Energetic Dog and Leaving Him Home While at Work...

[lunetunelover]

I don't think you have to give the dog up!

It sounds to me like you are doing a great job by getting him to daycare two or three times a week, having your parents come over to check on him.

The kong-cicle idea above is GREAT! (See JrzDefectors post)

You will have to make sure you spend time with him when you get home and on weekends. Running, walking, playing.

Lots of people who work have dogs. There is no reason to give this dog up.

[Dashdog]

I work full time and I have always had dogs. I usually have 2 or even 3 at a time and they have tended to be high energy dogs as I love the herders. Do I feel guilty leaving them so I can work?...no. They have a dog door to a fenced patio so can go outside pee or poop if they need too. They get plenty of exercise when I am home and I do not confuse them with kids as they are dogs. When I had the very very smart high energy dog Jazz and her side kick Dash and for part of their lives Phoenix, I had a stash of long bones that I would stuff with a mixture of dry food and canned food and really pack it in tight to fill them up. When I would go out to work or if I was going out for a long period I would hide about 6 bones and as I walked out tell them to go find them. Jazz added her own rules to the game as as they would leave each bone about 1/2 full.Then when I came home I had breakfast ( I work 12 hr night shifts) and the minute I finished she would race around picking up the bones and giving them to me one at a time. I would poke out what was left and the dogs had to do a trick to get some of it ...over and over until all 6 bones were empty. They both seemed to love the game and now that they are gone I will say I miss the game. But because I made my leaving a fun time and they anticipated the bone hunt they would be excited to see me getting ready to leave. I never make my leaving seem like it is a bummer or tell them I will miss them etc like some do as that just causes anxiety. The last 15-30 minutes I am home I pretty much ignore the dogs then before I walk out I put them on a wait in the kitchen as I hide the bones then as I walk out the door I release them and tell them to go find them. The two I have now are happy with a stuffed kong as I walk out as they do not seem to enjoy bone hunt like the prior dogs but they do look forward to the kong so have no anxiety about me leaving.

I do have friends that have a hard time going out if the dogs are not allowed and then they worry about the dog but I think they are putting too many human emotions on the dog as I think most will spend the time you are gone sleeping as long as you are not creating anxiety as you leave. I think too often it is the human that suffers the seperation anxiety and if the dogs does too it is because the human has caused it. Before any one feels sorry for my dogs they do spend at very least an hour running on the beach almost every morning, an hour at the dog park in the late after or sometimes back on the beach or on the bluffs along the ocean for a walk instead of the park. they do agility, they get to sleep on my bed or in their crate or on a dog bed where ever they want, they get great meals. lot sof cool dog toys they have got a good life. So do I feel bad when I leave them alone --no way. As a matter of fact I am trying to figure out how I can swtich with them and they go to work and provide all this great stuff for me and I stay home and nap or lounge around. My dogs are well balanced very happy dogs and people comment on how happy they seem.

So it is very possible to work full time and own dogs it just depends on how you handle leaving them as you are what will create the anxiety. And yes some have been raised from small puppies and others have been adults when they became a part of my life. Dogs are NOT humans and I think that is an important thing to understand when you own a dog.

[gouligann]

I am a stay-at-home dog owner, and when I go out for a few hours, I feel guilty and worry about leaving my sleepy, well behaved little dogs alone for long. It is just a dog-lover's thing that we worry about our babies.

You sound like you know what you are doing and the fact that your dog isn't being destructive, he sounds like a happy, stable pooch. Unless he starts having behavioral problems, I think you and he are doing fine with the way you are handling things. IMO, there is NO reason you should even consider giving this dog up.

Best of luck to you!

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by Dashdog

I do have friends that have a hard time going out if the dogs are not allowed and then they worry about the dog but I think they are putting too many human emotions on the dog as I think most will spend the time you are gone sleeping as long as you are not creating anxiety as you leave. I think too often it is the human that suffers the seperation anxiety and if the dogs does too it is because the human has caused it.

-snip

So it is very possible to work full time and own dogs it just depends on how you handle leaving them as you are what will create the anxiety. And yes some have been raised from small puppies and others have been adults when they became a part of my life. Dogs are NOT humans and I think that is an important thing to understand when you own a dog.

I agree completely. That's why I mentioned the OP being in a stressful situation and compensating for that.

But I want to mention you have a pack. Not one single dog laying around alone all day LOOKING for his pack.

That's a MAJOR reason why your dogs are fine combined with the exercise and your experience.

HUMANS are not necessarily pack animals like DOGS who, without a doubt are in their DNA. NO balanced DOG is going to opt OUT of the pack but humans do it all the time.

Of course people's dogs are "GOING TO BE FINE".

They have no other option. So I applaud the OP for trying to work out ways to make the transition better for the dog. And yeah, it does start with HER. As the pack leader. Her responsibility.

[Dashdog]

Originally Posted by runswithscissors

I agree completely. That's why I mentioned the OP being in a stressful situation and compensating for that.

But I want to mention you have a pack. Not one single dog laying around alone all day LOOKING for his pack.

That's a MAJOR reason why your dogs are fine combined with the exercise and your experience.

.

That is one reason I usually have more then one dog, but having said that I have gone through periods where I ony had one, Maddie was an only dog her whole life. Jazz was an only dog for about 1.5 yrs as I had sick old Maddie for maybe 2 months when I got the puppy then Maddie died and I did not add Dash until Jazz was a well trained dog so after she was 2.

I sometimes just take one dog out for something and leave the other alone or one dog may spend the day at the vets leaving the other home alone as I will do shopping or maybe meet a freinds for lunch so my dogs do at times find themselves all alone and they seem fine.Lets say I take Dazzle someplace, Chaos is not at the door acting crazy she is stading with her kong looking like she does any other time I leave and Dazzle has even missed fun outings because he did not want to get out of bed so yeah he has gotten left behind.

While I agree it is easier to have two dogs and leave them alone for extended periods, I do know people that still have a major anxiety about going out and because they do the dogs do too, You think one dog can do damage, leave two or three anxious dogs alone sometime a freind did and she came home to no living room furniture as they shredded everything ( 3 dogs). As I said NEVER make a big deal about leaving do NOT do the kisses "Ohhhh I am going to miss you so much" crap I have seen people do ( so common when some one is leaving a dog for boarding or at the vets for a day) Instead do a 30 minute buffer where you just do not pay attention to the dog then as you leave instead of kisses and baby talk give them a command and leave. When I run out to the store I do not do kongs or hid treat bones but I will say in a voice that means business " Take care of the house" or some such thing that comes across as a command and I walk out and I come home my house is fine, my neighbors are not complaining about barking and my dogs are happy to see me. They are not lurking around like dogs that have destroyed your stuff are doing. I enjoy my time out (when it is not being at work) and do not worry about the dogs as I know they are fine.

There is a book I read a few years ago that was so funny if I recall it was Nose Down, Eyes Up and the one dog can talk and holds lectures for other dogs in the neighborhood about canine manipulative techniques maybe some of you have dogs that have attended his lectures and are now pros at manipulating you? They do seem to know who they can and who they can't.