What if I need to leave my puppy home alone?
Bringing home a new labrador retriever puppy is one of the most exciting days in a dog owner’s life. Everything they do can be so cute and they grow up so fast; it’s natural to not want to miss a single second of their lives. Of course, this is not always possible. Even if you work remotely, you will almost inevitably have to leave your puppy home alone at some point! How do you prepare your puppy to be alone? How long is too long for a puppy to be alone?
Establish a Routine with Your Lab Puppy
A new labrador retriever puppy means lots of laughs and lots of love, but it also means lots of new responsibilities and inevitable changes to your routine. To raise your labrador retriever puppy to be a happy, healthy adult dog, you will need to make sure your puppy gets plenty of attention, exercise, and social interaction. Additionally, your labrador retriever puppy will need to learn how to be alone.
Plan time to be available to help your lab puppy get acclimated to their new home and environment. They will need to get used to your house and their crate. It is not best to leave puppy at home alone before they’ve become comfortable in the new surroundings. Your home is full of love, but it’s different than what they’ve known with their mom and littermates. At Gunmetal Labs, we send all of our beautiful Arizona labrador retriever puppies home with a small blanket that smells like mom and their littermates to help with the puppy’s transition into your home.
Once your lab puppy is comfortable at your house, you can leave them at home in their crate for an hour or more at a time. If you need to be gone for extended periods of time, we recommend making arrangements for someone to let the puppy out.
How Long Can My Lab Puppy Hold It?
Remember, dogs and especially puppies need to urinate often. As a guideline, new puppies up to 10 weeks old typically can’t hold their bladder for more than an hour. Dogs between 10 to 12 weeks old can usually hold it for around two hours.
Use the guidelines below as a rule of thumb for planning time for puppy to be alone.
Under 10 weeks: 1 hour
10-12 weeks: 2 hours
3 months: 3 hours
4 months: 4 hours
5 months: 5 hours
6 months: 6 hours
Over 6 months: Maximum 6-8 hours
Once your dog reaches three months old, they can usually hold it for an hour for each month they’ve been alive. After six months, dogs can usually hold it for up to six hours. However, even adult dogs shouldn’t be home alone for much longer than six to eight hours without a chance for a bathroom break.
Learning How to be Alone
When you first bring home your new labrador retriever puppy, they’ve never been really alone before. They’ve always had either mom or their littermates with them. You can start by teaching them how to be comfortable alone while you’re still home.
One way you can do this is to start out putting them in a crate or a puppy playpen while you are at home. To help set your pup up for success, make the space safe and relaxing place for them, instead of a punishment. To do this, you can feed them meals inside this area. You can use positive reinforcement to help your pup associate their crate/playpen with good feelings.