatever selfish reason. Those that get turned down by such breeders are likely fortunate to have such controlling people off their back.

Many people are quite successful taking 7 week old puppies home and leaving them a half day at a time. It is time some here quit condemning them for it.

It is also really sad when some only have scientific studies to fall back on, no hands on experiance yet they are experts,

have you ever produced a litter of pups?

many people on here have there own succesful hands on experiance to go by, they may not need to do whats been written on the internet by others

You have had some great advice - and you sound like you are planning well by your dog.
I live alone - and I work. I am self employed so I can choose my shifts but sometimes my dogs are left for several hours
But they know their routine - plenty of walks, training and chilling time - 1/2 the time when I am here anyway Mia takes herself off to her crate for a kip - infact currently she is in her crate and Ben has made a wee tent for himself out of the sofa throw and is snoring away

I got Ben at about 8 weeks and I have to say it was VV hard, He had me up at 4every morning with an upset tum, I could only work for an hour - then rush back home to the puppy, socalisation, vets trips, cleaning up, and training - it was LOTS of work.
An older rescue is easier - and they are not all set in their ways and v trainable
Look here http://www.freewebs.com/darleague/ for some fab rescues - and some top lever heelwork to music dogs are rescues

Anyone can "successfully" shut a puppy in a crate for half a day. It's not rocket science. Dogs cannot vocalize to protest otherwise, last time I checked. That doesn't make it right though.