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The doghouse

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Original poster

How long do you leave your dog alone?

91 replies

HildegardeCrowe · 16/09/2021 06:53

Just that really. I leave my rescue JRT alone for 6 hours 4 days a week and he seems fine. I’ve had him for 10 years and he’s old now and sleeps a lot.

OP posts:
StMarysKettle · 16/09/2021 11:45

Mine gets left for 6 hours a couple of times a week if we are both at work. She makes a fuss if she notices me leave and then she settles down and just sleeps but honestly... And I don't want to offend anyone... she's a dog. I'm not planning my whole life around arranging for someone to dash round if the dog has been left for a minute over 4 hours. She's safe, happy, loved, fed and has a comfy bed which is more than she had before we rescued her.

If we were out for a whole day or overnight then I would find someone to have her.

noblegreenk · 16/09/2021 11:47

@hellcatspangle

I don't have a dog at the moment but our old pet dog was used to being left for a good few hours - we used to worry about leaving her until I realised when I was at home she'd often be snoozing in a different part of the house and I wouldn't see her all day. She was the least needy dog ever!
I agree, mines the same. I do think that 95% of dogs aren't suited to be left alone for extended periods of time but there are always exceptions. None of my previous dogs would have been happy to be to left for more than 4 hours, and I wouldnt have done so, but my current dog seems to crave her own space. She loves affection and attention, but it's all on her terms!
Tinkerbellfluffyboots79 · 16/09/2021 11:54

2 hours or maybe 3 occasionally
He’s fine, he’s 1 so am quite lucky with him.
I feel guilty if I leave him too long. (For me) he normally sleeps

idontlikealdi · 16/09/2021 11:56

Now wfh a couple of hours max, before 4 or 5 hours. Hes always been fine with it and is a lazy sod anyway.

mydogisthebest · 16/09/2021 11:57

We have 2 dogs, aged 8 and 9. They are left maybe once or twice a week for about an hour and a half while we go shopping.

A couple of times a month they are likely left for around 3 to 4 hours if we go out somewhere like the cinema, for a meal, day trip.

If we are going to go somewhere for longer than about 4 hours we arrange for a friend to come and dog sit or they go to a dog sitter.

Quickchangeartiste · 16/09/2021 12:07

Probably average about 2 hours, extremely rarely up to 4 hours.
They had longer aggregate spells alone while I was in hospital and DH working and although we had dog walkers, & friends visiting , they didn’t enjoy that period.
But I do think they are very routine driven and they are used to having me around.

CoasterCoaster · 16/09/2021 12:15

Mine (I have 2) don't get left alone very much, I'm here most of the time and don't really go out routinely, just shopping for an hour or two here and there. That said they're generally fine when we do have to leave them for longer although 4 hours is about as long as I really feel comfortable with. I have left them for up to 10 hours (for occasional days out for DD) but with someone coming in for toilet/feeding in the middle and they coped, I worried about them being lonely though even though they have each other. Weirdly they do get a bit worked up if I go out during the day when DH is already at work (but not when we all go out together Confused), they howl for the first few minutes but settle after that, no idea why it's different than us all going out at the same time!

copernicium · 16/09/2021 12:21

I wish you were all my neighbours! My new NDN leaves his for up to 18 hours and it barks the entire time 😡

I WFH so only leave mine for the school run and the odd day out probably up to four hours. She's mostly glued to my hip! I have a camera - she sleeps for around 3 hours then can get a bit whiney but I can talk to her through the camera and that will settle her for another hour or so if needed.

Never thought I'd be the person to have a dog cam Blush

crossstitchingnana · 16/09/2021 12:33

4-5 hours. But that's not regularly.

Strokethefurrywall · 16/09/2021 12:52

Historically we’ve left ours all day and all they do is sleep.
Now we’re in and out more than we used to be and have the helper, but mostly 7-8 hours.

All fine, no messes, no destruction, no barking.

dustofneptune · 16/09/2021 13:10

Mine can be left alone for about 6 hours if we're on a night out or something. He just sleeps (in a closed, half-covered pen).

He's not left on his own very often during the day as one or both of us is usually around. Maybe an hour or two, here and there.

Winederlust · 16/09/2021 13:17

4, maybe 5 hours at a push, but only very rarely (maybe about once a month on average?). He'd probably cope with longer but I don't think it would be fair on him.

