If you work full time ...

[stillvicarinatutu]

How do you do it with dogs ?

I have two dogs . I always managed because my ex worked different hours to me so someone was in .

We split . Now I live alone with the dogs .
Back Then I worked from home a lot . Now I'm being seconded back into the office Mon - fri . 8 hours .

I've priced up a dog Walker but Jesus it's £££££ !
I will get them in but it's a huge expense- I've left them 8 hours in the past but not daily - they often go longer without asking to go out but if this is going to be a regular working pattern daily I need to get someone in .

What do others do please?

Long walks before and after work 🤷‍♀️ dog walker as much as you csn afford.

No doubt mumsnetters will be horrified but my dog has a dog door so he can go to the toilet whenever he needs to while I’m out. I’m in Australia and it’s very common here. He’s a whippet so he spends most of his time inside anyway.

My parents also help me out.

I leave mine. Walk before work, frozen kong or long lasting chew, then long walk when I get home.
Dogs thrive on routine, and often he’s curled up asleep on the sofa before I’ve even left the house in the morning, and the camera shows he only really starts stirring about 5 minutes before I get home.

All depends on the dog, some can be left, some can’t.

One thing thing to consider is if they get fed breakfast? Would they be able to hold toilet all day? Mine is only fed once a day (evening) so I don’t have to worry about that.

When I had to go into the office, I used to have a dog friendly cleaner twice a week. She would clean and let dogs out / play with them. Was a cheaper option for those 2 days and my house got cleaned

Thankfully we're both Wfh most days but prior to covid we used a dog walker supplemented with walks through Borrowmydoggy or students from a Facebook site.

Thing is if you're not paying people then you have to accept that they walk the dog when it works for them, so I'd only ever use students etc as supplementary to a paid walker.

I'm a Cinnamon Trust volunteer dog walker. You wouldn't qualify sadly, but please make sure anyone unprofessional walking your dogs is insured, as I am, for any accidents etc.

I also agree anyone leaving their dogs alone all day, even if the have someone walking the dog For them at lunchtime, is not providing the right care for their dog. Then on top of that if you want to go out at night or go away for a couple of days.

I have no idea of your finances, but can you reframe in your mind the value of how much it costs.

These dogs presumably give you love and attention and make your life worth so much more.

Can you equate £140 to something you happily spend money on every month, like hairdressers, meals out, holidays, clothes.

I feel the cold badly, but even with the cost of living rises I am still heating my house enough to stay warm. But I hardly go out and I am very frugal with my other spending. Decent heating has more value to me than most other things.

Dont you feel that your dogs well-being is the most important thing to you.

Please .
I am single now through no fault of my own and find myself having to work full time with my dogs . Of course their well-being means a lot to me . I am on the bones of my arse financially. I live alone . I'm paid on Friday and right now I have 1.22 left in the bank and 18 p in savings . I borrowed £50 of my friend this month .

As it happens my new boss is fabulous and is happy for me to leave early and work from home - so problem solved.

I would not regime my boys - one is elderly and disabled, the other is something of a "character " - my dd calls him the bi polar dog . I dare say she could be right .

But I love them dearly and I've found a solution.

@stillvicarinatutu so you're sorted ? Brilliant news.

What do you work at? Is there any chance you could agree to do maybe 1 day a week at home?

Yes I'm sorted - new manager is happy for me to do some work from home and is really easy going - so I can either work a couple of days from home or go in and leave early and finish my work at home . Happy days !

@stillvicarinatutu Please accept my apologies. I’m really sorry. Of course you can only do what you can with your circumstances. I’m sorry things are so tough for you financially. I’m very pleased your boss is being so helpful.

It's fine - no need to apologise- I felt so incredibly guilty thinking I might have to leave them but I would have got the dog Walker in - I'm under occy health and my report says to support agile working but my current management aren't supportive of that at all - however I am doing a sort of highbrid where I'm working from two different locations and luckily the place I'm goi g to when hr get their act together is really supportive so they've agreed I can leave early and wfh for the remainder of the day .

Our lab is home alone Mon-Fri 8 -4. He's fine. He either sleeps or sits at the window watching traffic go by.

We do dog walker and doggy daycare. Yes it costs but it's unfair on him to be alone all the time
Dh works from home on the days the dog walker is there and goes to work the doggy daycare days

Between dog walker and doggy daycare about £6.50. Difference in price. Doggy daycare is longer. Than the walker.

I'm working from home two days a week and able to leave early the other days and finish from home so all good !

You always get this response from someone on questions like this.
Just because the dog sleeps all day doesn't mean he's fine. What would YOU do if you were alone all day every day lonely and bored shitless

and you always get arsey comments like this too He - like every other dog who has an owner who has to go to work that I know - is perfectly fine. If he wasn't, he'd be barking, howling, destroying things, but he doesn't. He sleeps. He potters about. He looks out of the window as he likes watching the cars go by, as he does when he is home.

When we are home, that should say.