Full time work with dogs & horses!

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zola89

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I know this can be a bit of a controversial subject but I'm hoping people in a similar position to ours might share what they do with their dogs whilst working full time.

My husband and I would both love to get a dog but he works away during the week and I work full time Monday-Friday. We aren't allowed dogs down the stable yard so in the Winter when the horse is in at night, I leave at 7am and get home at 7.30pm and 8.30pm if I ride. We would definitely get a wooden kennel in the garden with a run so the dog would have its own space/bed/toys etc and still be able to go outside for a wee and to watch the world go by. We would also get a dog walker/willing parent to stop by at lunch time to go for an hours walk. Some days he'd probably go to my parents' for the afternoon and play with their dogs too. So maybe 6 hours on his own at a time. He'd also be walked/let out in the mornings and evenings and go for lovely long walks on the weekends. I'd obviously be there in the evenings and he'd sleep in the house at night. We would also get a 2nd dog so they would have each other for company but this would probably be a year or so later.

Obviously this isn't the ideal but if you work full time and have horses & dogs I'd be very interested to know how you manage?

Thanks in advance!
 
Hi,

I have 2 Dogs & 2 Horses (and a OH) ,I work Mon - Fri 9-5, he does 8-6

Luckily for us i have the option of taking my dogs to work, but my horse attacks dogs so they can't be on the yard.

Is there no way you could discuss with your employer about this being an option? or discuss with 'willing parent' to drop off at there house Mon - Fri

I have friends with 2 dogs who have them in the garden during the day but they don't have horses so have the weekends dedicated to pooches & morning/evening long walks (aswell as lunch 30mins by a dog walker)

here's how i do it, but as I said above they are allowed in the office;

Here is my week;

Mon – Fri – 7am leave for work (having fed the dogs)
7.15 – 8.30 – turn & muck out horses – the dogs are in my car (now known as the Kennel)
8.30 – 8.50 – walk dogs
9 – 1.30 – Working (my JRT is in a cage by my desk & lab under desk)
Then a lunch time walk and back to the office
5-6.30 – Horses horses horse
6.30 – 7 walking dogs in the dark (Light up collars are on their way)


Weekends – Saturday if OH isn’t shooting I go to the yard and do horses as normal.

If he is then I take dogs to yard – turn out & walk the dogs on the farm next door

Sundays – YO turn out and we walk dogs together


I know this isn't much help but thought i'd share how i do it :)
 
I wanted my own dog for a long, long time- but having horses and working 9.00-5.00 simply prevented me from getting one (I felt it wouldn't be fair on the dog, even with a walker).

You say that the most that the dog would be alone would be six hours tops (which in my view is two hours too long)., but factor in sleeping for seven hours and in fact the dog would be alone for fourteen hours a day.

I know that people kennel/put runs in the garden - but security would be a massive concern to me.

I gave up work nearly four years ago and then got my dog.
 
If you could tweak things a bit then I think it could work. On the days you are away from 7.30am-8.30pm I would suggest either getting a walker or family member to come in twice that day or have a look at dog day care. Obviously you will need a fairly sociable dog for the latter scenario.

If you were to go ahead then I would suggest looking at an older dog and not a puppy. Young pups need feeding four times a day, regular interaction, house-training and company. It would not be fair to leave a pup alone for so long.

Have you any ideas on what breed or type of dog you would like? A couple of retired greyhounds might work well for you, if you can sort out the walker/family member to break the day up for them and give them some exercise.
 
I think when you factor in all the time the dog will be left alone, it will be too long imho. My horses are at home but very low maintenance-saying that, I dont mix horses and dogs so am doing one or other. Dogs come to work with me three days a week -walked on way to work, lunchtime and on way home, let out at coffee breaks. OH wfh twice a week and they stay with him-tbh they have run of house/garden and play with each other. We are planning kennels for those days we need them but they will be secure and in an existing outbuilding.

I have worked full time and had a dog at home-I wouldnt do it again unless I really couldnt help it and you have to factor in age of the dog, once they are grown up its not so bad but its hard on a older dog and not good at all for a young one.
 
