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My husband, son and myself, are moving shortly and we and our 2 Boxers have been blessed with living close to my Mother-in-law. She hasn't worked in years and takes the 'boys' outside 2 or 3 times a day, to run and exercise, and do their 'business'. I'm keeping optimistic that I may luck up and get a job in our new area. . So I am curious what do others do about outdoor time for pets while working 8 hour shifts? I have no problem coming home for lunch, if I find one close enough to make it home and back before allotted time is up for lunch. . . . But, what if job is to far away, or I have a meeting, etc, that forces me to not be able to get home during the day ? Please offer your suggestions? ? ?
Well the obvious is leave them in a dog run area of your yard or hire a dog walker once a day mid day if you keep them indoors. What about your son? Can he take them out when he gets home from school? How about a doggie door if you have an enclosed yard?
It really depends on your dog(s) and how well you can trust them...
I have done the been away for 10 hours a day and it was hard on my Am Staff at first. She was my truck dog. You know, with me 24/7 unless I was fueling, showering, or doing laundry in the truck-stop. When I got off the road and got a "normal" life, it was an adjustment for everyone. It was just as hard on me being away from her as it was for her being away from me... But we adjusted.
Later, I got a Shepherd x so she have a friend and playmate. I had a dog door and a good fence and trusted them. They were good and I never had an issue.
Later with the same two, I moved and had a house mate that I trusted they got along well and he would "dog-sit." Letting them out when the need would arise. It worked very well.
My girls have passed on (God blessed me with those girls and I miss them beyond words!!!) but now I have two boys in my life.
I am blessed to be a stay at home mom and work part-time from here, too. I get to spend most of my time with them and I think it is spoiling them. However, I would like to install a dog door and not play doorman to them. With that said, I do supervise them when they are outside. (My recently adopted bully was an escape artist at his last gig, but that was not bad enough to be a "deal breaker" for me.) Even if he did not have that past, he must earn that privilege of being out there unsupervised and he is not there, yet. Besides, I would "feel" better about reinforcing sections of my fence before just cutting him loose. He has a high pray drive and no vermin stands a chance in that yard. Period...soooooo. Right now, he is better off supervised.
If you, your son or mom-in-law can't stop in during the day for a potty break, perhaps the walker someone mentioned earlier would work well.
One day, he will earn the freedom of coming and going into the backyard alone. Until then, LuvABull at your service! (lol)
Best wishes on your move, new job and the pups getting exactly what they need to thrive!
Throughout all of my working years, 30+, I would be gone 9 hours for work. 8 hr. shift, 1/2 hr. lunch, 1/2 hr. travel time.
All of my dogs always stayed in the house the whole time all by themselves. {well, the cats were with them}
They all adjusted beautifully, never any problems. Once in a blue moon, if one of them had an off day, they would do their business in the basement..... unfinished, cement floor, easy clean up. I never trained them to do this. It was either their instinct to go as far away from their living area as possible.....or an effort to hide it from me. NEVER yelled at them for going in the basement either......I was grateful.
I always left a full bowl of water for them too. On their own, they learned to not drink much during the day.....when I got home however, they would drink a bunch.
None of them ever developed any physical problems from holding it all day either......their bodies just adjusted to the schedule and they were fine.
I always fed them the minute I got home too.....so they could process and poop before I left for work the next day.
a propelry trained adult dog can safely be left alone for 8 hours without having bladder or bowel failure in most situations...just crate them or put them in a puppy proofed room.
however being boxers are a high energy breed personally id either find a local doggy daycare they could go to a couple of days per week, or check out care.com and find a dog walker to come in every day around lunchtime to walk them if you cant.
i would never leave a dog out unsupervised in a run or otherwise, especially if there not accustomed to that...(too many not nice people in this world and boxers arnt exactly built for weather extreemts, but if i had to work long hours i have thoguth about putting a chinlink run with a burried wire floor and a roof (padlock the gate) against the house with a dog door going into it from the dog safe room inside. this way they can let themselves safely out to go potty but arnt deligated to a run in the back yard all day in any weather.
I have someone come in to feed and walk, however, Mr. Odinator refuses to go out with her so far...it's "you are NOT the mommy" and he seems to hold it until I get home.
As of right now, we have to crate our dog. Although, he doesn't mind it too much and will at times go back in his crate at random times during the night when we're home. We have a pretty big crate for him, with an orthopedic bed, big blankets, toys, etc. I think he prefers his crate as opposed to his 3 other doggy beds that we have for him, haha.
Begin my small rant: sorry!
