Help please

pogface

pogface

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14 April 2012
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Hi all,

Please offer me advise... Or a slap in the face. Or maybe your own experiences...

I am desperate for a dog. Beside myself. Had got a plan worked out, as my OH and I work during the day, so dog would come to work with me. Cutting a longer story short this has fallen through. If I get the dog, it will now be at home by itself for most of the day Monday to Friday. Not always, but most of the time. A friend has pointed out that this is the case for millions of people and they still manage to have a dog. I just don't feel it's fair for my dog to be at home by itself for a long period of time.
What do you do with yours?
Am I silly or too soft to think I can't have one? Or sensible because it would be unfair?
Feel very silly as I know this isn't a big issue, it's not like I've already bought the dog. I'm just so disappointed and upset. I thought I'd finally worked out a plan that meant I could have my own dog.
Any replies greatly appreciated!
 
Both myself and OH worked full time when we first got our dogs, that's why we had two as they keep each other company. We also had a kennel and a well fenced compound to keep them in while we were at work. They didn't bark as they had company and while they were young my mum would call around just to check on them.
 
Personally if you want to get a dog and work then I would get a dog walker. You cannot leave a dog for 8 or 9 + hours alone.

I now work from home so dogs always have company, but I used to be office bound Monday to Friday and I paid someone to take them out just for 20 mins and have a cup of tea afterward so it broke up their day. She left them with a chew each too.
Now if I go into the office I leave the radio on and my son is back from college by 3pm and the dogs ( I have 3) are fine with this.

Another idea is like someone suggested have 2 for company with each other and dependant on dog size a dog flap or proper kenneling with runs in the garden. My friend has this so when she is out the dogs are out in their lovely kennels.
 
Have you looked into having a dog walker pop in midday? Or could either of you pop back in your lunch break?
I think a full working day is quite long to leave a dog, especialy without a toilet break or anything, but if you can offer it a midday break then two lots of 4 hour-ish stretches are fine. It may involve getting up earlier for a longer walk in the morning, and walking the dog as soon as you get in regardless of how tired you are, how rainy it is, how hungry you are etc. but I think it can definately be do-able.
I would suggest a slightly older dog rather than a puppy/juvenile dog, and one that is known to be fine when left.
You can leave things to occupy the dog when you leave for work, for example I put my two's breakfast into Kongs the night before and freeze it. A frozen Kong will occupy them for the first half hour or so of being home alone, which is a lot longer than the 2 minutes (if that!) they snaffle down a bowl of food. Licking and chewing also release endorphins to relax a dog, and the physical exercise (it's fairly tough to empty a frozen Kong) tires them out so they tend to eat breakfast then curl up and sleep for a good few hours.
You can also leave 'activity boxes', treats wrapped in various things (tissue paper, toilet roll inner tubes folded over, newspaper, etc) for them to sniff out and unwrap, bits of food hidden around the house (be careful not to put them under sofa cushions or similar if the dog is likely to damage the sofa trying to dig it out), an activity ball they have to roll around to dispense treats (the Buster Cube comes in a soft version that's quieter if you have laminate type flooring - my OH banned our regular activity ball as it's so loud!)

It could be an idea to approach a rescue with the view of fostering a dog to see how it suits your lifestyle before commiting to adopting it, a bit like a trial run but it also helps the dog to be assessed in a home environment, and frees up a kennel space for another needy dog. You may find that some rescues won't consider fulltime workers, but don't be disheartened, many are happy to home to them as long as they have made solid plans for a daytime toilet break/dogwalker/etc.
 
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