Leaving a dog alone all day !

nhughes100

If you pm me your email address I'll send you on a form that I filled out for a rescue for irishanimals.com that would reflect the boxes you have to check. I think the main constraint is living alone as there are always unforeseen circumstances that will delay you getting home which means the dog is left waiting. If you commute long distances this is even worse for the animal.

Only last night it was 8pm when I got home after been out from 7.30am that morning, that to me is unacceptable to leave a dog on it's own for that long and I don't think being a responsible owner means stinging your neighbours (mine all have young children) with something which is ultimately your responsibility.

To give you a sample of some of the questions asked - Your hours away from home, is someone available at lunchtime? Does your garden have secure fencing? Do you have a garden? Do you have kids?Nature of your work? Experience with dogs? Other animals in the house?

Dogs are social, needy animals especially rescues, if you look at the list on irishanimals.com almost everyone of them states - requires a lot of attention, needs to be treated like one of the family etc etc.

I dont think you should be giving people flack who only have the best interests of the animal at heart, your white knights comment is really uncalled for. If everyone took a more responsible stance on keeping animals properly there'd be very little need for shelters.

whitser

dont lecture me on how to look after dogs.
dogs need someone to look in on them at lunch time do they?...crap.
plenty of good homes out there,just cos people need to work etc...doesnt mean the wont be good dog owners. all dogs are different and if your worried about the dog on its own get 2, theres a way around every situation if you really want. if shelters are that desperate for homes they should be more open minded.

whitser

nhughes100 wrote: »

If you pm me your email address I'll send you on a form that I filled out for a rescue for irishanimals.com that would reflect the boxes you have to check. I think the main constraint is living alone as there are always unforeseen circumstances that will delay you getting home which means the dog is left waiting. If you commute long distances this is even worse for the animal.

Only last night it was 8pm when I got home after been out from 7.30am that morning, that to me is unacceptable to leave a dog on it's own for that long and I don't think being a responsible owner means stinging your neighbours (mine all have young children) with something which is ultimately your responsibility.

To give you a sample of some of the questions asked - Your hours away from home, is someone available at lunchtime? Does your garden have secure fencing? Do you have a garden? Do you have kids?Nature of your work? Experience with dogs? Other animals in the house?

Dogs are social, needy animals especially rescues, if you look at the list on irishanimals.com almost everyone of them states - requires a lot of attention, needs to be treated like one of the family etc etc.

I dont think you should be giving people flack who only have the best interests of the animal at heart, your white knights comment is really uncalled for. If everyone took a more responsible stance on keeping animals properly there'd be very little need for shelters.

i dont think you should be giving people flack cos their dogs are alone during the day and only fed once a day.

Toulouse

Eh, calm down there whitser. Where is anyone lecturing you on how to look after dogs? nhughes is merely stating what is involved in a homecheck as you asked.

And don't tell me that I put people off getting a dog just because I think a dog should be getting constant attention. Where did I say that? I do believe that a dog shouldn't be on its own for more than 4 hours at a time which is why I recommend getting a dogwalker to break up the boredom. I do the homecheck and then it's up to the shelters to decide whether the home is suitable or not, not me.

I don't think you should be giving flack to the shelters who clean up irresponsible dog owners messes and that includes all the people who just leave a dog in their back yard all day while they're out at work and then leave the dog into a pound/shelter because they don't have the time to look after it and how it's being unfair on the dog. Believe it or not that's probably one of the most popular excuses used so why would the shelters want to encourage more of it? Do you not think they have enough dogs to deal with anyway without a percentage of them being left in again?

nhughes100

whitser wrote: »

i dont think you should be giving people flack cos their dogs are alone during the day and only fed once a day.

I'm not, I'm merely giving my opinion on the matter which is what the OP asked for. I'm not lecturing you or anyone else on the matter either, the questionnaire is from Irish animals.com, who are a well known re-housing voluntary group. I didn't make it up. Feel free to contact them and they can attempt to educate you on the matter. There's no need to be so narky, if you've a problem with ppl's opinions then you're on the wrong website.

How do you respond to my point about being away from home for over 12 hours yesterday? do you think that's fine for a dog? And my point about getting other people who aren't responsible for your animal to look after it in your absense?

whitser

dogs are adaptable. if your dog is secure and happy he wont fret cos your late home some evening. your using extreme examples. but i've read posts on here from people that say if your away for 8 hours you should get a pet sitter in:eek: get real.
in an ideal world we could all be at home with our dogs all day but people have to work and dogs need homes!
im not having a go at shelters, just saying that they should be more open minded. the op in this case sounded like someone who could give a dog a decent home and he was told that in a home check he wouldnt get one, thats nonsense.

whitser

Toulouse wrote: »

Eh, calm down there whitser. Where is anyone lecturing you on how to look after dogs? nhughes is merely stating what is involved in a homecheck as you asked.

