What Would You Do

[Sunnyflower]

Sunnyflower, I feel for you what a rotten situation to be in. How long do they think till you can safely put your boy back in the back yard??

tlc - The vet said I can let him into our backyard 14 days as of yesterday. So Tuesday Fortnight. Until his booster vaccine has taken full affect.

I've been given Trigene so I am going to spray the yard either tonight or on the weekend. If he hasn't shown signs of Pavo by this time next week I think it's safe to say by that weekend he should be ok to go into the yard.

[megan_]

I used to work 12 hour shifts - with 45 mins traveling time on either end of that... my dogs can hold on for ages... lol!

T.

I was called cruel here on DOL for "forcing" my dogs to hold it for 11 hours

[Gayle.]

I'm impressed that people actually leave their dogs inside when they're at work. I doubt I'd have a house left if I did.....my cats stay inside, but I reckon a Burmese cat combined with a couple of Australian Shepherd boys left unsupervised would see my house demolished within one short working day.

The only dog of mine I'd be comfortable leaving inside unsupervised for any length of time is Dusty, cos she's a princess and wouldn't dare put a paw wrong.

They all get turfed out before sunup on a workday........rain, hail or shine.

[all that glitters]

Yep my shepherd is indoors whenever we are out I never leave her with outdoor access because she is a barker and I am paranoid about poisoning, her escaping etc. And to be honest if I leave the door open when home, she spends 5 minutes out there and the rest of the day inside with me!!!

At the moment she is indoors 9hrs on a Tuesday (my mum comes at lunch to let her out for a play and gives her more treats to work on), and Thursday and Friday for 6hrs. I will be getting a Mon-Fri 9-5 kinda job in the new year hopefully so that will make her a 9-5 Mon-Fri indoor dog but I'm honestly not that worried at all, she is an angel indoors and my mum will come to play with her and let her have a wee break at the halfway mark on each day :D

I also would NEVER EVER not exercise her b4 leaving, regardless of the fact I am not a morning person too. I think it's totally mean not to in my opinion, so I get up 1 hour earlier than I would otherwise need to and we go on a big 45 minute walk, personally I think it's a sacrifice you have to make if you own a dog and work

I guess that's maybe why my 'working breed' is trustworthy indoors!

[tlc]

Yep my shepherd is indoors whenever we are out I never leave her with outdoor access because she is a barker and I am paranoid about poisoning, her escaping etc. And to be honest if I leave the door open when home, she spends 5 minutes out there and the rest of the day inside with me!!!

At the moment she is indoors 9hrs on a Tuesday (my mum comes at lunch to let her out for a play and gives her more treats to work on), and Thursday and Friday for 6hrs. I will be getting a Mon-Fri 9-5 kinda job in the new year hopefully so that will make her a 9-5 Mon-Fri indoor dog but I'm honestly not that worried at all, she is an angel indoors and my mum will come to play with her and let her have a wee break at the halfway mark on each day :D

I also would NEVER EVER not exercise her b4 leaving, regardless of the fact I am not a morning person too. I think it's totally mean not to in my opinion, so I get up 1 hour earlier than I would otherwise need to and we go on a big 45 minute walk, personally I think it's a sacrifice you have to make if you own a dog and work I guess that's maybe why my 'working breed' is trustworthy indoors!

My guys are totally trust worthy indoors and have been for a long time.

I'm not sure if the bolded part of your post is having a dig at me, but when I work if I work early, they get walked afterwards and If I work late they get walked before and sometimes again when I knock off.

I personally don't think it matters when they get for thier walk as long as they do! I am also lucky that apart from this day each week, I am only gone for around 5 hours and the rest of my day is usually devoted to my dogs.

To me that is quite acceptable and I don't think it is mean at all.

What do others think am I mean not walking my dogs before I go to work??

[tlc]

I'm impressed that people actually leave their dogs inside when they're at work. I doubt I'd have a house left if I did.....my cats stay inside, but I reckon a Burmese cat combined with a couple of Australian Shepherd boys left unsupervised would see my house demolished within one short working day.

The only dog of mine I'd be comfortable leaving inside unsupervised for any length of time is Dusty, cos she's a princess and wouldn't dare put a paw wrong.

They all get turfed out before sunup on a workday........rain, hail or shine.

I have visions of your cat and the Aussies running amuck in your house while you are away! Party anyone?!! :D

[DogNerd]

Hi tlc,

I was in the same kind of predicament. I have only one dog though, and she's quite small so it's been a bit easier to work something out. I work really long days anywhere from 6-9 hours so I got a cheap version of the 'dog loo' (Was like 30- 40 dollars compared to the 300 ones) which Tilly will pee on sometimes during the day. (Some days she seems to just wait till I come home)

I also have a doggy door, but like you I'm paranoid something will happen to her. So I put a dog pen around the door so it's just a little area on the grass/patio that she can go to the toilet on. But I only do this if I'm going out for a couple of hours, even though it's only a small space, I'm still paranoid about something happening.

I don't think it's mean to not walk your dogs before work, I guess it depends on the type of dog you have, what they specifically need... Some weeks I unfortunately hardly take Tilly for a walk, but I try to substitute that with other things to mentally stimulate and tire her out.

