Why School Holidays Aren't the Best Time to Welcome a Puppy

A common things prospective puppy owners tell us is:

"We're hoping to collect our puppy at the beginning of the school holidays."

or

"I'm taking several weeks of annual leave when we bring our puppy home."

People usually tell us this proudly, believing they're doing the very best thing for their new puppy.

They're often surprised by our response.

We generally don't recommend planning a puppy arrival for the school holidays or taking several weeks of annual leave solely to welcome a new puppy.

That may sound counterintuitive, but it's based on one simple principle:

Puppies adapt best to the routine they are going to live.

The common misconception

It's easy to understand why people think weeks of uninterrupted time at home is the ideal start. And their intentions are wonderful.

Owners want to bond with their puppy. They want to toilet train them. They don't want their puppy to feel lonely. They want to be there if the puppy cries.

And all of these reasons comes from a place of love, and wanting to do the best by their puppy.

However.... there is another side to the story that many new owners haven't considered.

Puppies learn routines incredibly quickly

Puppies are remarkably adaptable.

From the day they arrive in their new home, they begin learning what "normal life" looks like.

If, for the first four or six weeks, someone is home almost every minute of every day, the puppy naturally assumes that this is how life works.

Then one Monday morning, everything changes.

The adults return to work.

The children go back to school.

The house is suddenly quiet for eight hours.

From the puppy's perspective, the world has changed overnight.

The life they had become comfortable with and the routine they believed was normal, has suddenly disappeared.

It's hardly surprising that some puppies become confused or distressed.

This sudden change can contribute to behaviours such as crying, barking, destructive chewing, toileting accidents, difficulty settling and an over dependence on constant human company.

The puppy isn't being difficult.

They're simply trying to understand why everything they had learned about their new world has suddenly changed. And they can be internally outraged by this change.

Independence is a life skill

One of the greatest gifts you can give your puppy isn't constant companionship.

It's confidence.

Confident dogs learn that people come and go. They understand that quiet time is normal and they learn to rest, settle and occupy themselves. Most importantly, they learn that their family go and that return.

Like toilet training or lead walking, independence is a life skill.

It develops through living the normal rhythm of what is their normal day to day life.

Start as you mean to continue

Rather than creating a temporary lifestyle that bears little resemblance to everyday life, our advice is simple:

Begin with the routine your puppy will actually live.

That doesn't mean bringing your puppy home and leaving them alone for eight hours on the very first day. A couple of settling in days is still a wonderful idea, which is why we often recommend collecting your puppy on a Saturday morning where possible.

This gives your puppy the opportunity to settle into their new home, become familiar with their family and begin establishing routines.

Then, as the normal working week begins, your puppy starts experiencing the rhythm of everyday life from the very beginning.

They will have just the one major adjustment when they leave their litter, and they don't have to experience a second major adjustment several weeks later when you then go back to your usual daily schedule.

What about bonding?

One concern we often hear is:

"Won't I miss out on bonding if I don't take several weeks off work?"

The answer is no.

Dogs don't build secure attachments because someone is physically beside them every minute of the day. They build trust through predictable care, gentle handling, positive experiences, play, training, consistency and meeting their needs.

Some of the strongest relationships develop simply because puppies are included in everyday family life.

Quality of interaction is far more important than the number of hours spent together.

A few days can still be helpful

This isn't about bringing your puppy home on Monday morning and heading straight to work. Those first couple of days are valuable.

Collecting your puppy at the beginning of a weekend gives everyone time to settle in, establish feeding and toileting routines, and get to know one another.

The difference is that those few days flow naturally into the household's normal routine, rather than creating several weeks of a lifestyle that was never going to continue.

Every family is different

Every household has its own routine.

If someone genuinely works from home full time, then that is the puppy's normal life.

If grandparents provide care, someone works shifts, or the puppy will attend daycare, then those routines simply become part of the puppy's everyday world.

The important thing isn't what your routine looks like.

It's that your puppy learns the routine they will actually be living.

Our philosophy

At Orical, we don't aim to raise puppies that are only happy when someone is home.

We aim to raise puppies that are confident, adaptable and secure.

Dogs that are equally comfortable enjoying family time, resting quietly while everyone is at work or school, and welcoming their people home again at the end of the day.

For us, welcoming a puppy isn't about creating a few weeks of an idyllic holiday.

It's about helping them settle into the life they'll be living for the next 12 to 15 years.

And that's why we believe holidays aren't always the best time to welcome a puppy home.