the secret life of dogs. shouldnt ahve watched it

[waikikamookau]

anyway, I didn't catch it all but there was a rotweiler who I believed peed and pood in the house when owners went out.
my pup does that.
what was their solution?
was it a mat and a kob with treats?

Not sure if never leaving your dog alone is wise or even possible.

I rarely leave my dog on her own, and never for more than a few hours at most (waited until I retired before getting her), but at some point life takes over and for my own sanity and out of necessity I do have to go out without her sometimes. But like the people you know Moosemamma the programme did make me think that I might be causing her to be horribly stressed just by leaving the house. Although she's pretty independent and quite honestly has never seemed that bothered, but when an 'expert' on a supposedly science based television programme gives you information, you think and hope, they know what they're talking about.

Thank you for your sensible take on this. As a first time dog owner I'm still feeling my way (she's 2 and a half). I'm pretty certain she's relaxed when I'm out, but as I say the programme made me doubt myself, even though their science did seem a bit rough and ready. You've set my mind at rest.

Yes it is impractical to never leave your dog alone. Could you go out and then sneak back and check on her through the windows? I do think though working full time and leaving a dog alone is neglectful.

My parents regularly check in on a neighbours dog when they are at work, and take her out walks. They often have to wake her up when they go in. So no sign of her being anxious. But probably the longest she is left for, is about 3 hours.

Thanks to everyone for the advice on this thread. This is my first post!

My boyfriend and I are getting our first dog next spring, having wanted one for years and finally bought our own house 6 months ago. We are aware that both working full time isn't ideal, so we are scheduling our leave to cover 1 month of time at home with full attention settling in the puppy and socialising it. After that we will be taking turns to work from home, have family dog sit, and have a professional dog sitter come in too.

We will also be reading every book and every nuggest of advice we can get before then! I am already reading up on Gun Dog training techniques! We are already really excited!

I forgot to mention - we will also be getting a wifi monitoring camera set up in the kitchen. There are quite a few available (often advertised as baby monitors) like the Motorola Blink 1. We can viee a live feed from our phones at any time, move the camera around, get notifications if there ia noise past a certain level (like any barking) so that should help us track how the puppy gets on with being left alone!

It looked like the cortisol samples were salivary ones and so less stressful for the dogs but there was no mention of a control group.

I thought the really interesting part of the programme was the idea of a new breed, more suited to a modern lifestyle. The current preoccupation with non shedding dogs isn't enough.