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

Please keep looking into doggy daycare/walking options. It's not fair on him.

However, please don't do what the person who crates their dog for 5 hours straight does!

Dogs do better with company. Have you thought about getting another dog to keep your puppy company through his long days without you OP? If that wouldn't work for you then doggy daycare or a reliable dog walker twice a day is a must for such a young dog.

There's no doubt you love your dog. That's why I'm sure you will do your best to make sure he has company when you are not available. Puppies need company. Nobody can expect such a young dog to be happy on its own all day. (Please don't shut him in a crate all day as posters have suggested. That is the worst thing you could do).

Op please don't worry you will get there. Sounds like a few adjustments and he will adapt. There are total over reactions on here in relation to dog ownership. We have a lab since a puppy and work. He is happy and has adjusted well. Just find a routine that suits your dog.

Students or retired local people could be a help, as PPs have said. Are there any clubs or societies in your village/area? WI, bowls club, historical society, etc? Polite emails to the secretaries might turn up a few leads. Other dog owners, or older people who couldn’t commit to 12 years or so for a dog of their own.

I’m lucky in that I work from home so having a dog is one very good and welcome reason to get out for at least an hour or so every day. I wouldn’t have got her if I’d worked full time, but it seems you’ve had enough of a kicking already so I’m not going to hoik any judgey pants. :-) Good luck.

Ah OP welcome to mumsnet opinion on dogs apparently no dog is happy if anyone works and for some why would anyone have a dog.....

I would say that if you know he is destructive between certain times then the likes of borrow my doggy etc help we also use it for day care if we have an event so although it seems to be expensive if you use it more than once then you have made the cost.

Do you have any mental stimulation games for him that would keep him occupied such as a snuffle mat that you can give him only for the afternoons? Frozen congs can also work.

Just please make sure that you do thorough investigation of potential dog walkers - people seem to think that dog walking is something that anyone can just decide to do. As well as trusting them with your dog, you're trusting them with a key to your house.

Borrowmydoggy is an awful idea IMO.

They should be registered as a company and have relevant insurance. Do interviews and see how they interact with your dog. My dog walker is my life saver, I've cut in other areas so I could keep her during maternity, my dogs adore her and actually pine for her on days she doesn't come 

A cute spaniel did you say? I walk a dog for a friend one day a week. After the walk I bring him home to my house for the rest of the day, until after dinner. My son used to love seeing him every week and that was the reason for me doing it, though I love dogs too. I do it for free and have done for four years. But only one day a week, I work the other days.

Could something like this work? He also comes when they go away and he is so used to us he's just no trouble.

Have you considered finding an elderly person who is home alday who wpuld like company , a puppy is a handful so maybe not just yet?. Your situation is not the most suitable HOWEVER he could have gone somewhere he was not loved and cared for

I would personally do the following ,

• Get a cat flap/dog flap installed so he can go outside as and when he likes ( if your area is safe) also safeguard the garden! . If possible.

*Leave the radio on or Tv for company .

• when you go home at lunch hide treats or something healthy for him to find make them quite hard but not where can wreck things to get them! .
• also leave something that smells of you for him to snuggle with a top you have worn for a day (unwashed . )

There is loads of things you can try
With the radio make sure its something soft like smooth or magic not drum and bass 😂 .
My horses have to have the radio on if they are on box rest for an injury.
Also in the winter evenings a light on a timer is good for them.

Be brilliant if you can find someone to see to him for a while :)

Oh for dogs sake, in the real world people have to work!! I would love not to have too and spend 24/7 with my dogs but to live I have to work. Dogs are walked before we leave, hubby comes home about 2pm for another walk and I'm home or son is home from work at 5.30pm. Dogs left for no more than 4hrs with a break for walks and wee's, dogs happy 😊 oh and we have an 8 month old collie puppy. It can be done 😊

yetwig do you have more than one dog ? I would say the situation is different if dog has company.

Dogs left for no more than 4hrs with a break for walks and wee's, dogs happy 😊 oh and we have an 8 month old collie puppy. It can be done

You obviously have more than one dog, therefore they have company. That's in vast contrast to a young puppy left on its own for most of the day 🤔

The amount of time your dog can cope with being alone is very much dependent on him and his age (it may change over time).

Look at getting more company right now even if that means paying someone local to pop in and play for an hour. Then review it as he gets older.

You need to filter out the posts that aren't helpful and look at the ones that might help you with a solution.

Just an update, have managed to track down a doggy day care 40 minutes away (albeit in the wrong direction to work) and have inquired about him going there 4 days a week. Will be going back part time until January as that's the further our finances can stretch but at least it gives us more time to sort things out or at-least wait til he's a bit older before things change. Thanks for the advice all.

