Home Alone?

[Chris Smith]

For those of you with just one dog, I was wondering about how long do you leave your dog alone each day? (if you go to work, work from home, don't work, varied hours from your partner, etc.)

How many total hours in a day? (average)

And how many hours at one time? (i.e. if he's alone for 10 hours total but someone comes in mid-day to walk him after 5 hours, etc.)

Do different breeds need different amounts of attention? (I don't mean just exercise but just having someone around). Or since dogs are social animals, do they all need people/dogs around them for most of the day?

Does anyone know of issues that can arise if a dog is left alone for too long? (other than immediate house/yard destruction). I am refering to long-term issues...

[Cecile Vargo]

Chris, I've never had a problem leaving my dogs alone. I travel a lot and sometimes can take them, sometimes, can't. I've been gone for as long as two weeks and left the dogs alone with my neighbors and/or my son stopping in once or twice a day to feed them and to play with them for a short period of time. I have three dogs and they keep each other company. When I had just one dog, she did fine, too, but I did come home to a completely destroyed newly planted garden once - that was before I learned to put in a seperate yard for the dogs!

When Maggie was 8 weeks old we had to go to funeral and I knew I would be gone all day. She was fine outside with the big dogs in their doggie safe yard, but I knew she would need her meals. The neighbor kids were delighted to come over 4 times during the day and feed her and play with her. They had waited weeks for her arrival, and were happy to have the chance to get to know her.

There are always things that can come up, and dogs are different reactions to being left alone for long periods of time. Each dog & situation needs to be evaluated seperately. I'm fortunate, my neighbors are close enough all they have to do is look over the cement wall once in awhile between times they actually come over to take care of the dogs. The kids
on one side feed them and play with them, the neighbors on the other side look over the wall and talk to them and feed them treats. If there was anything unusual, they would notice it and take care of it in an instant.

Because I have three dogs now, and they are used to having each other - I would not leave just one of them alone for a long period of time. When my dog Jessie got too old to travel I boarded her. I will probably board 13 year old Jake this year rather than take him. However if I ever am down to just 1 dog, & there was nothing unusual about him, I would leave him home alone with neighbors watching after him, and feel fine about it.
A friend who travels with us, has just one dog and someone to come in and feed her & give her attention - Lucy does just fine, alone also.

[Sherri]

Chris,
During the work week:
I work a 9 1/2 hour day and my husband works a 8 1/2 hour day.. I leave the house at 6:30, my husband leaves at 8:30.. I come home at lunch between 12-1 and then I am home by 5:00 and my husband by 5:00-6:00. On the weekends:
We try not to leave Baxter for more than 6 hours at a time.

Baxter is a 6 month old Beagle/Rat Terrier Mix and he actually does OK on his own.
We started putting him in the kennel when we were gone, that was a huge mess for us and him. He was raised in a kennel as his only place to go to the bathroom, so that is what he did.
We then moved him to a locked spot in our kitchen. He soon figured out how to climb the gate we had, so we got another. This worked for close to 3 months, then he figured out how to climb this one as well. We would still have the occasional puppy accident in the kitchen, but not as bad of a clean up as the kennel was.
We are now letting him run the house, but with closed doors to the bedrooms. He has less accidents and has not destroyed anything in the house.

If we ever leave him for more than 6 hours at a time, I feel guilty, so it does not happen often.

[Jill Ramsey]

Finnegan is left, in his crate at 5 in the morning. about 5 hours later, our neighbor, either takes him out to potty and run around, or puts him in the pen, if she's going to be outside doing yard work. I get home anywhere from 2-3:30. If we are going somewhere overnight, my daughter will come to stay at our house and take care of him. We are just starting to leave him gated in the kitchen for short periods. We are now up to about 3 hours with no problems so far. Last time we tried this, we didn't work up to the time, and came home to chewed up things. Once, when I was home sick, he went from 4:30 AM to 2:00 PM without going outside ( I was really sick). He just layed by my bed. :bow:

[Eric Vecc]

He have a one dog household. Bailey is a 7 month old Shepherd/Lab mix (50#'s and growing). My wife and I both work from 8-5 and come home for lunch from 12-1. During the winter (he was younger), we kept him in the cage during those hours and while we slept. Now he sleeps on a bed next to ours with the bedroom door shut. He is also place outside for the latter half of our day 2-3 times per week depending on the weather. We have a fenced in backyard and a safe neighborhood. I do not want to do this everyday because he will get used to it and not do well on crappy weather days in his cage. A fenced in yard is the BEST THING EVER for us. When he is in crazy dog mode and just wants to run like mad through the house, we stick him outside to do it. Or when we have company over and he is wound up = outside he goes. He doesn't mind, as there are lots of balls and toys outside to play with.

[Amy Siggers]

Cassie is 3 months old and she is a shih tzu. Of course the shih tzu breed wants to be with you all the time and be under your feet at all times. She goes into her crate (she is 3.5 pounds and we bought her the wire so she can see all around her one for a 25 pound dog) at about 7:30AM and stays in there until 11:30AM. I come home for lunch from 11:30-1PM and take her out to potty adn run around the yard and feed her (she shares my sandwich & chips with me.. I know.. NOT GOOD but I cant resist that little face) and then she goes back into her crate from 1-5 when we all get home for the day and doesnt go back in there. I always leave the door open on it and she goes in there sometimes to rest or eat a treat but she stays wherever we are and she sleeps with my husband and I.. We got her 4 weeks ago when she was 8 weeks old and that was the routine we started her out on so she doesnt mind it at all. She has her food, water & toys in there with her and has a nice sheepskin bed with a fleece baby blanket and she never whines or cries unless she knows we are at home and she's not out yet! haha! We take her everywhere with us on the weekends that we can (visiting, parks, joy rides) so I dont think she feels like her crate is a bad place at all..

