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?

^^It doesn't seem necessary based on our particular (older) dogs personality and energy level. She has never had an accident. She is used to the routine of her walks. If she doesn't have what I think is a regular pee/poo in the am I scoot home at lunch to let her out. But then pre-rescue she lived in a create almost 24/7 🤷‍♀️. At our home she has the run of the place, our large yard, her pile of stuffies, puzzle treat toys and of course us - her family who dote on her (after work). Our breed specific rescue did not have an issue with this and matched us to a suitable dog - which I think is important.

If circumstances change and she seems to need more care during the day, we will organize someone to come in.

Well I guess you know better then user then us that live with the dog and the rescue the vetted us for the dog

Dog board on here is OTT judgy if you are t perfect in every dog owning respect.

Most dog owners I know leave there dogs for chunks of time. Ours is alone 9-3 three times a week and is absolutely a happy and content little guy.

I don't ever leave my dog for more than a couple of hours as I am lucky enough not to have to but I know literally dozens of families who do. I also used to be a dog walker and they were my bread and butter. Only on MN have I seen people so intensely judgmental about it and who label it as cruel.

Dog board on here is OTT judgy if you are t perfect in every dog owning respect

Not true. 8-5 5 days a week with no dog walker and not even let out for a wee is far from perfect. It’s cruel and I’m surprised that any rescue has allowed this.

It’s fine if your animal has access to bathroom and water.

No we never leave our dogs for longer than 4 hours.

@FixItUpChappie again you’re comparing your offering to something much much worse. Of course your house without any company/exercise/toilet break is better than a crate.

You can surely admit there would be a better home for your dog with someone who wasn’t at work all day?

We left ours 2 days out of 7 for 8 hours with me home for a full hour in the middle. Wasn’t ideal but it meant 2 out of 7 days she was never alone more than 4 and the other 3 days had someone all the time.
She’s also teeny and we had a very high walled garden and a cat flap

Now, mum lives in our annexe with her chi and they have cat flaps to each other 😂
They are rarely more than a couple of hours without someone and have company if they want to go visit each other.
When I am home, little dog wakes up around 10:30/11 am (lazy chi) and then goes out to toilet then sleeps until after lunch.
But we purposely got a lazy small breed. I wouldn’t have got a large dog that needed heavy exercise

People are telling you that their dog just sleeps all day and would sleep all day even if they were home but that’s just nonsense. Or if the dog does sleep all day even when they’re at home it suggests that they’re not interacting with and walking their dog enough. This is absolute nonsense - a whippet will sleep all day, it's the breed. A friend who has a Labradoodle looked after my dog for a week and she was shocked by how much sleeping he did. He doesn't want to interact - he will turn his head away from you if you try to engage. He wants a walk in the morning and then he wants to sleep all day till the kids come home from school and if they come home for a half day - he looks really put out and ignores them. 😂I don't leave him - I am there for him but I respect his need to sleep and have peace and quiet - he's very much like a cat.

If your out long hours I wouldn't recommend getting a dog as they need a lot of training and attention as pups! Worst mistake that I made, I have a dog an she's old now so I can leave her in the day 6 hours ish an she's fine just sleeps all day- when I got her their was someone at home most of the day if it wasn't me or my ex the older kids would be home to look after her if we was at work or something but I got a new dog last September an he was dreadful as we was busy with the other kids and didn't have our attention on him- Safe to say He was harder work then the kids an I gave him my mum, he's amazing now and he goes EVERYWHERE with her an he's so well behaved he's genuinely her lap dog as she's not well so shes off work atm but I wouldn't do it again knowing I don't have the full time and attention they need. It's not fair on the dog an you'll find it's stupidly hard ! Please don't do it x

I follow the advice of all the major dog welfare charities that exist to pick up the mess caused by irresponsible owners and only ever leave my dog alone for 4 hours in a 24 hour period. I love how many people think they know better than the dog welfare experts. So many people are turned down by dog welfare charities for rehoming because they work full time and aren't prepared to use daycare and then trot off and buy a puppy because they know better .
Yes some dogs may cope with longer, but they are the exception to the rule.

On the days we are both out at work DDog goes to daycare. Whilst he doesn't get distressed on his own he loves people and would get depressed on his own all the time so we try to minimise it. In reality he is rarely home alone for more than 2 hours a day.

The other difficultly is that often your working hours are the very least your leave them.
So if i work 8-4 then thats 8 hours. However if my commute is only half an hour thats 9 hours. If you then add in any time eg to pick the kids up it easily creeps up.

So say your dog is left for 9 hours, then you've come back for maybe 2 hours, then gone food shopping for another 2 hours.

