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Call it puppy leave

By Vicki Croke, Globe Staff, 07/22/2000

SMART PET TRICKS Whether or not you have a few weeks to spend with a new puppy, dog trainer Kathy DeNatale has a few tips: If you can't take vacation time when you bring home a puppy, try to get her on a Friday so you have the whole weekend together. Walk around the house - inside and out - to acquaint him with his new surroundings. Get the puppy accustomed to handling. Gently pat her all over and be sure to include ears and feet (even squeeze gently between the toes). These are two areas where dogs can be sensitive unless they are used to being touched there. Be sure to take the bowl away while the pup is eating, and return it. This will prevent her from becoming protective about food. Don't forget in all the excitement that a puppy is a baby. He will need downtime. It will help with confidence if the pup can count on being left alone to snooze several times throughout the day. Don't tiptoe around the pup. Play your piano. Rattle the pots. Run errands. Let this puppy get used to your routine. Start basic training right away. ''Why waste time?'' asks trainer DeNatale. As soon as the pup comes home, he can begin to learn ''come'' and ''sit.'' But don't press on the back to teach sit; a young pup isn't developed enough for that. Initially, says dog trainer Becky Bishop, the pup wants to stick close. You can use this desire in teaching the come command. Hide behind a tree for a second. When the pup becomes concerned, pop out and call her. She'll learn that ``it feels good to find you.'' Always use just food and voice rewards, no punishment.

Call it "pet-ernity" leave - a period of time that new owners take off from work to be with their new bundle of joy.

Granted, with animals, it's usually counted in weeks, or weekends, and not months (the injustice!), but there are huge similarities between bringing home a baby and bringing home something with a little more fur. That heady mix of exhaustion and infatuation is identical.

In fact, one friend - the mother of a 2-year-old toddler - swears that today, she'd be better at raising a puppy than she was years ago, when she had a brief but disastrous fling with a very energetic Vizsla pup. In the interim, through her baby, she's learned to be a parent. Raise a child, she says, then try a puppy.

Many make the comparison. Robin Matloss of Newton brought home Marley, her West Highland white terrier, a few months ago, on a Thursday, and then spent the entire next day alone with the puppy. "I had the same overwhelmed feeling I had had with the kids when I first got them home," she says. "And when my husband came home that night, it was like `Here! Take her!' I even felt housebound the way I had with the kids."

Matloss, who teaches dental hygiene at Mount Ida College, had carefully planned her summer vacation time to coincide with the arrival of a new pup. In fact, she had turned down puppies from two earlier litters. Time spent right away with the new pup was vital.

There are no statistics revealing how many of us indulge in "peternity" leave. But, clearly, for many in the doggie set, it's de rigueur. And though we may claim it's about housetraining and practical issues, it's really more a matter of bonding and emotion. Dog trainer Kathy DeNatale of Waltham, who specializes in puppy classes, says many of her clients do it, but a surprising number won't admit it.

Gerrie Gauthier, who is on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, readily testifies.

"I'm an academic, so I've been a little more free with my schedule," she says. "But you can't just take this little creature into your life and then leave him or her all alone." Throughout her life, Gauthier has taken at least two weeks off to settle a new puppy, as she did almost a year ago when she got Jasper, a miniature schnauzer.

Gauthier says that initial time period helps with housebreaking, and with making the pup feel more secure. There's another element, too, something Gauthier says is almost too obvious to mention - the pleasure of spending time with a little puppy.

"What better way to spend a vacation?" asks Gina Spadafori, author of "Dogs for Dummies," and an essayist for Pets.com. "It's just plain fun."

In addition to all that rollicking play, Spadafori says, some important things take place during that initial time together. "A lot of serious bonding goes on, and learning," she says, "Puppies are born with more dog knowledge than any human will ever have."

But DeNatale adds a caveat. She's seen too many owners take time off and simply overload the new pup with excitement and attention. When the owner suddenly disappears and returns to work, the bewildered animal suffers separation anxiety. And that can manifest itself in destructive behavior.

So, if you do take time off with a new pup, be sure to leave the house occasionally without the dog so she can get used to being alone. It is also good to bring the pup with you on errands sometimes so she can get used to the rest of the world.

DeNatale certainly does not see "peternity" leave as critical. But taking time off when you bring a puppy home, she says, will help greatly with housetraining.

Becky Bishop, owner of Puppy Manners dog training in Woodinville, Wash., calls herself a "Dear Abby of the dog world," because she dispenses advice on greatpets.com. "In an ideal world, everyone getting a new pup would be able to take a week off," she says. "Housebreaking is much easier that way. You can take the dog out every 30 minutes even, and they learn quickly. It takes much longer for a latchkey puppy."

Pat Kaufman, of Watertown, says the two weeks of vacation time she just spent with Sophie, her 4-pound poodle/Lhasa apso/Maltese mix, entailed much more than housebreaking. She even threw a "puppy shower" for her new arrival - pink balloons and all. "I was thrilled to do it," Kaufman says. She's seen Sophie's confidence grow, she says, and the pup has actually been able to focus her "boundless energy."

As Spadafori says, "Young pups are like Velcro. They really want to bond. And they develop so quickly, you'll never have that time with them back again."

This story ran on page F01 of the Boston Globe on 7/22/2000.
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