New Pet: Help

[American Desi]

Folks,

I need your help. We bought a new puppy (4 months old) who is now living in our first floor room with a crate and play pen surrounding it. We never lock his crate. He is warm and comfortable now. Unfortunately, we are planning to sell our home soon and going to have open house. Prospective buyers are going to visit our house. We have to get rid of pet odour and make our house nice.

I am planning to shift my puppy to the basement. I have a nice and reasonably big separate room with a door. I am planning to move the crate and playpen there. It is going to turn cold there soon. There is no heating inside that room. We both work full time. My question is...can i leave my puppy inside the room for some 8 hours during day time and lock the door? I am so worried abt the room turning cold and him being inside alone within the locked door. Please give me some suggestions.
Thank you.

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[SilverSpyderGT]

In my opinion, that would be cruel.

A four-month-old puppy, as I'm sure you are aware, requires lots of attention and exercise. Even if s/he would be comfortable locked away in a basement room (would you put a toddler in a cold basement room alone for 8 hours at a time? I hope not!), the puppy will probably make every effort to get out of the room. I have seen dogs dig and chew up vast swatches of carpeting and tear baseboards and doorsills up trying to escape rooms. That's probably not going to help the resale value of your home, either, not to mention the possibility of the puppy injuring him/herself or ingesting a foreign body. If the puppy was "leaning" toward separation anxiety, this would have the potential to put him/her over the edge.

Plus, then you have the housetraining issue - a four-month-old puppy is going to be a lot more likely to have accidents than an older dog. See again: home resale value. If by "cold basement room", you mean a cement box with no carpeting or furnishings, then you have other problems, too...

If you have a very small puppy, it will be easier for him/her to become hypothermic in a cold basement in the winter. If it's a toy (tiny breed) dog and you live where it's really cold, this could be fatal.

If you absolutely need to do this, you should provide the puppy with a space heater, bedding, water (+/- food, especially if it's a toy breed), and a warm place to sleep. You also send a friend to check on him/her at least for the first few days, to make sure everything's okay down there.

Oh, and let me repeat this - would you put a toddler in a cold basement room alone for 8 hours at a time?

 

[American Desi]

Thank you for your input. I have lost peace thinking about this issue for the past 2 days. It is cruel to leave him alone. I am having a constant discussion with my wife regarding this. I am also seeking help for giving him away for adoption if we can't spend time and provide good care for him. I think our timing was bad. I am torn and preoccupied thinking abt him. We love him and I dont know how my 10 year old daughter would feel if i give him away. He is a good size Labradoodle. A beautiful puppy anyone will love to have him. My basement is fully finished.

 

[No Imagination]

I personally have more of an issue with the 'alone, 8 hours at a time', but dogs are dogs. No offense to SilverSpyderGT, as I understand the analogy, but a dog is not a toddler. I personally don't like comparison.

Most breeds are quite capable of living outdoors, and while I don't know your location (geographic) or how cold it gets - depending on those variables, the cold basement may be fine for the dog, once acclimated. I know you said labordoodle, but I don't personally know how they are built, I would suspect a 4 month old of being able to acclimate to reasonably cold weather (like 40 - 50's?).

As far as it being dark... put in a light. Leave on a TV. Give him some ambient noise. Leave him some chew toys with food/treats shoved in (like a kong)

8 hours alone is not a big deal every now and again (expect a mess), but long term - you are probably going to have some mental/socialization issues.

Also, not sure if you said or not, but make sure the area is puppy proofed (or were you going to crate it?).

But if you can find him a new caring home, that does sound like its the best bet.

 

[sumstorm]

8 hours alone is not a big deal every now and again (expect a mess), but long term - you are probably going to have some mental/socialization issues.

Are you saying 8 hours isn't acceptable because of the age of the dog, of for dogs in general? If the later, most vets I know shouldn't own dogs, nor should many vet students. I dislike having long days away from my pets, but as long as they are adequatly exercised, trained, and socialized at other times, it doesn't seem to be harmful. I got to see over fall break what occurs with my dogs; their napping pattern alters. I've also recorded my dogs when I am not home. they nap, play with some toys, eat thier meal (out of a treat ball), nap some more, chew on a bone, and nap some more. It does mean they have a bit more activity needs when I am home, but otherwise when I stay home my dogs are falling asleep at 8 pm instead of the normal 10 or 11pm bedtime.

However, having owned several homes, I would never put an offer on a home where I couldn't inspect every room, closet, and space (including attics and basements) so I don't see how this really helps? The biggest thing is to make sure the dog is in an easy to clean location, that the house is uncluttered and super clean. Having a dog is rarely as much of an issue as folks wondering if the dog was allowed to damage and dirty the home. Which also means keeping the dog very clean.

Another solution is to use a dog day care or boarding facility while you aren't home. Or look for a friend/neighbor/dog lover who will let you house your dog during the day (maybe cheaper than dog daycare.)

 

[No Imagination]

Are you saying 8 hours isn't acceptable because of the age of the dog, of for dogs in general?

Nahh, in general I think you are correct. I was thinking more in terms of the age - but you are right, many professional/working people keep dogs, and they may be alone during those hours.

In hindsight I don't know why I said what I said about the time issue.

I think the OP painted a grim picture, but in general, now that I think about it - 8 hours isn't anything to sweat. In an ideal world, I think there would be more socialization time for the puppy - but like you said, if they are excised adequately, and work with them with the time you do have - 8 hours sounds reasonable.

 

[bunnity]

This is an excellent set of articles from PBRC about rehoming a dog. It is written about pit bulls but easily applicable to any dog. It says it a lot better than I can:

http://www.pbrc.net/adoption/owners.html

 

[cowhugger]

To original poster,

Why move him down to the basement in the first place? A few years ago we had an open house to sell my home, and whenever we had viewers we would leave our medium sized dog in his kennel on the main floor. Keeping blankets clean inside his kennel should reduce odor, as well as putting an air freshener in the room. As far as I know labradoodles don't have a strong dog odour like other breeds, and they're hypoallergenic for allergic home viewers. It shouldn't have a negative effect on home viewers, and who doesn't like seeing a cute puppy?

Moving the puppy downstairs could be stressful on the pup in addition to the stress of being confined with strangers in the house, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Let us know what you decide to do!

 

[sumstorm]

As far as I know labradoodles don't have a strong dog odour like other breeds, and they're hypoallergenic for allergic home viewers.

Careful with assuming the advertising is true. While labradoodles were originally bred with the intent of developing a hypoallergenic straing of potential working dogs, most F1 & F2's carry a mixture of danders from both breeds, and some offspring may actually trigger a wider variety of allergies than either a purebred poodle or retriever would. So hypoallergenic breed is inaccurate; this is highly variable with the individual dog and what characteristics they individually inherited.

However, as long as the dog is well behaved, clean, and maintained well, I don't see it as being as much of an issue. People who have severe allergies are going to sense the presence of a dog either way.

 

[American Desi]

My puppy is not going anywhere. Giving him away will break my daughter's heart and ours too. I will feel guilty forever. He is going to stay with a pet-sitter/pet resort during our open-house days. Regarding selling my home...I'll leave it to almighty and he will take care of us. Thank you guys for all your input. appreciated.