# Where does your dog go when you are at work?



## samjsan (Feb 27, 2010)

Questions for the group:
How many hours a day do you work? Where do your dogs stay when you are at work?

Thanks,
Sam


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

Hubby and I both leave for work around 7am, he gets home between 4-5pm usually. I am usually home by 2:30. On days I know I will be working at least 8hrs (Mondays) and days I have team meetings we take them to daycare. They LOVE daycare. We try to only have them go 2 days/week but often its as much as 3 days. When they go they are so tired in the evening that they don't play with us much or interact with us. I realize its a good thing, tired dog is a happy dog, but we want time with them too!


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## DJEtzel (Dec 28, 2009)

I'm at school for 2-3 hours a day and work friday-monday from 2-6 or 2-8. Frag stays home uncrated when I'm at work because someone is always there, and is crated while I'm in class most of the time because no one is home.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Hubby and I both work from home, so we are home most of the time, but we do occasionally have to go out to lunch or errands etc. When it was just my adult dog we left her loose in the house, as she doesn't chew or pee or do anything bad at all.

But then the puppy came along and he's at the chewing stage and isn't housetrained yet, so at first I tried to put him in the laundry with a bed and all his toys etc and left my adult dog loose as she had been before. But it turns out that the puppy will whinge when we are gone, and then the adult dog barks at him because he is whinging, so we have now started leaving them out in the backyard. I just set them up with their beds and toys and full kongs, and then hand them each a chicken breast strip before going back inside. They loooooove the chicken so much that they don't even notice us leaving, and by the time they finish the chicken and the kongs we are long gone, and they go to sleep.


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## vwdarling (Oct 21, 2010)

We got our puppy a couple weeks ago when he was 7.5 weeks old (he's 10 weeks tomorrow)... and my husband and I decided to stagger our shifts so he works from 7am-3 and I work from 3-midnight. Our puppy will be alone from 1:30 to 4:30-ish so that's not too bad. I take him out for a last pee by 1pm and no accidents by the time my husband gets home. It's been working quite well, aside from not seeing my husband all week... This staggered schedule is only for another month... by then hopefully we'll be able to get my father-in-law to come over midday to take the dog out... we'll see how he's doing though.

He stays within his pen, with his crate open, with a water dish and chew toys all around. We have a cat that keeps him company so he's not alone


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

My work days vary from 5-10 hours and I have at least one full day off each week. On my long day, my schedule and my husband's kind of stagger so that the dogs aren't actually alone for 10 hours. We usually leave them home uncrated, but I have a couple of luxuries: I can bring my dogs to work with me whenever I want to and we have awesome neighbors who are usually home during the day, know our dogs very well and can be totally trusted to let them out mid-day if we need them to.


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

I work from home and usually Lars can be found under my desk or behind my chair. The days I'm on the road and I can't bring him along, he's home. Sometimes those days will run from 8 am to 5 - 6 pm. But Mr. Boats usually gets home before 5 pm. While I'm gone, Lars is uncrated and has free run of the house. I'm pretty certain he sleeps while we're gone.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

I live with my mom right now, and she works from home. I work in a bakery from 8am-4pm. I take my dogs out when I get up at 7am. They go back into the crates from about 7:45am, when I leave for work, until 10am, when Mom takes them out to pee. They go back into the crates and nap until noon, when she takes them for a little walk and then lets them run around the house until I come home at 4pm. I take over dog duties from there. I'm really glad to have her around to do that stuff for me during the day.


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## Rowdy (Sep 2, 2007)

I work from 4p-10 or 11pm. My SO works from 8am-8pm. We usually overlap one or two days a week. So the dogs are home alone from about 3:30-8:30pm. We have a lovely dog walker who comes by about 6pm to walk the dogs and give them dinner. That way they're only alone for a few hours at a time before someone is with them.

The dogs have free roam of the house except for our bedroom.


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## melaka (Mar 31, 2010)

I generally work about 9 am - 6 pm 4 days a week, and I work from home one day a week. On the days I go into work, I'm lucky that I'm able to drop my dog off at my parents' house. They are both retired and have a dog of their own, so one or the other is almost always home. I'm not sure how long this setup will last, so I'm enjoying it while I can.

On days when they have plans, a couple different things might happen:
-I'll leave Buffy gated in the kitchen in the morning, and they will pick her up by 12-1 or so.
-I'll take Buffy over there in the morning and they drop her off and gate her in the kitchen sometime in the afternoon until I come home.
-I'll leave her in the kitchen all day and go home at lunch to walk and play with her, putting her back in the kitchen when I leave. (This was my original plan when I got her, before my parents volunteered to watch her during the day.)
-I'll take her to daycare if I have a lunchtime meeting and I can't get home to let her out.

