New 8 week old labrador puppy.

Question
We have recently brought home an 8 week old choc brown lab puppy. I have two questions that I hope you may be able to provide some advice on. The first question is, we have set up a sleeping/den area for her in our laundry (no crate) with a child safety door in the entrance way to keep the puppy in. When we want her to stay in there we get her to follow us in and then leave and shut the gate, she then whines/crys and we ignore the behaviour until she's quiet and eventually gives up and goes to bed, we then give some praise.  Is this the right way to go about it? or by shutting her in, and therefore she proceeds to cry, are we making her associate the area as a negative experience?

My second question is, two days (sometimes three) a week we both are away at work and the puppy is alone for 10-12 hours. We play with her in the morning to tire her out and then feed her and take her out for the toilet prior to leaving her in her laundry area. We leave her with toys which are different each day and water. Is this ok for the puppy to be left alone for so long?

I appreciate your time and look for ward to your advice.
Thankyou.

Answer
Puppies don't like being left alone.  Try lying down next to the gate like you were sleeping there.  She should settle down before long and go to sleep.  Then you can get up and go to bed.  

Longer term, you really need to consider a crate.  It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first. What the puppy wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the household, and any other pets. In our modern society, even if we are home, other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have. The only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around. The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys. Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter. Don't leave anything in the crate the dog might chew up. It will do fine without even any bedding. You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy. Very few houses even have a safe room. How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing else? Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else. In addition to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have intestinal blockage from the pieces. I had a friend that left her dog in a "safe" room. It ate a hole in the floor covering. The safe rooms fail to give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires. Nor do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving itself.

10-12 hours is far too long to leave a dog by itself.  if you can't make it back for a break, see if a neighbor or professional dog walker can.