Hi there. (Advice required for new puppy ).

Hi everyone, im new to the forum and soon to be new rodog ownership! We are getting our puppy in 5 weeks and busy getting prepared and reading up like mad! Sorry to ask advice straight off but would really appreciate some advice; so here goes... We will be getting our 8week old working type cocker spaniel female pup At the beginning of the half term holidays, im a part time teacher so we hope the 10days at home will help with the first stage of settling in.. Our pup will join our family of me and my husband and 2 (very excited) little boys aged 5 and 3 and also our 10 year old cat. When we return to work our pup will be alone for 4 hours a day (sometimes 3) and we want to work out the best way of minimising our pup's stress, boredom and loneliness and also damage to the house! We have an existing dog flap into a secure garden which is off our kitchen the living room can be secured so the pup can't access garden if we decide this isn't a good option when we're out. We are getting a crate for the pup to have a safe secure space but having read up on crate training know it isn't advisable/fair to leave a pup on a crate for 4 hours... So which option would you guys advise? A free run of downstairs and the garden ( we will put a gate at bottom of stairs so the pup can't get upstairs but cat can); give pup run of living room with open crate and training mat for toileting ( leaving the cat the run of outside and the kitchen) or something else I haven't considered yet?!! We are an active family and committed to giving the neccesary length of walking/play time our puppy will need at different stages of development.... Wow! long post - sorry - any advice would be really gratefully received!

Hi, welcome to Dogsey........

I have never had a puppy when working so I cannot give you any advice how best to leave your new baby when she arrives, but in the meantime

Welcome to the forum, you will get lots of help and advice from here.
Good luck with your new puppy. I would say that free run of the garden is not a good idea, as there are so many hazards, choking etc. especially for a young puppy.
A crate is a good idea possibly placed in a puppy-proofed room, with suitable chew toys, water etc. as 4 hours is quite a long time to be contained every day in a crate, especially as he gets older.
A very exciting wait for you all, I bet it will be a long 5 weeks

Thank you that's great advice! Yep the wait seems very long my boys have a chart where they colour a circle everyday to count down till the big event!!! In truth I think I am even more excited than them tho I'll look into dog proofing our living room and using training mats! I've bought some kong toys to hopefully keep her occupied and plenty of chew toys... Are there any other top tips/ products you'd recommend? Thanks again

Thank you for the welcome - what a gorgeous dog you have!

thinking of toys, kongs we have found to be very good.
I picked up some baby soft toys from a local charity shop and I have found these have out lasted the dog ones.
We have a springer cross collie so needing mental stimulation and so we do not feed meals from his bowl, he has a roll around soft ball which I got from amazon..this is brill and he loves it, we also have a kong wobbler, and have just bought a busy buddy squirrel dude which is also really good. one of his Christmas presents was from a charity shop, it is a 'baby's first ball', made of cotton with a jingle inside and he loves it. I washed it in the washer and it came up like new I would definitely recommend searching charity shops or car boots for suitable toys. plus they cost very little compared to the dog toys.
My sister in law has a 7 month working cocker, but he destroys soft toys!!
we got also a kong wubba puppy which is still going strong.
I am sure you will soon have a boxful of toys for your puppy.
We need pics to aaahh over as soon as you can
hope I have been helpful.
Linda

"The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey is an excellent book to read whilst you count the days down.

She suggests 21 toys, 3 each day to give variety. I'd be inclined to not leave soft toys with him when not supervised until you know how destructive s/he is.

During the 10 days you're home, make sure puppy has undisturbed nap times, preferably in his crate, with nobody else in the room, to get used to being alone.

As Tazjas says, don't let him use the dog flap yet. Pups will eat all sorts of odd things. Also, house training is much easier if you pop a house lead on him and go into the garden with him. You will have a better idea of when s/he's been etc. You can also train where to go, if you want a special area used. You can also teach peeing/pooing on command if you say the word as the dog is sniffing/circling just before the action.

How exciting for you all. LOL, I can imagine you being more excited than your boys.

Hi, If you give him a free run of any room he's very likely to damage your furniture as puppies like to chew and you will not be there to correct him.

The crate is your best option as a place of safety and can help the puppy feel more secure than a big empty house.
I normally cover the crate to turn it into a den, making it feel safer.

You could hire a dog walker to take him out half way through the crate time for the first 4 months or so.

Hi and congratulations on your new acquisition! I wouldn't give a puppy free run of anywhere as apart from the house training issue they will be teething for quite some months and likely to chew whatever they can get their teeth into. A large crate would be essential but leaving a small pup for 4 hours isn't ideal - although they don't generally like to soil their bedding area a pup would be very unlikely to be able to hold on for that long. I couldn't leave mine that long and he is four months!

If you get a crate large enough then the pup could use part of it for a toilet while keeping the bed area clean. You can get water bowls which attach to the sides of the crates (but don't be surprised to come home to find them detached and water everywhere!).

As for toys, all of mine have loved ragger-type toys while they are teething and also the flavoured Nylabones are good.

For toilet training I've never used paper or training mats, but a puppy pen which I've erected in the garden near the back door and just pop the puppy into it as often as I can - in the early days it might even be every 5 mins - that way I am not having to walk all over the garden in the pouring rain! I use a command (in my case it's 'do your job') every time I put the pup into the pen and praise it whenever it complies (it's incredible how often a puppy can pee! ). I have the pup sleep in a crate in my bedroom and take it out every single time it stirs (even if it's 2am and torrential rain) - it's a lot of effort initially but by doing this all of my dogs have been basically house trained within a month.

Best of luck with your new pup