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My wife and I have different schedules.
Even when neither of us is home, my son is home (with his nanny).
So someone is home almost 100% of the time.
Still, when we have something like our family Sunday brunch, we take her with us to my parents' house.
However, having TWO dogs is ideal in most cases anyway.
As adults (reliably potty trained), my dogs are never 'contained.' They have free access to the house.
There was a time in my MinPin's life where she was home during work days alone (loose in the house) for about 8 - 9 hours. It bugged me to leave here alone without a break that long, but she never had an accident. In about the last 7 years of her life, one of us was working from home, which turned out to be a blessing. Especially after she developed diabetes and her drinking/urination could be more frequent.
Older dogs often need that extra attention, so I was so happy to be able to do that for her up until her death. Now we have a Chiweenie we adopted, and someone's home with her all day. But the problem with little dogs like this is that I don't feel comfortable having a doggie door and free access to the yard. I worry about coyotes and owls! Seriously.. we have huge owls and I've seen them eye-balling my dog! They've also killed pigeons on our roof and tossed the remains onto our patio I don't know if an owl could kill a 13 pound dog or not.
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.
Hopes, I have to disagree, respectfully. I think Jimmy and Hallie were 10 years old before they were satisfied sleeping most of the time. And if dogs do sleep a lot of the time when they're alone, it's often because there is nothing else to do, no human distraction or interaction.
Hopes, I have to disagree, respectfully. I think Jimmy and Hallie were 10 years old before they were satisfied sleeping most of the time. And if dogs do sleep a lot of the time when they're alone, it's often because there is nothing else to do, no human distraction or interaction.
My dog sleeps all day and he's 5. I stayed home from work one day last week and he really did just sleep on the couch all day.
I think the going rate for doggie day care here is about 20 bucks a day...definitely not cheap.
Hopes, I have to disagree, respectfully. I think Jimmy and Hallie were 10 years old before they were satisfied sleeping most of the time. And if dogs do sleep a lot of the time when they're alone, it's often because there is nothing else to do, no human distraction or interaction.
There is another factor to consider as well.. my dogs sleep most of the time when I'm home, so it would be easy for me to assume this is their default mode when I am out as well. However, I have filmed them many times when I am away. One of mine in particular is very hesitant to rest in my absence. He seems to take on the role of protecting the house, staying somewhat alert and watching out windows. I'm sure if I were gone for long hours he'd eventually relent and sleep a bit, but just wanted to point out we really can't know what our dogs do while we're gone unless we film / record.
Another interesting behavioral variation I've noted from my filming is that my dogs do not wrestle when I'm out of the house. They play fight often when I'm home, but they are totally out of that mode when I review the footage of them home alone. I believe they don't want to risk the play escalating without me there to referee. My presence is what makes them feel safe enough to play rough, as they know I will always make sure the play stays within the boundaries of harmless fun.
A dear friend of mine has one 10 year old dog. He works very long hours and his dog is typically left home alone for 11 hours a day, 6 days a week. She is fine. She loves her owner. She is an absolutely awesome dog. But I think her life could be better. It could obviously be a LOT worse too, I'm just saying that leaving dogs for long hours on a daily basis is not ideal and we all strive for as close to "ideal" as we can get for our dogs.
