Full time work

[FragileTitanium]

A question that might be relevant to me in the not too distant future. What do people who work full time do with their dogs during the day. I can understand leaving two dogs in the back garden with kennel, water, food etc but what does one do if one only has one doggy? My doggy is used to company pretty much all fo the day. Are there doggy nannies or something similar?

I think there is doggy day care but it won't be cheap. And dog walkers who will take your dog out at lunchtime.

I work 2 days a week, out for 6 hours with a dog walker coming in after 2.5 hours for an hour, so then left for another 2.5 hours in the afternoon. She is £10 per day. Day care I think was around £15 for the whole day but meant me dropping off, picking up which wasn't feasible in my case. HTH for an indication of costs.

I'd say it's going to depend on the individual dog.

Ours is a rescue and has always been happy to sleep all day when me and DP are working (we generally work from home a few days a week though, so he's only alone 2 days usually.)

With me being a night owl AND an insomniac, our cocker spaniel Baldrick gets played with and walked from the second we get home until the early hours of the morning.

It's worth noting though, our dog shows a lot of behavioural traits associated with being separated from mum too early, and is subsequently very attached to human behaviours and routines. He doesn't chew and likes nothing more than lying his head on a soft pillow and snuggling with his squeaky pig toy.

Should you find that you're going to need to regularly leave your pup alone in the day, invest in some 'puzzle bowls' to keep his brain occupied while you're gone and get a DAP plug in to ease any anxiety.

And if you're still concerned, install a web cam to keep an eye on him while you're gone...you'll be able to identify any problem areas then (our pup opens the washing machine, rummages for our socks and underwear and lies on top of them in his bed...we didn't know where it was all going for the first week!)

It depends on the individual circumstances - a young collie with people working outside the home full time almost certainly not, a pair of elderly greyhounds with a neighbour or dog walker popping in to let them out for a wee at lunchtime almost certainly fine.

We both work full time but my workplace is a 60 second walk from the house so they get a good 45 minute walk every lunchtime, plus if I really needed to I could take them to work with me. In my previous job I deliberately worked evenings, weekends and nights so one of us was home most of the day. I couldn't have afforded a dog walker (£15 a day for two dogs here) so chose my jobs around them instead.

I work three full days and dog works shifts if we are out all day we pay a dog walker to come in lunchtime and take them out for half a hour

My neighbours leave their one terrier out in the back garden all day with a door open to the utility room. She barks most of the time. Do not think this is right not least because it sets off my lab in our garden. Grrrr

Mine goes to daycare 3 days a week. Collected and dropped off for £13.50 although due to rise to £15 in a couple of months. They also do early drop off and late pick ups. He started there when I was full time, and even though I dropped to part time hours, he still goes to Friday Funclub as I couldn't bear to stop him going.

It's amazing. They go for walks during the day and have all kids play centres ball pools, climbing frames, slides, sandpits etc. They even throw the dogs a birthday party with doggie cake!!

There is one day when he is by himself from 8 until 5 but tbh he needs that rest day and has the run of the garden and the sofas to snooze on :)

Jodi, can you recommend any specific puzzle bowls? We got a fairly easy one for our pup and need something trickier now.

Wow! That dog daycare sounds amazing!

vivalebeaver - they can be expensive at normally about 20 quid a pop but we have quite a few. A single one isn't really enough as the dog gets used to it and stops being challenged. It's best to swap them every few days and there are some (I have a bone shaped tower one) that you can increase the difficulty of.

We now both work - our dog goes to daycare twice a week for a half day session which costs 10 + 2 each way pick/up drop off. I drop off 1 day a week early (7.45) because I don't have to be in work as early that day and she sometimes doesn't get dropped off until after 6! Other days I can leave about 4 so the days are not as long - plus she's knackered from the busy day before. It's expensive but def worth it!

I gave up work for my animals.