[all that glitters]

Nope not having a dig at you at all, it's just my opinion!! I do things that make sense and to me it makes sense to exercise and tire a dog before leaving it alone for the day so that it naturally wants to sleep, whereas if you wake up and just leave it alone it still has pent up energy and so some dogs (not all) could use that energy to do naughty things! If it works for your dogs to walk them after its fine! I would just never do it that way that's all

I admit it SUCKS walking in the mornings but I am into a bit of a routine now

[rubiton]

last year our dog had to stay inside on her own from 6.30am to I got back about 8.30pm. OH was in Melb and I had to go to Melb for the day. She was fine - more concerned about the fact it was past tea time than needing to go outside til she actually got out there (dont worry there was a plan if for some reason I didn't get back).

She carried on a lot more the week before when left from 9am til about 8.45 pm.

Trick is to plan and make sure they've done everything in the yard before you leave.

[Gayle.]

I don't exercise my dogs before work.....as it is, I get up at 5.20am, be buggered if I'm getting up an hour before that!

[tlc]

Well tomorow is the day, I think they will be fine but It will be me that feels like a bad doggy owner! I blame my boss

I do agree it does make sense to excersise a dog before you leave for a long stint but in my case I will have trouble even getting them out of bed. I think when you have more than one they do keep each other company and mine play a lot when I am home.

I will stop feeling so guilty now that I know there are others that leave thier dogs even longer than I am doing. Who knows it will probly et to lunch time tomrow and I Will have to supress the urge to come home

I have the plan to get them outside as soon as I get up (and that will not be easy!) to do thier business and then again before I leave they can go out for another go!

[Bubitty]

Don’t fret!

When I first got Bubby, I used to take sickies whenever the weather was bad because I couldn’t bear to leave him at home alone.

Once you get into the routine of it and you see that they are fine, you will feel better.

My dogs cope just fine. I actually find them less settled on the days when I do stay home and their routine is shifted. It’s almost as if they are thinking “Walk us, give us our treats and LEAVE mummy!!!!!”

[tlc]

Don’t fret!

When I first got Bubby, I used to take sickies whenever the weather was bad because I couldn’t bear to leave him at home alone.

Once you get into the routine of it and you see that they are fine, you will feel better.

My dogs cope just fine. I actually find them less settled on the days when I do stay home and their routine is shifted. It’s almost as if they are thinking “Walk us, give us our treats and LEAVE mummy!!!!!”

I know what you mean. The days I do work they are really good as soon as I put that red shirt on, it's like thier faces go ok she is off to work so they all go to thier respective spots and wait for thier treat and I walk out the door no drama! On the day I don't work its like ok what are we doing today and If I dare think about heading out the door without them for some reason or other (doesn't happen very often) what a carry on!

[Clyde]

Personally I'd stick 'em outside and let them have fun in the fresh air. Let your neighbours know that you are trialling them outside and that you would like to know if they bark or not. You could always try no bark collars too. I'm not implying you're a bad owner, quite the contrary, but I do think locking dogs indoors for long periods is less than ideal.

[Gayle.]

I'm impressed that people actually leave their dogs inside when they're at work. I doubt I'd have a house left if I did.....my cats stay inside, but I reckon a Burmese cat combined with a couple of Australian Shepherd boys left unsupervised would see my house demolished within one short working day.

The only dog of mine I'd be comfortable leaving inside unsupervised for any length of time is Dusty, cos she's a princess and wouldn't dare put a paw wrong.

They all get turfed out before sunup on a workday........rain, hail or shine.

I have visions of your cat and the Aussies running amuck in your house while you are away! Party anyone?!!

Bensons favourite pastime is creative thinking. 8 hours unsupervised inside lends itself to more creativity than I'd like to imagine. Combine that with the naughtiest cat ever born and a 7 month old giant Australian Shepherd puppy with paws the size of plates and I reckon my home wouldn't be standing for long.

[kiesha09]

I don't walk mine before work either and it doesn't seem to bother them in the slightest.

They have their routine.... get woken up and forced to get out of crate, sleepily stroll down hallway and pushed out the door into the backyard, pee with eyes closed, get let back in, walk to bed in lounge half asleep, go back to sleep.

Get woken up again (argh!), given kong, eat kong as mum walks out the door, finish kong and go back to sleep.

Get woken up AGAIN (8-10 hrs later) by the garage roller door, WOOHOOOO PARTY TIMMMEEEE MUMS HOME!!!!!!!!, Go to park and run, get home do some training, get fed, cahse each other, play with mum, flake it again around 9.30pm.

Oh I wish I had their life....

[dee lee]

I'm impressed that people actually leave their dogs inside when they're at work. I doubt I'd have a house left if I did.....my cats stay inside, but I reckon a Burmese cat combined with a couple of Australian Shepherd boys left unsupervised would see my house demolished within one short working day.

The only dog of mine I'd be comfortable leaving inside unsupervised for any length of time is Dusty, cos she's a princess and wouldn't dare put a paw wrong.

They all get turfed out before sunup on a workday........rain, hail or shine.

Honey is a princess too!

I do have to make sure there is nothing tantalising within reach (hair combs and cds are delish apparently!) and block off the stairs (the kids room with LOTS of temptation), but we have yet to have any trouble.

I do it because I feel better knowing she is safe and quietly sleeping most of the day.

My previous dog (staffy x) was made of different stuff - safest place for her was outside amongst her landscaping!

[tlc]

Well got home today after my shift and found no accidents and all was well with my little doggy family, they ran outside and weren't even busting, none of them went to the loo till about 5 minutes later while I was hanging the washing ont he line. