I was in for a big surprise recently when my husband suddenly came home with a Lhasa Apso pup, something he was very keen on. In spite of having discussed this earlier, I was suddenly looking at the very real prospect of having to work from home with a new puppy.
How does one deal with the situation of managing a puppy while working from home?Having a puppy at home is like having a new baby. You will have to manage time to care for it, potty train it, discipline it to allow you to work, get the family to pitch in, and plan your work breaks with the puppy’s needs in mind. Only that way will you get any work done on time.
With telecommuting becoming a norm in many jobs, now is a great time for dog owners. They get to work from home as well as allocate time for their pets. However, a new puppy demands attention all the time. How to manage that as well as work productively is a balance that needs to be worked out over time. Not everything works for everybody and you will eventually have to devise your own ways to sort this out.
In between juggling your work schedule and the umpteen things to do at home with the added duties related to the puppy, it is quite easy to feel overwhelmed at times. Plan your day well and do not take out your frustration on the new member of the family. Remember, all a new puppy needs is love.
Working from home with a puppy
Although a new puppy does settle into a routine over time, its need for attention often manifests as barking or whining smack in the middle of a presentation or a looming deadline. Also expect some accident to happen if you are pressed for time at work and cannot take it out for relieving itself. Some ways in which to ensure that there are least distractions in your work in this situation:
Discipline the little fellow
As adorable as they might seem, it is essential to discipline puppies and teach them boundaries in order to be able to maintain certain house rules. Otherwise it would be very difficult to work from home.
- Training and obedience. Puppies by nature are attention seekers. The moment they realize you will be around but not available to pet and play and fool around, they will protest. Do not yield to whines and growls. Train them to obey rules that say they are supposed to be quiet at certain times. Make up for it at play times.
- Set timing for interaction.If you do not set time and space limits for the puppy while working in your space or room in the initial days, it will be tough to establish this discipline. Make sure the puppy understands there will be times when it is supposed to keep quiet and stop fooling around.
- Housebreaking. The onus is an essential part of having a new puppy at home. Remember this takes lots of time and effort. It is a good idea to enlist the help of professional trainers to do this if it feels too much to handle on your own. Involve other family members into this until such time that the new puppy is settled in.
- Praise him for his patience. Let the puppy grow accustomed to periods where it will have to fend for itself and stay alone while you work. However hard it might be for both of you, this discipline is a must. Puppies tend to expect attention all the time. They have to learn to be on their own and give you extended periods of free time to be able to work. However, make sure you increase this ‘alone time’ in small increments. Also, it is a must to praise the little fellow for his patience when this time period is over and reward him with a cookie or some play together.
- Set a routine. Just like a human kid, it is essential for you to establish a routine with the new puppy. Also like human babies, a puppy finds comfort in a set routine. It has to realize it is expected to do certain things at certain times, as well as not do certain things, like not bark or fuss when you are in the middle of an important call or a presentation. There are walk times and meal times that will follow a pattern, and this needs to be set over time.
- Vary the routine. I know I just said one needs to set a routine with a new puppy. Believe me, a big part of training a puppy is establishing a routine; however, this is not so true for people who are working from home. This is because
inherent nature of remote work is such that there might be unexpected lulls in workflow while other times it might be impossible to sneak a break for long periods of time. If the new puppy is used to an unvarying routine, it would be difficult for it as well as you to continue work in peace when his break time happens. It’s best that the little one gets used to variations. Exercise some fluidity depending upon your schedule for the day and do the same with your puppy.
Expect minor disasters
- Accidents will happen. Remember that even the best potty-trained puppies are bound to have accidents at times. It is no use punishing the fellow. Instead be firm in enforcing house rules and these accidents will lessen as it grows up.
- Chewing cables and causing distractions. The new puppy you have, that same adorable bundle of joy, is sure to go into a chewing phase soon. Everything from shoes to cables to newspapers to mobiles is vulnerable to attention from the teething puppy. Providing it with a chew toy is barely a solution as they prefer going back to household things soon. It is better to keep important stuff out of its reach and wait patiently for it to outgrow this phase. Timely reprimands work well to set limits for them.
- The puppy might be unwell at times. This is an integral part of having a puppy. It will likely have health issues at times, get sick, hurt, or have ticks to something more serious that would require a vet visit and medicine and follow-ups. Like mentioned earlier, it is after all like a new kid; and an unwell kid gets cranky and needs more attention than normal, so be prepared to do the same with your furry baby.
They bring huge pluses
Family gets together. You are blessed if everyone in your family is a dog lover. Even if some are not, a new pup is irresistibly adorable and will win everybody’s hearts very soon. When there is a new member in the family that is so frolicsome and winning, there are bound to be more smiles and bonding.- Family shares responsibilities. I know this is a contentious point with some people in that initially everyone agrees to share the puppy’s responsibilities but over time it all piles up on one person. That is a real possibility so you need to make sure you set the ground rules from day 1. Taking out the puppy, feeding, grooming, playing and importantly cleaning up after it, these are duties that have to be shared by family members in order to make things easier. Once that is sorted, having a puppy around will be all fun.
