Please help me think outside the box wrt my dog whilst I work!

[todayisnottheday]

So, we have a 5yo gsd, when we got him I worked in the perfect job for dog owning with excellent stability and life was good. Now the world has changed and I've been made redundant - something none of us expected. The business owners are devastated. I've been lucky enough to get a new job starting in a few weeks but it means me being out of the house 4 days pw so ddog would be alone 8.45 to 3.30 those days. Because of the specialist nature of my job it's unlikely I'll find another and certain I won't get one ddog can come along to sometimes like before.

What can I do to improve things for him? I can't really afford a dog walker 4 days pw and I can't get home at lunch time. ... can anyone come up with something creative? We don't want to re home but also don't want him to be miserable!

Is he good to leave in a room or two?

A lot of the time will probably be spent sleeping so a decent walk before and after will help.
Tiring out his brain will be the most effective, so filled kongs, "treasurehunts" with his food and treats and if you can, 10 mins or so teaching him a new trick or something before you leave and I think he'll be ok. Is there a friend or neighbour who can let him out for a pee at lunch for the first few weeks?

Do you have a garden where he could be in the day?

Any dog walker pals that could do a lunch time walk in return for you doing something for them - eg other walks, cooking a dinner, doing some ironing? Ie a skill swap.

Or just do it for the love of dogs? Someone who has time on their hands but can't / wont commit to a dog and would only want to do lunch time / fair weather walks anyway?

Yes he's relaxed and well behaved when left, it just feels a long time when it's most days

He'll be walked about 6.30 am so should be physically pretty ok and he can access the yard luckily. The trick teaching is an excellent idea, it's something the dc would like to do too so I'll come up with some simple ideas to start them off with food he's a grazer so I don't think he'd go for dry treats but I think someone suggested pate in a Kong and frozen so I could set up some of them. Also he usually has chicken raw at night so I could start giving him that in the day as he likes to play with it so should keep him amused for a while.

It's just alien to me to leave them alone so long!

Sorry x posted there, a skill swap is a good idea, I'll set about getting to know some people. We've had to move house as this has all meant a big pay cut so I don't really know anyone yet but it's a friendly area so someone might know someone!

Would it be better or worse to have walks some days but not others? I could possibly run to a walker on a couple of days but would that upset him more?

Do any neighbours have dogs he can tag along on a walk with?

Have you seen the borrowmydoggy thing? I haven't used it but I've seen adverts on facebook (google it?) Might be cheaper than a dog sitter?

Not really, he's not great with entire males so I think I'd be happier if he was walked individually, I wouldn't want to make life difficult for someone (he's not dangerous but not 100% either). I've not seen the borrow thing, I'll Google, thanks

I'm lucky to work at home. But on the occasions when I've occasionally left the dogs for 7 hours (if I've been delayed) then I've been really stressed but they've been fine. If yours has access to the yard then toileting isn't an issue. My gut feel is if you spend lot of time with him when you're home then he'd just sleep for most of the time whilst you're at work. Good luck in the new job!

Lots of 'older' gentlemen round here seem to walk dogs (and babies!) for neighbours around here, they say it gets them some exercise and they get the interaction without having to do all the expensive bits. Keep an eye out for bored old men that could help out, then!

Loving the idea of keeping an eye out for bored old men I think access to the garden is a big plus. How are you managing that?

I leave my dog for the same as your new hours, I leave her with a frozen kong, wouldn't feel confident in leaving a carcass just incase she choked (I feed raw)

I let her have the kitchen, hall way and living room, she doesn't go upstairs big lumux although I'm lucky enough to have someone walk her in the afternoon. She has always been fine.