Before anyone is negative about buying a puppy and needing day care - I get to work from home often, and my boyfriend leaves for work 5am and I leave hours later when I work in SH, so he's home hours before me, but just wondered if there is somewhere he could go during in those few hours so he's not alone, till we get him used to being alone - we are just concerned about complaints if he happens to be crying during the time we are not home.
Any recommendations appreciated.
At such a young age, rather than a Hort or other type of daycare with many dogs, I'd recommend looking for a pet sitter, someone experienced in puppies, at best without young children, without their own dog or perhaps with just one calm older dog in the home.
At this developmental stage every single interaction - or missed interaction - is a learning event. A Hort with lots of dogs could mean that your pup doesn't get the supervision necessary in these first months.
Sure, you want the pup to learn social competence that comes with being with other dogs, but at this stage a more controlled social group - i.e., Welpenförderung - can provide that.
I'd start looking for a pet sitter through the Petsitting 24 website:
This is a platform designed to bring sitters and owners needing help together. There is a fee to join, which you will need to do to contact the sitter. But it's quite inexpensive. Petsitting24 is only a connection platform, you and the sitter will need to then work out the legalities.
When you find someone, quiz him or her extensively as to his or her philosophy and methods of training. Again, while you are hiring a sitter not a trainer every single interaction is a training event at this developmental stage. You want someone who uses only positive based training, and whose ideas mesh with yours. The sitter needs to follow the rules you have in place, follow your methodology.
Hope you find the right person - and all the best with your new pup!.
(FYI, and sorry for veering OT, but as you are a first time dog owner: If you haven't started Welpenförderung classes yet, it would be a good idea to get that set asap. These weeks/months are precious and go by so quickly, so much needs to be done in order to set your pup up for lifetime success. Welpenförderung and Junghund classes are some of the best investments one can make in one's pup's future happiness (and yours!).
Have you heard about the National Hundehalter Brevet course? These are a new set of voluntary courses designed to help get a pup and his people started down the right road. See this thread: https://www.englishforum.ch/pet-corn...g-program.html )
We take him to the vet tomorrow to register etc so we are going to ask his advice/recommendations about puppy classes
I have had dogs all my life, and my boyfriend has too, it's just our first one together I have always taken my dogs to puppy classes, we both understand how vital it is to socialise and since he is a big breed we are working 100% to make sure he is used to a lot, other people, especially kids, and other dogs
he's a fast learner and already getting better at being house trained (he was livingo outside completely) but as he's only been with us since Friday he's still clingy, and a "daddy's boy" if my boyfriend isn't within sight he starts shouting at ME! lol