I know a lot of people have argued with me against crating our dog all day. My husband is home way earlier than me so he's not even in there a full 8 hours. We do what works for us. It would be nice to get to the point to NOT crate him, but right now we do. A friend of mine was over the house one Saturday evening last month and we were going to see a movie, and when i said "Chase, crate! Good boy!" (and gave him treats) She said I was completely inhumane, not a good dog owner, etc. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see the movie with me after she saw me crate him. Seriously?
I stood my ground and eventually she stopped getting on my case about it. This is after the entire day of me playing fetch, taking him to the dog park, training him to ring the bells to go outside, etc. UGH that annoys me.
As of right now, we have to crate our dog. Although, he doesn't mind it too much and will at times go back in his crate at random times during the night when we're home. We have a pretty big crate for him, with an orthopedic bed, big blankets, toys, etc. I think he prefers his crate as opposed to his 3 other doggy beds that we have for him, haha.
Begin my small rant: sorry!
I know a lot of people have argued with me against crating our dog all day. My husband is home way earlier than me so he's not even in there a full 8 hours. We do what works for us. It would be nice to get to the point to NOT crate him, but right now we do. A friend of mine was over the house one Saturday evening last month and we were going to see a movie, and when i said "Chase, crate! Good boy!" (and gave him treats) She said I was completely inhumane, not a good dog owner, etc. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see the movie with me after she saw me crate him. Seriously?
I stood my ground and eventually she stopped getting on my case about it. This is after the entire day of me playing fetch, taking him to the dog park, training him to ring the bells to go outside, etc. UGH that annoys me.
/rant!
Everytime we leave the house all I have to say to my three little ones is "bed" and they all go into their crates. The fact that they go into their crates voluntarily as someone mentioned when they are home shows that they like it and is also their little santuary from the household noise.
As of right now, we have to crate our dog. Although, he doesn't mind it too much and will at times go back in his crate at random times during the night when we're home. We have a pretty big crate for him, with an orthopedic bed, big blankets, toys, etc. I think he prefers his crate as opposed to his 3 other doggy beds that we have for him, haha.
Begin my small rant: sorry!
I know a lot of people have argued with me against crating our dog all day. My husband is home way earlier than me so he's not even in there a full 8 hours. We do what works for us. It would be nice to get to the point to NOT crate him, but right now we do. A friend of mine was over the house one Saturday evening last month and we were going to see a movie, and when i said "Chase, crate! Good boy!" (and gave him treats) She said I was completely inhumane, not a good dog owner, etc. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see the movie with me after she saw me crate him. Seriously?
I stood my ground and eventually she stopped getting on my case about it. This is after the entire day of me playing fetch, taking him to the dog park, training him to ring the bells to go outside, etc. UGH that annoys me.
/rant!
We also crate - we tried not crating, but it's a necessity, and I don't see him outgrowing the need for it, unfortunately. He doesn't love it, but mainly because he doesn't love not being with people, so he's not particularly happy when we leave, in crate or out. In-crate, he can't damage things/endanger himself. It would be nice if he loved the crate/saw it as his sanctuary, but he doesn't. He tolerates it, though, mainly because it's the only setting where he gets a peanut butter-filled Kong, which he does love.
You have to do what works. My SO works from home one day a week, so it's really only four days a week that workday crating takes place. On days when he's crated, he and I go for a several mile walk from 6-7 a.m., pre-crating, and he takes another hour-long walk with whoever gets home first, to help combat not getting to burn off energy through the day on those days.
Personally, I'd rather not have to crate a dog (though I would still crate train, because it's good for those instances when you need to confine a dog). Unfortunately, I got the wrong dog, in terms of one who is safely able to be left to roam freely when unattended. Next dog will hopefully be one who does better when alone, but for the foreseeable future, this is what we're dealing with.
Tabula- exactly - our dog gets into so much stuff if we leave him out of the crate. This past Saturday we both thought each other put him in his crate, but we didn't, and we came home to my newly bought potted plant all over the floor. It was up HIGH on our windowsill but somehow he wanted to get to it.
I am in the same situation as you - my husband works 4 days a week in the office and one from home, so yep, 4 days of being in a crate. The peanut butter Kong toy always does the trick too.
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takes the 'boys' outside 2 or 3 times a day, to run and exercise, and do their 'business'. I'm keeping optimistic that I may luck up and get a job in our new area. . So I am curious what do others do about outdoor time for pets while working 8 hour shifts? I have no problem coming home for lunch, if I find one close enough to make it home and back before allotted time is up for lunch. . . . But, what if job is to far away, or I have a meeting, etc, that forces me to not be able to get home during the day ? Please offer your suggestions? ? ?
It really depends on your dog(s) and how well you can trust them...
NEVER yelled at them for going in the basement either......I was grateful. 
and he seems to hold it until I get home.
