Leaving puppy alone all day

[welshgal2]

My puppy is 6 months now. We got him at 8 weeks. I took the first 2 weeks we had him off work completely to help settle him in, and then returned part time either working in the morning or the afternoon for 4 hours. He was good as gold and the half a day he was left alone I would always get home to him playing with his toys or most of the time, fast asleep.

It's been a great few months with him but unfortunately couldn't afford to not return to work full time. I've been back full time for one week, to try and make the transition easier I've been going home for an hour at lunch and walking him and then popping home again at about 3pm for 15 minutes just to check up on him.

There's been a pretty obvious pattern of we leave him in the morning, he's good as gold and we return at lunch time to find him quite happy and no damage. However when I've been popping home mid-afternoon (where possible) or getting home from work at 5 we've been getting home to a complete mess. I'm talking wallpaper ripped off the wall, furniture chewed, ripped up toys. He's obviously reaching his threshold for being alone and getting bored and destructive.

DH and I didn't get a dog for a long time as we felt too guilty about our hours, so once we'd saved enough for me to take a few months part time we went for it figuring there's never a perfect time. We both have 2 days off a week, only 1 of those is normally the same day so puppy does get 3 days a week where he's not left alone, and if i go home for lunch he gets an hour and a walk, if DH goes home he'll get about half an hour and a run around the garden but not a walk. We leave the house about 9 and return around 5. Does anyone have any advice of how we can work around this? I don't want our pup to suffer but we need to work, we live rurally so hiring a dog walker isn't an option unfortunately.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Can you build him an ourdoor pen with a kennel in it for part of the day? Can you take him to a dog minder near work?

@DerelictWreck We are in rural Ceredigion, Wales. Closest dog sitting or walking I can find is an hour from us and not in the direction of our work.

Putting him outdoors as we are coming into winter, really?

@Costacoffeeplease Of course we were honest with the breeder. We said we could take 4/5 months off to make sure we settled him in and he was saying that's great and advising us to build it up slowly (which we've done) and try and provide as much stimulation as possible when we aren't there (which we do) I appreciate all advice but asking me to return him to the breeder would be like returning a child. You have no idea how loved and well treated he is and I would rather be poor and work part time than lose him.

But he’s not well treated - you may love him, but at the moment you’re not doing the best FOR HIM, which is the important thing here

Do you ever meet anyone out on walks with him that you could ask to help out with walking him?
My friend’s dog stays with me every Tuesday. He’s very sweet, gets on well with mine and they look forward to seeing each other.

If your dog is easy and has doggy friends who live nearby, you could offer to take the dogs on your days off in return for their owners taking yours?

@SleightOfMind It's a very rural area and we've not long moved here. I don't know anybody yet unfortunately. I asked a few colleagues at work about dog sitters and they all said that he'd be fine, that most dog owners work full time and that there dogs are happy. Google has given me nothing in the form of doggy daycare in this area. So sad

@Costacoffeeplease Oh for gods sake I appreciate people have different opinions but I am not mistreating my dog. He is adored, unfortunately yes he has been alone more than I'd like for the past 4 days, I am coming online to ask for advice on how to make him more comfortable. Telling me he is mistreated and to send him back to the breeder is a very extreme reaction. I am not saying everything is perfect and ignoring that this isn't ideal for him. I am looking for a resolution and unhelpful comments like yours are just upsetting

The thing is op, you are mistreating him insofar as he's exhibiting destructive behaviour- he's telling you he's not happy.

You clearly care about him but it's not enough for him.

I know it's hard to hear.

Are there any sixth formers/students that might be able to pop in during the afternoon for a bit of pocket money?

You’ve asked for opinions, these are mine - and they’re not extreme - and I don’t see how you can make it ok for him so I’m not going to talk about kongs etc, as that’s just a sticking plaster on the basic problem that he is, and will be, left alone for too long. He’s bored and he’s lonely

I get so tired of people posting on here about all the dog owners who work full time and it’s all fine - it’s not. Some older dogs may tolerate it, a 6 month old pup won’t and you’re not being fair to him

Get as annoyed at me as you want, I just feel sorry for the poor pup

Look on Pawshake and BorrowMyDoggy. Advertise on your local facebook page.

Oh, my younger dog used to do something similar. They were left during the day and wouldn’t touch anything. I would pop in, drop off my bag around 3pm and then go and collect my kids from school. In that 15 mins, she would chew something up or get up to no good. It was almost like a protest - ‘hey, you came home and went straight out again!’
She did grow out of it though.

