Opinions on people with dogs who work full-time..

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karenjj

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Where do you keep your dogs in the day?
Do you think it is unfair to have dogs if you work full time?

I ask these questions because both me and my boyfriend work full time so the dogs (labrador and jrt) are at home for 8 hours a day in the hall. They go for a walk in the morning and in the evening and go up the stables with me as well. Recently a gardener next door came round and said "do you know those dogs were shut up all day" and I explained they always were and that they were used to it since pups. He said he thought it was cruel to make them hold their toilet all day and I should rehome them! I have been worrying non-stop since thinking I'm being cruel/unfair and just wondered your opinions. I know it's not ideal for them to be alone all day but I always thought they were quite content with their routine. Thoughts please!
 
I think it depends on the dog and generally when well managed I don't see a problem with it.

For example, Tink went out to the toilet at 7.30am today. She refused to go out at lunch when I came up to let her out, and wouldn't go when I got home from work either. She finally went out at 7pm. :rolleyes: :o

If you think they're content and they haven't peed/wrecked everything then you should know your dogs better than some nosey old sod! :D
 
Well personally, I wouldn't.

Could you not arrange for someone to walk them at lunchtime? A friend/family member or pay a dog walker? Maybe even the gardener who stuck his nose in!

There's been a surge in the number of dog walkers in my area. I think it's because people a realising that dogs shouldn't really be left home alone all day.
 
I work full time and my dog stays in all day 4 days a week.
It isnt ideal but he goes out morning and night, to the stables, out for bike rides and has just started agility training so compared to everyone else i know who has a dog he has a very, very active life. He seems very content in himself and he has had this routine since a baby so he doesnt know any different.
 
Ok, it's not ideal, but it also urks the ***** out of me when people say quite blasayley (sp) I think I made that up:o:D "rehome them" yeah right, because there are an unlimited amount of homes out there for dogs and they will spend their day running in the poppy fields in the sunshine "thump" back to reality, they are safe and they are together, they are not destructive I presume nor do they do their business indoors, dogs thats are unhappy with this kind of set up will usually make you/your home or your neighbour aware of their disgust:D

It all depends on the dog, I would leave half of my lot that long and they would sleep, my whippet boy is the only one that would become restless and the younf pup I have in so there day would have to be broken up, otherwise if my situation changed, I could not afford 10 dogs walked and nor would I part with them, because if I heard anything had happened to them I would never forgive myself, they would be well exercised before and after work and safe.
 
To add re the where do they stay, if im out now, I have 4 kenneled, my rotti and lurcher on their bed on the landing and the rest in the doggy room, which was my gargage now converted to a room that mimics a kitchen, there beds are splattered all around.
 
mine go for a walk in the morning (about an hour) and then left from about 8:30 to 1:30, are let out at lunch but if it is raining, the JRT will not go out and then i am home from about 5:15 and they are usually with us for the rest of the evening, will usually have another hours walk or might be at dog school or agility.

They stay in the dining room and hall while we are out, but have escaped a few times into the rest of the house.

They have always had this routine and seem very happy contented dogs.
 
Me and my OH work full time although my OH does do more work from home these days and I have a half day off a week (as well as half the year on holiday as I am a teacher!:p). My OH says that when he is working at home - and therefore ignoring Purdey our Springer spaniel she just slops around the house not asking to go out all day!
When we are both at work one of us does pop back at lunchtime for half an hour so she isn't on her own all day but like you, I think she has a much more active life than many dogs. She has a good walk in the morning up to the horse and another off lead walk (well not walk, more hoon about madly) in the evening.
Your dogs are fine left in the hall - I'm sure they don't worry about it as much as we do!
 
It isn't ideal and I'd rather be at home but mine have the run of the house and access to the garden all the time. They also come to the yard and get walked am and pm.
 
Thanks everyone, I would never consider re-homing them anyway he just made me out to be cruel by keeping them indoors and the way he said it worried me ever since! I was wondering whether to get them an outdoor kennel perhaps so they have a toilet? I just worry they may get stolen outside!
 
I live away at uni and both my parents work full time. We have an 8 year old Goldie and a 10 year old GSD.
They are walked and left at 7.30am and are on their own until 4pm, when they are walked and fed.
When I am home, they sleep, play, sleep, play, sleep, sleep, sleep!!
They don't destroy anything, nor do any business inside. They don't bark or cause havoc. I wholeheartedly think they are happy and content and have been since they were puppies in the same set up (except I was home earlier back then).
I wouldn't worry :)
K x
 
I have 2 rescue dogs, Lillie was a stray that was brought into the pound in September, had pups there beginning of Oct - they were all homed and I gave Lil's a home where I saw there the following April!

