What do they do while you're at work? Walker? Daycare?

Hank loves my back yard and loves to sun. I just envision horror when I'm gone with his digging and also he has gotten through other gates before. He has not tested my fence and spends most the time I'm home outside. I wish I could let him back there at least part of the day while I'm at work. I just...

how did y'all decide to try that?

That's tough. I haven't had to deal with this yet for Jackson but I know I will one day. And I DO feel guilty already on the rare occasions that he's left alone for 8-10 hours. So I imagine 5 days a week is going to make me feel guilty. But honestly, he's always fine. A bit more needy, and needing some trick training or play time, but otherwise? fine.

But he hates strangers coming into our home without me and I don't think he would accept a dog walker in his house and leashing him up, he also wouldn't be happy in a doggy daycare environment without me, sooo... I know he would end up being happier at home even if it sucks and it's boring.

But if you think Merlin would be okay with a dog walker coming in, which it sounds like he would be, I would probably opt to do it at least a few times a week. I don't think you will mess him up too bad if it's not every single day.

I think he would fine, but if it were me I probably would get someone to at least come by and let him out to potty or do a walk a few times a week.

I'm not a fan of big group daycares at all. A smaller place with small groups (3 or 4 dogs), maybe training daycare or something is 100x better.

I have an extremely unpredictable and erratic schedule, and am often gone 6-10 hours, but never on the same day as last week... the dogs just cope. I make sure overall they're getting enough exercise, and we potty them before we leave every time. That's about it.

Zobby sleeps in his crate because he'll eat clothes and pee on the bathmat, but Elsie is just left loose. As far as I can tell she just sleeps on the bed while we're gone.

Yup that's including my commute time.
I am confident in his recall and he LOVES other people (Strange in the house? WOO! PARTY TIME!)

I am one of those who would try the whole exercise him before/after and then just leave him for the day. Maybe provide some interactive toys, leave the tv/radio on, etc.

I work 8 hour days and I my dogs get 3 walks a day in the summer/fall and 2 walks a day in the winter. And they do just fine. Granted they have each other to keep company and entertained...Well except for Leia who is still a puppy and is crated. She gets toys in her crate though and has never had an issue.

My brother works 12 hour days and owns a Shiba Inu/Labrador mix (energy! energy! energy!). He also just leaves his dog for the day. He walks her twice a day and she is perfectly fine. She got free roam of his apartment and now gets free roam of his new house. He leave's either the tv or radio on for her and she has her toys. He has worked these hours since she was 2 (she is 5 now) and he has never had an issue or needed a walker/sitter.

I am gone from the house for at least 9 hours every work day. I don't like leaving the dogs home without a potty break for any longer than that. And my max used to be 8 hours. I do have the luxury of bringing dogs to work with me if I want to, and I do some days. But then I also rely on Lauren if I'm going to be gone for more than 9.

They can gold it. But I don't like them having to. I would never leave a dog unattended in a backyard while I was at work. Too many unknowns.

I've worked 9+ hour days before for 4-5 days a week (leaving them alone for 10-11), and I kind of hated it. My dogs didn't mind for the most part. I didn't do it for long.

I still leave my dogs for up to 12 hours for trips sometimes. No harm, they don't mind, but I wouldn't make a habit of it again. I have higher drive/energy dogs now that would go beserk.

If I were in your position I'd try a daycare once a week and a dog walker another day or two, and gauge his energy level after that.

Honestly? I'm a bad person and Jari has been alone for 8-10 hours a day with no break since he was a puppy. Ex-pen with newspaper when he was very little and then just crated. I was able to get DH to come home midday until he was about 4 months, then it was nothing. He's fine. Gets exercised in the morning before I leave, crated with frozen Kong, then exercised as soon as I get home. Do I wish I could have afforded a dog walker all this time? Of course! But I just could not. Now that my schedule is changing drastically I will be home a lot more during the day for breaks and such so I might actually try him free roaming with the girls. The girls have also been fine for those long stretches roaming the house.

Now I do have a day off midweek with my current job, and that doesn't seem to mess any of them up. I think they are just happy we get to do more stuff during that day, but it's not like Thursday rolls around and he's peeing in his crate or anything. Oh, and his crate is unnecessarily huge hahaha.

I'd say leave him and see if it works. You can always add the dog walker if you think he needs it.

ETA - And there was a span of time where I was bringing Kimma and Jari to work with me pretty regularly. It also didn't seem to mess them up if they had a day home in between days of getting to come with

I started off really slow by only putting him in the backyard for short periods of time, and then slowly increasing after nothing terrible happened.

The first time I put him outside, I was just going shopping for groceries, so I was gone for max an hour. I was still scared coming back "Oh my gosh, what if he is an escape artist and I just didn't know it? What if he's gone? What if he's eaten all the plants?" But when I got there, he was just chilling. Then I did it for a little bit longer, and longer, and then finally for the whole day.

It helps that Leo is not a digger and not an escape artist either (I can close his crate door on him and but not pull the latch over, and he will still be in there). I wouldn't necessarily do it with any dog, but for Leo it is the perfect solution.

I am lucky that my parents are retired and take care of the dogs during the day. If they are gone, I try to have someone take them out to pee mid-day (neighbor, teenager we know, someone like that). Meg won't usually go out with people, but Gusto will.

That's all more because my mother is convinced they need it. If it were just me, I would be fine leavingbthem for the 8.5 hours or so I am gone.

I used to leave Brisbane in our apartment for 8+ hours a day with no problem, he is not a morning person and could barely be roused enough to go downstairs and pee. I'd leave his breakfast in a frozen Kong along with some other puzzle toys and chewy things and he was fine.

Now I work at a dog daycare and can bring dogs with me, but usually only one at a time and Uly doesn't normally get to go due to the biting thing. I though for years that Brisbane would never be a candidate for daycare because he hates rough retriever play, but I'd be happy leaving him there now. The ones that like to play get to play, the ones that just want to snooze get to hang out by the pool or in/on/under plastic children's play equipment and on beds, the ones that want to be petted get petted, and there's enough supervision to keep the annoying ones from pestering the grumpy ones. Briz enjoys a dip in the pool and playing with a dog that weirdly looks exactly like himself, Ru only plays with other chihuahuas.

My dogs sleep at home all day. I used to have a work schedule that allowed me to go home at lunch pretty much every day so we would play in the backyard, work on some tricks, potty, maybe go for a walk around the block. But I don't have that luxury now. Sometimes I bring the dogs to work and then I take them for a short walk on my lunch/dinner break. But that often means there are 3 large dogs in a very small office so I tend to leave them home now if I can.

My dog are left alone anywhere from 3-8 hours a day, just depending on my schedule. Ryan gets home at roughly the same time every day, I'm all over the place. On the rare occasion that they need to be left more than 8 hours, Megan usually takes them out for me, and I repay the favor by taking her dogs out when she needs me to.

Once I get settled into my new job and the hours there (which won't be for a couple months), then the dogs will be left home alone only about 2-3 hours per day. I'm excited for that.

The dogs are left at home.

Our current schedule is potty break at 6:30am, then Michael gets home around 4:00. When he's deployed, it will be closer to a twelve hour day (6:45-5:45) for them without a break. But they've done it before (when Abrams was a pup no less) and they'll do it again. At least this time around they aren't crated for that period of time. If they have an issue with it, I'll just have to start running home over my lunch break to let them out and just eat on the go. :/ Can't afford the $20/day the pet sitter would charge for a potty break, don't know anyone to just swing by and let them out.

I work 10-6, but I'm usually not back til 7:30. Garp just stays at home. It's his down time. My roommate is on a different schedule though and she's home around 2. If he needs to go to bathroom, she let's him out. But otherwise he's content just snuggling around til I get home.

He walks to the coffee shop with me every morning before work, but nothing that would actually tire him out. That's for after work.

He's typically not crated though, and has the run of most of the house.

He has the option if coming to work with me but honestly he's happier staying home. Too much crazy for him at the clinic, he gets stressed.

Do you have a neighbor who could stop in for the occasional potty break or brief play time? Or maybe you could have the walker come only 1 or 2 days a week.

I sometimes wonder if 'dog people' don't just over complicate things. Most my non dog friends have super high energy dogs and different size dogs and they just give them free roam of the house and yard with no worry.

That said Hank ran back to his crate at lunch after I let them out. He already knows he gets a stuffed kong of goodness when I leave at lunch. I guess I should stop worrying about him. He seems pretty darn happy despite being very high energy and high drive and having to have an owner who works full time.

They absolutely do. A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. And it's probably not a coincidence that so many trainers have so many reactive dogs - I really do think that some of the anxiety of Doing Dogs Right bleeds into other issues.

Couldn't agree more.

Third'd.