# how long do you leave your pup/dog alone for?



## meisha (Dec 28, 2008)

we bought gemma just before xmas and thought this was the best time to get her so she could settle in whilst we are off work for two weeks. partner and i both work full time although i am able to return home lunch times for half hour or so. i intend to walk gemma both morning and night once she is trained and jabbed to do so. do you think this is an acceptable routine for her?

i know i am asking an open question here liable to critisicm but i wanted to know if and how others spend time with their pup or dog and if they are ok being left for 4 hours at a time.

i am aware that as gemma grows she will probably soil but at the mo her potty training is going very well. she can hold her bladder for about 3 hours and at 8 week i think thats ace.

cheers:biggrin:


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## jasps (Dec 16, 2008)

That is going to be a big ask for your dog. You really need to introduce them gradually to being left on their own. I don't know the breed or even if it matters, however, I would imagine she would be quite destructive simply because she will be bored.

I have a 10 week old pup and we are slowing introducing him to being left. First for 10 minutes, leaving him a chew toy (a kong with a sall biscuit in it). We will gradually increase by 5 mins at a time. Although he will never be left for any great length of time it is good for him to learn this. If your dog has been good when you return home, make a great big fuss of her, I mean a really big fuss. There is nothing our pup likes more than a big fuss and a tummy rub. Ignore her if you return home and she has been destructive, it will be hard but important. My 14 year old dog that we lost recently still loved his fuss when we returned home, he would bark if the fuss we made of him wasn't long enough.

The last time I had pups was over 14 years ago, the techniques we used then served us very well and we are doing the same with our new pup and it seems to be going very well.

Good luck,

Adam


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## mr.stitches (Aug 1, 2008)

I do think you can start to leave them when they are too young. In a way, it will be worse as your pup will have been used to both of you being round, which will suddenly go to no one.

Its good that your pup can hold its bladder, but if it starts to feel it has to hold it for too long and they have an accident, they be nervous of you returning home in case you are upset with them....When we leave Pippin, we leave a pad out for her just in case she has to go, and if she has used it, which is rare, then we know that she really had to go!

Pippin is just over a year and has not been destructive when left in anyway since we got her in august. I start work again Monday, so she will be alone for 5 hours, which i do feel mean about. But at least we have the afternoons to walk and run and have fun. People need to work, which is a problem as we would all love to stay with our pets all day!


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2008)

If you both work full time then maybe you could afford to have a dog walker/sitter come in to see to her during the day


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## meisha (Dec 28, 2008)

we do both work full time but this does not mean we are on a large salary!!! but yes i am considering a walker to see her for an hour in the day but who do i trust!? can i vet them to allow them into my home? how do i find one? i mean if they cost £20 per hour, thats £100 per week and £400 a month!!!!!! jeeze I am stretched to the limit as I am.
we have gradually introduced her to being alone we have done this over a week by going out for half hour then an hour then two and so on. today we left her for 3.5 hours and although she had chewed the newspaper on the floor she did not wee or poo.
i think its pretty harsh that some can say 'if you dont have the time for a dog dont get one as this states that only people who can afford to not work or who are on benefits and so on may have a lovely pet'.
anyhow thanks for your advice, question still remains open for more!


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## marianne (Aug 12, 2008)

If you don't already have one, I would get a crate. One big enough for her to move around a bit, but not too big where she has a lot of room to mess in it.
Depending of what size dog she'll be, at 8 weeks I think 4 hours at a time would be ok.I work part time, but I would have to leave mine on work days for 3 hrs or so and come home at lunch and let them out. I would also leave a radio or tv on so she doesn't feel so alone. Good luck!


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## shortbackandsides (Aug 28, 2008)

Hi we leave gemma our patterdale pup(now 6 months old)from 8.30 am-5pm every other saturday and she`s fine,and never dirty.when she was younger we used to leave her for a few hours(in a crate) again she was fine and clean.In the summer we will leave her in the outside kennel,whilst out.


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## Guest (Jan 1, 2009)

Not read the threads - just replying to the topic - we seldom leave ours alone as when we were wowrking we worked for ourselves and I worked from home. since (semi) retiring my OH has a part time job - if i'm out then he's in and visa versa - but having said that - WE CAN leave them alon - as we did this year on christmas day for 7 hours and boxing day for 8 hours and they are absolutely fine.
regards
DT


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## shortbackandsides (Aug 28, 2008)

I think its good for them to be left alone sometimes,my brother and his wife have never left their dog alone,she is now 6 and cannot be left and has to be looked after by family members.


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## bonzy (Dec 30, 2008)

I used to work and I HAD to leave my big dog alone as a puppy. I did exactly what you have done increasing the time.The longest I ever left him was 3 hours and then I came home.He did chew stuff in the beginning...but I never put him in a crate. I do NOT like the idea of wanting a dog an putting him in a 'prison' when I choose.Not fair.


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## shortbackandsides (Aug 28, 2008)

Gemma was more than happy to go in her crate,she would put herself in there.We have a older little dog that would not have put up with being pestered by a puppy all day long,also i didnt want to come home to poo everywhere,The crate was invaluble for toilet training,and i recommended them to all that bought one of our recent pupsIts a safe place(ideal if you have young children)and as long as the dog is happy i have no problems with them.