- Comforting presence. Imaginea warm and furry presence curled up at your feet while you tap away at your keyboard at home. Imagine throwing a glance at times, bending down to pet it as it snores in its sleep, doing ‘pup’ talk and having it immediately wag its tail, or looking away from work to see beseeching melting doggy eyes looking silently and adoringly at you. Believe me, there can be no better perk up than this.
- Your breaks get better. Working from home can get mundane in the long run. Boredom is a killer of productivity. Timed breaks are essential to feel refreshed. Spending quality time with your new puppy is the best thing that you can do with your break. The little fellow is also desperate for your attention and will love the break. After you are done cuddling or playing or walking around with it, you will surely get back to work rejuvenated.
- New dog lover friends are found. With a puppy along with you when you are walking or in general taking a break, it invariably attracts people who are also dog lovers. Someone or the other is sure to come forward and pet it and begin a conversation too at times. Some of these acquaintances often grow into lasting friendships in the long run.
- Kids have
company . Mothers working from home with a small baby often have feelings of guilt at having to leave the baby to itself for periods of time while they work at their job. With a well-trained puppy/dog, they can rest easier. Dogs have a very protective nature when it comes to human babies. Not only will they provide good company but often times are seen to alert parents if something is not quite right with the baby.
Issues With Working from Home With a Puppy
- They get too used to having you around. Your puppy gets used to having you around all the time when you work from home. It knows there is someone to pamper and cuddle it all the time. This leads to tantrums when you go out for work or for meeting people. It is quite possible you return home to some mischief by the ‘home alone’ spoilt pup. Discipline it right then so that it realizes this is not done, and that it will have to fend for itself at times.
- The onus of caring comes wholly upon you. This is a common complaint with people who are working from home with a puppy to care for. After the initial euphoria dies down, family members go their ways. The onus of caring for it falls upon you since you are the one at home all the time. The fact that working from home is a real job with its challenges and deadlines along with other household chores often gets overlooked. To top it all there is the new puppy to look after. You need to spell out duties very clearly from day 1 and make sure every family member does their bit for the new addition to the family.
- Taking long breaks or working outdoors might become a challenge. It is often advised that people working from home may consider changing their place of work to cope with the challenge of boredom setting in. This is all fine when you are on your own. However, this becomes near impossible with a new puppy at home. It is with some difficulty that you will get privacy in your chosen workspace at home. Moving to another room for work will confuse the puppy that another room is out of bounds. Things like taking your work out of the house to some quiet corner in the park or cafe become tough with a puppy. It might not cooperate and sit quietly around for you to finish your work at a remote location.
- You tend to spend too much time with the new pet. Yeah, this can also happen. These little bundles of yelps and licks and paws and wags are so irresistible that for a dog lover, it can become quite tough to stop being around it all the time at the cost of work and deadlines. Setting a routine for yourself is necessary.
- Ticks and dog hair and dog smell.This is something one has to get used to and deal with as best as possible with a new puppy. Keeping the house clean and free of paw prints and hair is quite a challenge. Again meticulous and regular care is the answer. Some people might be allergic to hair, making it imperative to maintain hygiene.
Make time for yourself
- Meet real people. The nature of online work from home essentially means you are on your own most of the time. All interactions at work are also mostly virtual in nature. This is the main drawback of working from home. Even having a loving puppy to keep you company is not enough to compensate for the lack of human interaction. This can lead to feelings of isolation and depression in many people. Make efforts to go out and meet some real people during the breaks that you take from work. This will break the monotony and bring in
fresh perspective to your work. You might or might not take your puppy along at times. - Leave the puppy alone at times
. Make it a point to go out of home for some time without the puppy tagging along. Let it get used to the fact that it will have to spend time on its own at times. Do not give way to any puppy tantrums. Infact it is good to slowly increase this alone time so that it realizes this is how things will be.
Pets are like family members
How well do puppies and kids get along? As a general rule, puppies are very accommodative and
What kind of care do puppies demand?As stated earlier, a puppy is akin to having a new baby. Until it is housebroken there are bound to be accidents often. Then there is the grooming and exercising and feeding, shots and pills, and regular check-ups. To top it all, they are extremely hungry for attention all the time. You are bound to have your hands full.
What values do they teach us? In general having pets at home works great for the body as well as the mind. Dogs teach us to love unconditionally, always. The wag of the tail and the ever-present lick can do wonders to uplift a tired soul after a hard day’s work. Their loyalty is unmatched and something to emulate.