Leaving a Dog Alone During The Day

I'm a working mom with pets It's not a big deal at all, just do the best you can, love them as much as you can when you are around and everything will work out. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't deserve to have them because you work to much etc. That's just silly IMO. In my new building I have some great neighbors that don't work and have formed a little informal mid-day walk group. They have my key and are going to start walking otto and the new guy at lunch for me. Also, my family is around and dog sits when I'm on call etc and can't come home over night. It's hard to do if you are alone, but if you have great friends, family, or spouses it's easy. I'd challenge anyone to meet my dogs and think that they are underloved

ETA: I don't crate, I have a dog proof area in my house that I keep with baby gates for when I'm not there

New guy?
 
Details please.

Because I'm a geek like that, I just made a quick video showing how we accomodate the different needs of our pets. This is all in my finished basment. Our house is quite small but we're extremely lucky that we've got such convenient nooks and crannies. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAScietg6do

Anyway, the first thing you see is the cat room. It's gated off (and normally there's a curtain too) and that has the cat's food and litter boxes and water. There are other more comfortable sleeping nooks throughout the house so normally they don't hang out in there long term, but should they ever want to get away, that's a guarenteed no-dog area. There's a (finished) crawl-space on the second floor as well that the previous owners cut a little cat door in to that has Rudy's bed in it and he likes to hang out in there.

The second thing is Marlowe's room. It doesn't have any toys in it right now because I pick them all up when I get home and put them away. It's got his big fuzzy bed (made from an old wooden pallet!) and his crate which always remains open and has another bed in it. I store some stuff in there in boxes too but there's still room for him to play with his toys and nap in several different venues. Since it's right around the corner from our TV room, Marlowe often goes there in the evenings to sleep of his own accord. He can still hear us talking but it's darker and quieter and if there's one thing my hound really treasures, it's his uninterrupted beauty sleep.

The third is Conrad's crate. Conrad is anxious and fearful and his crate is his security blanket. I know my dog best. I've cared for him for 5 years under circumstances in which most people would have taken him to the pound again or had him put to sleep. This is the best thing for him (believe me, we tried it all and crating was our last option). When he's crated I come home to a calm, relaxed, rested dog ready for an evening of play and cuddling. Uncrated, I return to a dog who's been panicking all day, is exhausted and stressed, drooling and shedding, and oh yeah, has demolished my house.

So two species, four different animals, with differnet needs. You can definately make it work if you think it through carefully, do your research and think outside the box a bit.

ORIGINAL: glenmar

New guy?

Details please.

Ha ha glenda, you are quick! I got the new brother yesterday, Oliver. He was the freak of his litter too charting at being 9 pounds full grown so no one wanted him All his brother/sisters are charting at 3-4 pounds. I saw him and said perfect a new chizilla!!! I'll get pictures today!

Chizilla?
 
But, how cool!  And you'd best be posting some pictures of the little moose!

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.

Haha, yeah, right on!  I volunteer at a shelter and wanted to comment on a shelter being "better" than a home but couldn't find a nice way to describe it.

The way I see it, most families I know have KIDS and the parents both still work full time.  That was the case for me.  I turned out OK.  Dogs are far more adaptable and complacent than we think sometimes.

Thanks again for all the advice and points of view, both pro and con. We're still interested in adding a dog to the family. And Houndlove thanks for taking the time to shoot a video that showed how you manage the dogs and the cat gate.
 
The dog that we met a couple of days ago is living with a foster family, so we would have a source or information as to his personality and sociability with other animals. The local Humane Society does temperament testing, so that they can classify the dogs by potential owner lifestyle types. But they are upfront abut stating that it is an educated guess.
 
When we do add a dog, I think at least intially we will use dog day care or a dog walker during the day until the dog has settled in and we know what works for him or her during the day.
 
Thanks again to all of you for the real world advice. I'll post an update to this thread to let you know how our search turns out, whether we adopt or not.

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.

I never said that. I happen to work 8 hours a day, 40 hours per week and have 2 dogs. The only point I was trying to make is that 10 hours is IMO too long to make a dog wait to go to the bathroom (if the dog is crated) If there is a doggie door to the outside, or a designated spot in the house with papers where the dog feels comfortable going- that is a different story.

I live in the land of snakes and ospreys -- I couldn't *have* a dog door without having snakes IN my house, and never ever do I let my littlest old gal outside without supervision -- she would literally be osprey or owl bait.  In honesty, it's all a matter of opinion any way -- to my mind, allowing your dog to be outside while you are *gone* all day is setting it up for predators or bunchers or cruel human predators who put poison out because they're tired of your dogs barking.  (all that has happened locally to my suburban, upper-class neighborhood)
 
They adapt -- in my urban area if you work 8 hours a day it means you're gone from the house 10.  So, in my case, my dogs are in the biggest crates possible so if someone has to be 'sick' they can stay as far from it as possible.  A tiny crate is only for 'house-breaking' a pup -- mine are in extra large crates anyway. 
 