I think she could probably hold it all day at this point (she's 9 months old), but I really don't like leaving her alone for more than 6 hours at a time.


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## InkedMarie (Mar 11, 2009)

I'm fortunate, I only work 3 days a week and one of those days is on Saturday, when my husband is home. I leave at 8:45am and am home by 2:10pm. Both of our dogs are loose in the house. This is newish for Boone, even though he is 4yrs old, he was not trustworthy until recently.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

The dogs are alone, 4 days/week, from about 6:30 a.m. until around 4 p.m. - sometimes more, sometimes less.

They used to spend mild days in a 12x18 kennel run. It has shade and protection from rain, along with a large stock tank for "swimming." On not-so-nice days, they went to the "dog room." I was an unused basement recreation room with a tiled floor and (though they didn't really appreciate it) walnut paneling and a fireplace. I worked hard to dog-proof it without much success. That is where they ate my sister's sleeper sofa and, after that, they had no beds, few toys and not much in the way of stimulation. They were bored to tears.

That went on for a while before they got the run of the house. It wasn't so much that they earned it. They hadn't really had an opportunity to earn it. 

Now they have the run of the house, whether we're home or not. There have been no "accidents" or serious property damage. They've chewed up a few pairs of slippers (which probably look remarkably like their plush toys) and knocked over the kitchen garbage once-or-twice - and that's it. They have windows they can look out of, on two floors, and can follow the sun from window to window. In truth, I think they spend a big chunk of the day sleeping in our room (where they sleep at night) and we haven't had a problem with them getting onto our bed. 

On the first day of freedom, I was expecting a call from my wife when she got home to tell me that the dogs ate the house. 

When my wife gets home, she takes them to the beach or the dogpark, depending on the weather. 

It was a leap-of-faith letting them do this, but it's paid off and I know they are happier. Keep in mind that Esther and Molly are 5 and 3, respectively. I would not do this with a puppy or a dog that's not 100% housetrained.


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## Conard10 (Sep 25, 2010)

My husband and I are lucky and both work from home. We work from around 8-5 mon-fri. During that time our 7 month old pup has free roam of the house. We take her on a long morning walk, play or walk at lunch and then another outing in the evening. So with plenty of exercise she's actually very good during the day while we work. Just to mix things up we take her to doggie daycare two 1/2 days a week.


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## Mizuno (Jun 9, 2010)

Zuni is crated when we are away and Deebs has run of the house because she is awesome. However since I have been laid off, I stay home with them all day and they go on fun walks and play. Though I think that a majority of the time they prefer to just do the same thing they did when I wasn't here; sleep!

If they have had a particularly boring day we go on an extra long walk at night or to the dog park. Now that they are older and more mature (Deebs, primarily) it is less about wearing them out and more about having a great time.


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## grab (Sep 26, 2009)

Everyone except Aesop and Ginger are crated. Newt could actually have run of the bedroom, as she's mainly crated to prevent her being accidentally trampled, but she really likes her crate and heads there automatically when we start putting our shoes on.


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## MonicaBH (Jul 5, 2008)

My dogs are usually only left alone one day a week for about 9 hours. They are all uncrated at this point, although that is something that is very new.

When I get home from work, two dogs greet me at the door and two remain sound asleep on the couch. They're creatures of habits, these mutts of mine. <3


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## Yvonne (Aug 6, 2010)

All four are with me all day long. I work from home. They normally lay behind my chair while I work and don't disturb until I stand up then tell me what they need.


Here and there I volunteer at a clinic and they are crated or the older ones are left loose while I am there.


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## amynrichie (Sep 3, 2008)

We are gone from 7:30 until about 1PM. If the weather is nice the two big dogs are outside, and the smaller ones are crated. If it is rainy or cold, all four get crated. My daughter is home for lunch at 11:30, and home from school at 1:30. Even if she is late, Hubby is home a little after 4, so no super long stretches. They are out the whole evenings, and sleep in various beds, so crating is usually only when we are gone.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

My boyfriend and I work 5 hour shifts during the school year and go to school, so we're gone a good amount of the time. Sydney stays in our bedroom uncrated because she barks at people walking by while we're gone, and there are no low windows in that room to get her into trouble. She's probably in there sleeping about 8 hours a day. Sometimes my roommate takes her out before we get home (he doesn't go to school and is around the house more than we are) but usually he doesn't (fair enough, she's not his dog). I definitely couldn't crate her that long. She'd hate it.