And don't tell me that I put people off getting a dog just because I think a dog should be getting constant attention. Where did I say that? I do believe that a dog shouldn't be on its own for more than 4 hours at a time which is why I recommend getting a dogwalker to break up the boredom. I do the homecheck and then it's up to the shelters to decide whether the home is suitable or not, not me.

I don't think you should be giving flack to the shelters who clean up irresponsible dog owners messes and that includes all the people who just leave a dog in their back yard all day while they're out at work and then leave the dog into a pound/shelter because they don't have the time to look after it and how it's being unfair on the dog. Believe it or not that's probably one of the most popular excuses used so why would the shelters want to encourage more of it? Do you not think they have enough dogs to deal with anyway without a percentage of them being left in again?

a dog cant be on its own for 4 hours???come on. dogs get bored during the day, hell i get bored during the day,kids get bored during the day. its not the end of the world ands its certainly not cruel if your dog is allowed to be bored during the day.

JDxtra

My neighbours dog is lucky to see a person for more than 30 seconds a day when being fed. Poor thing is just dying for attention.

whitser

i dont think anyone on here would condone that.

whitser

nhughes100 wrote: »

I'm not, I'm merely giving my opinion on the matter which is what the OP asked for. I'm not lecturing you or anyone else on the matter either, the questionnaire is from Irish animals.com, who are a well known re-housing voluntary group. I didn't make it up. Feel free to contact them and they can attempt to educate you on the matter. There's no need to be so narky, if you've a problem with ppl's opinions then you're on the wrong website.

How do you respond to my point about being away from home for over 12 hours yesterday? do you think that's fine for a dog? And my point about getting other people who aren't responsible for your animal to look after it in your absense?

im not being narky,just tired of reading posts of people who think theres only one way to keep a dog, and thats cant be alone for more then 4 hours, they need constant stimulation etc... all that other gick.
plenty of good honest dog owners out there who probably wouldnt fit into that nonsense questionare,yet their dogs are happy,healthy well adjusted and well cared for.

whitser

to be honsest(without seeing the whole questionare) i probably wouldnt qualify to take a dog from your shelter. some of my dogs are in pens and alone til i get home..but i tell you one thing, if everyone put the time,money,effort and devotion into their dogs as i do my hounds the shelters would be empty. but yet i still wouldnt be considered because i wont get a dog sitter in at lunch time to entertain them while im at work...its crazy,nonsense.

glineli

whitser wrote: »

to be honsest(without seeing the whole questionare) i probably wouldnt qualify to take a dog from your shelter. some of my dogs are in pens and alone til i get home..but i tell you one thing, if everyone put the time,money,effort and devotion into their dogs as i do my hounds the shelters would be empty. but yet i still wouldnt be considered because i wont get a dog sitter in at lunch time to entertain them while im at work...its crazy,nonsense.

I am in the same boat as yourself. I wanted to get a westie resuce last year but because we both work we would not qualify. Instead we went and got a westie and anyone that calls says he is the luckiest dog around. he is pure spoilt. from the minute we get in after work til well into his sleep, he is with us. long walks, plenty of games, well fed. I am glad we went and got him last year and not taken the advice of the rescue shelter and i think my little guy would agree.

Caroline B

I wonder if the OP is still considering getting a dog?!!

I wouldn't normally have been allowed a rescue either, but as I have more than one, and the type they are, I was.

In the rescue shelters' defence, you can imagine what would happen if they gave a single dog to someone who they knew was never home, and the dog went berserk or something, ruined their decking while they were out (lol) and they claimed against them. Cos some people are like that. And some people believe their dogs are little people..

Toulouse

whitser wrote: »

a dog cant be on its own for 4 hours???come on. dogs get bored during the day, hell i get bored during the day,kids get bored during the day. its not the end of the world ands its certainly not cruel if your dog is allowed to be bored during the day.

Can you not read? I said the most I would leave a dog on its own for is 4 hours at a time. So knowing full well that you are inflicting 8 - 12 hours of boredom and isolation a day, 5 days a week is not cruelty? You're situation is different as you have alot of dogs, the OP is only talking about 1. Shelters are trying to do the best for the dogs they rehome which is why they would not put a dog in a situation like this. What is the dog gets destructive and rips your garden apart, what if it barks and drives your neighbours up the walls, what if it needs vet care and is lying for hours waiting for you to come home, what if it escapes, it'll be long gone by the time you get back.

