Leaving a Dog Alone During The Day

I forgot to say, I have 3 cats and my German Shepherd is fine with cats.  However, she grew up around cats.  You will have an easier time if you adopt a dog that has a known history of being OK with cats (or was fostered with cats) so you don't have to train it to leave the cat alone.


If we ever do have trouble, our cats have free reign of the basement and we can latch the cat door b/c all of their food, water, litter, and toys are down there.  Right now the door is permanently open b/c there have been no problems.  I'm actually more worried about the cats teasing the dog!

Hi kc,

Welcome to the dog.com forum! [] The dog daycare where I take my dog once a week, on my long work day, also has a pickup and delivery service. The dog can either spend the whole day there, or be picked up for part of the day, then dropped off.

I have a dog door for my dog to go in and out during the shorter days I'm away. I have worked with her so that she won't be a barking nuisance, even though we are surrounded by other barking nuisances. []

How active will you and your kids be with the dog on weekends? That will also help you determine what breed might be best. I have a herding mix, she needs a lot of physical activity and mental stimulation. But I'm also really active, and free to spend time with her, so we're a good match.

Shelters and humane societies can differ widely -- there was a time here local to me, where the local 'humane society' had really bizarre criteria -- there had to be someone in the home ALL the time (no single adopters), you had to have several acres 'fenced', you couldn't be an apartment dweller -- in short they rarely placed ANY animals but as a result couldn't ever TAKE any ... therefore, most of the local 'turn ins' wound up at Animal Control where they were quickly euthanized without more than 3 days time to get adopted.  Finally the Central Florida SPCA took over this humane society and things are run differently now, thank heavens.  They had, in the dim & distant past, almost 200 dogs in that hs that were completely unadoptable (most driven more and more aggressive because they had no social stimulation but the volunteers were 'in love with them'.)
 
Don't be discouraged -- and don't forget to check Petfinder.com -- you will find a dog perfect for you if you look. 

Raven, that truly isn't necessarily the case.  And yes, often at work *I* hold it all day.  But the dogs also go all night long without asking to go out.  Occasionally there is an accident, but truly not often and typically that's a herald of some other problem and it's always vet first at our house. 
 
It's simply a fact that many many of us work -- and it's just not possible or plausible to say people that work are 'cruel' pet owners.  We adapt. 

My sis and her husband adopted two young dogs from the city pound two years ago when our pound was euthanizing more than 100 dogs and cats per week.  They had to crate both dogs during the day, or they got into mischief.  Since they are schoolteachers they were gone 10 hours a day, 5 days a week.  The dogs did fine; they slept all day in their crates and had plenty of freedom and interaction in the evening and weekends.  It can be done with the right dog and dedication on your part.  Their sweet dogs would have been put to sleep otherwise.  A sad update on the story is that one year later one of the dogs ate a poisonous plant outside and died.  They adopted another dog that the owner did not want anymore, and he does fine with the same crating schedule.  Their dogs are happy and loving.
 
When we lived up north we did not have a fenced in yard.  Our dog stayed in the house all day when we were at work, 8-10 hrs.  He had no problem holding it and was allowed free roam of the house.  He slept all day. 
 
Our current dog loves being outside in our fenced yard and before he injured his neck (compressed cervical disc) he was in the yard while we were at work.  Now we leave him in the house, but we have the luxury of our college age son who lets him out to potty.
 
Dogs and cats can be together in the house when they are familiar to each other. 
 
Our current dog just sleeps all day even when we are home.  He gets his morning exercise and after breakfast goes to sleep.  Same in the evening, after his walk, he eats, and goes to sleep.
 
It can be done!  Do not give up!  There are so many older dogs in rescues and shelters that know the rules, so to speak, and are yearning for a loving home.  As people have said go for a dog that is not high energy.  I hope you find a dog to add to your family.

