How long can you leave a puppy alone at home?

Sriparna S: How long can you leave a puppy alone at home?
I am thinking of getting a puppy growing to be medium sized but the problem is no one is at home from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. What should I do to keep the puppy occupied? Should I leave it in a crate that long? My father may come at around noon to have lunch and take the puppy out to relieve itself. What should I do for the puppy during the 4 hours or so it is alone at home?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Messykatt
No, this is too long for a little puppy. They need much more socialization in those early weeks. I’d suggest either getting a young dog from the shelter or, if you’re determined to get a puppy, wait til next June when you’d have the summer to take care of him.

Answer by bells3011
If your dad is coming home for lunch then your puppy will be fine.

From about 3 months, my puppy stayed in his crate from 8am – 12pm and from 1pm – 5pm.

Crate is the best way to go, b/c its safe for your puppy and your house.

Just make sure that the puppy gets walked for lunch EVERY day. That’s pretty much mandatory.

Answer by Brittany
You will absolutely need to train it. If you just leave it at home it could get seperation problems and lead to destroying a lot of the furniture. If you get it trained it wont do that. As long as you train it and leave dry food and water along with toys out for it, it will be fine to leave at home that long. but dont ever leave it at home over 24hrs without taking it to a overnight vet or making sure someone checks on it a couple times a day.

Answer by AnimatedPet
It’s definitely important for your puppy to get enough exercise. Each time you let the puppy out, you should exhaust him a little. If you use a crate, some pet owners tie toys/treats in the corner to keep the puppy busy.

Your puppy will be okay inside the crate as long as you take the time to let it out for some exercise and always let them out after meals to prevent accidents.

Crating is a great idea since it WILL help potty training and it will also keep a bored puppy from playing with your personal belongings and destroying them. 😛

-AnimatedPet