I was going to suggest exactly the same as Heart - I bet you'll find a young person who would love to take a dog for a walk in exchange for some cash or they might even collect the dog and take them home for a couple of hours. Or a fit but retired person who is mostly home who you could drop him off with 4 days a week and pay?

I had a rescue and he iniitally howled when left even for just an hour (my ex worked from home so he wasn't often left) so we did lots of things to help with separation anxiety. The 20 mins after you leave them are the hardest for them. Things we tried (it worked although obviously not sure which bit worked!) were leaving a kong or other toy with food to lick or get out, leave the radio or TV on. Also, make sure there's no big "goodbye" from you - ignore him for a little bit before you leave (do the washing up or something) then just leave so that there isn't a big change from you being there to you leaving.

Our dog was 2 though, with a real youngster like yours, I'd really try and get him some company. Or could you get some work to do from home so that you can go back to mornings? Or start up a dog walking business yourself!

I know people who work and have dogs but not puppies. It isn't very fair on a puppy to be left so long but you have him now, you all love him and you don't want to get rid of him. That's fair enough.

Firstly, can you definitely not find a dog walker? Ok you live rurally but can you not find one that lives close enough to drive to you?

Another poster mentioned borrowmydoggy. I would also look into this. I know people that use it. Some have dogs and use it to have people walk their dog, dog sit etc. Two friends love dogs but can't have one so they dog sit, walk etc.

How rural are you? Do you have any neighbours? Would any of them be willing to pop in and play with pup, maybe give a quick walk etc?

If none of those options are possible and there definitely is no doggy day care within a reasonable distance I would suggest crate training so pup can be left in the afternoon (not all day) in his crate.

It can take some time to crate train properly and you really do have to take it fairly slowly but it's good to have a dog that is crate trained in case they have to spend time at the vet or, for whatever reason, need to be kept quiet and not run around etc.

I just read your latest update and see you haven't long lived in the area. Do you have a local facebook page? I moved to a village fairly recently and we have a local facebook group. If you do try post on there to see if there is anyone who could help out.

Obviously your work colleagues are talking rubbish that dogs are ok if their owners work because lots are not.

I'm trying to set up borrow my doggy, but if I got to message someone it says I must verify my account for £44.99 a year. I don't want to pay that to then not find anyone. It seems a strange system to pay upfront with no guarantee of finding a dog sitter/dog walker... 

@mydogisthebest I just requested to join two local groups so will post in there. Thank you for the suggestion I hadn't thought of that.

Oh OP I leave for a while and you’ve turned into an animal abuser

As long as he isn’t toileting inside or howling/barking, it’s just going to take time to build up the routine.

Have you tried crating him? How much space does he have? It's not fair to allow him so much freedom at such a young age. We have a young dog. He's left 3/4 days a week for approx 5 hours. He gets 3 walks a day, we have a dog walker 1 day a week where he is walked for 2 hours. We have a very happy and confident and loving dog. At around 6 months we did give him free rein of the downstairs area which was a mistake as he was too young to cope with the freedom. He is now crated everything is fine! We check on him (doggy cam) and he usually sleeps the whole time!

My puppy is 7 months. I couldn't dream of leaving him that long. I would not be fair. The ONLY reason we got him was me being able to be home pretty much 70% of the time when Partner wasn't.

Hmm. Are you a name changer, @Welshgal2?

I'd just give it time. Personally I think the biggest mistake was taking that much time off to settle him in. He's got used to so much attention. Dogs adapt to you.

My cockapoo was left an hour on the day we got her (didn't need to but I wanted to avoid separation anxiety) and built it up to 3 hours within a week.

She is now left 3 days for 7 hours a time and sleeps the entire day. She had never destroyed anything or chewed at all. She loves company but is equally glad to have the rest when we're gone!

She also has no set routine. She has an hour walk off lead per day but never at a set time. Therefore she doesn't have that mad time when she expects a walk. This compares to my friends dog who's a nightmare if he isn't walked by noon as that's what he's used to. My dog can go til 7 pm without a walk! It's what they're used to. He'll be fine!

We never had crate- she had the whole kitchen until 6 months, then downstairs til 9 months then after that the whole house - I'm the opposite of previous poster, I feel better knowing she has the whole house to play around in!

You leave a dog for 7 hours at a time? No wee break? No walk mid way through? Jeez