If you feel like putting a dog through that then that's your business, I haven't judged you on that. The OP asked if it was okay to leave a dog alone all day and in my opinion, no, it isn't. This is a public forum and we are all entitled to our opinion. Shoving yours down my neck isn't going to convince me that you're right and statements like a dog is allowed to be bored during the day isn't helping your argument. I believe in doing the best for the dogs I help and my own dog, there's nothing wrong with that.

iguana

nhughes100 wrote: »

I think the main constraint is living alone as there are always unforeseen circumstances that will delay you getting home which means the dog is left waiting. If you commute long distances this is even worse for the animal.

Only last night it was 8pm when I got home after been out from 7.30am that morning, that to me is unacceptable to leave a dog on it's own for that long

But unforeseen circumstances happen to everyone. My husband works incredibly long hours most of the time (14+ hours a day), but as I'm a housewife the dogs usually have plenty of company. But recently when my grandmother died and I had to fly home the dogs had to put up with their own company for 5 days as my husband still had to work. Two weeks and again three weeks later I had to head home unexpectedly again, so we again had no choice to let the dogs on their own for most of each day I was gone.

nhughes100

Exactly Toulouse, when humans get bored they don't start chewing the furniture or eating whatever plants take their fancy. There was a good program on BBC last night full of well intentioned people who just were not able to look after their animals, they were full of the usual rhetoric - oh he just looked so cute that I had to take him home etc, one of them even got a 2nd Kerry blue since the first one was acting up. So what was the puppy blue gonna train the older dog for them? One of the dogs actually starting pulling at live electrical sockets.

At least they had the sense to bring them to get some training. Think it was called good dog, bad dog, sort of a northern Irish version of the dog whisperer. It's on for the next 4 weeks on bbc1 at 10pm.

Sashy

wyk wrote: »

A home is much better than in a pound with cold concrete floors, surrounded by dog litter and urine, barking, crying, and often sick dogs 24/7. I personally think even the best pound care is horrendous compared to leaving a dog at home all day alone. At least at the end of an 8 hour day alone, that dog has something to look forwards to, and she knows she is safe and secure on her own air conditioned and sheltered 'turf'. In a pound, or even some rescues, all that dog looks forwards to is more barking and more concrete.

I do suggest getting two if you can, though, for company.

I've spent a LOT of my life bored and alone - and that was mostly when I was married A dog could have it MUCH worse.


WYK

I agree one hundred percent with this,
If you had to make a decision:

1) A dog to spend 24 hours, every day in a pound in a cage, with the possibility of being put down?
2) A dog to spend 8 hours on his own, if he gets bored might chew somwthing, but with the exciting prospect of knowing when exactly his owner will be home, knowing that he has something to look forward to every day?

I know what my answer is...

It isnt ideal that some dogs have to spend a lot of time on their own, I know they might get lonely, but the thruth is a lot of people wont get dogs exactly for this reason. How many people in the country work fulltime and are not at home all day? How many dogs need homes? As i said the circumstances arent ideal but there is things to do to make it better: leaving them toys, bringing them for walks morning and evening, some people may be lucky enough to come back for a few mins at lunch. Loneliness is better than being scared for these animals.

pokerkingsni

When we got our dog from the pound we first got a home visit from a representitive of the pound. The woman told us that if we both worked during the day we would not have a good chance of getting a dog. They said that 3 hours alone would be the absolute max and would have to be a one off thing and certainly not every day.

BlackCat2008

Have you gotten the dog and how is every thing I hope it is a happy ending.

votejohn

Hi all.

The debate on whether it is fair or not to leave a dog at home alone for long periods of time is one that I used to have a lot of the time with my friends.

I believe that dogs (and their owners) would all prefer NOT to have dogs alone, but usually there is not much in the way of a solution.

That's why (drum-roll please) I have spent the last five years researching Doggie Daycare, and am opening my own doggie daycare in Cork in the coming weeks!

We have over 6000 square foot of space in which dogs will be able to run and play with other dogs of similar size and energy levels. Dogs will spend the day socializing with other dogs and people, leaving you with a tired, happy dog to collect at the end of the day, AND, eliminating the guilt that can come with leaving your dog alone during the day!

Sollution to every one's problem!!!

( www.thedoghouse.ie is our rough website, newer version to be launched in the coming weeks )

Glowing

Wow! I hope it works out for you

Perhaps you should start a new thread on this? Are you only going to take neutered/spayed animals? And will you be taking on all breeds?

beth-lou

A dog on it's own all day may not be the ideal situation, but it is certainly better than putting a dog to sleep in my opinion. So long as it is walked, fed, loved and made to feel a part of the family, then most will be ok.
Some dogs suffer from seperation anxiety, but usually this can be worked on. A dog that is going to be left for 8 hrs a day would be better off if it could have a companion, another dog to keep him/her company. Yes dogs are social animals, and as such, another dog should suffice in keeping them from getting lonely. So if you can't be there get a buddy for your dog.