They adapt -- and often it may not be the perfect solution, but it's what has to work in order to have them.  In my urban area you just plain can *NOT* leave a dog outside -- I'd have the city down my throat aside from all the predator issues.  Ten years ago?  Yes.  Now?  No. 
 
In a perfect world it wouldn't take me an hour to drive home.  But I adapt and the dogs adapt.  At the times when one animal has been really ill (like when Muffin the Intrepid had to take chemo or when Billy had IMHA and was on even more meds) those days I take off and come home at noon if I need to check on them -- and we get thru that as well. 
 
Dogs are incredibly good at adapting -- and honestly, that's how lives are saved.  Where I live only those rare few who are able to be "stay at home" Moms or who may be able to operate a business from home have the ability not to be gone from the house 10 hours.  It may not be that *every* day ... but it is, near enough, that I simply count it as 10 hours.  It might be the highest and best never to leave them that long -- but particularly a mature dog can usually hold it that long without a problem.  And it's far better than the alternative of having to be an 'outside dog'.

I'm home all day long with my dogs, and honestly neither of them pee all that much during the day.  They both get up and have one good pee in the morning, but after that not much at all until suppertime.  Crusher may mark the fence once in a while if he sees a reason to, but that can't be counted as its just a squirt here and there.  And when Onyx was in heat she marked too, but again, just squirts.  I don't think making them hold it for 8 or 10 hours is really all that unimagineable.

When Thor was 10 months old he CHOSE to hold it for 18 hours.  He did not want to go on the road, so he held it.  He was rather stubborn about his toileting as a youngster, and so was Sheba.
 
I personally do not think it is safe to leave my dogs outside alone when I am working.  I live way out in the boonies and there are STILL too many things that can happen.  Having snakes get in my garage is scarey enough....one gets in my house and I'm just flat out gone.

I hear that most dogs however need human contact and cant be locked up for too long or they get bored and become self desturctive. I think that if you do get a dog walker it would work out

I don't think that anyone is suggesting that dogs be left for extended periods of time without human contact.  My dogs actually enjoy their crates and some days just about shove me out the door so that they can have their frozen stuffed kongs.

ORIGINAL: glenmar

When Thor was 10 months old he CHOSE to hold it for 18 hours.  He did not want to go on the road, so he held it.  He was rather stubborn about his toileting as a youngster, and so was Sheba.

I personally do not think it is safe to leave my dogs outside alone when I am working.  I live way out in the boonies and there are STILL too many things that can happen.  Having snakes get in my garage is scarey enough....one gets in my house and I'm just flat out gone.

 
Exactly how I feel Glenda -- my house is as much a "no snakes zone" as yours -- and there ARE snakes a plenty around here.  It gives me the willies to even *think* of what I'd have in the house with a doggie door.  And mine have no problem 'asking'. 
 
The intent of the OP's question was about keeping the dog inside, which is typical of most areas now I think.  When I first moved here 20 years ago, it *was* different and my dogs did stay outside some then, but I discovered that even here in the city it was too dangerous *and* they were an annoyance to the neighbors with spurious barking (and they didn't bark all the time either). 
 
I think it's important that folks realize we don't all live in the same type of areas ... what's 'ok' in some places just isn't wise in others, and what might even be 'permissible' in some places isn't in others.  We all have vastly different homes beyond that computer screen!!  Here in Florida the choices are far far more limited than they might be elsewhere -- no one has a 'basement', no one has a climate controlled garage that would be 'safe' for a dog (it's an oven unless you've made your garage part of your 'home' and have it air-conditioned as a Florida room or something). 
 
The OP has shown some real wisdom and flexibility and even willingness to do doggie daycare initially for as long as need be.  I think they've shown remarkable wisdom!

My dogs, too, don't seem to mind when I leave.  They're certainly happy when I come home, of course, but they're also happy when I come in from taking the garbage out[]  I could easily take them to work with me, where I can take them out multiple times during the day, but they much prefer staying home in cushy comfort rather than sitting in a vet office in a cage all day (albeit a large one)
 
I've always had to work with every dog I've ever had, and none have had behavioral issues..no anxiety, destructiveness, etc. Granted, I choose dogs with temperaments that fit mine..nice, low key dogs. They enjoy walks, of course..and Jules is always up for a game of fetch (or 'I shall run after the toy, but then prance around showing it off' as it's played here) but generally they just want to lay around in the same room I'm in. Any suggestion that they get up and about is met with sighs and eye rolls.