Tell the truth.. do you leave your dog home alone?

[Be1atrix]

Just that really. As a family we're all desperate for a dog but work full time. We would pay for a dog walker to come in at lunchtime.

In The Doghouse section people who leave their dogs at home get shot down. But surely there's people who work full time who have them? How do they manage?

Honestly though.... do people really think it's better for the dog to be rehomed if your circumstances change?

I am someone who works so obviously not against getting a dog but in those circumstances don't you do the best you can to still care for the dog rather than rehome e.g. pay dog walker/daycare, borrow my doggy or family if you can't afford paid care.

I honestly couldn't leave my dog alone all day, every day. Sorry but its cruel. On the odd day that myself and my OH are both working (we work opposite days) then my Dad comes round to walk him and spend some time with him. I think its ok to leave a dog for 4 or 5 hours, but more than that is really pushing it.

No bloody way! Our ddog is never on his own for more than 4hrs. If we plan day trips away then he goes to stay with a dog minder.

I'm a SAHM so he's not left on his own for long during the day.

My DSis and her DH work full time but put their dogs to doggy day care, would you be able to do that? I don't think being home alone all day with just a walk from a dog walker halfway is enough.

Although if you would get a rescue am sure it would be better than it stuck in a kennel. But most rescues are quite hard work, so not sure that would be suitable.

No more than 2 or 3 hours for our mini schnauzer, she gets lonely and anxious. When I’m at work she goes to doggy daycare.

@Savingforarainyday, thats not the same as choosing to get a dog when you work full time. Change in circumstance is different, I think you would know if it was no longer suitable, and at the end of the day, there are loads of dogs in rescue/need rehoming so a settled dog getting rehomed isn't a good idea.

Yes we do. He's walked first thing in the morning and then again by my daughter when she gets back from school. My husband used to go back at lunch time when our dog was younger, but not now. He's absolutely fine, as was our previous dog. We may have been lucky that both of our dogs have adapted to this fine. I would imagine some dogs never take to it.

4 hours maximum.
If I worked full-time, I'd be doing doggy daycare.

SunshineCake Leaving them alone, overnight, outside.
They are tough working breeds, Sunshine Cake. They like being inside but they often want to lay around outside.
When we’re home they get to choose and they go in and out as they wish. Outside is nothing for them and they sleep all night.
Why would a big dog mind sleeping under the stars with its mate on a big comfy sofa, so long as it wasn’t cold?

We both work FT but I am home-based. On the days where I have to travel our dog walker comes in at lunchtime to exercise and play with them, and DH finishes work early. On long days if he is also away (such as 7-6) our dog walker will come in twice. That's rare though, as we normally try to schedule our working hours so that we aren't gone for long stretches.

And realised I didn't answer OP, my dogs (i have 2) get left for about 4/5 hours at most. I was SAHM when we got them and now I work part time. I won't do longer hours because of my dogs.

I should add that I don't work full time though.

Not for full time working hours, no.

No we wouldn't leave him everyday.

Before you decide you might want to ring round local dog walkers. They are usually pretty busy and you may struggle getting the popular lunchtime slot.

I think you should look into doggy daycare for at least some of the week.

Yes but I work PT and we have dog walker 3 days and FIL the other 2 days.
Also both teachers so around a lot in the hols. DH takes him out 5ish then he's taken out again about 5ish every evening.
Couple of days a week I'm around more.
Our problem is weekend days we can't really have a day out as we can't leave him. So it does tie us down.
I do think if you start from beginning with your routine then they will get used to it.

Agree with others about evening - you can't really leave them again to go out if they're on their own during the day.

For several hours a day and several days a week? No I wouldn't.

For the occasional hour or two? Yes.
Longest I've ever left her was four hours when a family member took I'll and the neighbour said she'd spent the last hour of that crying so three hours seems to be my digs limit before becoming distressed so for trips to cinema etc we have someone look after her.

I work from home but if that had to change and assuming I take a standard 9-5 job I'd pay for someone to look after her between 8 and 3.30 while 14yr old dd is at school.

I work from home sometimes so my dog is never or as good as never left alone by himself all day every day for a week, but sometimes he is left alone from 8-16, more often from 9-14. Nothing gets chewed or destroyed. He seems perfectly happy.

I find the MN idea that no dog must never be alone for more than 4 hours completely unrealistic and unrelated to reality.

OP, we have always had small dogs. We have a flap and a large garden so the doggy can come in and out as he likes. We also have cats that mooch around with him. Squirrels galore in the garden, so he is quite happy coming in and out as he likes.
That said he isn’t left alone for long in general, but if my folks need to go out for longer than 4 hours he is still quite happy to potter as he wants.
Not sure if that would be an option for you? You need a very secure garden.

So because he’s not destroying things he’s ‘perfectly happy’? Right

When we first got our dog we both worked full time although DH took DDog to work with him for the first few months until that became unsustainable. Then we had a dog walker come in once during the day. It was only when I went on mat leave that I truly realised how long a time DDog was on his own and I felt awful!

We then got doggy daycare and he was out from 8.30 to 3.30 every day running around like mad and knackered when he came home. It wasn't cheap but it was the only fair thing to do for him. He's since passed on and we both work full time again so if we were getting a dog in the future we would need to budget for daycare or one of us would need to decrease working hours/WFH.

Ours are left from nine until three for three days a week as we have four teenagers who have different college scheduled. One day they are on their own most of that time. We have a dog walker 2 days a week for the younger dog.

Leave our Chihuahua 2 hours weekdays,4 hours on weekend

Yes, we do (and always have done) The only caveat is that we've always had more than one dog so they've not been "home alone" as it were. We've also built it up slowly but TBH we've never had an issue.

I'm always mystified by the cruelty card. The majority of our dogs have come from rescue and I'm sure would far prefer to be at home alone for a few hours than in kennels

Yes. 8-4 Monday- Wednesday- but with a dog walker visit 11am-12pm - she’s fine and just sleeps (we have a monitor you can log into to see what she’s doing)
OH works from home Thursday and Friday.