First of all, welcome! I'm sorry for your loss and happy for your new addition. I hope you become an active participant, too.
So . . . the pool scares me. Some dogs love water, some dogs don't. I wouldn't trust an adult dog near a pool unless I had established they could swim and knew how to get out of the pool. (By established, I mean carefully trained them to get out of the pool with dozens of repetitions.) A puppy is an absolute no to me on that. Puppies tire easily, can't regulate body temperature and are just small.
The above applies to being outside unattended for any length of time. Puppies are prey for hawks, snakes and stray dogs, as well as humans who steal puppies and either keep them or sell them. Puppies get stuck in fencing and boxes and eat stuff that kills them. (Adult dogs will do this stuff, too, but puppies are more likely to.) The garage contains chemicals, the playhouse isn't climate controlled. (Unless that is the nicest playhouse of all time, in which case please adopt me.)
So, you got any rooms with linoleum flooring? Either set up an ex pen in the kitchen or puppy proof a small bathroom and keep the puppy in there during the day. He'll be peeing a lot while you're gone, so you either need a dog walker or you could set up a kitty litter box with fake grass to encourage going "outside", or at least not on linoleum. I'm not a fan of puppy pads, in that (a) lots of puppies shred them, and (b) how is a puppy to sell a puppy pad from a towel or rug?
Also, if this thread doesn't include a cute puppy picture soon, I will report you for violating the Give Amaryllis Cute Pictures of Your Puppy Rule of this forum.
So . . . the pool scares me. Some dogs love water, some dogs don't. I wouldn't trust an adult dog near a pool unless I had established they could swim and knew how to get out of the pool. (By established, I mean carefully trained them to get out of the pool with dozens of repetitions.) A puppy is an absolute no to me on that. Puppies tire easily, can't regulate body temperature and are just small.
The above applies to being outside unattended for any length of time. Puppies are prey for hawks, snakes and stray dogs, as well as humans who steal puppies and either keep them or sell them. Puppies get stuck in fencing and boxes and eat stuff that kills them. (Adult dogs will do this stuff, too, but puppies are more likely to.) The garage contains chemicals, the playhouse isn't climate controlled. (Unless that is the nicest playhouse of all time, in which case please adopt me.)
So, you got any rooms with linoleum flooring? Either set up an ex pen in the kitchen or puppy proof a small bathroom and keep the puppy in there during the day. He'll be peeing a lot while you're gone, so you either need a dog walker or you could set up a kitty litter box with fake grass to encourage going "outside", or at least not on linoleum. I'm not a fan of puppy pads, in that (a) lots of puppies shred them, and (b) how is a puppy to sell a puppy pad from a towel or rug?
Also, if this thread doesn't include a cute puppy picture soon, I will report you for violating the Give Amaryllis Cute Pictures of Your Puppy Rule of this forum.
