How Do Working People Keep Dogs.......? (poop, collie, bones, adopted)
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I agree with Keeper and Three Wolves, there are plenty of ways that you can make it work.
Right now my dog can come to work with me, I work in a dog friendly office but guess what he does all day while he's here--SLEEP (he gets playtime with the other dogs in the office on some days if we can accomodate it). There are times during the day that I try to take him out and he doesn't want to go. Right now he is a asleep at my feet.
On days I can't bring him (we have clients in the office, I'll be in meetings all day, etc) He stays home, right now, my husband is in school and is gone for about 8-10 hours everyday and that's not including days that he has to work. However, he does leave a few hours after I do. So on days that my dog has to stay home, I leave at 8, my husband leaves at 10:30, if I'm not in meetings all day, I take a break at 2 and go let him out and play with him, if I can't he's fine until I get home at 5:30. Usually, I get up, let him out, feed him, take him for a quick walk and he runs back in and goes back to bed with his daddy. My husband gets up at 8:30-9, lets him out in the back yard again to play (he's usually done his business by now and just wants to go run), he gets ready, then takes him for a 30-45 minutes walk and leaves for school. I get home at 5:30, let him out in the back yard, feed him again, then we go for a long walk. On weekends he goes to the park, to an outdoor mall that is dog friendly and has a doggy bakery, to petsmart, to dog parks etc. He knows he is very loved. He was also a shelter dog and I like my alternative better than him being in a shelter.
Even if my husband had to work the same hours I do and my office was not dog friendly, we'd make it work by taking long walks in the mornings and evenings, going home for lunch and playing with him and spending tons of time with him on the weekends.
Working people can have dogs and work. Of course puppies are harder to have and work but I've seen plenty of people make it work as well, you just have to want to put in the effort.
One thing they learned to do all on their own......even though there was always a big bowl of water left for them.......they didn't drink a lot of water while I was at work. When I got home, they had their dinner and would lap up a lot of water.
)
I also notice that my three dogs seem to only drink water when I am at home.
I want to add that sometime neighbor can help too. I had a neighbor who was home all the time offered to watch my dogs in her home. Her dog played well with my dogs. She knew that I spent a lot of money at a doggie daycare but worried about all those vaccination requirement. So she stepped in and charged much lower rate and made some money watching my dogs. She moved away two years ago.
Also I found some unintended advantage of coming home during lunch time. Since I have to let my dogs out, I don't have to join any lunch group, avoiding office politics.
My dog is alone for around 9 or 9 1/2 hours a day. I work 8 hours, get a half hour for lunch, and it takes me about 20 minutes to get to and from work. He never has accidents unless he's sick and I figure if he really needs to go that badly then he will. I hate leaving him alone all day, but on the nights and weekends I spent a lot of time with him. He has food, water, toys, a nice doggie bed, and use of the couch to lay on while I'm gone, so it's not like he's tied up on a chain outside alone and cold or hot. I think 12 hours is pretty long to go every single day, but it is what it is. I would probably look at dog day care or hiring someone to come by during the day if I ever had to be gone that long every day.
I really love dogs and would love to have one of my own (either a Great Dane or Irish Wolfhound, two of my favorite breeds), but I work such erratic and messed up hours (read: long hours/travel) that I would not be able to give the love and affection that a dog most certainly deserves.
So, I get my dog fix while I can. I'll volunteer to walk friends and neighbors dogs, play with the family mutt and sometimes get to pet an adorable dog at a nearby park (asking the owners if it is OK to do so of course).
I know it is not much, but I really do enjoy the company of a pet when the opportunity allows.
I like this response. Everyone seems to be more concerned with the dog's ability to "hold it" than with the dog being confined and lonely. When we got Hallie at 18 months in 2001, she had been crated all day, and then again all night as her single-guy owner slept. By the time we got her, she was a basketcase, very high energy, very low confidence, and a lifelong attention-seeking girl. If there were cuddles being handed out, she always butted in, and that was one thing we decided to never try to correct. She came to us with a lot of baggage, and she did get over most of it, but until the day she died last October, sometimes she would do something that made me think of that confused little girl we got 12 years earlier, and I wanted to cry.
We never made her use her crate when we rescued her. We just left its door open, and one day when she went in there on her own, we knew she felt at home.
People who can work from home, live in a dog-friendly office, have petsitters who don't cost verymuch or have access to affordable daycare are the fortunate ones. Butlet me tell you, daycare isn't cheap. The cheapest going rate in the KC area for a 10-day package is $700 for $50, or $14 a day for one dog. Not too many people can afford to pay $350 per month for doggie daycare. We do day care, but only on an as needed basis.
