Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

To think working full time and dog ownership are not compatible?

28 replies

tiredofnoise · 18/08/2016 12:50

My neighbours a few doors down are lovely but they have a little terrier dog which yaps and yaps and yaps from the moment they leave the house until the moment they arrive home. They both seem to work long hours and over the last few weeks I haven't seen anyone in the house during the day until very late.

The dog just sits at the front window barking. I'm a good few doors down and I can hear it (unless I play the TV or music loudly, which in itself is antisocial!) It's spoiling my time off!

AIBU to think that working full time and dog ownership (when making no provision like a dog sitter/walker) is just not compatible? What can I do about the noise? They're nice people, I don't want to fall out with them or get them into trouble but the barking is really really doing my head in! (I also feel sorry for the dog being on its own for so long and wonder what it does about doing its business?!)

Why do people get dogs then leave them alone all day, most days?!

Sorry for the rant, I'm annoyed because I want to sit in my garden and read in peace but I can't because of the yapping!

OP posts:

Rattymare · 18/08/2016 12:55

Why not offer to take it out for a walk if you're not doing anything yourself.

specialsubject · 18/08/2016 12:57

Correct. And it is cruel.
Tell them that you are worried about the dog. They will either be horrified ( although you have to be a bit thick not to realise that a dog cant be left all day) and do something, or shrug and do nothing.

If the latter it is the slow road of a noise complaint. And hope someone less patient doesnt put a poisoned steak through the door.

specialsubject · 18/08/2016 12:58

And no, why should the op care for someone else's dog?

WasabiNell · 18/08/2016 12:58

Why should she have to walk someone else's dog Ratty? I presume if she wanted to walk one she'd get her own. YANBU OP, I work full time but my dog gets dropped at my mum's every day. If I wasn't ok to do this I'd either pay a sitter/ walker or not have a dog. It's bloody cruel to leave one inside all day by itself .

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 18/08/2016 12:59

YANBU. I would absolutely love to have a dog, and am currently a SAHM. However, I don't intend to be a SAHM for the next fifteen years, so I'm not getting a dog as it wouldn't be fair.

SplinteryBottom · 18/08/2016 13:00

They may not know. If the dog is clean, dry and showing no signs of distress when they come home they probably assume he's fine. They may already have a walker come and visit who you don't see. Just drop them a note to let them know that the dog is barking constantly and let them deal with it.

MindSweeper · 18/08/2016 13:00

I think it depends on the dog tbh.

I adopted an old dog that had been in kennels for years, no-one wanted him. My friend who works in said kennels came to me as a last resort. I work full time but he's happy in the house, I have one of those camera things and my MIL goes into him once a day. It's better than him rotting alone in a kennel. Now he watches telly whilst lying on the sofa.

That would annoy the hell out of me though, in fact I worked last night and I'm only awake now because of the yappy dog a few doors down. Every so often the owner shouts out a 'shut up' but it does no good. I'm debating going round.

outofdepth · 18/08/2016 13:03

YANBU . My dog goes to doggy day care on the days I go into the office.

Please contact your local dog warden www.animalwardens.co.uk/lost-found-dogs-search/all-dog-warden-phone-numbers

KondosSecretJunkRoom · 18/08/2016 13:04

Why not offer to take it out for a walk if you're not doing anything yourself.

Yeah. Why don't you put the hoover round for them and prep their dinner on while you're at it? It's only polite

OreosAreTasty · 18/08/2016 13:04

Rattymare
Because the dog isn't OP's responsibility and if the owner wants it walked they can pay a dog walker?

some dogs are fine with being left all day, some aren't.
So yabu to think working full time and dog ownership can't work in sync, but yanbu to think the owners need to make adjustments of some kind or if they really can't, rehome it.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 18/08/2016 13:05

Do they know it does this? But no - I had a dog, adopted when DH could take him to work, and then circumstances changed and DH got a job where he couldn't take the dog. Dog would last until lunchtime and then start to howl. Neighbours complained and we got a dogwalker, after trying a few things like those dog-calming scent thingies, which didn't work. DDog passed away at Christmas and we can't get another one because we both work 8-5.30 Tues, Wed and Thurs, and it would be far too much for a brand-new dog even with a dogwalker to help.

Olives106 · 18/08/2016 13:05

YANBU. I work full-time but mostly from home and when I'm out for more than 4-5 hours she goes to a friend's or comes with me. It's not fair to leave a dog alone all day, they're highly social animals and bond to their caretakers so that it's always painful when they're away from them.

MindSweeper · 18/08/2016 13:05

No-one actually gives a toss about barking dogs, our dog warden would do nothing. RSPCA don't care if the animal is otherwise okay. Council aren't arsed. :(

PhoenixJasmine · 18/08/2016 13:09

Full time work is not in itself incompatible with dog ownership - I work more than full time, but my dog comes to work with me.