Would you/could you move yards to a dog friendly yard? Its actually my top must have on yards to allow dogs. OK if they need to stay on the lead.

I'm at work everyday of the week from 8 to 5.
2 days a week she is out with dog walker 8-1pm
2 days we walk her before work
Fridays OH works a half day.

Every evening she is out with me at the yard from 5 to 7.30/8 including a walk around the woods, some pottering time and playing with other yard dogs.

We only settled into this routine once she was about 2 years old. Prior to that she had morning walks and everyday dog walker mid day and evenings out again.
 
On the question of how we manage - OH and I work full-time and we have two dogs, but I do a day working from home and he works Saturdays so has a day off in the week. He starts work earlier and I start later. OH does a split shift so he is home for at least a couple of hours in the middle of the day, sometimes five or six hours. If he has paperwork to do, he brings it home. At the weekends, we really minimize stuff that will take us away from the dogs, not to be leaving them at the weekend when we've been out in the week. We don't have much of a social life and would only go out in the evening if one of us has been in all day, partly cause we don't want to leave the dogs. We have a motorhome so that they can come on holidays and on weekends away. So ours are on their own for about three hours in the morning and two to three hours in the evening three days a week.

In your case, I would second the suggestion of looking at a dog friendly yard - I was on a dog friendly yard and then moved to one that wasn't and it just made life much more complicated. I spent a lot of time feeling guilty about the dogs when with the horse and the horse when with the dogs. I wouldn't do that again. Twelve or thirteen hours is a long time for them not to see you five days a week, even if they are taken out. Also, you'd really need to not be going anywhere that you can't take them at the weekends and in the evenings otherwise you'll just feel like you hardly see them - probably not on nights out, might be tricky for competing or long hacks. Worth considering - How long do you go to the yard for at the weekends? If you can't take the dogs, could you still do that? What about doggy daycare that would have them out of the house for longer? What do you do for holidays? Can you easily get time off work if they're poorly (I can't really, but fortunately OH can, so it usually works out)? If they were ill and couldn't go to daycare/dog walker, would you be able to get back to let them out?
 
Thanks everyone for sharing! Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to take him to work as I work in a city centre office and I wouldn't want to move yards as there isn't another comparable within a similar distance from home.

We were thinking of a labrador to start with but I think we might have to wait till circumstances change for now, unless I can convince mum & dad to have him for at least half the day!
 
zola89 said:
Thanks everyone for sharing! Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to take him to work as I work in a city centre office and I wouldn't want to move yards as there isn't another comparable within a similar distance from home.

We were thinking of a labrador to start with but I think we might have to wait till circumstances change for now, unless I can convince mum & dad to have him for at least half the day!
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It's hard, isn't it? We waited for what felt like ages until we could set up work to fit our life around them. You might well end up in a different job or telecommuting/part-time in a year or two, so don't give up hope!
 
If you are out 7am - 8.30pm five days a week and then presumably sleeping from 11pmish until 5am what would be the point in having a dog, you would only see it for 4.5hours a day?! 6 hours is far too long to leave a dog routinely. I have worked full time with dogs but between OH, family and I they have never been left for more than three hours at a time. You have to think about what quality of life you can offer a dog.
 
I come home every lunch time to let mine out. I don't think in your circumstances it would be fair on the dog.
Mine come to the yard with me. Get good walks and sleep most of the time I'm not there.
It is do able to work and have dogs but not the hours you work sorry.
A lab also needs a lot of exercise and company.
 
I usually differ from the majority view with this type of question as I have 4 dogs and work full time :)

I leave for work at 8am, the dog sitter lets them out at lunchtime, and my OH is Home at 6pm then immediately walks them and is with them until I get home around 7.30pm

I’ve done this for years with no problems and I have 4 happy, healthy and contented dogs. Having said that, they are greyhounds (and lurchers) which have to be the most relaxed easy going breed I have ever encountered! I would be very hesitant about getting any other breed and doing this, but it works fine for me
 
zola89 said:
We were thinking of a labrador to start with but I think we might have to wait till circumstances change for now, unless I can convince mum & dad to have him for at least half the day!
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Labradors are easy dogs, but very high energy. A dog share with the parents sound ideal, I asgree with RTE that there really isn't much point you having a dog to see for a couple of hours a day.
 