My other, Bear was only there for a week or so as he owner actually took him there to be re-homed due to the council moving him from a house to a flat and not allowing a dog there!

My OH works full time, and I have been Full time, Part time & off sick since I have had them - I am now back in work full time.

We leave at 8am and are back at 5.30

They go out in the morning and the evening, and are with us wherever we go on the weekends.

If the weather is poop they stay in the house with their toys, if its nice they go out the back with toys and they both have a kennel.

I did look at Rescue centres, but I couldn't give one a second chance of happiness as I work full time!! I think it is ludicrous to turn a knowledgeable, loving person down because they work (which does benefit my dogs as I can afford vaccs, treatment if needed, toys, treats etc.

how can these centres/ people honestly believe that being stuck in a small kennel/ pen/ cage with a couple of walks a day sharing their 'human' with many other dogs then being left after working hours be better for them that having a human of their own, that loves them, that rushes home to see them, has them cuddled up with them all evening/ night just because they spend a few hours alone in the day!

Both my dogs are happy, healthy, fit, loved (poss a little spoilt!) and don't get me wrong they love it when I have time off but they were brought in to my home with this routine and as far as I can tell they are happy with it - I certainly don't think they would swap back to their old life of a kennel, with people gwaping at them only to keep walking by and the constant noise of the pound!

Having said that I would LOVE to find a job where I could take my dog to work with me as my OH would then take my other, but this is simply 'cos we want them with us not because they despise being left alone!!
 
Betsy is crated from half 7 untill half 4 when I am at work (usually only 3 or 4 days a week). Before we moved I could come home for an hour at lunch but now we are too far away. Luckily since the move OH has had holiday from work so he has been around to occupy her in the day and he is now on night shift so tomorrow while I am at work he will probably give her run of the house while he sleeps (or she will just climb in the bed with daddy...).

When he is back working days I am either going to get her a walker or use some kennels when im at work.

She has been left on her own all day before and was fine but I wouldnt do it long term.
 
Ignore nosy gardener,tell him to mind his business,an get on with his job,

dogs dont need to be on the go all the time,they like some chill time as well as us.dogs dont run around all day in the wild,they arent pooing everywhere,or wrecking the house so id say they are quite contented.

Dont bend over backwards to placate someone who has no right to tell you how to look after YOUR dogs,silly silly man.
 
As others have said it is a misconception that dogs need to be with you all the time/ not left for longer than 4 hours. Dogs are designed to sleep about 80% of the day so do exactly that when you are at work - except to bark at the postie!

All our dogs have always been left during the day and have never been destructive, barked etc etc and have been well balanced healthy dogs as they have been walked religiously every day unlike some dogs I know who don't get walked be ause their owner is there all day.
 
I work fulltime (well, from 9 - 4 five days a week) I have three dogs - all very active breeds that needs lots of exercise and stimulation!

Each morning before work I take them down to the yard, I ride and they all come with me (no roads!) then I feed them in their run. I have two large kennels, doors left open and I have had a large pen built so they have plenty of room to run around.

Kids get home just after 4 and let them out and I take them down to the yard and walk them again in the evening. They spend the rest of the evening in the house with us and go back out to their kennels when I go to bed.

I just think that with three of them together, they keep themselves occupied! They often get a bone, chews etc for the day too. And of course it is all routine - which they love (I think!).

I think my dogs are very lucky! They get plenty of exercise, love and attention - probably too much!

But ... I do feel desperately sorry for dogs who live on their own, on their own all day and if they are lucky, walked down the pavements to the park (on a lead) a few times a week - and lets face it, there are thousands of dogs in this country living like that :( What a miserable existence for a dog :(

I thought about contacting rescue centres when I was looking for another dog but decided not to bother as I work - just how ridiculous is that!
 
Sorry, don't agree with most of previous posts. We NEVER had dogs, though we would have loved to, until we owned a business where they could be with us - not all the time - but most of it.

I now work from home, and I hear sad yowling dogs all day, (in a very prosperous small rural community). Some leave them shut in one room, one family leaves theirs out in the garden for 8 hours a day, whatever the weather, and as for crates, don't even go there! The only ones with full-time working owners who seem happy have a dog walker.

If you come back at lunch break that is acceptable, but I think it's self indulgent to have dogs and then just leave them all day - especially if they're the only dog.
 
The dogs you describe are dogs that are clearly not to happy, unless they are barking at sorrounding noises when outside in the gardens?, what if people have dogs then their circumstances change? they may not have a dog walker in the vacinity? should they rehome? and who can guarantee that that dog does get a wonderful home? or end up like the starved to death one in dingle12's post?

