Can you have a dog and work and if so is it fair ??

[vonnie999]

Hi, I really need some advice. I work p/t and my hubbie works shifts - fo there could be 2 days a week when the dog would be left on his/her own for 7 hrs at a time. I really really want a dog, having successfully worn my husband down , I wanted to canvas opnion of whether it can be successful to own a dog and work at the same time. All my friends that have dogs either don't work or leave dog with relatives...



If anyone has any experience, tips etc I would be really grateful.

[Josie]

If the question is 'can you leave a dog alone for 7 hours' then the answer is 'no', but there are ways around having a dog and working.

There's dog sitters, dog walkers, doggy creches etc. Loads of options!

You do need to be very dedicated as well. It's vital that you give the dog time it needs, regardless of the weather, how tired you are from work etc.

Also choose your dog well. You might be better off with a lazy dog like a retired racing greyhound who wont need much exercise rather than a puppy who will need lots and lots of work!

[Linda]

hi vonnie,

I have a poodle and my partner and i both work full time. Two days a week Pierre ( the poodle) goes to a babysitter. I advertised for someone to look after him, and an elderly lady with dogs of her own answered. He really enjoys it. The days he's home alone, he just sleeps.

[hjdoney]

Hi,

My husband and I have two labradors and both work full time. However, my husband works from home 3 days of the week and so if they are going to be on their own it is only for 2 out of 5 days. This does mean though that they are on their own for about 8 hours as I work an hour away from home. If we only had one dog, we would not leave it, but I feel that as we have two, we can leave them for a little while.

To get over the fact that we do have to leave them we have devised a lot of games for them to play when we are out which we have tested whilst watching them through the window to see how long it takes them to do.

We put treats in cardboard boxes and then use masking tape to tape up the boxes. We make them sit and wait in the front room and then close the door. We then hide the boxes around the house. This is like hide and seek - the boys love it. . We put the boxes in various places around the house that they can get to without getting into trouble. Once hidden we then call out the dogs, say goodbye to them and leave by the front door - always the front door as that is the one that we come back in by. The dogs then use their noses and their sniffing, a very natural thing for them to do, to find the treats and have fun destroying the boxes at the same time. In one of the boxes will be a kong or a bone that we have stuffed with dog food / cheese / meat and frozen so that over the day it defrosts and so lasts longer, they spend a long while sitting and gnawing on this to get all of the goodness out.

It took a while and lots of experimenting to find out what they would like to do and it was a conversation with my Mum who is a dog psychologist who suggested that we give them a task to complete, make them use their excellent sense of smell to search and find goodies. I know that leaving them is not ideal but when we get home from work they are not overly stressed, they have played for some of the day and slept for some of the day. We have asked neighbours to see if there is any barking / scratching / whimpering and there is not. There has never even been any destruction.

I am not advocating leaving your dog - especially on its own - for long periods of time, but with 2 dogs, you can get around it. I have not felt that our dogs suffer greatly by us leaving them when we have to. I think that I feel more guilty about leaving them than they feel upset about being left!

[Bea]

I am fulltime employed and my partner is self employed - and yes, we do keep dogs and no - we do not develop a guilt complex over it and over- compensate the dogs upon our return.

If you can realistically estimate the amount of time and the quality of time you are prepared to give to a dog then all you need is find the right dog for you. Please bear in mind that most dogs lead quiet enough lives outside playtime, exercise time, feed time; pending on the type of dog they may just snooze the day away. Of course it is not recommendable to keep a puppy (not as an only dog anyhow) when the chances are the dog is going to be left unattended over longer periods of time. But if you could consider maybe adopting and 2nd hand dog you may find a lot of older dogs quite happily and contentedly keep the sofa warm for their owners' return from work.

Bea