Home Alone - Dog

I work from home and haven't been in an office since March 2020, so we recently decided to get a puppy. I do not know how you raise a puppy, especially at 8 weeks old, without being home daily. They're so needy and even when I do crate training with him, 2 hours is the max he'll be in there for at a time. Any longer and the little guy would be bursting for a wee and getting quite stressed from being alone.

If you can't be home all day, or at least for a good portion of it daily, then don't as it's just so cruel
 
Going back to 1981 but we had a Cocker Spaniel puppy that we couldn't control and in 1987 we had to pass her on to my Dad.
We'd come home to poo, wee and carpets/furniture ripped up etc.
We'd take her for a walk but then come home and she'd poo in the kitchen.
After watching every episode of The Dogfather Graeme Hall, I now know it was our fault for going to work and I apologise to Sheena my dog for taking it out on her when she didn't know any better.

I'd love a dog and I watch every program on TV about dogs but I can't commit, even when I retire I probably still won't be able to.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
Going back to 1981 but we had a Cocker Spaniel puppy that we couldn't control and in 1987 we had to pass her on to my Dad.
We'd come home to poo, wee and carpets/furniture ripped up etc.
We'd take her for a walk but then come home and she'd poo in the kitchen.
After watching every episode of The Dogfather Graeme Hall, I now know it was our fault for going to work and I apologise to Sheena my dog for taking it out on her when she didn't know any better.

I'd love a dog and I watch every program on TV about dogs but I can't commit, even when I retire I probably still won't be able to.
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It's a huge undertaking and very easy to mess it up. I had a similar experience with our first dog, he was a handful and we were clueless. Many years of stress and we had to re-home him when we had our son. Our 2nd dog we had for 13 years and was very well behaved. Now on dog number 3 and she is hard work, but being there all the time for her has really helped. God knows how mental she would be if I stuck her a crate for 8 hours.
 
Steedie said:
I work from home and haven't been in an office since March 2020, so we recently decided to get a puppy. I do not know how you raise a puppy, especially at 8 weeks old, without being home daily. They're so needy and even when I do crate training with him, 2 hours is the max he'll be in there for at a time. Any longer and the little guy would be bursting for a wee and getting quite stressed from being alone.

If you can't be home all day, or at least for a good portion of it daily, then don't as it's just so cruel
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First few months you get little work done, it's worth it though :D
 
LiE said:
I work from home and Missy also goes to my wife's salon for the day, or worst she goes to the in-laws. She is 20 weeks old now and needs constant guidance and training. If she gets bored, she starts acting out as you'd expect.
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My papillon chewed a gouge out of the wall when we left him alone for a few hours as a puppy. Yes, a small papillon chewed a hole in the wall and that was only 4 hours. I’m lucky it was the slippers and wall that got it and not the coffee table.

I hate to think about people leaving puppies in a crate for extended periods without anything to chew on.
 
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ci_newman said:
Unfortunately yes :(
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Do you know me? Didn’t think so. Don’t assume what I’m going to do, if I was going to do it anyway I wouldn’t be asking for opinions on the matter. The dogs welfare is priority not my entertainment. Why would I spend at least £1000 and not consider potential pitfalls? Mind boggles.
 
I used to use my neighbour to let them out ,but also leave the back door totally open to an enclosed very private back garden.
Btw wasn't planned it was after a split and I was on my own but needed to work ,they were also 15 years old ,would walk them after work 4on 4 off at the time
 
Really good to see all the replies saying don't.

A rescue will not let you have one if you are honest about your situation.

But to reiterate. Don't get one. As a minimum you need to be able to go home at lunch and spend time with the dog. That's the max really.
 
We did this 13 years ago. Agonised about it, because we agreed it wouldn't be fair as we both worked full time then.

In the end, we reached a solution which we felt was a fair compromise to minimise any psychological impact on the dog. I have to admit - given the same decision now, I think I wouldn't be as confident - but anyway, here's the provisos we decided on to make it borderline acceptable:
  • Two dogs, not one - so they keep each other company.
  • Small dogs, so they can fit through a cat flap.
  • Full access throughout the day to a fully secure and enclosed back garden.
  • We also ensured that we were fully home for the first month or so, and then returned every lunch time for a few weeks after that.
It went well, and we still have the 2 13-year-old Jack Russell's now, happy and healthy. There was some evidence of separation anxiety - chewed skirting boards, and memorably a chewed through phone line on the wall outside. But fairly minimal.

As I say though, as an older and more experienced pet owner - I think we were lucky, and I don't think I would make the same decision again without more things in place.
 
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Lonewolf said:
Do you know me? Didn’t think so. Don’t assume what I’m going to do, if I was going to do it anyway I wouldn’t be asking for opinions on the matter. The dogs welfare is priority not my entertainment. Why would I spend at least £1000 and not consider potential pitfalls? Mind boggles.
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that's ocuk for you. you've been flagged now as a monster who loves to torture animals :cry:
 
I wouldn't recommend it. Some older chilled out dogs might be OK with being left 8+ hours each day, still seems a bit mean tbh. I guess if you could guarantee that a relative or paid dog walker would be in to see them in the middle of the day then that might open up getting even a moderately active adult dog as an option.