Lévrier;13679452 said:
I usually differ from the majority view with this type of question as I have 4 dogs and work full time :)

I leave for work at 8am, the dog sitter lets them out at lunchtime, and my OH is Home at 6pm then immediately walks them and is with them until I get home around 7.30pm

I’ve done this for years with no problems and I have 4 happy, healthy and contented dogs. Having said that, they are greyhounds (and lurchers) which have to be the most relaxed easy going breed I have ever encountered! I would be very hesitant about getting any other breed and doing this, but it works fine for me
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As a whole, I also like to support people to get dogs, and agree with your sort of dogs it works fine. But with the majority of dog breeds (even low energy ones) they would not cope.

however, rescues do sometimes have a bonded pair of adult dogs that could move right in! it's not an ideal situation, but better than kennels.
 
Either parents have them half a day or possibly get 2 dogs so they have company, access to outside with warm kennel and parents when possible. My collie comes to work with me everyday and yard am and pm and I still feel guilty on the odd occasion I leave her at home for a short day or don't take her to the yard as I am boxing up for a lesson(barks constantly in lorry)
 
I used to have a GSD while working full time- but I worked three jobs that all worked around him,along with my husband.
used to do my horses 5.45-6.45, then paid to do 2 down the road 6.45-7.30- my dog came with me and ran around the yard and the garden next to the horses field, so when I then got home to get changed before work he had had 2 hours outside and with me. he was ready to sleep! then I would be out 8-3.30 (school) then pick him up and head back to the horses! 2 evenings a week I had a third job but husband would be home promptly those days. I also used to work saturdays but husband didn't.
 
Definite no to a wooden kennel for the garden- these tend to be wet, cold and at high risk of the dog being stolen. If you are out from 77.30/8.30 you will be unable to settle a dog in . Unless you are going to pay someone to come for either an hour twice a day or two hours in middle of that I'd say its a no. I am normally encouraging to those who had dogs and work full time as it works well with the right pairs - when you get in at 7.30/830 ar eyou going to want to go for 30-45min walk? and ditto before work?
 
meesha said:
Either parents have them half a day or possibly get 2 dogs so they have company, access to outside with warm kennel and parents when possible. My collie comes to work with me everyday and yard am and pm and I still feel guilty on the odd occasion I leave her at home for a short day or don't take her to the yard as I am boxing up for a lesson(barks constantly in lorry)
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I always think that 2 dogs are better than one, they keep each other company when the owner is unavailable.
 
I do work fulltime and leave Mrs Spaniel on her own during the week and have a part loan 3 days a week. My weekday routine is:
Wake up 7 and we have 30 minutes in the park, we sometimes play fetch but at the moment I'm busy trying to teach her to sit and wait at differing distances from me with the goal of being able to hack out and cross roads with me in Spring.
I leave for work at 8 and get home at 5.
Now I live with my brother who does shifts so he either leaves at 11.30am or gets home at 3, he lets her out into the garden when he leaves or gets in so she's not sat all day with legs crossed!
Monday/Wednesday/Thursday I get home at 5 and we walk for an hour in a 2 acre field normally meeting the rest of the '5 o clock club' which is something like 20 other people and their dogs (not everyone at once!)
We also do a final 30 min street walk about 8pm.
I am lucky that she comes to the yard and ferrets around there on Tuesdays and Fridays. There is currently one hacking route that is 20 mins and a loop avoiding roads so if I take her out we do a walk, a trot and finally a canter loop. Hopefully if I can get her roadworthy enough we can do 2 or 3 hour hacks together.
We are normally at the yard a minimum of two hours.
Weekends we do a long walk minimum 2 hours on Saturdays around country parks or the woods, depending on my mood and then the hour and 30 minutes in the evening.
Sunday we go for a walk, then flyball training, then the yard. (Out from 8 am to 3pm)
She has free roam of the house bar bedrooms and access to her toys during week.
If she seemed bothered I'd have looked into a dog walker but she seems happy with the routine but it was a struggle until we found the flyball and I felt she had learnt to be horse-savvy and off the lead at the yard.