Good luck. Things can change as they get older. My pup was very anxious when left. At all!
She’s now two and quite chilled out. The trick was not to leave her for longer than she was happy with.
Hope the daycare works out. Shame it’s so far. Guessing from your username you’re not this side of the Severn? (I would love a second part time dog! )

Don’t beat yourself up. My dog is now 6 and will quite happily stay at home for the day by himself. However as a pup he was initially crated and when I was building up to leaving him for the day we made sure there was nothing he could damage. Left the radio on ....stuffed a couple of Kong s full of goodies that he could go at for hours. Left noisy toys he could play with flashy balls etc ....the main thing is boredom.... and also take for a long walk before you leave in the morning. Never needed a dog walker or doggy daycare ....

Sounds like a plan, OP. You sound like a conscientious owner, otherwise you wouldn’t have posted here.

I think collectively our bar is set pretty low for animal care, unfortunately. Yes in the “real world “ people leave their pets all day. Doesn’t make it right.

I honestly think you need a long term solution - a cavalier is made to be with people, they need company and are never truly happy left for long periods on a frequent basis.

Also in my experience cavaliers only turn destructive when extremely upset, they are not normally a destructive breed, even as puppies/adolescents.

Is there any way you'd be allowed to take him to work (Cavs tend to be good at being trained to settle on command and stay settled, so long as their human is there and they get a good off lead walk at a certain point in the day).

@LittleBLUEsmurfHouse Well were hoping I'll be a SAHM within a year or so, but we're having fertility issues so I'm working full time to try and save up as much as possible while we go through all this. If we do conceive I'll be a SAHM or part time for the long term. We've enquired with a doggy daycare to have him 4 days a week and several potential dog walkers via a local Facebook group so sure we'll work something out.

I can assure you he's not extremely upset, I have been at home with him 99% of the time since we got him and he is definitely a destructive puppy 😂 he's an absolute whirlwind. His favourite game is putting his teeth in the carpet and pulling it up, and that's when he has an entire day playing and walking and cuddling with me. We had a cav growing up and he was the same, an absolute little terror with a heart of gold. So yes, he is definitely not extremely upset

Well done OP, for what it's worth I think you sound like a great owner and don't deserve abuse for asking for help.

Hope it all works out and if you ever move to London, I'll dogsit for you

I give my pup a frozen raw marrowbone lamb shank in the afternoon after I have popped home from work to walk him at lunchtime. It takes him approximately two days to eat all the marrowbone out the centre of it (the very middle bit is hard to reach with only his tongue as his teeth don't fit that far down), and he gets literally HOURS of enjoyment out of it.
Its mentally stimulating, tasty, a non-destructive chewing option, and makes his afternoons a treat rather than a chore (in my mind at least, although I like to think in his as well).

Admittedly Im home by 3:40 every day after a school pick up, but he's still been on his own (bar a lunchtime walk) from school drop off time in the morning. I also give him a long one hour walk at 6am to tire him out, a good half hour stroll at lunchtime, and an hour when I get home in the afternoon again. But he's a miniature dachshund, so only has little legs.... but if hes well exercised and tired, and well stimulated with a bone to gnaw on he's as happy as larry.
(I also have a dog web cam, so I can watch him from work.... so I can see if anything upsets him or sets him off - for example the day the window cleaner comes is always a nightmare as he hates him and often goes loopy barking at him, and then usually dashes about the house on a destructive mission right afterwards because he doesn't know what to do with all that energy). Might be worth investing in a cheap camera - mine was £30 on amazon - to see if you can spot what is setting him off/what time the bad behaviour starts?

When we had only 1 ddog we left the radio on for her..
Got 4 ddogs now, am certain she craves the days of peace long gone tbh!!

Looking like a dog walker would be our best option. Just to get some opinions, how does this day sound for a pup?

7 - Half hour walk, playtime and breakfast with me

9-1 - Alone at home, given access to the whole of downstairs, lots of toys/kongs, radio on in the background and a toy that dispenses treats every 45 minutes or so.

12 - Either me or DH home for roughly half an hour lunch, will feed him and play with him

1-2 Dog walker takes him out for an hour long walk

3-5 Alone at home, same as above

5 onwards - We get home, walk him again and spends the rest of the night with us.

This would be his day 4 days a week maximum. Does this sound ok?

Bumping for opinions on my latest post

Sounds a lot better.Ideally he'd be out with the walker for more than an hour - they usually pick up more than one dog and drive to location.
I guess you'll know if it works by DDogs reaction, but as he should be tired out by dog walkers will likely sleep a lot of the time.
Well done for taking the feedback on board.

I would try it and invest in a camera so you can see exactly what he's doing whilst you are out.