Single and raising a pup? - Page 5

Well I'm glad to see a few more people that think it CAN be done if one is committed. I'm very grounded for a single person (I'm told that all the time). Don't drink, smoke, or party. No wife, no girlfriend, no kids. I'm an early riser considering I get up at 4:15am on work days, and I should have said before that I only work a 4 day week. I tend to think things through very well before making a decision. This is a good example of how I take things slow. I have wanted to get a working line for about a year now, but haven't done so yet. I have been lurking here, reading books, and learning from my current dog until I feel like the time is right.

RED SABLE

WE ARE SO THRILLED BY YOUR CONCERN. STINKY IS SO ACCUSTOMED TO HER NAME THAT SHE WOULD PROBABLY NOT RESPOND TO ANOTHER. JUST A WHILE AGO WHEN STINKY FINISHED HER SHIFT SHE ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO SEE THE STINKY PINK MONKEY. ITS JUST A LITTLE GAME HER AND I PLAY. I WILL FESS UP THAT WE HAVE TRIED ALL THE PROBIOTICS THE CANDIDA CLEANSE THE CANDIDA DIET THE VAGISIL WIPES AND CREAM THE MYCELEX TABS AND OINTMENTS THE CRANBERRY CAPS ETC. WE WANT TO GIVE A VERY SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO 4 PACK BECAUSE SHE WAS KIND ENOUGH TO POST HER SPECIAL ANTI YEAST PROGRAM THE OTHER DAY. THE BOTTOM LINE IS WHEN A GIRL OPENS EARLY AND IS AROUND ALL THAT SEASONING ALL THAT BATTER AND SPECIAL RECIPE INGREDIENTS COMBINED WITH MOUNDS OF RAW CHICKEN HEAT LAMPS BOILING OIL AND HOT OVENS ITS JUST A FERTILE BREEDING GROUND FOR YEAST. AS FOR ME I LIKE MY WOMEN LIKE I LIKE MY BISCUITS. FLAKEY HOT SOFT TO THE TOUCH AND FULL OF YEAST.

Like someone said, they are dogs, not children.

In a kennel for 12 hrs a day, is not abuse, neglect, etc, etc.

People crack me up, trust me when I say that, 4-5 15 minutes ball, tug, training, playing sessions is alot better than 3 hours of following you around the house.

It is not about the quantity of time you spend with your dog, it is about the quality.

Gosh Shelley, could it be you can track whenever the fancy  strikes  because  your  work allows you to be at  home during the  day?  Most people who work full time and especially those who work more than 40 hours a week outside of the home  have kind of a hard time teaching pups to track after dark when they get home so consequently it's track before work (AKA dawn) or nothing, unless of course they work the night shift.

Get A Real Dog
Yes, i was the one who said Dogs are not children, and it is right, they do not need to be with humans every bit of the day, As you say they need quality time, Playing with the ball and i can tell you that the dog will look for you and be more obedinant to your commands later on than by seeing and playing with you when you get home from work and a bit in the mornings before you leave home more than it will do by being tied to the owner in a house all day long
You can get up that bit earlier and give it a play time and socialise with you before you go to work and a walk, If it means getting up at 5 oclock in the mornings instead of 6.oclock then that is the way it has to be and anyone will do that is they are keen enough
The pup if taken off as weaned at 8 weeks old will best be fed three times a day, but if it is not possible then try this, leave the first feed right until you go to work that will be half of its daily total, when you get home play with the pup and  then feed half its other feed, then at 11.oclock at night give the pup the other quarter feed, not as good as a feed in the midday but it will go on okay, and the pup will not go without
If you are going to let it live in an outside pen and kennel and all my dogs have for 57 plus years then when you get the pup wrap up an old clock and the tick tock will settle it down very quickly, it will act as its mothers heart beat, put the clock under the bedding, when the pup finds it and it will a week of so,  take it away the job will be done, you will get no problems crying that way
If it crys the first time you put it ourside, DO not go out to it under any circumtances let it carry on, it will stop when it realises it is not going to get you out there
Steve

I do work from home SOME of the time nowadays, part-time, but I didn't always! When I was at the newspaper I was gone 60+ hrs. week. I can't train here much in the winter because of the snow and ice, so playing with the dogs for awhile, spending time with pups am's & pm's  was about all that got done in the winter. When I am working I am tied to the desk most of the time, on the phone and the computer. I spend a lot of time on hold in advertising sales, which allows me to dink around on this board more than I could otherwise. My boss doesn't care as long as I bring in the sales! They don't pay me enough to upset my dog training schedule TOO much. Ha ha ha. I generally work my (flexible) hours around my dog training now, but I am NOT a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, so the only time you see me tracking early is if I couldn't sleep or some early-riser showed up here wanting help with THEIR dog (with coffee, and something to eat, tracking bait in hand...)


The good news is that I am a stage in my training career that it doesn't take me all day to train a dog. ha ha ha. The bad news is I never seem to spend enough time at it as I should. Still, somehow they seem toget trained.

SS

Oh okay,  you've got that 4 day work week thing going, Traveltime?   Honestly, back in the day when I worked I would have jumped at the chance for a 4 day work week, and I always thought I would be able to handle the longer hours on those 4 days and deal with the dogs too.  I don't know, maybe I wouldn't have been able to hack it, but I sure would have liked to give it a whirl!

You know, on second thought, and after reading the other opinions expressed here, I think I was placing too much importance on the home alone thing.  After all, there really is no perfect situation, I'm sure every one of us has something on which we could improve, and there are things much worse than being home alone too long.  So even though I think 12 hours is not ideal, it certainly doesn't take away from the fact that you have a lot to offer that will balance out any deficit from being home alone.   I wish you good hunting on finding just the right puppy. 

Please stay with this board, and let us know what happens.

The only difference between my 60 hr./ wk. job 2 yrs ago and the 30 hr./ wk job I have now is about $50K/yr.
SS

the thing you are all missing is whether a breeder would sell you a puppy under these circumstance's i know that i would not you are right when you say they are not like children but these are very important months in a puppies  life it needs trained socialised and needs to build a bond wih you and if there is no one to do those things with the pup then unfortunately i would not sell one of my pups to you
jim h