Leaving a dog home alone?

[daytonababe]

Originally Posted by amy56

Thank you everyone - this has given me serious food for thought!

I work very few hours really (during the day it totals about fifteen a week and that's in term time only more or less) - I do work some evenings, but then the rest of the family are home then.

But even with being home a lot, I'm still not convinced that that will be enough - especially for a puppy! .

Can I ask when people talk about not leaving a puppy at all, and taking time off of work until it's big enough - what sort of time were you thinking? We are going to florida in August as otherwise the summer holidays would be ideal - but we do have a fortnight upon our return where we could be there 24/7 - do people take off even longer than that to be with a puppy?

I'm really appreciating all of your comments - and believe me when I say, I love dogs too much, to make a decision which would be detrimental to it - if our situation means the dog would suffer, then as much as we'd like one - we just won't have one

Ps - love the doggy Conga, Papamouse!

See more...

Tbh I think it's silly to never leave a puppy , if it's not left how will it get used to being alone .
I've had dogs all my life and we've always left them , you can't be with a dog 24/7 .

I don't know if anyone that's had time off work because they've got. New puppy but I do know a lot of people that have lovely happy dogs that are left because they work.

[Jan]

When next door's dog is left alone in the house, he barks at everything he can see that moves. He sits on the window ledge in the front living room. It is sooooooo annoying.

[Guest]

we have 4 dogs, the rule has always been when we have got them

puppy, upto 12 months, max 2 - 3 hours on its own ( in his / her crate ) of course after they are toilet trained

jnr, upto 2 years, max 3 - 4 hours on its own

snr, upto 5 hours on its own

If you cannot be home inside 5 hours, maybe a dog isnt for you, or you need to consider a dog walker

[Floridatilly]

I am a stay at home mum and we have a dog however my brother in law has 2 dogs (Lhasa appso's) and they both work plus both children are at collage so they are on their own for a min of 6 hours a day during the week. They are very happy, very spoilt dogs, they are taken out every night for an hours walk and they are loved to bits.
They got them both together as they thought they would be good company for each other and bought just before school holidays so that there was people there for them when they were puppies.
My brother in law is a self employed builder and often works close to home so he will nip home and let them out, give them a treat etc.
They are treated like babies and being left has no effect on them at all.
I think if I suddenly started to leave Tilly she would not handle it very well but that's because she has never been left for long.

[amy56]

Thanks everyone

Ive spoken to DH about this when he got home from work and he's said that he will come home for a lunch hour (he only works 5 min away from home) on the two days when I work 6hrs. So the dog shouldn't ever be left more than three hours straight.

So it's now whether we can get enough time off in the early days to help with toilet training and settling in to our home - but we would definitely have the first couple of weeks with the dog, if we timed everything correctly.

We have a month or so before we have to seriously make a decision - and in that time we are dog sitting for my mum for a week, so that might well put us off again anyway!

[Mel49]

We've been lucky that anytime we've had a pup DH has been working M-F while I worked weekends so could gradually increase the time the pup was left firstly in a crate and then in the kitchen during the day. They get used to being on their own at night anyway even as a pup if you manage to ignore them for the first few nights !

Our current Golden Retriever is used to being left on and off throughout the day but normaly no longer than 3/4 hours and my middle DS can come home from school at lunch time and let him out for 5 min run around if I'm going out all day. He however is very laid back, rarely barks and as long as gets fed and walked hasn't been bothered on the rare occasions he's been left for longer period.

My Niece however got a Pointer Puppy who is very well trained, she took 2 weeks holiday when she got him and worked partly from home or took him with her some of the time but at 6 months old he suffers from severe separation anxiety as he is so used to human company 24/7. She is now having to spend a lot of money for specialist training and for him to go to doggy daycare as unfortunately few family friends live near that can help out. On the other side my Brother has an adult Pointer, he gets a one hour walk at 6.30 in the morning and is left from 8-5/6 M-F and on the face of it is fine with this.

Dogs can be a great asset to any family and with the hours you work it sounds like it should be manageable with a little bit of juggling or help from family or friends initially.

[jo williams]

They are reluctant to let you have rescue dogs if you work.

[axxxl]

We currently have a 9 month old English Springer Spaniel and are getting her a little Welsh Springer sister in 6 weeks time. There will always be people that tell you that you can't have a dog when you work.

In my opinion, dogs are costly and I can't see how people manage it if they don't work (mine might just be spoilt?)

We both work full time. I work 9-5 Mon-Fri and OH works shifts Mon-Sat. Luna gets walked before we go to work and if we're both going to be at work during the day we have a dog walker take her. We crated her at first until she got used to being alone, but took it away at the end of March and she's been brilliant. She pops her in her bed and sleeps (we have a camera set up on her).

We do spend all of our non-working time with her though. One thing I can recommend for teething pups are antlers to chew on - Luna absolutely loves them!

[macadoo]

We previously had a rescue dog and after issues the next dog we had we wanted a puppy who we could train ourselves and make certain he would be good with our children.

I work from home so it was never an issue someone not being here but we did also have a life too so impossible to never leave him on his own (and also part of the training is getting them used to being on their own.). From the day we had him he slept alone at night (I slept on the settee in the next room for 2 weeks so I could hear him if he needed to go out).

We crate trained him, which I would highly recommend and I'd say for the first couple of weeks you need to be letting them outside constantly for successful toilet training so if you could be at home for that amount of time when you first have him.

I still work from home and our dog is happy having company all day but because we've also trained him to be left alone we can leave him happily and he goes in his crate (unlocked) and sleeps the whole time we're out.

[YLL]

Some of the comments on this thread are ridiculous. We have a staffie, he's home alone between 6:30am and 5pm as we're all at work. He's a very happy dog, we take him to the park for a long walk every day, don't give me that ≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈ "no more than 5 hours a day alone or you should not have a dog"!