[Luciann]

Chris

I have two chihuahuas, I had the male for about a year and he was an only dog and he was alone for 8-9 hours a day while i was at work. Now sometimes neighbors woudl come by to use the computer but mostly he was alone. Heck there were times they would not even see him when they went over.

He never tore anything up. I would leave the tv on for him all day and he would bark at the squirls and other animals in the neighborhood when they went by but nothing distructive. He actually liked to watch Headline news, odd but true.

His being a lone was never an issue, but he was always happy when i got home....

[Chris Smith]

So per this short survey, it seems like about 4 hours at a time is average to leave the dog without attention (whether they are in a crate, the house or the yard). And maybe 8-9 hours total a day (with a visitor in between).

I have friends who tell me it's fine to leave a dog alone for 8 - 12 hours a day so long as he has access to both inside (some shelter) and outside (bathroom). I thought that seemed pretty long so I wanted to see what others thought.

I am not concerned about the potty habits or even the destruction, but was mostly interested in how it is emotionally for a dog to be alone for 8 -12 hours without any visitors.

Thanks for your input. Any others??

[Sarah Moore]

Well, I am going to probably sound like a bad doggie mommie, but my babies are home alone from 6 am to approximately 5:30 pm m-thurs (I telecommute from home on Fridays, my favorite day of the week :)). My husband and I both work over an hour away from home so there is no way either of us can come home at lunch. They have access to a very secure fenced yard and a dog-proof room via a doggiedoor. It works very well for us. We have actually videotaped the dogs during the day, and my husband has a webcam set up with a livefeed so I can watch them while I am at work (the computer is currently out of commisson at home, but hopefully will be back up soon)... Anyhow, they actually play, run, and sleep together just like they do when we are at home. I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes having multiple dogs, but I don't see any negative effects of them being alone so much, as far as emotionally. When I am home, each dog gets individual and group attention, a short training session and some cuddle time. And we are very active on the weekends, taking some or all of them to dog parks, the beach, on hikes, etc... They are like a second full time job, but fun!! :bunny:

[Hee Yung Lee]

Sarah, you are definitely not a bad dog mom. A webcam to watch your dogs!! That sounds like so much fun. Although if I had that, I don't think I would be able to get much work done. :) Bogart goes one day for 8 hours alone. Two days he has a pet sitter that comes for 45 minutes and the other days, I am home with him.

[Sheryl]

I leave Harley alone from 8:30am to noon, am home for one hour, and then he's alone again from 1 to 5 pm. I live right beside my work, and could come home for coffee breaks but this seems to make the situation worse and then I am guaranteed to have something chewed up. My Big Guy is the King of Separation Anxiety, remember? The two cats stay in the bedroom while I am gong because I don't fully trust the newest one not to destroy things too.

I have thought about whether a companion would be a good thing for Harley, but think I should get his separation anxiety a little better under control first. I would also love to be able to 'see' what he does when I'm not home!

Sheryl

[Jill Ramsey]

I remember back on DD, someone had video'd their dog to see what it does all day. I don't remember if it was crated, I don't think so, just inside. The dog slept about 7 1/2 hours out of 8. I had never realized that.

[Amy Siggers]

When we got Cassie a month ago I mentioned that to my husband about the webcam and he told me I was crazy.. I work in the IT dept at my company so I told him we could rig something up but he still said no. He told me she is in her crate- what's there to watch? I told him I wanted to see how much she played and slept. I dont think she cries because she loves her crate and I always stand outside the door for a few minutes while I am putting on my shoes and getting things together and she never makes a sound.. Anyways, glad to know I'm not crazy for wanting to watch her! lol

[Eric Vecc]

Jill,
I have read (and been told) that cats sleep for an average of 17 hours per day. That only leaves 7 hours of awake time. I would think that dogs are not far off that number. They lack the stress and bustle of our everyday lives, which enables them to sleep (and live) much more peacfully. Yes, I am jealous. Imagine if humans slept for 17 hours a day. Nothing would ever get done!

[Chris Smith]

I would love to have a live feed web cam to watch my dog!! I have friends who have video and audio taped their dog when they're gone and the dog cried and cried and for almost the entire 8 hours!! I have "spied" on my dog when he is left alone and he rarely sleeps. He sometimes tries to play by himself a little in the yard, but he mostly just seems bored and frustrated. Even lonely.

I'm sure dogs are different and some are big sleepers, but I don't think that they all sleep most of the day - especially the puppies or young dogs and the energetic breeds.

And from what I hear, it does make a big difference if it is a more than one dog household (so Sarah, you are out of the loop on this one - good mommy!) If there are 2 or more dogs that get along, they do play together, snooze together, get into trouble together, etc. but it is some form of attention.

I think it's great that so many of you for make arrangements and efforts to break up the long day alone (going home for lunch, having neighbors come by, using dog walkers, etc.).