An energietic, underexercised dog left alone all doy is a bad situation and it sounds like those are the types of dogs you are hearing?, many people have taped their dogs when leaving for work, to find they have not even ventured out of their beds all day.

There are thousnads upon thousands of dogs in pounds as we speak, if they where only offered to folks on the dole, then thats a bad state of affairs, there are older and less energetic dogs that would love to curl up in a warm house all day after a morning walk and an evening walk, than sit in a concrete kennel day in and out.
 
I work full time (coming home for lunch) and do shifts. Some days the dogs are left alone for 3 then 4 hours (before and after lunch)

They are very happy, well rounded dogs. Very healthy and very content. They have each other, which is what a dog needs - not a human. However a lone dog does need its human and for this reason I would not be overly happy to do this with a lone dog.

However there are exceptions to every rule and dogs are individuals who may have preferences for different things. With the right dog and right routine I see no reason why they can't be left at home.
 
My housemate was concerned that her full-of-energy collie might be fretting and yowling as she had to leave him for most of the day, so she set up a camera to see what he was up to when she was away.
Cue 7 hours or so of Ted sleeping soundly and peacefully.
As other people have said, each dog to his own routine.
 
We work full time - Stan is crated while we are out and has been since he was 12 weeks old. He falls asleep as we go out the door and wakes up as we come back in. We do come home at lunch, but the longest we have left him is just over 7 hours and he was still fast asleep when we got home! We have left toys and chews in his crate for him but he never touches them - he literally just sleeps! He gets up early with me and either goes for a half an hour off lead hoon around our local park, or comes to the yard and "helps" with the mucking out etc, and after that he's ready for his sleep. In the evening he comes to the yard for a few hours and the includes a decent walk, or a hoon round the fields.

I know a lot of people don't agree with having a dog (especially a puppy) and working full time, but...well to put it blunty, I don't really care. Stan is, by all accounts, one of the happiest dogs you could ever meet (and this is what everyone who meets him says about him) - he loves to play, he loves the yard, he loves his walks, but he also loves his sleep.
 
Both my dogs are left alone while OH & I work FT, But we pay a dog walker to walk them both for two hours a day at lunch time. This means we're paying for two walks a day per dog 5 days p/w... But one hour wouldnt be enough for Tyson. He gets let off the lead for two hours to hoon around with the other dogs as his recall is good enough to allow this, and Bryony stays on a lead for the entire walk but this seems enough for her. They also have an hours walk at 6am and then they both get an off lead hoon around at the yard at 6pm, for about half an hour while horses are fed etc.
Tyson does destroy stuff. Not always, but sofas have been known to be eaten on the odd occasion. We are now starting to crate him and are working up to him being crated before his lunch time walk, which will be for about 5 hours solid. But tbh, I think even if Tysie had 8 hours of walking a day he'd still eat my house...
 
Do you think it is unfair to have dogs if you work full time?
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I do. Unfair and terribly selfish, actually.

These dogs get some sort of interaction for only a few hours a day - when you are around, and that's it.

It's something I'm known to be vocal about, I'm afraid. But really, unless you work part time or are able to take the dog to work with you - don't have one.

Sorry.
 
We both work FT, Mon-Fri. I'm lucky in that I can take my dog to work with me for part of the day, so she's left from 8.25 to 1, then I'm home for an hour at lunch, and we take a short-ish walk on the way back to work (it's 5 mins brisk walk, but we make detours!). She gets walked in the morning, then left upstairs (babygate) with a stuffed Kong, chew toys, her bed (and ours...), and ideally one or both of the cats for company. She sleeps for most of the afternoon at work, then we go straight from work to the yard, and depending on who's around, she is either off lead the whole time, or she's kept on the lead and I take her for a run round the fields on her own.

She's happy, she doesn't bark or destroy things when we're out (ok, she barks at the postie and she will shred paper, but she'll do both of those things if we're home!).

At weekends, she comes with us - to the yard, fence judging (she sleeps unless there's someone new there to fuss her!), and she is part of a trick display team and often performs at weekends.

However, I would love to get another one. Not immediately, probably early next year, after the excitement of Christmas etc. If I have two, I can't really bring them both to work (it's an office, Poppy is just about tolerated), so they'd be left alone all day and let out for an hour at lunchtime. I think they'd be fine, they'd have each other and the cats for company, and they would get all of our time in the evenings and weekend, with long walks and an active life. I'd love to take on a rescue, but not sure any of the rescue centres would let us rehome. Cross that bridge when we get to it, I guess.
 
