How do you manage work and dogs?

[catsharingmychair]

We have two lovely black labs - one older (12) and one much younger (8 months). I work P/T (two days) outside the home, so hubby works from home for these 2 days, solely to be there for the dogs. However this may need to change- he may be pulled back to the office full time.

I want to change my job desperately (as I'm unhappy in it and have been for a long while). However doing so may mean a full career change and potentially working FT outside the home. Before Covid, when we had just the older dog, he had a dog walker twice a day to walk and give him lots of love/attention. However this arrangement would not be fair to the young dog, so is not an option. He is a very busy, energetic dog. Family members can't help as they are out all day.

So I'm potentially going to be restricted to work from home only jobs - until the young dog is more mature? Is this what you would do? Doggie Daycare is £32 per dog in our area, so doesn't really feel like an option (when coupled with paying another £24 for the older dog's x2 dog walking each day). Or should I just suck this up - and try and make sure the new job's salary will cover the expense? I also have the issue of someone needing to pick up a DD from the bus stop at very odd times (1pm, 3pm)- another reason why its difficult to work outside the home for me. Wondering who I can outsource this to??!! :)

I do appreciate we should have not got the 2nd dog without working all this out in advance. And yes I'm kicking myself big time (whilst loving the pupster). x

So I'm potentially going to be restricted to work from home only jobs - until the young dog is more mature? Is this what you would do?

It's what I would (and did) do. I appreciate things do change and many people don't have this option, but barring a desperate emergency, I am resolved to wfh for the remainder of the dog's life.

I would not change the job and be there for my dogs.my happiness for my dogs comes first, always.i would put up with a shite job,because being around happy dogs would override any rubbish job.

I have two older dogs. I get up early to walk them before work. Then they snooze until the kids come home at 3.30 and they get walked again. There's no way I would leave an 8 month old lab at home all day though. You'd come home to carnage.

I think you're going to have to do doggy day care.

What time would the Walker come in to your older dog?

Thanks so much for your thoughts. Interesting to hear the dogs come first, which is lovely.

Dogwalking; I'd walk at about 7.30am then the dog walker would come in around 11am and then again at 3pm - but this was suitable for an older dog who loved lounging! I think its still too long to leave him even when he has a dog friend to spend the time with (and he'd be crated as yes there would be carnage).

I wonder if the maybe the pup might actually enjoy Doggie Daycare more than every day at home- he'd get more stimulation...with the right setting...

Our Goldie, also 8 months, goes to daycare once a week and LOVES it. However be aware that some of them have a neutering policy beyond about 8 months.

what sort of industry do you work in? my lab came to work with me when she was young, my boss had a puppy a similar age and they would hang out together in the office garden but I realise this is probably pretty rare. Now she stays at home with the 3 older dogs, I only go to the office 2 days a week and on those days I walk them in the morning, a dog walker comes and walks the 2 younger ones at lunch and then she leaves them all in the garden for the 3 hours until I get home just after 5. My garden is however very secure, its a solid 7ft brick wall the entire way round so they are perfectly safe outside and have dog beds on a covered verandah where they stay if its raining. I am also lucky to have friendly neighbors with teenagers so if I have to work late I will pay one of them to hang out with the dogs for a few hours.

My job is mostly evenings and weekends - so I’m in during the day, which meant I was in for D.C. school runs when they still had them too.

With our older dogs, they were quite happy at home with a lunchtime check in. They wanted to be left alone tbh and enjoyed the quiet and naps.

We couldn't do that with our young dog but we currently both WFH.

If that had to change for both (which is unlikely) we would have to pay for doggy day care or at least twice a day dog walks for them. She just wouldn't cope with being left all day.

I certainly wouldn't arrange my whole life round a dog. But I suppose people manage by either not bothering whether their dog minds being locked up most of the day . Or paying for somebody to entertain it.

I work in schools, 1:1 with students, so whilst the students would love my bringing in the young dog, the staff probably wouldn't be so keen! If I worked in a college he could be a therapy dog (I wish).

Interesting about neutering and Daycare- I didn't realize this at all. I am very keen to get him neutered on the button at 1 year - unfortunately he has un-descended testicles which means we may have to wait longer or it could be a bigger op.

There was a thread on Mumsnet on who worked at home and what they did- I'll try and find it to gain some inspiration!

And here it is, in case it is interesting for anyone:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4184219-if-you-work-from-home-what-do-you-do

@catsharingmychair if you work in schools what are the hours like? if you can rush home at the end of the school day they might be ok in a few months to cope with just a lunch time dog walker particularly if theirs another dog at home. My lab is a lunatic but she is also fine to leave home alone for 4-5 hours as long as she's had a good walk before you go. We have a doggy nanny cam and she spends most of her time asleep or bullying one of the other dogs to play with her. She has managed this since about 12 months old with us slowly building up from 30 minutes.