MyLandlordIsAWOL · 16/09/2021 13:31

It depends - I'm self employed.

Back when I was employed, and a little dog had arrived in my life in a rather unplanned fashion, he was left for 10 hours a day 5 days a week. He coped.

Nowadays he might not be left at all on some days, one day a week he's reliably left for 6 hours, some days I'll be popping in and out to collect supplies during the day, and on exceptional says he'll be left for 10-12 hours. Again, he copes, but if the exceptional day is on a weekday I'll get a dog walker in.

I ought to note that even when I'm in the house he frequently takes himself off to another room to relax in peace.

tinierclanger · 16/09/2021 13:34

@WeRTheOnesWeHaveBeenWaitingFor

About 5 minutes or the howling starts. We are working on it.
Same here!
SuperheroBirds · 16/09/2021 13:40

Up to 4 hours, enough for the cinema/shops/a meal/visiting people. Any longer and we either ask family to look after them or get a dog walker.
4 hours is fairly rare, but we might leave them for an hour or two a few times a month.

RogersVideo · 16/09/2021 13:51

I'm SAHM so usually around except for the odd errand, but if we do a non-dog friendly day out at the weekend about 6 hours. Dog just curls up and sleeps on the sofa either way!

loztredders · 16/09/2021 13:52

Probably quite long hours compared to most others on here!

We have 3 days a week where we are both out all day 9 until 6pm. We have a dog walker that comes halfway through the day and normally has them out for several hours however.

The longest stretch they would be left is 6 hours and that would be after a good walk.
They sleep all day pretty much... We have cameras to watch

MrsMcCluskeysCat · 16/09/2021 13:59

Before COVID it was 7 hours but I was home for an hour in the middle of that, I'm now WFH so home all the time. If we go out at the weekends we always keep it to 6 hours max but we know they are fine and just sleep (cameras).

It really does depend on the dog though I think, Ddog1 was used to being left along before we got Ddog2 6 years later so has always been fine but I think Ddog2 is only happy because she has company so when Ddog1 sadly dies we probably won't be able to leave Ddog2 for very long.

0ntheg0again · 16/09/2021 14:31

Both work from home so no need to leave him alone very often, the times when we do leave him longer is when the kids football clash and we have to be away on a Sunday for longer (4-5 hours). He seems happy to be on his own and to start with we filmed him and he took himself off to our bed and slept til we got back. He is almost 5

Mymapuddlington · 16/09/2021 14:34

Usually an hour or so, I think most has been about 5 hours.
My neighbour works 12 hour shifts and used to leave the dog all day but now I go in and spend time with him, let him in the garden etc

Mymapuddlington · 16/09/2021 14:36

@WeRTheOnesWeHaveBeenWaitingFor @tinierclanger

My dog was like this, what workers for us is leaving the house lots, 10 times a day to begin with, just walk out of sight for a few minutes and go back. Never fuss/say goodbye or anything at all when leaving and coming back. Teaches the dog that it’s really not a big deal. It worked really quickly for us thankfully as we could hear her at the bottom of the street lol

Dollyparton3 · 16/09/2021 14:53

Very rarely is our 2 year old left alone but he's happy enough for a couple of hours. We leave the telly on for him and I can tell he's slept the whole time if we do leave him. We leave him upstairs and sometimes we have to call him down when we come home

Roundearth · 16/09/2021 14:57

4 hours a day max, v rarely if longer we pay for dog daycare instead. no point in having a dog for it to be alone all day and just waiting to be someone's evening entertainment toy

MrsTerryPratchett · 16/09/2021 14:58

Goodness, this has surprised me how few people leave dogs for very long.

Self-selecting virtuous sample though Grin.

Covid times, zero hours! Pre-C the working day. We do have doggy daycare and use it but have found that because he's a bit anxious, he prefers home. We compromise on every couple of days...

allfurcoatnoknickers · 16/09/2021 15:22

5-6 hours max. 6 year old JRT and 4 year old JRT/Beagle. They always have a good walk before and just sleep the whole time. We have a puppy cam so we can keep an eye on them. GirlDog would be perfectly happy snoozing all day, but BoyDog needs to pee more frequently.

DH and I always had jobs with flex WFH so we're in and out a lot and the dogs are used to it. They were both adult rescues though - we've never been able to have a puppy because we can't guarantee we'll be able to take them out every 2 hours.