I think it's a shame few people are acknowledging that people's lives change. (It's shocking how many said these people shouldn't be dog owners, etc.) Any dog owner can suddenly have a job that keeps them away from home longer. The solutions aren't always as easy as people assume. We dog lovers judge people who leave their dogs home and we judge people who get rid of their dogs. It's a no win situation to be scrutinized by dog lovers.
As for being lonely, I can attest that's not the case. I'm ALWAYS home. I don't work. I'm home more than I should be. I can think of a zillion things I should be doing instead of typing this post. But I'm glad I'm home all day so I can report to you what dogs do during the day. THEY SLEEP. Yep, I watch my basset sleep on the sofa all day. That's what dogs do.
Sure, when they are puppies they need more supervision and attention, but an adult dog is fully capable of being alone while owners are at work. Two dogs together aren't lonely either.
I'm with the others who say that at least the dogs are in loving homes. The alternative could have been not being adopted or rescued and being put to sleep. But someone chose to love these dogs and give them a home. Just because their lifestyle changed and they work longer hours, doesn't mean the dogs would have been better off not adopted or rescued.
There's a shortage of good owners out there. Let's not make the shortage even greater by being so darn picky about the definition of good owner.
As for being lonely, I can attest that's not the case. I'm ALWAYS home. I don't work. I'm home more than I should be. I can think of a zillion things I should be doing instead of typing this post. But I'm glad I'm home all day so I can report to you what dogs do during the day. THEY SLEEP. Yep, I watch my basset sleep on the sofa all day. That's what dogs do.
This has been my experience the past few months since we've moved and I've not found a job yet. I'm shocked at how many hours Lily sleeps! I try to engage her in play periodically most days, but if I happen to be too busy.....she sleeps, other than an occasional scratching at the back door to go out to potty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes
There's a shortage of good owners out there. Let's not make the shortage even greater by being so darn picky about the definition of good owner.
I couldn't agree more!!
Now, I'm going to risk being attacked, as I have been in the past with this particular suggestion. But it worked well FOR US when hub and I both worked. Lily has a designated area of the house (in the past it was a large room in the basement with a concrete floor, now it's a good sized laundry room with vinyl flooring). When we're both gone, Lily is confined to that particular space; she has water, toys, comfy blankets/dog bed, and a potty-pad. Apparently there are some people who believe using any kind of doggie-potty is the single stupidest thing a dog owner can do (based on the scathing responses I got the last time I posted about using a potty-pad), but as I said, it works well FOR US, and allows Lily to pee whenever she needs to rather than have to hold it for the whole time we're gone. When hub and I both worked, there were days when Lily would be home 15 hours (not ideal, and not everyday, and we weren't working such long days when we got her, but it was that way for a few months). When we're home, she's doing great at letting us know when she needs to go outside, but when we're gone, she pees on her potty-pad.
So it bears repeating:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes
There's a shortage of good owners out there. Let's not make the shortage even greater by being so darn picky about the definition of good owner.
Nanners would be the perfect dog for someone who is gone all day. That dog holds her stuff for so long, I find myself forcing her to get up off her couch during the course of the day to go outside for at least a squirt. She does so, grudgingly.
The rest of the day she does what she does during the night, which is sleep.
I installed a dog door that leads out to my patio. Teach them all to use it. Not a problem.
Another doggy door pet owner here. Best thing ever! Really helpful now that my blind dog is in early stages of kidney failure. She can come & go as she pleases.
While living in apartments, I had roommates who would help with dog care or I'd go home for lunch everyday to check on my dog. I've always had a short commute--not more than 15 minutes. That helps too.
I respect people like their dog doors, but I would not want one. I don't like the idea of my dog being able to go outside while I'm not home.
My SIL watched our dogs while we were on vacation. She left her sliding glass door open for my dogs to get outside to her fenced in yard while she worked. Both of them escaped her yard. She has two dogs herself, and they have never escaped her yard. Of course, she doesn't leave the sliding glass door open all day for them. She didn't need to do it for my dogs either.
The other problem is it exposes the dog to risks of being poisoned, stolen, or annoying the neighbors with barking. I don't want my dogs outside unsupervised. Then there is the whole issue of kids being able to crawl in the door.
We had our Labrador for 16 years. He didn't have accidents in the house until the very last month. Our basset has only has one accident when he was sick and on steroids. Both happened with all of us home 24/7. I wasn't working, hubby was recovering from surgery. We were letting the dogs out every hour because the lab needed mild exercise. So those accidents had nothing to do with not being outside for long.
When I stopped working, I continued to keep the dogs on the same "outside" schedule as I did when I was working. I didn't want them to get into the habit of going out more often. They never had a problem, never protested, never asked to go outside. They were set in their routine and are very content with it.
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