I work in schools, 1:1 with students, so whilst the students would love my bringing in the young dog, the staff probably wouldn't be so keen!

I know of at least one chain of academies that allow dogs on site as long as they pass a behaviour evaluation (so they’re not jumping all over the pupils). Obviously not all schools would be up for it but some might.

But honestly from a year with the dog Walker coming in twice a day and assuming you’re able to get home at a reasonable hour and aren’t stuck at work til 5 every day, surely even the younger one would be okay? Ours is an older rescue so I may be talking rubbish.

I think it would need to be daycare, you can’t crate a dog for most of the day.

We use doggy daycare. But could you perhaps do something that covers off your childcare issues and maybe gives you more help at home at the same time whilst providing company for the dogs? Such a someone that comes in to do a bit of housekeeping, keep the dogs company and do the bus pickup alongside a dog walker? Or do you have room for an au pair who could help with DC whilst also being someone around more alongside the dog walker? (depending on child's age of course)

I think you need to look at daycare for the youngest - you can't leave an 8mo dog home alone all day, even with dog walkers coming in - it's not fair.

I'm a dog walker myself so my dog comes to work with me. I'd say 80% of the dogs I walk have owners home with them at least half of the time - they generally work shifts around each other so the dogs are left 4-5 hours with me coming in halfway to break up the time - so they're alone 3-4 hours in total each day.

I know daycares can be expensive but it's far kinder than leaving an adolescent dog to it's own devices all day long.

Before we were wfh there were a couple of days a week where both DH and I were out.

On those days we'd get dog walker to come twice per day and DH would also walk dog in the morning.

If it was an impromptu office day then we had the dog walker at lunchtime and I'd try and supplement it with an afternoon walk from one of our Borrowmydoggy people.

I think it would be difficult if people were out of the house 5 days a week.

Although I've worked from home for years we didn't get a dog until the OH started also working from home 4 days a week. That gives us the flexibility to change jobs, go away with work, have some days in the office without too much juggling. I personally wouldn't want to rely on daycare, you only need your dog to get kennel cough or similar to find yourself scrambling round to work out alternatives.

@catsharingmychair our dog is 1 and he loves doggy daycare. We both work at home but he still goes 2/3 days a week just to play with his friends. He’s really good with other dogs as a result. Sometimes he just goes for a couple of hours.
Many day cares offer discounts if you have multiple dogs

I'm afraid for me the dogs would come first. You can't just dump a dog somewhere else 5 days a week or (worse) leave it at home on its own.

It's the reason I don't have a dog as my work or circumstances could change and we don't have backup.

I will get a dog when I retire and I KNOW I can be there full time for them.

If I had to, I would work around my dogs. That's always been the deal. If our working patterns changed, then I would use a dog walker and/ or doggy daycare.

Both my dh and I work full time. We have a 7.5yr old patterdale x springer who used to come to work with me, but developed a massive aversion to the car. So she very gradually got used to being at home on her own firstly until lunchtime when I went home and walked her, and then until 3.15pm when dd gets in. She's really used to this, and just sleeps all day (we have a Petcam) following the sun around the house.

Then we got a puppy! So add in an 8mth old Dachshund puppy (my dream dog, I grew up with sausages). We've been really lucky with her as she doesn't have any SA, she just follows the older dogs lead and they have a fabulous relationship.

She also came to work with me but now she stays at home for the morning, and I go home at lunch to walk etc. Then dd is home at 3.15pm.

Some days I work from home, some days I just do a couple of hours at home. Sometimes they come to work with me - both is a bit of pain tbh! DH is a roofer, so he's sometimes home early or goes in late depending on what he's doing and the weather.

We also have lovely neighbours who will pop into them or walk them if required.

They get garden play when dd gets home and then a big walk in the evening, sometimes just us and sometimes with doggy friends.

So we muddle along and it all just works, somehow.....

Doggy daycare is going to be your only option, I think. Whilst expensive, it will mean you can get on with your job and not worry so much, and it's unlikely to be forever as when the dog matures they may be fine to be left for longer with just a walker.

If daycare is going to cost £40-£50 a day for both dogs, couldn't you get a cleaner/housekeeper/dog walker in for three or four hours on those days, so you get dog care and your house cleaned?

I'm quite amused by the idea that you could get a cleaner to come in and 'look after' an 8 month old lab whilst they clean.