I do work a 12 hr shift but I only work 3 shifts a week. I work the night shift .On my nights off I know what the dogs are doing during that 12 hr period and much of it is sleeping or laying chewing on a bone as I try to keep their after dinner time quiet time. So I pretty much know what they are doing while I am at work. I own two dogs ( at times have had 3) so they are never alone and I have a dog door to a fenced patio so yes they can go out and take care of business if they need too. In the years I have lived here I have managed to raise two young puppies despite my working 12 hrs without a problem as I took a couple weeks off when I got them and both Jazz and Chaos were house trained to use the pet door within days of coming to live with me. As puppies they did not have run of the house not because I feared they would pee or poop but because they would chew so they and what ever adult dog would be gated into the dining room as the dog door is there and once I felt they would be safe they had run of the downstairs. Dazzle and Chaos are the first dogs I have allowd upstairs while I am gone but that is due to Dazzle being a creature of comfort and loving to stretch out on my bed. Being he is a thin sightound I do allow him to sleep on my bed .If I get to leave work early and come home both come stumbling down the stairs still half asleep to greet me then turn and head back up. When I come home in the mornings we go out side for a quick potty walk , they eat breakfast and we all go to bed and they have no problem going back to bed and sleeping until I get up. In the afternoons they go on walks to the beach or to the dog park...so no my dogs do not miss out because I work fulltime. And of the the 6 dogs I have owned 4 had herding dog in them and were high energy dogs yet they did great and I have only had one neighbor tell me she heard barking and that was when Chaos was a puppy . I ask my neighbors to let me know if they hear barking so I feel pretty confident saying they tend to stay quiet. I hide bones or kongs with treats stuffed in them for them to find and keep the last half hour and my leaving quiet no big goodbyes as that makes dogs anxious.
My sister had a hard time adopting a dog because she works and lives alone despite the fact she owns her house and had a collie for 16 yrs. Finally she got a dog and that dog does fine as my sister gets up at 5AM they go for an hour long walk rain or no rain ( she lives in Portland Or so often it is rain) when she comes home they play out in the yard and after dinner they go on another hour long walk. On some nights they do agility. Her dog does fine while she is at work and she is gone 9 hrs sometimes 10 if she stops at the store on the way home. The dog is inside and is never in a huge hurry to go out when she does get home.
I have a question how do single people that do not work afford a dog or better yet dogs? Or do single people have to wait until they retire to own a dog?
Another interesting phenomenon I've noticed though: it is often the owners who work long hours that end up really making a point of walking their dogs and providing other enrichment activities. I'm saying they make the most of their time with their dogs, whereas those of us who are home with our dogs more often sometimes slip into the feeling that that's enough, they don't really need much else in the way of stimulation.
Hopes, I have to disagree, respectfully. I think Jimmy and Hallie were 10 years old before they were satisfied sleeping most of the time. And if dogs do sleep a lot of the time when they're alone, it's often because there is nothing else to do, no human distraction or interaction.
My dog looks at my like I'm crazy if I try to play with him more than once or twice while he's with me at work. He looks at me like "hey lady, why are you interupting my nap?" The only time he doesn't mind if I interupt his nap if it's to play with other dogs. With me? No interest what so ever until we get home. On the weekends when both my husband and I are home, then its a different story. Anytime we are both home he knows it party time. =) Then he will play a lot but even then he still sleeps a good chunck of the day.
He's 3 by the way.
Another interesting phenomenon I've noticed though: it is often the owners who work long hours that end up really making a point of walking their dogs and providing other enrichment activities. I'm saying they make the most of their time with their dogs, whereas those of us who are home with our dogs more often sometimes slip into the feeling that that's enough, they don't really need much else in the way of stimulation.
Totally agree. My MIL stays home all day but her dog barely gets any real interaction unless I stop by with my dog for them to play. She doesn't take the dog on walks, she thinks the big back yard is enough. My FIL plays with her a bit at night when he gets home from work, she's "his girl" and she loves him to pieces. She was my husband's dog but when he moved out his dad said the dog stays. It was very hard on my husband. We go to see her often and take our dog there to play, they love each other.
Anywho, I do find that often, people that work long hours, live in apts, that most on this forum seem to think are unfit to be dog owners do interact better with their dogs, take their dogs to the park, play with them, stimulate them as much as they can, more so than people who stay home all day with their dogs.
Yes, dogs who have to stay at home by themselves all day do not have "perfect" lives.
But guess what?
Their "parents" don't have perfect lives either.
Many, many times I envied my furbabies who got to stay home all day and snooze on the couch while I had to go out in the cold, cruel world to make money...........
drive on icy roads, deal with unpleasant bosses or co-workers, go to work even when I didn't feel well.....but in the end.....we all had a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and someone who loved us.
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I don't know if an owl could kill a 13 pound dog or not.