As far as feeding the dog during the day goes, that is irrelevant, as a dog should be fed once a day. These are not babies who require feeds at regular intervals. They are animals. Pack animals indeed, that decided to leave the pack to live with humans, because it suited them to do so. So I would suggest another dog if you aren't going to be there. I have four dogs. All big dogs. And all of them, whether I'm there or not, tend to sleep all day. Sometimes they play with each other, but mostly they like to sleep.

The over riding problem with people and dogs is that people tend to humanise their dogs and this leads to most of the neurotic problems that dogs exhibit. That good dog, bad dog programme was a prime example of that. Screwy owners who didn't know how to handle a dog.

I really hope you got your dog op. And I hope she wasn't put down. The likes of dogs in distress and the other shelters do great work, and their home checks are done with the best of intentions, so I wouldn't be too hard on them. They do have the dogs best interests at heart and I have dealt with two of them and two of my dogs come from them and another shelter. Let us know what happened OP. I'm very curious to know.

Sashy

votejohn, that is great what you are doing, like glow hope it works out for you and best of luck with it!

beth lou- excellent post, could not agree more with everything you say! Fair play to you for getting some of your dogs from the shelter, you sound to be doing a great job looking after them..

boomerang

I feed my dogs twice daily. Helps safeguard against bloat/gastric torsion and ensures their blood sugar levels remain more constant...

whitser

boomerang wrote: »

I feed my dogs twice daily. Helps safeguard against bloat/gastric torsion and ensures their blood sugar levels remain more constant...

nonsense. dogs are basically wolves, wolves will feed once a day if they're lucky. when they feed they gorge, dogs are designed to feed and fill up when they get the chance. all mine are fed once a day,after their exercise last thing at night.

lightening

whitser wrote: »

nonsense. dogs are basically wolves

In fairness, you should realise we have screwed around with them a good bit since they were wolves. Because of this some dogs will have problems with bloat and other things if they do gorge themselves. So Boomerang's point shouldn't really be brushed off as nonsense. We aren't dealing with wild or domestic wolves, we are dealing with mutant descendants of them!

whitser

i disagree. dogs are 99% dna exact to wolves. dogs are quite happy and designed to eat once a day. they dont need feeding a few times a day like humans, they are geneticly designed to fill up and get all they need in one feed,provided they get good quality feed. thats why dogs will wolf down their food and fill up when they get a bowl of food.
as for dogs being like wolves,its a fact,they are.

peasant

beth-lou wrote: »

A dog on it's own all day may not be the ideal situation, but it is certainly better than putting a dog to sleep in my opinion. So long as it is walked, fed, loved and made to feel a part of the family, then most will be ok.


The over riding problem with people and dogs is that people tend to humanise their dogs and this leads to most of the neurotic problems that dogs exhibit.

You're simplyfying things a bit there ...

1)"may not be ideal"
ideal for whom?
Dogs weren't made to be left alone for extended periods every day. Full stop.
Yet we are forcing them to do so because life has changed and we need to go away to work.
So we rationalise this to ourselves by stating that the dog is better off alone than dead. The dog can't make that rationalisation ...all it does is feel abandoned.
Your "humanising" the dog by expecting it to understand your reasoning ...it doesn't

2) humanising the dog causes problems
Yes, it does ...see above for example.
Many undesirable behaviours a dog may display can be man-made because of wrong/bad training or "humanising" as you call it.
Typical boredom/separation anxiety behavior (like excessive barking, destructiveness, escaping, soiling the place, etc) however is caused by abandonment ...nothing else.

peasant

whitser wrote: »

i disagree. dogs are 99% dna exact to wolves. dogs are quite happy and designed to eat once a day. they dont need feeding a few times a day like humans, they are geneticly designed to fill up and get all they need in one feed,provided they get good quality feed. thats why dogs will wolf down their food and fill up when they get a bowl of food.
as for dogs being like wolves,its a fact,they are.

all correct

Doesn't change the fact that certain breeds are better off being fed twice or more in small portions due to issues with bloat in that particular breed.
Also doesn't change the fact that some dogs take quite well to "grazing" on food that is provided constantly for them.

whitser

ok i except that. maybe "nonsense" was a bit strong. but from my experience once a day is and always will be best. like i always say on this site we all have our own way of doing things.