Category: Top Dog

We’ve put the deposit down on a female lab puppy and I’m getting nervous reading all the posts. For context, we have 40 acres (80 combined with family next door). We have 3 small children (5, 3, 1) and plan to have more kids. A dog seems necessary to us to help with deer/coyotes/snakes – it’s partially a safety issue. We also know our kids will love a dog. We lost our last dog in an accident and our oldest still talks about him 2 years later. We live about 30 minutes out of the closest town, which means when we need to go into town it’s NEVER less than 2 hours. Usually around 4 hours. I’ve been doing a ton of reading on training and feel confident in my knowledge of what it takes – I’m just nervous it’s actually really unrealistic for me to spend so much time with a puppy while I have 3 small children who also need my supervision. I’m very hesitant to adopt an older dog because of our children and other animals – as well as not wanting to have to undo poor training. Hype me up or tear me down!

My velcro puppy with separation anxiety is now a 90 lbs, 6 month old big boy puppy. And, I can't even believe I'm writing this, but he stayed home alone for 1h18m tonight and was fine!

Sure, he was waiting at the door for me when I got home, so he may have waited there the whole time, but he didn't destroy anything or whine & bark the whole time. And, last night, he stayed home for 23m while I went to the grocery store.

He is a dream puppy — sweet temperament, loves everyone, easy to potty train, totally self sufficient and confident at home — but the separation anxiety was severe. Honestly, I've been stuck at home for so long that I thought I'd never get my life back. He's so grown up and such a good boy!

If your dog is overly attached, stick with it. Keep trying. We gave up on the crate and the pen. He hates being contained except at night. He would cry and bark and rage after just 5 mins of being left in the pen with the gate closed during the day. Turns out, he's OK being alone as long as he can roam.

I can't wait to go back to the gym!