Any single nurses with a puppy?

Nurses General Nursing

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How do you do it? I want to get a puppy but I know that working 12hrs a day is a lot for it to be on its own.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Thats too long imo. I'd recommend either a dog walker or doggie day care. Keep us posted many of us are animal lovers.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
How do you do it? I want to get a puppy but I know that working 12hrs a day is a lot for it to be on its own.

Me!! I'm a puppy parent!!😀 I didn't count on 12 hr days. At the time I became a puppy parent, I worked 8 hr shifts, with a 15 min commute. Less than1 hr including time it took to pick up my son from daycare and get home to the doggy!

I often picked up my dog before I picked up my son, it was on the way.

When my baby puppy was about 4 1/2 months old, my schedule changed to approx 12 hr days. (Leave home at 0400, take son to daycare, off at 1545/1600, pick up son and go see doggie)

She survived, without pooping or peeing in the house!!

I spent a lot of time with her walking and teaching/training.

Thank G-d, she's doing well with my crazy schedule!!

I took her out before I left in AM. Took her out when I got home.

I spent a lot of time teaching her good puppy manners.

One of my girl friends had to send her dog to live with her parents when her schedule got crazy.

I'm not saying 12 hr shifts will be easy with a dog. But, in my case, after much research, (both online and working with a local trainer) I was able to make it work! Thank G-d! My baby girl is thriving, well, she's doing no worse than she'd be doing if my schedule wasn't crazy.

In my opinion, if your dog breed is able to handle it, and you're wiling to put in lot of work when ur at home, it could possibly work.

PS i live in an apt! That added to the difficulty!!

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I first bought mine before I decided to be a nurse & I hadnt been single at the time, so things are much more different now than when I first adopted him. But I've been working twelves now for over a year and he's been doing fine. Infrequent accidents. I just walk him as close to me leaving as possible and I always go right home after work to let him out. If I make plans to have dinner or know I'll be late, I ask one of my friends or mom if they could let him out for him so he can go. It's possible.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Go small and litter train! When I got my dog, she was a kitten sized puppy. I'm scheduled to work 8s but take call- the longest I've worked plus commute has been 25ish hours. No crating- set up an outdoor exercise pen inside for the first six months then used gates to restrict her to first floor. No issues, she uses her litter box faithfully, and has cats to keep her company. In fact, the cats were such an influence on her that she now meows!

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

I am not single, but I do have 3 dogs & a spouse who is in the military (lots of traveling!). I second the whole doggie daycare idea. Even just one day/week can really tire your dog out. Also, find someone you trust to maybe stop by and take your dog out 1-2 times/shift.

If you think a puppy might be too much, you could always get an adult dog who is already housebroken and knows basic commands.

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

Couple ideas - adopt and older already housebroken dog, that way you won't need to be there to let him/her out as often. dog walker. doggie daycare. or get a cat. they are fairly low maintenance.

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Specializes in ED.

As a former vet tech turned RN...a puppy is not for you. Unless you have a dog walker or positive reinforcement daycare you could take the pup to, it's not good for the dog or for you. Young dogs aren't meant to hold their bladders/bowels for that long and it isn't healthy. Consider a rescue that is at least 1-2 years old and housebroken.

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I second a rescue. Going to the pound and getting a 2 year old beagle was the best decision of my life.

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I'm single and have a dog. I got her last year when she was 1 or 2 years old and she was at the house my best friend rents. She was house trained, past the major chewing phase, but still playful. She stays in my bedroom which has a doggy door to the backyard. She likes to dig and fits between the gates and fence posts, so initially we couldn't use the doggy door. I was only working part-time last year. I would take her on a long walk around 6:30pm and another one when I got home around 8am. When I switched to days several weeks later I started out only working 8 hour shifts, then the first few 12 hour day shifts, a friend came over let her out and played with her. A couple months after I got her the fence was fixed and I now just keep her door open so she can play outside and go inside to get water and rest. If the house I rent didn't have a doggy door and fenced yard, I don't think I would have got a dog being single and knowing I would be working full time eventually.

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I work 12hour night shifts, and I ended up rescuing an older dog thinking it would be easier to take care of, I was so wrong. The dog I got was stuck in her bad habit ways from her previous owner and she was very hard to take care of.. I ended up having to give her to a family and she is doing much better. I would think getting a puppy and training him at such a younger age they would adapt more to your life style and work schedule.

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Specializes in Oncology, OCN.
I work 12hour night shifts, and I ended up rescuing an older dog thinking it would be easier to take care of, I was so wrong. The dog I got was stuck in her bad habit ways from her previous owner and she was very hard to take care of.. I ended up having to give her to a family and she is doing much better. I would think getting a puppy and training him at such a younger age they would adapt more to your life style and work schedule.

Yeah that "blank slate" idea about puppies isn't true, just because you get a puppy you can't make it anything you want it to be. Temperament is genetic, there is wiggle room that good or bad socialization can help/hinder temperament but only so much. If you get a puppy you would need to do a lot of research into the breeder and the type of dogs they produce, their parents, etc. Puppies are hard work. I take in foster dogs regularly and plan to never have a puppy, too much work, 1-2 year old is the youngest I go because I know I don't want to deal with all that puppy hell.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with you're previous rescue dog but they absolutely don't all have issues. My own rescue dog is awesome, got him around 2 years old and he needed some refresher on house training and work on being mouthy but otherwise he was great. I also foster for local rescue and have had lots of dogs I've brought home who are easy keepers from day one. Others that needed work but I knew that before I decided to bring them home with me. If you take your time selecting a dog to adopt, looking for ones already in foster homes helps, you can find a dog to fit your current life.

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