How many midday breaks does a puppy need?

Start with the longest stretch your puppy will be alone, from the moment you leave to the moment you are back. An eight-hour job with a 45-minute commute each way is about nine and a half hours. Then use the AKC's guide to time alone: under 10 weeks about one hour, 10 to 12 weeks about two, then roughly an hour for each month of age, so three hours at 3 months, four at 4 months and five at 5 months, reaching about six hours at 6 months.

Split the absence into stretches no longer than that figure and count the gaps between them; each gap is a break. The AKC adds that even adult dogs should not be home alone much longer than six to eight hours without a chance for a bathroom break, so on a long workday most dogs still benefit from one midday visit after the puppy months. The table works it through for a nine-and-a-half-hour day.

Dogtown's potty-break visit is the 20-minute walk on our price list: $25 a visit, $225 for a 10-pack and $637 for a 30-pack. A member of our staff comes to the house in your window, takes the puppy out alone for its solo walk and sends you a photo and a short note; anything beyond the walk is arranged with the front desk. Our puppy potty-break page describes the visit in full.

Two visits a day use up a 10-pack in one working week, so a household on two breaks a day is usually better served by the 30-pack. Before the first visit, every dog new to Dogtown completes the free evaluation on a weekday between 6:30 and 9:30 AM, with Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella on file and a current city license, so the walker at your door has already met your puppy. Ask us whether we cover your address before you plan around it.

A commute from Gloucester or Rockport into Boston often runs longer than the job. The MBTA does not allow pet dogs too big for a carrier on its trains during weekday peak hours, so the puppy stays home, and summer traffic on Route 128 can add time you did not plan for. Build the break schedule around your longest usual day, not your shortest; if you are often late, a later second visit is the cheaper fix.

The seasons add jobs to the visit. From April to November ticks are active in Cape Ann grass, and puppies spend a lot of time nose-down in it, so ask your vet when prevention can start and expect the walker's note to mention anything found after long grass. In winter, salted sidewalks and early dark turn the outing into a quick trip to a cleared spot. Neither changes the count; each changes what the 20 minutes looks like.