I work full time, have 6 RESCUE dogs 4 of which where happily handed over to me after full homechecks, my dogs are left for 8 hours a day with access to a secure garden after having an hours run in the morning (and then get another hour in the evening) so maybe I am cruel and selfish but as the alternative for the majority of mine was death by needle what do you suggest oh lucky one's that don't have to work for a living I do with them???? :rolleyes: Oh and rescues STILL allow me to foster dogs for them...shocking. ;)

Actually my dogs have interaction all day from OTHER CANINES which obviously being a pack animal is preferable to being stuck with some idiot human interferring and messing up their schedule.

I would never lock a dog in a cage all day and certainly not leave them without garden access or a pee break during the day but get a grip they are DOGS not children they don't need constant attention and if you could ask them they prefer to be left alone to sleep for the majority of the time anyway. A little bit of common sense goes along way.

Next thing we'll get the PC brigade demanding our horses are not left longer than 4 hours a day in a field unsupervised...I mean they might actually behave like horses and that can't be good. :rolleyes:
 
my 3 (rescued) working dogs - a springer (retired admittedly - but had him 5 years under same management when he was working) a labrador and a cocker spangle (both who work) all thrive on their routine - which includes being left in their room all day every day - none of them bark, trash the house or are naughty on walks. so they only get about 5 hours of human interaction a day - on weekends when we are home they take themselves off to bed a lot during the day rather than spend time bothering us and asking for atention

i really don't see the problem with having dogs if you work - so long as you have a routine and manage them ok

tbh - this idea that dogs need constant human stimulation and amusement to be happy is daft - by doing that you actually make them NEED it and that creates a whole new set of problems IMHO

oh - and no - they are not rescued from rescue centers - they are by word of mouth from around the country - a neglect case (not out of kennel for a year) a beaten case and a cocker rage case.

rescue centers - springer spangle one in particular - do not like working homes - so what are these dogs designed to do then? look pretty running in the fields?? ffs - my dogs live to see me reach for my whistle, dummy or gun - nothing makes them happier

oh - and the cocker had 'rage syndrome' when he had all day interaction from a family - now he's fine and a lovely sociable dog who never so much as lifts a lip at a person - so what routine was/is he happiest in....?
 
I've got two dogs and when I move out I'll be working full time without someone being home in the afternoon (mum works part time so while I'm at home they're with her in the afternoon).

I'll either come home or have someone to let them out for a wee. I deliberately chose a breed who are less active, they're crated (although Jack wasn't for the first few years we had him). They don't make a peep while we're out...we've asked the neighbours. While I'm at home they get lots of walks, fuss and time with me etc. Even while I've been off work for the last 3 months literally all they do all morning is sleep and if I need them to go out for a pee before 2pm I have to wake them up! I'm certainly not worried about my two.
 
Chloe gets up when we get up at about 7. She has a wee/poo outside, inhales her breakfast, then goes back to the sofa. She stays on the sofa whilst we shower etc, offer her another wee/poo outside, which she never takes, and then we go to work/uni. One of us is home by 4/5, and before the op she'd then come to the yard with us, have a run round while we poo pick, then time to play with us in the fields. Then we'd go home and she'd go back to her beloved sofa and spend the night there til bedtime.

We obviously have weekends off, and my OH works funny times so she doesnt always spend the full time alone (i.e. if he works an early or late).

When I lost my job, she howled for the first few days I was home - I definitely was NOT wanted around! We leave her hundreds of toys but she isn't interested she'd rather sleep (unless the toys are edible).

She's never EVER chewed or destroyed anything, she never makes a peep, she's totally chilled and happy.

But amymay, obviously I shouldn't have her. Quite clearly I'm an awful dog owner!
 
It's a very difficult one as every dog is different and every owner is different. But I do agree they do not need you 24/7 to amuse them.I am at home most days in and out school runs and shopping etc but the girls will quite happily pootle about and as many have said don't need to go out that often and Daisy who is a princess will quite often refuse to go out all day - even been known to sit on the step of a morning if it's wet in protest and only goes for a wee if I go with her.....!

As a member of a breed club we have to follow a code of ethics and we are not allowed to sell puppies to anyone who will be out of the home for more than 4 hours per day. I have always stuck to this any many other of the rules as I do agree that puppies need people around to train, guide and keep them safe and happy. But they can be quickly put into a routine and with some careful planning I do think you can work and own a dog. You have to sort out the real dogpeople from the Oh I just want a cute puppy brigade - which is normally quite easy when my 3 girls rush to say hello and want to sniff people all over :D

If we do go out for a day then I do get someone in to walk the girls mid day and spend a bit of time just sitting watching TV with them giving them some love but that is more for my peace of mind than anything else.
 
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