Is it possible to have a dog if you're out all day?

[blackandwhitecat]

All of us are out from about 8 am till about 4 pm. Is it possible to have a dog in these circumstances?

not a good idea. it will be very lonely and probably destroy the place!

Only if you can make arrangements for someone to take it out at lunchtime for a decent walk. Even then, the poor thing is going to be alone for at least 4 hours at a time.

Get a guinea pig instead .

My Grandparents neighbours have a dog that they leave during similar hours to this and its sooooo miserable - really not fair on the dog - they love company and human contact too much

It would be very hard, esp for a puppy. IME you need alot of time to train a pup properly. It will chew your house when unsupervised. Although I think crates are great you couldn't leave a dog/pup in one for 8hrs.

Yes if you get a dogwalker
We are out from 8ish til 4ish

Our dogwalker comes at 10 and drops back off about 1230 or 1

oh I guess also she has the cleaner 2 days a week

Our dogwalker picks up at 10.00 ish and drops back about 3.00 ish. This is the only way it will work for us.

I sit on the fence on this one. we ummed and ahhed for about a year - at the moment we're only out of the house 3 days a week, and for two of those we have a nanny in the house. but we decided not to get a dog in the end because we have no idea how long the current situation will continue - and whether, in a few years' time we'll be out all day 5 days a week. a friend of mine has done it - she used to come home at lunchtime but now she doesn't. I kind of disapprove but - to my suprise - the dog doesn;t seem to mind - she has no problems with chewing, barking or any other signs of unhappiness. she gets a huge walk early in the morning so I guess that helps. also - and possibly most importantly - she was an adult rescue dog and they waited for one that was used to this, and was particularly gentle and easy going. you would need to research the breed well - I did a lot of this but failed to find the "perfect" breed (ie my expectations/hopes were just too high for a real dog!). I think my friend has been very lucky.

Thanks for your advice. Need to think about the dogwalker option.

I wouldn't if this was every day.

i know someone who sends their dog to doggy day care ,as they work fulltime ,the dog goes to the dogwalkers house ,has a walk and then spends the day playing with her doggy friends ,only problem with this is the dog now finds their company boring

Even if it's possible I don't think the dog would have a brilliant life; I don't think fair from its point of view.

Difficult one. I know lots of cases where it works but I do think you need to get a dog walker We now have 3 dogs but waited for 10 years to do this so that someone is at home all the time. What about getting 2?

oh its a bit unfair tbh

we had daycare for our dog til dd was born and I was at home, then the nanny when I went back to work