Its easy to forget that essentially the dog is in its bed or expected to have limited interaction say 10pm-6am then if its alone while your at work 8 til 4 plus commute then out of its 24 hours your looking at least 17 of them being spent alone.

That gives your dog 7 hours with you, in that 7 hours what will you be doing? I know that i spend 1 hour getting ready for work, at leat 1. hour to cook dinner and eat dinner, about an 1 hour sorting house out eg washing up, laundry, hoovering. So now the dog is down to just 4 hours spent with any attention, ignoring any time for things like wanting to sit watching tv, or stopping into tesco on the way home, picking kids up or doing anything extra like dinner out or cinema.

Its amazing sometimes how little time we expect our dogs to have. I think we like to think our dogs are frolicking round the house, but my dog certainly is sat waiting for someone to return. You'd never expect to crate a dog for that period but because you can't see them you dont realise how boring it is for them

We leave ours outside whilst we go shopping. There's a plastic dog kennel if there's a shower and he watches (patrols) the chickens and cats and looks after the place whilst we're out. In bad weather, he'd stay indoors but we're never gone more than 4 hours tops.
We live rurally surrounded by fields of sheep and cattle, so there's plenty to keep him entertained and he loves being outside. He wouldn't enjoy being indoors unless it was really bad weather.

Dogs have become fashion accessories. People give their welfare about as much consideration as they would if they were deciding what houseplant to buy.

If you work full time a rescue shelter will not let you re-home a dog.

People are in total denial about how much interaction and exercise their dogs really need.

as I said earlier I work from home and DDog just snoozes all day anyway. I can try and interact with him but he just looks at me disdainfully if I disturb him by walking into whatever room he has found a patch of sun in.

as I said earlier I work from home and DDog just snoozes all day anyway. I can try and interact with him but he just looks at me disdainfully if I disturb him by walking into whatever room he has found a patch of sun in. We have the same dog!

We've got two spaniels who can be left for around 5 hours usually. If we can't get to them at lunchtime or our dog walker is busy they're fine to be left all day too, but obviously prefer a walk midway through. It really depends on your dog's temperament though. Some can be left, some can't.

I mentioned this before but all those who say ‘they are fine being left all day’
Since dogs can’t talk and tell you, how do you know they are ‘fine’. They don’t need to sleep all day so how do you know they are not bored/lonely? Just because they aren’t trashing the house doesn’t mean it’s ok.

Outrageously selfish op. Please don't do this. They need company and stimulation. We only got one when I worked v v v part time..

What if you have a dog and then circumstances change. I am now a single parent who has no choice but to work full time and I also couldn’t afford to spend £250+ on a dog walker every month! Sometimes friends pop in to walk him if they are taking their dog out but otherwise he is at home from 8.20 until 3.30 every day with the cat for company.
I’m not sure he’d be happy to be rehomed. He loves us and we love him. This year is better as DS2 is now at college and therefore home at different times to myself and DS3. Apart from rehoming a very well loved dog who adores us, I don’t know what other choice I have! Yes, he probably would love us to be home all day but that’s not possible!

IMO getting a dog and leaving them at home for long hours is a classic example of consumerism.

You can surely admit there would be a better home for your dog with someone who wasn’t at work all day?

Well it's the same for humans no? I don't have the absolute best of everything, lifestyle of the rich and famous but my life is pretty good - definitely good enough. I'm content. My dog might be happier to live with someone whose home 24/7 but she doesn't and her life is still pretty good, definitely good enough. In the words of L. Ingalls Wilder - even animals have to bear things.

Perhaps less animals would be stuck in shelters/rescues and in loving homes if perfect wasn't the goal.

Well, exactly. Sometimes I have long days where things aren't exactly the way I like them. Occasionally my dog has them too. That's life both for humans and dogs in my house.

How do I know my dog is "fine"? How do you know my dog is not "fine"? I see no sign that he is unhappy being left on the days I have to leave him (no chewing, barking, panting, he doesn't even get out of his bed to say goodbye at the door), and yet some of you are 100% certain that I am wrong and he is in reality upset about it. Well then, what is your evidence for that? How do you know my dog is unhappy?

All dogs are different - some suffer with genuine separation anxiety but others are pretty chilled. We’ve had a few - varying from one who was a little anxious and always gave a very excited greeting when you got home to another who would barely move or look up when you returned home after a few hours out. My current dog is very affectionate but has spent most of the summer in the garden, he has no interest at all in sitting indoors with me on days where I haven’t wanted to be outside - so he’s not exactly desperate for my company. I don’t understand how people can be so OTT and apply such a bizzare one size fits all approach to all dogs some cope well being alone some don’t - know your dog and use common sense.