My husband (29M) and I (26F) just got our first puppy together, a wonderful Golden Retriever 2 weeks ago. We both grew up with dogs but never raised one. He is almost 13 weeks old and we love him so much.
Overall he is a very good dog!! Potty training and crate training have gone pretty well and he loves treats and toys. He is socializing very well. The vet said he has a great temperament and we’ve started puppy preschool with him.
The biggest struggle right now is the constant supervision. I work outside the home 3-4 days and 2 evenings a week, while my husband works from home. We initially thought this would be a perfect arrangement since my husband loves working from home and is very hands on with our puppy.
Two weeks in I can tell he is struggling. I come home from work and my husband is exhausted, understandably so. He says his attention is super divided and it is hard to get work done with the dog needing to go outside or wanting to play or getting into typical puppy mischief. He crates him for 2-3 hours a day and works harder through his many naps but still finds it hard.
When I do get home I always tell him to go take a break, nap, shower, go play games with his friends, anything that will help him recharge. In addition, I get up with the puppy in the middle of the night and early each morning for potty breaks and have agreed to take him on 1-2 walks a day when he is fully vaxxed. I spend most of my evenings and mornings playing, feeding and caring for the puppy.
Still, I can tell this is hard for my husband. I know things will probably get easier as the dog is trained more and gets older but is there anything else I can do?? I have a generous PTO package at my job, should I be taking more time off to stay home with puppy? Has anyone else dealt with this??
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