Q&A: Just saved a 7 week old puppy, what now?
Saturday, July 28th, 2012 at
7:31 pm
Question by jade: Just saved a 7 week old puppy, what now?
We have 2 other dogs, 1 year and 3 years. I’ve never had a puppy so small. She has no idea how to pee outside, and we obviously can’t give her free roam. We thought about putting her in a cat carrier. She’ll need to pee. How long can we keep her in there? What if we have to leave for 9 hours, what should we do then?
Best answer:
Answer by Brenton Fowler
Take the pup to the vet they will know what to do
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
You need to have someone come let her out if you’re going to be gone that long. A 7 week old puppy can only hold it for a few hours and if you just leave her in a cat carrier for 9 hours, you’ll be teaching her that she’s supposed to pee/poop in the carrier since you gave her no choice. If you can’t find a petsitter, baby gate her in a room without carpet and put down newspaper or potty pads. This isn’t the best solution, but at least it gives her an opportunity to potty away from her sleeping area.
Does this puppy belong to somebody? Have you checked before just taking him on?
If you are likely to be out for 9 hours, then the best advice I can give you, assuming you can’t locate his owner, is to sign him into your Shelter where he can find a good home. I’m afraid it’s simply impossible to have a puppy, and leave him for 9 hours.
Puppies should not be crated for more than 2 hours, and with one this age, probably only for 1 hour, and adults not for more than 4 hours without the ability to empty.
I have had many, many 7 week olds. My answer at http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110323192053AA3hpXm will get you started. If you have a cat carrier, it may be just right for her now. 9 hours is far too long for a 7 week old. I am a big believer in crates, but hate to see any dog left over 4-5 hours. If you can’t make it back to give it a mid day break, see if a neighbor or professional dog walker can. When I was still working, I was able to come home for lunch to give our puppies a break.
first of all, a 7 week old puppy is a little too young to be left alone in a crate for 9 hrs or so. they have to go potty every 2 hrs, 30-45 mins after they eat and maybe even more. but what you could do is get a baby gate and block it in the kitchen or bathroom or somewhere that has hard floors (easy clean up) and put some weewee pads down so it has a place to go potty. that’ll help teach it that it can go potty in a designated area and will also help make house training a little easier if you intend on keeping it. but put it in the kennel at night. it’ll help teach it that kennel = bedtime. depending on the breed will tell you alot about what to expect from the dog as it gets older. hope this helps!
How do you know that the pup is 7 weeks old? A pup that young needs to relieve itself outside every half an hour or so. You cannot leave a pup in a crate for NINE hours. A cat carrier is WAY TOO SMALL for a puppy. Surrender the puppy to a rescue/shelter and leave them a hefty donation for taking the pup off your hands.
you should re home her as you don’t have the time she needs to take care of her.
she needs feeding every 4hours or so, plus regular access outside to toilet or paper training which also takes time and effort.. A cat carrier isn’t enough space for her for any length of time and 9hours is much to long to leave a puppy, if you want to keep her them most importantly she needs your time.
since u have 2 other dogs, this task should be easy for u. train her as you did your other two dogs. give her praise or a treat if she goes to the bathroom outside or barks at the door to go out. if she goes to the bathroom INSIDE, don’t punish her, but scold her so she knows it’s not the right thing.
it’s all about tone.
-saying in a happy tone, “what a good girl” and petting her tells her it’s the right thing to do.
-saying in a harsh tone “no” gives her the message not to wet the floor.
be patient.
As for the issue of free roam, i suggest you put up some of those little fences they use for dogs and young children. be careful not to leave her in a room where she has access to valuable or breakable things that could be ripped apart. if u keep those sort of things high up, they won’t be within her reach. Since u said you are still poddy-training her, i would take her for a walk before u go, then leave her in a fenced off area. if u do decide to keep her in a crate, keep that in a seperate room from the other dogs. what you DON’T WANT is one dog sitting in a crate and two other dogs walking around the crate. also, you don’t want the 2 other dogs to attack the younger dog in your absence.
i hope this helps!
god bless you and your angel puppy
You can’t leave a young pup for 9 hours. You would have to find someone who could come in several times while you are gone to take her outside and to play with her.
A young pup needs to be taken out hourly and should not be left in a cat carrier or crate all day. You should allow her free roam in a confined room, such as the kitchen and block off the entrances with gates and crate her when you can not supervise her. Crating for more time should only be at night as she can not be crated continuously and even with that she will need to be taken out during the night at least once.
Pups can not hold their bodily functions for long periods of time so you need to make sure to take her out after each of her 3 meals, after naps, after play time, she should be taken out every 45 minutes to hourly, and before crating her for the night. Learn her signs for needing to be taken out.
Pups are not born knowing that we as owners want them to eliminate outside and not in the house. You have to train her where it is appropriate to go. If and when she has accidents in the house simply clean it up, forget about it and continue with the training. No need for punishing her verbally or physically for having an accident as when nature calls she will go and the fault of accidents is not the pups but the owners for keeping the pup on a schedule nad knowing the signs that the pup needs to be taken out,
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Now with all that said … If you just saved this pup, and not having said in what regards you saved her, such as from a shelter, a byb or had found it (which would be rare) the pup NEEDS to be taken to a vet for a wellness exam and to be started on its vaccinations and to be de-wormed. The vet would also give you detailed instructions on how to care for the pup in all aspects.
If you do not have the time to properly care for, train and socialize this pup then you should surrender it to a rescue or shelter. Not being home for 9 hours is way too long to leave a pup and a cat carrier is too confining, she need a crate which has good ventilation. Also the cat carrier could harbor any number of things that could infect a new pup and it is best to get a new puppy/dog crate to eliminate the possibility of her catching anything that had been brought in on the feet of the last cat that used it. Some illnesses and diseases can live in the environment for up to a year. Hope your other dogs are UTD on their vaccinations. The pup is too young to be left for 9 hours and that alone would be a reason to surrender the pup if accommodations can not be made so that the pup has interaction, socialization and is being taken out on a schedule to play and eliminate.
We just adopted a 3 month old puppy from a shelter and they had them in kennels peeing on news paper… I don’t recommend this but from the experience I have had and now taking on training this puppy to go out side and potty, I put news paper in the crate for accidents only at night time or on the floor in a gated puppy proof room (the kitchen) when we are gone. I try to make sure I am never gone for more than a few hours and when I am I try to have someone let him out. Another thing that has saved us on accidents is our other older dogs! Puppies I’m starting to learn are like babies and young children they watch everything! Make it appoint to take him out when the other dogs go out and tell them all good dogs for going out together! And The cat crate will be perfect for helping potty train. Dogs do not like to poop and pee where they sleep so the less space you give them the better chance they wont have an accident. However, please don’t take this as the less space the better for long periods of time because It could cause anxiety and cause them to potty in the crate. Also, another thing you could try doing is puppy daycare and they will help potty train until she’s ready to be left alone with the other dogs…I hope this helps best of luck with your new puppy!
Take her to the vet for a physical exam and make sure she is healthy