I am lucky that my yard is dog friendly and I'd be more inclined to say go for it if you could take yours with you!

I'd wasr reluctant to have a dog when I was out of the house long hours like you but if my job changed and I did go back to that. Then I'd definitely get a walker. My weekends do revolve around her as I feel neglectful leaving her so I make the extra effort to spend the time doing long walks, dog training and spending the time with her.
 
I feel that this is not going to work for the dog. A kennel and a garden could well produce a dog that spends a lot of time barking in frustration. I feel it is just too long to leave it without company and stimulation. From the dogs POV it will be virtually alone for 13 hours a day, 5 days a week. That is going to be very lonely. I would be upset to leave a dog for 13 hours just once very occasionally let alone on a daily basis. Mine is a 12yo, very calm dog and I leave her for up to 6 hours max but that is perhaps once or twice a week and she is always inside with the run of the house. I think in your case the only way to make it work is doggy day care or alternatively find someone local to "share" the dog with who can take over in the daytime.
 
If you are leaving at 7am you will be walking the dog in the dark and freezing cold at this time of the year. I do it once a week when I work in London (OH is at home all day so dog not left) and out on the bike at 5.30am when it is bitterly cold - albeit very pretty in frost and moonlight is a bit much even for the dog!
 
I don't think your set up sounds ideal, purely from a logical point of view. If it's going to be left in the garden, it's going to get wet, cold, and not learn to be toilet trained.

I've had my rescue for nine months now who wasn't toilet trained when he came to me, but he's brilliant now and can go a long time if necessary between toilet breaks.

He gets a wee before I leave for work at 7:40, then I walk home on lunch to let him out and say hello, then I'm home at 5:20 and we go for his proper walk (although sometimes he'll get a long walk on lunch and another long walk in the eve), and then he gets another wee before bed.

This routine seems to work fine for him - he sleeps any time I'm out and is a very spoilt and happy dog!

Being left for long periods doesn't work for them all, but there's also an element of them getting used to it gradually.

I wouldn't get a dog if I had to leave it in the garden all day.
 
For me, you either have an outside dog or an inside dog, I’m not sure mixing it up is ideal.

The hours you are out of the house for also aren’t ideal. And unsuitable for puppies and many breeds of adult active dogs.

If you are dead set on having a dog, the only way I can see it might work, would be to rehome a pair of adults of a lazy variety who will adapt to that routine. Indoor dogs with an hours worth of paid dog walking at lunch, with shorter before/after walks by you. Your problem will be finding the right dogs or a rescue who would consider such a set up
 
zola89 said:
I know this can be a bit of a controversial subject but I'm hoping people in a similar position to ours might share what they do with their dogs whilst working full time.

My husband and I would both love to get a dog but he works away during the week and I work full time Monday-Friday. We aren't allowed dogs down the stable yard so in the Winter when the horse is in at night, I leave at 7am and get home at 7.30pm and 8.30pm if I ride. We would definitely get a wooden kennel in the garden with a run so the dog would have its own space/bed/toys etc and still be able to go outside for a wee and to watch the world go by. We would also get a dog walker/willing parent to stop by at lunch time to go for an hours walk. Some days he'd probably go to my parents' for the afternoon and play with their dogs too. So maybe 6 hours on his own at a time. He'd also be walked/let out in the mornings and evenings and go for lovely long walks on the weekends. I'd obviously be there in the evenings and he'd sleep in the house at night. We would also get a 2nd dog so they would have each other for company but this would probably be a year or so later.

Obviously this isn't the ideal but if you work full time and have horses & dogs I'd be very interested to know how you manage?