Leaving a dog alone for more than a few hours is not acceptable full stop, no matter what the owners work. The longest I leave my girl alone is for a few hours to go to the cinema for example, any longer than that I'll arrange some care for her.

Id suggest approaching the owners. Not angry or accusingly, but in a genuine concerned manner, they probably don't realise that the dog is so distressed by itself, hopefully once they do they might arrange some provision for it.

davos · 18/08/2016 13:11

I don't get the 'why not offer to walk the dog for them'

I am a dog owner. If I wanted another dog I would get one.

Before I had a dog, if I wanted to walk a dog everyday, I would have got my own.

Yanbu op. I work full time. From home. My working hours are based around the kids and the dogs. I wouldn't have got her if both me and dh worked outside the home full time.

FallenStar3 · 18/08/2016 13:18

YANBU, we have the same issue next door dog barks constantly even late on the evening on occasions, the owners couldn't careless that it barks

Spingroll16 · 18/08/2016 13:26

I have a dog and work full time.

On Monday and Tuesday he goes to my MIL's.. and for the rest of the week I pop home at lunch time and give him a walk round the block and a fuss.

Original poster

tiredofnoise · 18/08/2016 13:37

I'd be really interested to know why exactly Ratty thinks I should offer to walk their dog for them? If I wanted to walk a dog on a regular basis, I'd get my own but as we both work full time and we have no one who we can ask to meet the dog's needs while we're usually out of the house for 12+ hours per day, we won't get one. DH would love to have a dog very much but we just won't do it, it's not fair.

To those dog owners who do work full time, it's good to hear that you make provision for your pets while you are out for long days and I accept there are some breeds who don't mind being left longer than others but this terrier barks all of the time. I'm going to have to say something as I feel sorry for the poor thing.

OP posts:

BillyDaveysDaughter · 18/08/2016 13:46

Clearly the dog is NOT ok with being left home alone all day, and the owners should be addressing the problem - a dog walker calling in might resolve it altogether if they're very lucky. It certainly is not fair on the dog, and is indeed cruel if the dog is distressed. Perhaps they have a local member of the family or a neighbour who could call round? My old neighbour's two dogs were home alone all day, but the chap up the road used to call in or if I was at home I'd call in for her.

We have a working terrier and both work full time - but it wasn't that way when we got her. If it was, we never would have entertained having a dog at all, let alone a working dog. My DH worked on a big estate and she went to work with him every day, running loose on 50 acres with some other dogs and keeping the bunny population down. Unfortunately, after 6 years DH found himself redundant and working odd jobs where the dog could no longer go with him.

I work in an office so she can't come with me. My retired MIL, however, is very close and calls in a few times a day to be with the dog - she is let out as often as she needs to in winter and has free access to the garden in the summer. The dog I mean, not the MIL.

We hate leaving her and wish it could be different, but that's where we are. She can't have a dog walker as she won't let anyone else near her, and she can't be re-homed due to extensive and costly medical issues and a history of fear-aggression (and anyway she is far too nervous and fragile to have to re-adapt now, we wouldn't do that to her). She's a big problem but she's OUR problem and our responsibility.

There could be more to their story I guess.

YelloDraw · 18/08/2016 14:06

Why not offer to take it out for a walk if you're not doing anything yourself.

Ha ha yeah that's a great idea! Or, actually, the dumb asses that got a dog without arranging appropriate care could you know, pay for a dog walker or a dog sitter. Like other FTW dog owners do.

iluvshoes · 18/08/2016 17:01

Yanbu. Dog next door to me left shut in all day. Barks all the time and obviously wants attention. I've lived here just over 4 years and have never seen them walk the dog. It seems to have a cat flap to get in and out of the house. If I'm out in the garden it tries to get over the fence and into my house. I think its unfair to have a dog if u are out all day.

Welshrainbow · 18/08/2016 17:36

We have a dog and work full time but pay for her to go to Doggy daycare, we'd never leave her alone for more than a couple of hours and it has taken a long time to build up to even that. IMO it's cruel to leave a dog alone all day with no company, they are not solitary animals. It's especially not ok when the dog is clearly not ok with it.

Gottagetmoving · 18/08/2016 17:41

Yeah. Why don't you put the hoover round for them and prep their dinner on while you're at it? It's only polite

Ha,...love it!

TooGood2BeFalse · 18/08/2016 18:39

I agree based on our own dog - he is a sensitive fellow and couldn't handle more than a few hours alone ( think the longest DH has left him is 4 hours). He would howl the place down. We got him because I work days and DH works evenings, so he almost always has company. He is a spoilt little brat though

WaitrosePigeon · 18/08/2016 18:42

I agree OP, it's not fair on anyone.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread