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

[Fran101]

I am looking at a new job in Seattle, which is exciting, but I won't have the flexibility of bringing Merlin to work or coming home at break time.
I'll be gone 7:00AM-5PM

I'm looking into all kinds of options because I really would like for him to have a break...but not sure if that's necessary or normal.

Right now my options are
- Dog walker. Typical $20 for 30/min type deal solo walk (I don't like group dog walking)
- Off Leash adventure thing. $25 for off leash trail or park trip
- Daycare $32 (but I don't think that's an option,Merlin does great at parks but I don't know about confined spaces with that many other dogs)

or just...leave him. Which I don't think is fair for 10 hours but I've never even attempted it...do you think it would be ok for some days?

 

[Ozfozz]

I think that if you're able to exercise him well before and after work he *might* be okay. Maybe have a dog walker come in 2-3 times per week, and leave a puzzle toy on the off days?

Or if you have a yard, and once you get settled in and meet the neighbours, maybe get someone to just let Merlin out once or twice per day?

 

[Dizzy]

My dogs are ruined and stay home with their daddy, follow him around the place, go digging in the garden, sit in the office etc. If he's not around they stay with their nain and taid (Welsh granny and grandad) and get even more ruined.

Fred would probably love daycare. Bodhi would HATE it.

Bodhi could be left all day regularly. Fred could not.

Different things work depending on the dog!

 

[Fran101]

I think that if you're able to exercise him well before and after work he *might* be okay. Maybe have a dog walker come in 2-3 times per week, and leave a puzzle toy on the off days?

Or if you have a yard, and once you get settled in and meet the neighbours, maybe get someone to just let Merlin out once or twice per day?

No yard sadly. Although I'm not doing crate anymore so that's something...

He will get exercised quite a bit before and after work I just worry about that much time without a break. Especially in an apartment...

 

[Fran101]

My dogs are ruined and stay home with their daddy, follow him around the place, go digging in the garden, sit in the office etc. If he's not around they stay with their nain and taid (Welsh granny and grandad) and get even more ruined.

Fred would probably love daycare. Bodhi would HATE it.

Bodhi could be left all day regularly. Fred could not.

Different things work depending on the dog!

That's my worry! lol He's been spoiled rotten by a lifestyle of somebody always being home or coming to work. In the early days when he was a pup he would stay home crated but that was a WHILE ago.

 

[Dizzy]

Well I'm quick to say he couldn't be left... But actually I think without trying it its hard to be so cut and dry.

Why not trial it before work starts and see how he copes?

 

[Sekah]

Our house is empty ~830-5 most days. The dogs just stay in all day. I give them a short walk in the morning and they are let out to pee as soon as we get home. Then, they get a longer walk a bit later on.

Before I moved I was living within walking distance from work and I'd come home at lunch to give them pee breaks. I had some anxiety when I first started leaving them all day, but they do just fine.

I like the idea of the off-leash nature walks, assuming it's reasonably safe and secure. It's just a bit too expensive for me.

 

[Laurelin]

I go to work between 7-8 and come home between 5-6. So very similar hours.

I was very worried when I started up 3 1/2 years ago because Mia was at the height of her busy-ness and had never had a schedule like it. When I started I lived with my dad so it was fine and people were in and out all day. But when I moved to my own place it was just me and really it was too far for more than a 5-10 min stop by. I did that a while then switched to potty pads and left the paps all day.

At first I used a x pen but then just gated them in a room (kitchen). They did fine and got into the swing of the new schedule easily. Summer can hold it that long, but Mia can't. Mia seems to only be able to hold it 4-5 hours max unless overnight. Potty pads were our solution. Mia could not do the daycare thing and is too worried about strangers for me to be comfortable with a dog walker.

Now with Hank I live closer and can do a good 25 minute lunch break. I've been doing that and it's been just fine. The bad thing with Hank is he CANNOT be left out with the papillons. It's just not safe. He is a good boy but he gets excited when they get angry at him and he will come at them harder and harder and won't relent. So I have to supervise their interactions so Hank can be removed if he needs to be. He also is not fully potty trained and marks if given too much freedom and he does not respect baby gates. He will jump them or if he wants out bad enough he has just torn them completely off the wall.

So he's crated. He has a big lab sized crate but I feel bad about it. My initial thing was going to be that I'd spend an hour or so every morning playing hard with him but turns out he's not a morning guy and neither am I. After a few days we gave up. He gets some toys tossed while I get ready and a food puzzle when I go. Plus a bully stick and some toys. It's been fine. We exercise a lot when I get home. On my days off I try to get him out and about for several hours. Luckily since I work an extra hour most days I also get more days off (around 13 a month).

I've looked into daycare or a dog walker. Still not sure if I trust them enough. I couldn't do it every day, it's too expensive. But maybe 1-2 times a week? A lot of my coworkers have dog doors- in fact most do. I just don't know if that would work since my dogs can't be loose together. Also, I can see Hank digging out or jumping the fence or squeezing out somewhere. And Mia would go outside and bark all day knowing her.

So yeah. Right now paps are gated in the bathroom/hallway. Hank is crated in the bedroom right next to the hall with the door open so they are all near each other. Eventually I'd like to wean him off the crate. Probably won't happen for a while. summer could get run of the house but Mia still cannot unless I want things destroyed.

 

[Maxy24]

Tucker sleeps. He's only alone for about 7-8 hours, but he holds his bladder for about 10 (mom leaves at 8 but dad takes him out around 6am). Even if I'm home he's all groggy and sleepy until like 4pm because that's what his body's used to. He's a little spunky right after mom leaves but in an hour or so he's DONE and sleeps. I think most dogs just get used to the pattern.

 

[Fran101]

A part of me thinks "He can just get used to it"
and then another part of me is super guilty because...I WANT him to have a walker or a fun off lead time but it's SO frikin expensive.

There is so much else I could do with almost $400 a month that is not paying Merlin's dog walker.
But I feel so flippin guilty!

Laur I was also thinking maybe a few times a week, even MWF wouldn't be that bad. But in a way is that even worse since there won't be a schedule for his body to adapt to?

 

[Laurelin]

My paps even keep their work schedule pretty much on my days off. They get super active an hour or two in the morning then just sleep till around 5. Mia gets wild right at 5. Makes me feel better about work. But really most adult dogs are going to spend a lot of time asleep.

 

[Sekah]

Laur I was also thinking maybe a few times a week, even MWF wouldn't be that bad. But in a way is that even worse since there won't be a schedule for his body to adapt to?

That's kind of what I'm worried about too. I know that if I'm home with the dogs they need a handful of bathroom breaks during the hours I'm normally at work, but if I'm gone all day they can hold it the full time. I may just be superstitious but I like to keep to a fairly regular schedule for that reason.

 

[Maxy24]

Yeah when I would come home from college for breaks I would try not to do much with Tucker during the hours mom normally works to prevent him from having issues once I went back. I didn't want to change his peak active hours or mess with his potty schedule. I mean I did on occasion but not enough to change his internal clock. But I suppose every dog is different, Tucker isn't exactly a go with the flow type. I will tell you though, most of the daycare dogs sleep most of the day. The playful ones go for 2-3 hours or so in the morning, nap or get cuddles for a while, get a second wind in the early afternoon for an hour or so, and then sleep until it's over at 5. We have a few that are go go go and don't rest, I had a schnauzer like that yesterday, but that's not the majority.

 

[Dekka]

At the moment Dekka is free in the apartment with a potty pad. It is the one big thing I don't miss about having only one JRT. I never would have left Quest and Dekka loose together even to run down to my car.

Dekka only gets crated if the super needs to come in to fix or check something.

Sadly as Dekka, like Hank, doesn't blink at baby gates or expens when new puppy comes she might have to be crated for a while, or locked in the bed room.

Once puppy is older and I know Dekka is down with sharing her space with a new dog I am hoping she can be loose even if he is still locked in the kitchen.

 

[sassafras]

Laur I was also thinking maybe a few times a week, even MWF wouldn't be that bad. But in a way is that even worse since there won't be a schedule for his body to adapt to?

Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about this. My husband works a pretty traditional work day, but my schedule is fairly erratic. I only have one traditional work day, the rest of the time I either start in the afternoon or have the day off. So most days our dogs are only home for a few hours before my husband gets home.

But, it's not that uncommon for me to cover shifts, so my work schedule can in reality be quite erratic. And I've never noticed any real problem with the dogs. I do what I can with them when I can do it, and the rest of the time I leave them home. On my long day I try to come home at lunch but that doesn't always happen. My advantage is that I have several long mornings to make sure they get exercised, but I don't always if I have a lot of errands, etc. I think most dogs (in the absence of something like SA or another problem) can adapt to almost anything on the fly.

 

[Julee]

Well, now everyone is home pretty much 24/7 and I work from home, but previously... my dogs were all left from 8-3:30 until I hit high school, then 6:30-3:30. They were fine. Think of how many people do that, seriously.

I think hiring a walker once or twice a week would be a good idea if you're worried, especially to start, but he will adjust. Dogs are good at that.

 

[k9krazee]

I think dogs are really adaptable to changes in schedule. It would be nice to have a dog walker/off leash run every day, or a couple times a week to break up the work week but it's probably not absolutely necessary.

Our schedule is so erratic and then every other week we spend six days with the dogs practically 24/7 and then back to the grind. They seem to adjust just fine from one to the other. My dogs have run of the house and access to the yard via a dog door when we're at work (next door) but every time I come home in the middle of the day to check on them they're snoozing away and probably never even go outside (unless it's nice and sunny...they do like to lounge in the sun) but they always glare at me for interrupting their afternoon nap.

I wouldn't worry about it too much -- and if you can, it would be nice to gradually work him up to the long days alone if he hasn't done it in awhile.

 

[meepitsmeagan]

IMO, as an adult dog he would be totally fine left for 10 hours.

I leave nylabones and stuff in crates so if they get bored they have something to do, but I'm not sure how much they get used.

We do 2-3 potty breaks in the morning. Once right when we get up and one or two after they eat depending on who's telling me they need to go out.

Then they hang out all day until we get home, let them out again. Play/go for a walk/train... whatever.

You could definitely do a dog walker if you wanted, but I don't think it would be necessary every day of the week.

 

[Slick]

When I was still in an apartment, I was usually gone from 7-4pm and just left Leo inside the entire time and he was completely fine. Then one day, I had a surprise attack meeting that I had no idea about, and I ended up being gone from 7-6:30pm! I came home expecting an accident, but there wasn't one and Leo was completely fine.

Now I have a backyard, so he just chills out back there during the day while I am gone, but we never had a problem even for longer periods of time during the day while I was in an apartment. Dogs adapt.

 

[stardogs]

My dogs are often crated for periods that long solely because my schedule is random and it's often just easier to have them crated in between appointments.

One quick question, though: is that including your commute? 10 hours is basically my preferred max for time without potty breaks on a regular basis, so if you have a commute on top of that, that would change my stance.

A dog walker or off leash fun would be icing to me, so a couple times a week would be awesome but not a necessity - and for only $5 more, I'd do the off leash option if you feel comfortable that he'll listen to someone other than you in that context.