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Dog pro's... advice please

  • 07-10-2014 9:14pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭


    Myself and my girlfriend want to adopt a dog. We are in our late twenties and living in a terraced house with a fully enclosed small garden, we also have a huge green outside our house which is perfect for walks. We are both animal lovers and have had dogs in our families during our youths.

    My only concern is about the time while we're away from home during the day and if it is too much to leave a dog alone.

    She is in college and I am a pilot with a variable roster.

    I have calculated that the most time we would ever both be out of the house due to work/college would be 9 hours. Because our hours are quite different it means that for us to both be out of the house for such an extended period is reasonably rare but the worst case scenario is 9 hours.

    Is this too long to leave a dog home alone?

    We are both extremely keen to adopt a dog but of course the dog's wellbeing is most important to us.


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,814 ✭✭✭Hooked


    From past threads, that are similar, you'll probably be told that 9 hours is far far too long for a dog to be left alone every day.

    Now, there would also probably be no rescue willing to let you have a dog because of this lengthy time alone.

    I know your heart is in the right place - but 9 hours everyday - it's a looooooong time.

    Would ye have people or doggy day care nearby that could break up the 9 hour days? A pup would definitely be out of the question in my opinion.

    Our boys are home alone the odd day from 9-2 and 3-5.30 when my OH is away, and even I feel guilty for those few hours. Can't imagine 9am thru to 6pm.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,610 ✭✭✭muddypaws


    I think its very manageable as you say it won't be a usual occurrence. I'd suggest you find a good dog walker nearby though, that would be willing to be used only when you actually needed them, they usually prefer a regular arrangement.

    The only thing that would concern me really, is that you say there is a huge green which is perfect for walks, personally I wouldn't think any green in an estate would be good enough for walks, great for short walks maybe, but a dog would need more than that - in my opinion :)

    Best of luck.


  • Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭BigDog101


    Hooked wrote: »
    From past threads, that are similar, you'll probably be told that 9 hours is far far too long for a dog to be left alone every day.

    Now, there would also probably be no rescue willing to let you have a dog because of this lengthy time alone.

    I know your heart is in the right place - but 9 hours everyday - it's a looooooong time.

    Would ye have people or doggy day care nearby that could break up the 9 hour days? A pup would definitely be out of the question in my opinion.

    Our boys are home alone the odd day from 9-2 and 3-5.30 when my OH is away, and even I feel guilty for those few hours. Can't imagine 9am thru to 6pm.

    Thanks for the reply. A 9-hour period would be rare but realistically would happen from time to time with our current working situation.

    My gf would be gone from 7:00-17:00 or from 10:00-20:00.
    My working hours alternate weekly between 5:00 to 14:00 or from 11:00-22:00.
    Because my roster is not based on conventional weekends most of the time my weekends will fall during the week so I would be home some of the days my gf is in college.

    As you can see the 9 hour stint wouldn't be a regular occurence but was looking at worst case scenario.

    Unfortunately anyone I know nearby would usually be busy for the hours in question.


  • Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭BigDog101


    muddypaws wrote: »
    I think its very manageable as you say it won't be a usual occurrence. I'd suggest you find a good dog walker nearby though, that would be willing to be used only when you actually needed them, they usually prefer a regular arrangement.

    The only thing that would concern me really, is that you say there is a huge green which is perfect for walks, personally I wouldn't think any green in an estate would be good enough for walks, great for short walks maybe, but a dog would need more than that - in my opinion :)

    Best of luck.

    Thanks for your reply, I take your point about the green, When considering the green I had the puppy in mind. As they grow I would look forward to the age I could take them farther and farther, we are both quite active and regularly enjoy a walk or hike.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 583 ✭✭✭Inexile


    Have a look for a dog crèche that may be able to help with the long days or someone who does home boarding. If its only an occasional day it should be too bad.

    I would suggest looking back over your rosters over the last 3 months and see how many days would have been long days and go from there.

    Pups couldn't cope with 9 hours and realistically can only do about 4 hours alone so when you are reviewing the rosters you need to look at how many periods in excess of4 hours you would have too.

    Good luck with the maths


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  • Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭BigDog101


    Inexile wrote: »
    Have a look for a dog crèche that may be able to help with the long days or someone who does home boarding. If its only an occasional day it should be too bad.

    I would suggest looking back over your rosters over the last 3 months and see how many days would have been long days and go from there.

    Pups couldn't cope with 9 hours and realistically can only do about 4 hours alone so when you are reviewing the rosters you need to look at how many periods in excess of4 hours you would have too.

    Good luck with the maths

    Thank you for your reply, This is a great suggestion, since she has only started college a month ago we can't really have a look back in that regard. I think we will have to see how the next couple of weeks go with our schedules to see if it will be suitable.

    We are currently discussing recording a log of when we leave and come home to see how it pans out over the next while.


  • Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭BigDog101


    We have a lot to consider before making any decisions, and won't be giving it the green light until we are 100% sure we can provide a great environment for a dog.

    We will record how long we spend away from home over the next few weeks or months to ensure that there is not extended periods and that we will be here enough. We will also look into local resources in case we do go ahead with it and find the odd unforeseen long day away.

    Thanks for all your replies and great suggestions.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,814 ✭✭✭Hooked


    BigDog101 wrote: »
    We have a lot to consider before making any decisions, and won't be giving it the green light until we are 100% sure we can provide a great environment for a dog.

    We will record how long we spend away from home over the next few weeks or months to ensure that there is not extended periods and that we will be here enough. We will also look into local resources in case we do go ahead with it and find the odd unforeseen long day away.

    Thanks for all your replies and great suggestions.


    Great to see someone being so proactive. If you do go for a pup, and buy instead of rescue - please please stay away from backyard breeders on done deal.

    They sell pups too young, without IKC papers, no health checks, etc...

    Check back through the forum. Lots of people caught out.

    My motto? An ounce of breeding is worth a tonne of feeding. You get what you pay for!

    Best of luck OP


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 9,770 Mod ✭✭✭✭DBB


    Hi OP,
    Just to reiterate, live your lives over the next few months as if you already have a dog.
    Seriously... everything you do, and everything you plan, think to yourselves... what about the dog? :)
    I think a pup is not the best idea tbh, the investment of time they need is too big for most full-time workers. But a young adult dog of a chilled-out disposition could be perfect.
    As one who runs a rescue, I wouldn't let your changeable routine worry me too much, as long as I knew you had made allowances for those long 9 hour days. Leaving the dog alone for 9 hours is not a good option in any circumstances, so do start looking for alternatives for those long days.
    Delighted to hear you're putting a lot of forethought into this OP... if everyone did the same, rescues wouldn't be half as busy :o


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    I adopted a 10 week old Akita - I took a week off work, then my Girlfriend did and we trained the dog. We also made sure he met well over 150/200 (maybe it was more?) people in the first 6 months (didn't really make a difference, he still doesn't like strangers near him in the house...that's fine, that's *some* Akitas for you)

    Anyway - we both work full time, my parents used to visit him daily up until he was 6 months old then he got too big for them to visit every day. He stays at home now on his own from about 8:30am until after 6 most days and he's absolutely fine. Now, Akitas are very very independent dogs and he sees guarding the house as his job. I wouldn't leave a poodle that long in current circumstances if that makes sense.

    But yeah - we walk him most days in the week, he's happy, healthy and comes in the car wherever we go at evenings & weekends. He's a huge part of our lives even though my friends don't like calling over anymore but that'll change once we're in a bigger place and he has his pen out the back for when guests are over... :)


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