Thanks in advance!
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We have a dog and two horses (Horses at home now) and the guilt of leaving the dog for 4 hours a day kills us both. I will add that when we got her as a puppy I gave up work for a few months to ensure she got the best start (was going to be changing jobs so was ideal to just take my time looking for the next job) without this break in work we would NOT have got a dog.

When the horse was on part livery (I only went down after work, not mornings) it was a juggling act and the OH tended to walk her more because dogs weren't allowed at the yard (YO's dogs would have killed her!) but she would often sit in the car on my none riding days and then would get her evening walk in some fields at yard which worked ok BUT my none riding days were few and far between and 9/10 I would go straight from work to the yard so OH was always responisble (If he moans about the horse he will moan about how much of the dogs care he is responsible for, trust me!)

Our current set up - I walk her down to the fields in the morning to check horses. She then sits at home from about 0745 till 1200. At lunch we either go down the lane or walk to the fields for a kickabout. Im back at work by 1300 (15 minute drive) so its a quick lunch stop. She then sits on her own until 1700 and then she gets an evening walk or comes to the yard with me if im not riding out (she gets bored watching me ride to be honest but OH takes her for lovely walks) Sometimes my OH will be in earlier, sometimes he will leave later if he is on a week of 1400-2200 ect but its generally me who does the walking. Without living close to work and going home at lunch this wouldnt work. We cant afford £50-70 a week on a dog walker and no family nearby!

One dog on its own is a bored dog. Two dogs on there own is simply two bored dogs so forget that 'keeping them company' idea! From what you have described I honestly think you will struggle. Im not saying it cant be done with the right dog but you would need to both take annual leave to begin with to be at home and I certainly wouldnt get a puppy but would be looking for an older dog who had come from a similar home.

We cannot imagine life without our princess, she is the apple of our eye and we would both move heaven and earth to make her happy :)
 
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If you can manage financially, find a dog crèche you like, have the dog there some days, and ask parents if they can cope with 1-2 afternoons of dog minding

Sometimes you just do the best you can- I had to leave mine for long periods, due to work/commute, I had a lovely dog walker, and he was with me all the time when I wasn't as work, so effectively he spent more time with me than on his own.

There's no perfect answer other than not having a dog, and sometimes people are a bit quick to criticise. I have a calm well behaved sociable dog who isn't shredding furniture the second you leave the house, and is if not fast asleep when I get home, has only just got off the sofa, judging by the warm dent still in it!
 
The problem with potentially rescuing would be i doubt a rescue centre would actually give you a dog considering your circumstances. Ive read peoples posts on here who sound like they have a more than appropriate set up and get turned down.

Also, if you do go ahead, what are the cost of having a dog walker and or doggy daycare? That cant be cheap if youre potentially needing it 5 days a week
 
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RunToEarth said:
If you are out 7am - 8.30pm five days a week and then presumably sleeping from 11pmish until 5am what would be the point in having a dog, you would only see it for 4.5hours a day?! 6 hours is far too long to leave a dog routinely. I have worked full time with dogs but between OH, family and I they have never been left for more than three hours at a time. You have to think about what quality of life you can offer a dog.
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I will admit that was my thinking too? Is your OH home a lot earlier than you so he would be doing the dog when you are doing the horse?
 
Dano1223 said:
The problem with potentially rescuing would be i doubt a rescue centre would actually give you a dog considering your circumstances. Ive read peoples posts on here who sound like they have a more than appropriate set up and get turned down.

Also, if you do go ahead, what are the cost of having a dog walker and or doggy daycare? That cant be cheap if youre potentially needing it 5 days a week
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Big charities yes .. and they wonder why they have so many in their rescues! In an ideal world for them none of us would work or we would all work from home and no dog in its lifetime would be left alone for more than twenty minutes ... In the real world the smaller charities know people work and that a good home with an adult dog left up to four hours a day is more than suitable and preferable over a lifetime in a rescue kennel. I know of some great charities who will say if a dog they have in foster is suitable for a 0900-1700 family as long as it gets seen at lunchtime so they are, thankfully, out there. :)
 
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