How to balance college and a new puppy alone
Adding an eight-week-old puppy to a busy student schedule disrupts established daily routines like classes, the gym, and studying. Living alone without prior experience makes it difficult to figure out feeding schedules, training times, and safe durations for leaving the puppy alone.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Feeding the puppy during training sessions using food as motivation
- 2Using a crate and pen combination when away
- 3Managing water intake to predict potty breaks
- 4Accepting the lifestyle change and trying to fit in a new routine
- 5Putting personal things on hold and relying on other family members to share the responsibility
- 6Looking up wiki articles, training resources, and asking for advice
- 7leaving food in the crate during classes
- 8relying on long overnight crating
- 9asking online communities for schedule validation and improvements
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“right now my top concern is how to keep him well cared for with my schedule”source ↗
“when should I feed him, and when should I work on training? Can I leave him alone for those durations of time?”source ↗
“I've never had to do this on my own”source ↗
“my regular morning exercise routine got disrupted with our new puppy last year, since on the other hand was work and graduate studies (non-optional)!”source ↗
“Hi all! I've recently gotten a new puppy due to a sort of family dispute, but I had wanted a puppy anyways so it all works out. This is my first dog, and I'm looking for some advice on my dogs daily routine/schedule. Validation is also nice 🥲”source ↗
“also im in college”source ↗
“is there any way I could improve her schedule, anything im doing wrong or right here? im trying my best !!”source ↗
“How could I manage my routine that I had already planned for myself (like going to college, hitting the gym, anything else I wanna do) while also balancing the fact that I have a puppy now.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7Why does my dog police my bedtime?
- 2Should I keep taking my friendly-reactive dog to group classes?
- 10Puppy too scared and overwhelmed on walks
- 12How do I know if my new puppy is getting enough exercise?
- 7How to handle an extremely intense, high-energy puppy?
- 5How to manage kids' crazy after school activity schedules?