No chance with a puppy though. They need a lot of work (and I'm speaking from recent experience), need company and playtime and training, and letting out to go toilet frequently. Plus unless they're locked in a crate they may end up destroying whatever's in the room with them, and leaving them locked in a crate all day during the daytime would be horrible. Surely more likely to develop behaviour issues too if they're left for hours in end.

I've heard of some people getting a puppy and only taking a week off work or whatever when they first get it, but honestly have no idea how they manage and suspect the puppy gets neglected.

Luckily my partner and I work from home almost all the time now, so the dog doesn't get left in the day, and on the rare occasion we both need to go somewhere for the day a friend / relative comes to play with him for a bit - wouldn't want to rely on them doing this as a regular thing though. I don't think either of us could go back to working in an office full time now, just wouldn't feel right leaving him if no one was there to break the day up.
 
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Lonewolf said:
Don’t assume what I’m going to do, if I was going to do it anyway I wouldn’t be asking for opinions on the matter.
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The fact you asked "how do you manage it?" rather than "is this a good idea?" is probably what leads to assumptions that you plan to do it anyway and were just looking for advice on the best way to deal with leaving a dog at home routinely.
 
8+ hours a day stuck in the house with no company is still cruel, the rescue could go to a family that provides it with company and frequent walks.
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OR.. it could get put down which happens to 50% of dogs in rescues/shelters.
 
We send our dogs to (I know how it sounds) doggie day care. We have a lovely family that look after dogs during the day for £20 a dog, from 9to5. Pick up and drop off and they go out to the woods twice a day.
They absolutely love it.

We except that it's part of the price we pay to own them. Essentially we pay someone else to look after our dogs for about 1/3 of the week.

It's my personal preference, if we didn't do it, we wouldn't own them as I feel it very unfair to leave them alone all day long. It's not fair.

It would be very expensive if I didn't do remote working most of the week but for one or two dogs, it's an expense I except.
If I didn't have this I would depend on my retired parents to either drop in or have them all day.
 
Recently asked a similar question myself but on a dedicated dog owning forum. Needless to say, got a lot of backlash.

There is a conflict here in my mind.

Lots of people own dogs, got to be millions of UK households. Are you telling me that all of those don't work full time hours or work close enough to pop home for lunch every day? Unlikely in my opinion.

So I think there will be a lot of dogs being left alone whilst people are at work. And I would also say that 30 years ago it was common then too but back then it was just considered normal.

So when someone like me or OP asks this question, the answers (not to get a dog) do not match with the reality of what most people (who aren't here on the forums) are doing, you just don't know about it normally.

Then the second issue for me is the dog owning enthusiasts view of the living environment of the dog. Many rescue centres seem to believe that you need not only to never leave the dog alone, but also have access to acres of rural woodland on your doorstep for multiple hours per day outside exercise. Because many of these dogs 'prefer a rural setting'.

Now Im sure all of us here would love to be working only 2 hours a day and live in 10 acres of our own 6ft fenced woodland. But that is not what 99.999% of us have. Those expectations are wholly unrealistic, it is no wonder many of these dogs never leave the rescue centres.

One person on the other forum used the term 'snowflakification' of dogs. I.e, in this modern day age we are wrapping them up in cotton wool too much compared to what we did in previous generations.

I dont know the answer myself yet. My girlfriend really wants a dog but it would have to be alone a couple of times per week most likely. It does at times feel like the moral expectations have become a bit too perfectionist, I don't know.
 
danlightbulb said:
Recently asked a similar question myself but on a dedicated dog owning forum. Needless to say, got a lot of backlash.

There is a conflict here in my mind.

Lots of people own dogs, got to be millions of UK households. Are you telling me that all of those don't work full time hours or work close enough to pop home for lunch every day? Unlikely in my opinion.

So I think there will be a lot of dogs being left alone whilst people are at work. And I would also say that 30 years ago it was common then too but back then it was just considered normal.

So when someone like me or OP asks this question, the answers (not to get a dog) do not match with the reality of what most people (who aren't here on the forums) are doing, you just don't know about it normally.

Then the second issue for me is the dog owning enthusiasts view of the living environment of the dog. Many rescue centres seem to believe that you need not only to never leave the dog alone, but also have access to acres of rural woodland on your doorstep for multiple hours per day outside exercise. Because many of these dogs 'prefer a rural setting'.

Now Im sure all of us here would love to be working only 2 hours a day and live in 10 acres of our own 6ft fenced woodland. But that is not what 99.999% of us have. Those expectations are wholly unrealistic, it is no wonder many of these dogs never leave the rescue centres.

One person on the other forum used the term 'snowflakification' of dogs. I.e, in this modern day age we are wrapping them up in cotton wool too much compared to what we did in previous generations.

I dont know the answer myself yet. My girlfriend really wants a dog but it would have to be alone a couple of times per week most likely. It does at times feel like the moral expectations have become a bit too perfectionist, I don't know.
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Can you get a dog walker or dog sitter? My dog sitter is £20 a day to stay at there's which seems pretty good for the occasional visit
 
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