My dogs are often in at 8 pm for the night and hold it for an unimaginable 11 hours until 7 am, and i only find a mess if one was sick. I often hold it myself until I get home and I dring 2 liters of water at work through out the day. Neither of mine are crated, Ruffian is tied up if she is in heat, but that is for cleanliness. Neither have ever really been distructive though. If you are able to excersize your dog sufficiantly then i dont think it would be a big issue.

I agree with Bobsk8. My dogs are never crated and do great. I think dogs should only be crated or gated off in, say the kitchen area, IF they exhibit destructive behavior and only when potty training. I have a friend with 3 big dogs (rottie and pits). Two are crated all day long with barely enough room to move and the other one is not. She says they cannot be left out because they fight. Well.....hello - I would want to kick the other ones ass too if he got to be out all day while I had to be locked up and couldn't move!!!! The crated dogs are her boyfriend's and the other one is hers. Anyway - yeah, I would say no to crating for that many hours.

have you considered a rescue greyhound? they are largish dogs, but are generally known to be very docile dogs indoors.

i would give the cats a dog free space if at all possible. a place where they can get to that the dogs cant. we used to have a room that our cats could get into and the dogs couldnt.

we both work, and manage 3 dogs. one is a puppy, but i am able to come home at lunch and let them out and feed the puppy. however, before the puppy, the adults could make it the whole day. our's are crated. otherwise sydney gets a little destructive. realistically, they sleep most of the day. even on the weekends, if we are just hanging out at the house, they sleep most of the day then too.

I work full time, and also go to school full time. Casey does just fine, he is happy as a clam! He has a crate, but doesn't use it much any more (he did when I first got him, he has since discoved the joy of spending all day sleeping on my bed []) He also is able to hold his bladder all through the night, for about 12 hours - We go out for the last time around 9-10, and he usually isn't up and moving around until that time the next morning. He is only about 1 1/2 years old, and weighs 13 lbs - so his bladder is not huge. He gets along great with my cats, and had absolutely no history of living with anything (he was abandonded at the shelter that I work at)
I don't think your situation is unreasonable at all. Some people just don't have the luxary of being home all day with their pets and families. While a dog door would be the most ideal situtation, you would have to make sure that your cats would not crawl through it... []
I think the greyhound idea is fabulous, you do have to be concerned about the cats though as they are sighthounds. Keep checking petfinder.com, you may find some one perfect for you!

I also work full time. My dogs do not get along, at all. They must be kept seperate. One is young, and the other is old. Neither is placeable (if I could, I would have placed the older one soon after I got her, two years ago. She has too many issues). They are crated and rotated. They have larger spaces, for during the day, if it isn't stormy. If it's stormy, they stay in their crates to keep the stress down. Neither of them is too good with loud noises. Today, I left at 7:30. I got home around 7. Neither had peed (shockingly, Teenie usually wets her pee pee pad), and neither was upset. They both got their attentions and walkies and suppers, and they're both sleeping right now (Emma is loose, Teenie is in her pen, sleeping in her open crate). They're very happy girls, well excersized and cared for, and they couldn't possibly be loved any more.

They do, on occasion, get to come to work with me. There is never a dog walker or anyone to let them out, because of Teenie's aggression issues. If they were let out together, it would likely be with tragic consequences, especially if they were *left* out together.

I adopted a four year old dog from rescue. During the first two years together, I was gone about 10 hours per day. I did put in a doggie door, but frankly it was very rarely used and I ended up blocking it up to lower energy costs. Before I did that, I placed flour on the deck for a week and there were no dog prints in the flour (a couple of cat prints).
 
I think larger breeds do have larger bladders and can hold it longer. It is important to exercise in the morning.
 
I'd go through rescue and adopt a dog that has been in a foster family long enough to determine if they have any type of separation anxiety. Floyd has had free roam of the house with absolutely no destruction. The only times his housebreaking is less than perfect is if he has an upset stomach.

Some people just don't have the luxary of being home all day with their pets and families.