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## Not a Boxer (Oct 5, 2010)

My husband and I both work full time (8-6, 5 days a week) but we are lucky in that my parents live upstairs and help out with the dog during work days. He's almost one and still crated, but we're slowly transitioning out the crate. The usual routine is something like this: 6-8 am - walk/dogpark, eat, playtime; 8-11:30/12 crate, 11:30/12 - 1 out for walk/play with my dad; 1-4:30 crate; 4:30 - walk/playtime with my parents then he is given run of the house until I get home around 6:15, when we do another walk or playtime at the park. We mix it up some days with doggy day care, my husband taking him to work with him, or my mom taking him up with her in her home office. On weekends, if we go out for errands or dinner, and can't take him with us, he has full run of the house (except bedrooms doors stay closed).


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## TStafford (Dec 23, 2009)

My husband works from 5am to 3pm and i'm about to start night classes from 4:30pm to 7pm, so Porter wont have to be put away very often. But when we do leave at the same time he is crated in the back room.


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## FilleBelle (Aug 1, 2007)

I leave for work at 7:15 and I am home between 2 and 4, depending on the day. Alvin is uncrated with access to everything except the bathroom (he likes to strew the trash around the floor), including the backyard, via a dog door. I have graduate class four nights a week, so I leave for another hour Monday-Friday, but he gets a long walk between work and class, plus I leave him dinner in his kibble dispenser when I go. I'm fairly certain he spends most of his alone time asleep on one of his many beds.


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## SchnauzerLove (Jul 7, 2010)

In my case there's usually someone home at all times, if I am not home my mom is, is mom isnt then my dad is and so on, but at times when we all know we are gonna be out for more than 6 hours we leave the door to the garage open and they pee and poop in the garage, its a closed garage attached to the house so there's no way they're gonna escape or anything like that, it seems to work for us.


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

I work midnight to 8 AM, leave for work at 11:30 PM, home by 8:30 AM. On the days I drop off Injuctions at the Court House, I'm home by 7 AM. The dogs go to bed. Two of them have freedom of the house, but go to their crates, the third is crated w/the gate locked.


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## Deron_dog (Feb 21, 2009)

I work from home 80% of the time as work is close to 2 hours away from me by car...it'd be maybe about 30 minutes if I owned a boat but alas I do not so my boss is nice and only makes me come in 1 day a week. But during the time I'm gone from 4 AM till 4 PM, the 3 small ones are crated except for the 2 hours my mom comes up to check on things, they are then free to use the potty, and run around the yard and have a quick snack with nana.

Wally Goes with me everywhere as my SDIT in Training, but on the occassions I have to leave him home, he is still a puppy 1 Years old and is prone to lack of Judgement when i'm not around so he is also crated but never for as long as everyone else. FYI every one is Happy, and really there only in there crate about 5 hours out of the day thanks to my mom.


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## Varulv (Oct 19, 2010)

My boyfriend and I both work 8-4:30 (though he often gets home early around 3:30), so we made Nero his own "bedroom" in the basement. It's unfinished, so we gated off the electrical room (10'x14') for him. We dry-walled the bottom half of the room and painted the floor (to make accidents easier to clean up) and he has all of his toys, his bed, and a huge thing of water. The cats occasionally go down to visit with him (I came home to the one sleeping in his bed while he slept on the concrete floor, ha); I also leave the radio on for him (the soothing, mind-numbingly boring BBC station) so he probably sleeps the vast majority of the day.


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## ben46valdez (Nov 18, 2010)

i leave my dog alone for about 10 hours everyday  he has a full run in the house


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

I'm gone 9 hours a day for work, and my 3 year old dog has the run of the house except for the bedrooms and the laundry room. I keep him out of the guest bedroom so I have a "dog hair free" place for visitors with dog allergies (well, as clean as possible) and out of my bedroom cause he will get peanut butter slobber all over the pillows. Laundry room is baby-gated for safety (household cleaners, gas water heater, etc). He spends his time going between the two main windows and the couch and his dog bed. He's not a barker or a chewer and is typically very calm inside. 

10 hours is basically his limit physically so I make sure to get someone to let him out if I have to work late or I drive home in between meetings or whatever.


