Owning a puppy – Collar Column

So you're most likely in the first week of owning your new puppy! Its a pretty full on week from personal experience and what doesn't stop is your life away from your pup which may require you to leave the house without your puppy! So can you leave an 8-week-old puppy home alone? You can leave your 8-week-old puppy home alone, BUT for no more than an hour at the very most. Puppies of this age require close attention as they are only just learning the world, and cannot hold their bladder for long at all. Young Albus! Can I leave my 8-week-old puppy home alone? You can leave your puppy of this age for up to an hour, but this is risky if doing it often. It's best to limit your time away in this initial week and ask for help from friends or relatives to run specific errands if you're desperate. It must be said though that a crucial part of puppy training is to teach your puppy how to be alone, but in a controlled manner (you're in the house), and probably something not practised in your first week with the puppy. There are various reasons why its only up to around an hour or not at all. These are: Bladder and bowel control - At this age, your puppy doesn't have full control over their toilet functions and their bladder is very small. They don't have the ability to hold it for long periods. Leaving your puppy too long so they have an accident is a massive set back in your toilet training as well as leaving you with a clean up job! For more information on toilet training, see my other posts, including How to Know Your Puppy Needs the Toilet Plus Easy Tips! Seperation Anxiety - At this age you are still taking on the role of their mother, and generally dogs don't deal well with separation as they haven't built up to being more independent. Leaving your puppy for long periods at such a young age can lead to the begininigs of separation anxiety. Hazards in the home - You may think you've dog proofed your home, but you will be surprised what a puppy of this age can find to nibble on, and worse, possibly choke on. Best to be on hand and monitoring them in case this happens. Read on to see how to combat this if you do need to leave them for a short period. Crucial time in their development - This early stage is where a lot of good training can make a big difference. Issues arising from leaving them alone can lead to setbacks so early in the puppy training journey. How do you leave an 8-week-old puppy at home? So if you do need to make a quick trip out, how do you leave an 8-week-old puppy at home? You should leave your 8-week-old puppy in a crate or its pen. Ideally a crate, as part of crate training, but do not leave for any more than an hour. You should avoid leaving your puppy with the ability to roam your house or even the room you leave them in. This is where crate training is very useful. Using a crate, amongst other benefits, allows you to create a controlled environment for your puppy, and gives you piece of mind knowing they're safe for the brief moment you have to leave them. Whilst it doesn't stop them from going to the loo, it may help against it as if they are in an appropriately size crate for their size, they won't want to wee or poop in there. However, at this age, you won't have long for that instinct to fade! Remeber it should be no more than an hour for the reasons above. See another related post of mine - PUPPY PEE PADS: Put Them In My Puppy’s Crate? EXPLAINED. It also means you don't run the risk of them destroying furniture and chair legs etc, potentially compromising their health whilst you're out, which you wont know about until maybe it's too late. Luna trying to eat the wall! Final Thoughts Given this would most likely be the first week of having your new puppy, if you are having to leave them regularly, you may need to assess if now is the right time to have one. We all have one off reasons we must leave the house, so this blog should help for those instances, but sometimes its valuable to double check our lifestyle to make sure we will give the dog the best life.