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## Chell82xx (Sep 20, 2008)

My Dogue De Bordeaux is 5 months now and can be left upto 6 hours (in a crate) without messing in it. I dont work so did not want him to need me to be around 24/7. I started by putting him in his crate for a few minutes while i was in the room doing house work and gradually increased the time he spent in there (always with a chew toy), i dont make a fuss of him when he goes in or comes out as i have found that this causes him to react to being seperated from me. 

We fenced off part of our garden for him to go to the toilet and he knows this is his special area for his duties and is always the first place he goes when he comes out of his crate.

Everyone has different views on crate training and i thought they were crule until my husband wanted to introduce them with our destructive Rottweiler now i think if used properly they are the best training tool i have ever used!


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## pugsley Adams (Dec 30, 2008)

I have been told that in order to prevent separation anxiety, You start out by leaving them alone for a half hour and then build on the amount of time to leave them from there. Good Luck with the wee one!


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## bonzy (Dec 30, 2008)

I think that I COULD come to terms with a crate IF they are huge compared to the dog and also used as a pleasurable place for the dog. I have known a 
greatdane to be put in a big crate but not big enough for him to move around a lot...all day long whilst the owners went out to work.They lived on a farm too.I felt so sorry for this poor dog.... surely he could have had some freedom. This family did not need to have everyone going out to work either.Why have a dog for when you feel like it. It is treating the dog as if he were a toy.


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## pugsley Adams (Dec 30, 2008)

I would only use a crate to begin with, not all day. But for training I would consider other options like the kitchen and by block off the entrance to prevent mis happs . Crates are okay but only a little bit. With my experience the gating off the kitchen area with a crate and a comfy bed with food and water worked out great and using news paper .


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## Chell82xx (Sep 20, 2008)

Teddy looks lost in his crate, he is less than half its size and the longest he is in there is over night. We have just had a stable door put on the kitchen so he can see what is happening and once he gets used to chewing toys and not my cupboard doors his crate will be removed and he will have the kitchen for his alone times. 

I think it depends on the dog and its progression. Whatever you do you need to have a routine that makes your puppy feel safe and secure and so he knows when he should be doing what!


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## Bentley2008 (Oct 10, 2008)

We both work full time too and work 9 - 5, i come home at dinner time for 1/2 hour to let Bentley out etc. He is 9 months now and is fine, granted he is a bulldog so is a tad lazy in the fact that he sleeps all the time! We can leave him for up to 6 hours alone and he is fine. We had him when he was 12 weeks and has been left for that amount of time since we had him. Good luck x


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## meisha (Dec 28, 2008)

thanks for your replies, i went to work this morning and left her from 830 to 120 and she didnt mess and seemed ok, i left sky news on for her and the washer was on (which she likes) so am chuffed she was ok. was meant to leave her for a couple of hours this afternoon but not going to bother, think she has been alone enough today.
i do have a crate which she sleeps and relaxes in but havnt managed to shut the door on her yet, it will come in time.


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## Sophiex (Jul 27, 2008)

The longest Oscar gets left for is 4 hours when I go to work. I get up early, give him breakfast, let him run around the garden, he plays with his toys and then he's usually half-asleep and ready for a nap by the time I'm ready to go. I crate him while I'm out otherwise he'd get into EVERYTHING. It's only 3 days a week that he's left for 4 hours. If I'm out and about, it's never usually for more than a couple of hours because there's usually someone else at home.


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## Guinevere13 (Mar 31, 2008)

If I am working, my dog has a dog walker who comes around lunchtime. It costs £5.25 for half an hours walk - it would cost me that in petrol to get home and back to work. She is police checked and has checkable references. As for crates, they were great for teaching Millie toilet training. She only went in there to wee! We are lucky that she is not a destructive dog but she will hoover the worktops for the smallest crumbs!


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## bonzy (Dec 30, 2008)

Speaking of hoovering worktops....... many a lunch has disappeared off the worktop in our house !!!


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## meisha (Dec 28, 2008)

Guinevere13 - 5.25 per hour sounds more reasonable! I have to travel 17 miles home at lunch to let her out, feed and fuss so for the sake of about 5.25 I might look about. How did you find your walker? did you go through an agent?


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## Guinevere13 (Mar 31, 2008)

My OH happened to park next to her at a chip shop and they started talking about the dog! She was advertised in pets at home but I am sure if you look up in the phone book you will find one near by. She came to talk to us and discuss requirements etc. so it was all very friendly. We know her address, she knows ours and will call if anything goes wrong. It is a matter of finding someone you can trust, we were very lucky.


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## Kelkay0 (May 14, 2010)

I was relieved to read some of these posts, i have an (almost) 10 week old cocker spaniel puppy, he's adorable, have had him 2 weeks and he's settling in really well, but i took 2 weeks off work to settle him in and now having altered my shifts around my husbands so that little Ralphy has less time alone, the longest he will be alone is 4hrs. 
This has been worrying me riciculously.
I have the teenage girl next door coming round each afternoon- her school finish time varies from 1400hrs to 1600hrs latest, so i think it will work ok, but been very worried that 4hrs is simply too much, the breeder was very vocal about this and really upset me too, generally he'll be left alone for 3hrs, only 4 hrs once a week so not too bad...
We have a crate, but leave it open and leave the kitchen floor for him, he is normally very good and if he soils, it's on the newspaper left by the back door. (Never around his bed in the crate)I am hoping that this will be sufficient, was thinking about getting a sitter/walker to split the time up a bit, but same issues as previously mentioned by someone, trust, expense, vetting, so we'll see how it goes.
He knows he is loved and is a delightful puppy, i just can't beat the thought of him crying whilst we're gone....


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