Having a dog IS a luxury though. Yes people NEED to work,but no one can say they NEED to have a dog.
If i was at work for 10 hours a day,even if my dogs would have free run of the house as they do now,i simply wouldnt have a dog.I would wait till my circumstances were better able to cater to a dog and then i would go for it,not before.

I think crating dogs for more than 4 hours MAX a day is cruel,i cant even begin to say what i think of owners who put their dogs in cages for 10 plus hours every single day [sm=censored.gif][sm=censored.gif] [:@]. They are better off in a shelter with a larger run IMO until the right family with enough time for them comes along.

I don't do many daily dog walks anymore.  But, when I was pet sitting full time I had newly adopted shelter dogs.  I wanted to suggest to you the dog walker mid day.  And, a lot of my clients would crate the dog before they left and I would let him/her stay out after our walk until the owner(s) returned.  Or, they did it the other way around, I would crate before I left. 

I had one Boston Terrier who had free roam of the entire finished basement with just a baby gate to block the stairs. 

If you don't like crates I also had one puppy that I put in an X-pen before I left.

I had one that was just gated in the kitchen. 

One bull mastiff pup I had was crated when I arrived and I would leave him free in the house when I left and he had access to a doggie door. 

I'm just listing these to give you some ideas of your possible options. 

My own dog is only alone for 5 hours at most.  My husband is usually home by 4:30 or so and I leave at 1pm.  Sometimes he works until 6 or has an errand or whatever.  I rotate so she never knows whats coming, no crates but sometimes she has free roam, sometimes she's gated in a room, the next day it could be a different room or only half the house available to her. 

Edie I'm sorry but until you see the dog overpopulation problem in this country first hand, maybe you can't understand that dogs are not left in shelters "until the right family comes along". Over half of them are euthanized for lack of ANY family coming along, ever. I'm pretty sure Conrad prefers his crate over being dead, which is where he was headed within two days of when we adopted him. 

Agreed.  Entirely different circumstances in the two countries.  Additionally, I don't think that Christine has volunteered or worked in a shelter and doesn't realize just how stressful that environment is for dogs.  Bigger runs or not.
 
For the OP......I honestly don't think it makes a huge difference whether the dog is crated in a very roomy crate, confined to a room or given free range of the house while you are gone. They are still alone for however many hours.   In our case, we use extremely large crates.  I have my reasons for doing this, the uppermost is my concern about fire and SIX german shepherds not being saved.
 
I agree that it depends on the dog.....some dogs are really laid back and would just as soon lay around the house all day.  Some need far more exercise.  I would likely use doggie daycare for one or two of your long work days, or at the very least a dog walker.  Not one of my adult dogs has problems holding it all day, but rather the walker will break up the boredom of the day.  Plenty of exercise and attention morning and night is really the key and as long as you are willing to commit to that for the lifetime of the dog, it should be fine.  And weekends....the dog really NEEDS to be part of your life when you ARE home.  When my kids were both home, and involved in sports and stuff, the dogs went along.   They were, and continue to be members of our family.
 
I also agree that a rescue might be a better way to go.  I foster, and can tell potential owners in detail about the dogs.  Activity levels, bad habits, likes, dislikes, etc.  Being in a real home, (or a zoo if they land in my house) instead of a shelter, really brings out the animals personality.
 
For your cats, it's always good to create a "safe" room.  Because of the layout of my house I'm able to gate off the family room which is where my adult son hangs out.  "His" cats hang out there with him.  With german shepherds who could look at a baby gate and knock it over, I've installed a half door far enough off the ground for the cats to scoot under, but not high enough for the dogs to do the same.  My dogs are really good with the cats, but I can't always be sure of the fosters.  And sometimes, cats just don't want to play or be bothered....they'd rather be left alone.  This gives them the opportunity to be left alone if that's their choice.
 
I applaud you for being so thorough in your quest for information, and so open to ideas to help make it work.  The perfect dog for your family is waiting for you.....just get your ducks in a row and go for it. 
 
Good luck!  Oh, and welcome to idog!