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.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Feeding the puppy during training sessions using food as motivationDid this help you?
- 2Using a crate and pen combination when awayDid this help you?
- 3Managing water intake to predict potty breaksDid this help you?
- 4Accepting the lifestyle change and trying to fit in a new routineDid this help you?
- 5Putting personal things on hold and relying on other family members to share the responsibilityDid this help you?
- 6Looking up wiki articles, training resources, and asking for adviceDid this help you?
- 7leaving food in the crate during classesDid this help you?
- 8relying on long overnight cratingDid this help you?
- 9asking online communities for schedule validation and improvementsDid this help you?
- 10Taking time off work for a week to help the puppy adjust.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, 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 ↗
“Right now her schedule is quite in place but it won't work with my wfh schedule ie waking up at 10 play till 11 nap 12-13. I want her to start napping at 10 and wake up during my lunch break. Should I start waking her up so she can adjust? What's the best way to adjust her schedule?”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 ↗