How long do you leave your dogs?

[Hazza000]

We lost our spaniel 7 months ago and now have only one little dog. I work part time 3 days a week and some of these are weekends or nights when other family members are home. Our little lhasa apso therefore is rarely left for long periods if ever. However it has come to my attention that an alarming number of ppl get dogs and leave them alone in crates all day while they work. AIBU to think these ppl are selfish and irresponsible pet owners?

Yes. Derrick my beagle lives in a pack outside. (Hunting dogs you see)

By mummy I assume You mean it's actual mother... LOL

My pair are left 3 days a week for 6 hours. Walked before and after they're alone.

Had a dog walker but caused more stress and problems. (Tried 2 different ones, walking alone and as a pack) Couldn't believe it. We thought we were doing the right thing but it honestly caused some terrible behaviours. Seems my little pair are best left alone.

Free run of the house. never come home to problems. No chewing/anxiety etc.

I honestly thought a dog walker would be the right thing. It wasn't!

I think it depends on the dogwalker. I've had two terrible ones and 4 or 5 excellent ones (as you've found, you can tell by the dog's/dogs' behaviour/mood whether they are suitable for them or not)

Mine is left 5 hours two days a week with a dog walker coming in half way for a 30 minute walk. He used to be crated but now he has free run of the kitchen.

Any longer than that and he goes to doggy daycare.

4 hours or its doggy daycare

I absolutely don't believe in crates - they're cages for dogs and an anathema to my way of thinking. The dog has free run of the whole house except one room he's not allowed in unsupervised to stop him from murdering other pets!

I inherited a situation where the dog in my houseshare was being left for 14 hours a day by his owner. I got that down to 10 hours a day by making sure I was out of work on time daily - not ideal, but he does cope (many wouldn't), and I make sure he is left with an enrichment activity (e.g. Kong), I focus on him in the evenings and weekends, he sleeps in my bed etc. The dog is now mine (long story) and I'm in the process of making some fairly major life changes to make being left for a full day a relatively rare occurrence.

We all do the best we can but I wouldn't have got a dog with the intention of leaving him all day; he was slowly but accidentally acquired!

Usually not more than around 4 hours, but sometimes can be longer. Has the run of a large kitchen and he does love his sleep.
Even if I am home all day he sleeps a lot and doesn't need to go out for a wee often.

Max 4 hours. If I know we are visiting friends, or I'm out all day (rarely. SAHM) or day-tripping on the weekend, ddog goes to doggy daycare. I feel guilty leaving him even for 2 hours though! He's part of our family.

Forgot to say, he has the run of the house. No cages here.

I dont work so most days dogs are not left at all. If me and DH go out we will only leave them 4 hours max. Any longer and they go to a dog sitter

I work 9-5 come home for half an hour some time between 12-1. Invested in a camera so we could keep an eye on them in the day. Well worth the money

I ask family or a trusted friend to pick her up with my dd after school if I know, I'm not back until late afternoon. My dog is quite old now but still gets into mischief if I leave her for a long time.

Maximum time around 5 hours, most days around 3 hours. My work and DS college are PT and DH works shifts so generally somebody comes back to the house after 2-3 hours.

Ddog has the run of the kitchen- or if the postman has already been he's allowed throughout downstairs- he likes to sleep on the sofa or look through the window.

I'm sure lots of people on here think their dog is fine during the day, but they aren't there to see. Our neighbours dog barked non stop this morning from 9am to midday. It often barks for 20 minutes at a time during the day and a happy dog doesn't do this. It isn't fair on the dog or the neighbours.

Never more than four hours. Usually ensure I’m back, if not somebody else will be home to let them out etc.

For anyone who thinks it’s okay to leave their dog crated all day, one of my lovely little rescue dogs was left all day and barked & whinged the whole time. She was there all day due to their working hours and all night whilst in bed. She had some real separation issues as a result. As if this wasn’t bad enough, because of the noise she caused the neighbours during the day she had a shock collar (a collar that emits an electric shock when the dog barks) she barked so much that the prongs got hot and caused her to have burns to her skin and now she has scar tissue. She also doesn’t bark and makes a weird noise as a result, which, I imagine didn’t set the collar off.

Dogs are companions and love their people, please be around for them it damages them otherwise.

4 hours-we have a dog Walker that comes and takes them out for two hours at midday when we work. They are free in our large-ish kitchen meanwhile.

Ours are left 10 hours. They're together, the uncrated and they sleep all day. Shepherd retriever mixes...

Whippet owner here. My hubby and I take it in turns going back to do lunch time walkies Mon-Friday. So he's left from 8.30-1pm and then 2-4 (max) we keep him in the kitchen with a stair gate across the doorway (no door) and often when we come back he doesn't even bother getting out of bed. When we are on holiday he doesn't even get up until around midday! But if he was a dog who needed more attention during the day then we would pay for him to have it. We specifically got a Whippet as we thought it would fit our lifestyle. Would never do this with say a collie or a lab, they just need too much mental stimulation for what we can provide