‘Is it realistic to have a puppy during my training contract?’

If you’re seriously asking this question, you are definitely not ready to be a dog owner.

It sounds like you may not have cared for a puppy previously so please allow me to tell you a little about what you’ll experience.

For the first 6 months of a puppy’s life it operates on a cycle of about 3 hours. It wakes up, urinates and defecates wherever it is, it needs to be fed and then it will be very very active for an hour or so when it needs to have stimulation and interaction. Until it’s around 4 months old its muscles, sphincters etc will not be developed enough for it to have any hope of controlling when it urinates or defecates. Until it’s 4 months or more no amount of training will prevent the dog from messing where you want it to.

If you are not there it will urinate and defecate wherever it is – likely all over your floors. It will not learn to do so only when it is in a suitable place so even when the dog is adult you will continue to have it use your carpets etc as a toilet because it has not been taught to do otherwise.

During these first 6 months is when it will need attention every couple of hours. This is also the time to train a dog in the basics, best done in small 10 minute slots several times a day. If it is on its own it will bark or howl in the hope this will attract someone, anyone, to come to it. It will do this while you are at work and it will likely go on for hour after hour driving your neighbours insane and lead them to complaining to you. With no training in this critical period your puppy will be out of control giving you all sorts of problems when you want to take it for a walk, go to the park, mix with other dogs etc. Leaving a puppy on its own for 7 to 8 hours at a time is as cruel as leaving a human baby unattended for that long. Having someone come in ‘to walk it’ is woefully inadequate. I hope you do know that a puppy needs vaccinations and cannot be walked where other dogs go until it has received all those jabs and this will not be until its months old so ‘walking it’ cannot be done for months. The dog will suffer mentally and the effects of this trauma at a young age will lead to lifetime behavioural problems. Having a puppy and then treating it like this would be an act of deliberate neglect and cruelty.

You will not end up with the dog experience you are imagining and dreaming of. By the time the dog is 9 months old you will be beyond exasperated with it – repeatedly messing inside the house, howling and barking all day, untrained so taking it out ‘for a walk’ will be a nightmare and you will be wanting to get rid of it, asking a rescue organisation to take it on for you.

The dog will live the rest of its life with the result of the trauma and neglect it has gone through.

Please don’t think of having a puppy until your life is in a place where you can give it the attention, love, training and security which it deserves.

A cat on the other hand is a completely different proposition. You might want to talk with some cat owners and see if that might suit you.

As a single parent training contracts 5 years ago were not flexible so in relation to puppies I would think definitely not!

You will be paying more in doggy daycare than you will get for wages.

Qualify, get to know your job, workplace and hours and then look at getting a pup. Unless your partner is working from home full time initially then what would be the point as you would never get time together and bonding is important.

Having a puppy is like having a baby literally, just one has fur the other has fuzz. Don’t rush into any other commitment until after your TC it’s not fair on you, your partner or the pup!

What is your boyfriend’s working pattern? Pup will need company and care during the day, so might be worth considering whether he can be around to offer that until pup is old enough to go to doggy daycare. Doggy daycare is probably be a better option to begin with then a dog walker – it offers socialisation and a degree of training if you find a good one, and takes up more of the day. Pups can’t walk far or for long when they are little, it can damage their young legs while the bones are still forming. A dog walker is something for an older dog, who can take longer walks, and does not need care and company all day.
Hope that helps