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## chrisowe (Nov 20, 2010)

I leave for work work at 8 and come home at around 4 and i always leave my dog out. He behaves and isnt destructive so im fine with it.


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## Ashleydonovan9 (Sep 3, 2014)

Me and my boyfriend both work 12 hour shifts, before someone jumps to conclusions we would NEVER leave him alone that long, however, my question is if my boyfriend will make it home every 3-4 hours to let him out to potty is it ok to crate him or should we keep him in his ex pen and risk him having accidents in there? 
My thing about the ex pen is that I don't wanna confuse him by putting down pee pads cause he is doing so well with outside elimination!


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## MRVivekB (Jun 21, 2014)

we've been leaving our 10 month old terrier home alone with free reign from 8:15am->3:30ish, typically 4 days/week. Sometimes only 3. I used to feel guilty until I put in a webcam that I can access via my phone, he sleeps basically 100% of the time we're gone.

We might start doing doggy day care 1-2x/week but more for a socialization thing than any other reason.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

This thread is 4 years old....


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## pinksand (Dec 11, 2013)

Ashleydonovan9 said:


> Me and my boyfriend both work 12 hour shifts, before someone jumps to conclusions we would NEVER leave him alone that long, however, my question is if my boyfriend will make it home every 3-4 hours to let him out to potty is it ok to crate him or should we keep him in his ex pen and risk him having accidents in there?
> My thing about the ex pen is that I don't wanna confuse him by putting down pee pads cause he is doing so well with outside elimination!


As mentioned, this thread is from 2010. You might get more answers to your question if you start a new thread.

If you're working on housebreaking your puppy then I'd recommend sticking with the crate for exactly the concerns you mentioned. If your boyfriend can make it home every 3-4 hours that should be fine. Will he be able to play with him for a bit during the breaks? 12 hours is quite a while to be in solitude. How old is your puppy/dog?


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## MRVivekB (Jun 21, 2014)

BostonBullMama said:


> This thread is 4 years old....


dumb question: Why does that matter? Wouldn't the basic premise still be the same?

I ask as on the other forums i'm on (mostly home automation), including the ones I moderate, we frown upon creating new threads when the basic information already exists in other threads. That way all information around a topic is in one location. Sure forum members come & go, but most people use the "new posts" button (or just scan the first page).


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## Ashleydonovan9 (Sep 3, 2014)

Thank you MRVivek, that's exactly the reason I didn't start a new thread! The point of a forum is to keep all info regarding the same topic in one area so new people (such as myself) can simply search the topic and reply within the right thread! Correct me if I'm wrong?


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Ashleydonovan9 said:


> Thank you MRVivek, that's exactly the reason I didn't start a new thread! The point of a forum is to keep all info regarding the same topic in one area so new people (such as myself) can simply search the topic and reply within the right thread! Correct me if I'm wrong?


With the really old threads, it seems that much of the time the post that bumps it to the top is a spam post. The spam seems to have been reduced lately from the new posting requirements, but until recently, it was often either spam or something like a random rant because someone read the first post but didn't read the thread to see the resolution as compared to a legitimately related concern/question. 

Starting a new post can help people to focus on your specific question without wading through the couple pages that might be the same general topic but people are going to assume that with an original post that old, the issue has been taken care of and/or the poster has left.


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## MRVivekB (Jun 21, 2014)

Shell said:


> With the really old threads, it seems that much of the time the post that bumps it to the top is a spam post. The spam seems to have been reduced lately from the new posting requirements, but until recently, it was often either spam or something like a random rant because someone read the first post but didn't read the thread to see the resolution as compared to a legitimately related concern/question.
> 
> Starting a new post can help people to focus on your specific question without wading through the couple pages that might be the same general topic but people are going to assume that with an original post that old, the issue has been taken care of and/or the poster has left.


oh, ok. With Home Automation, its generally considered rude to start a new thread as there are many subtle differences to the same basic question, but its stuff that is all relevant for newbies. Helps cut down on redundant threads. As an example, i've seen many duplicate threads on integrating automated lighting, security systems, and a/v control. Everyone wants a new thread only for their specific setup, when in reality its basically the same thing. Even if you have a 20 page thread, the newbie should read through all 20 pages before asking how to integrate their specific brand of lighting, security, audio, and video equipment.

I'm new to the dog world, so it appears that approach doesn't work here. Thanks for the tip.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Here the stickies play that role for the most part. For stuff like potty training basics or dangerous items for a dog to eat for example. Things that don't really change dog to dog or owner to owner. But more specific questions, a new thread is fine.


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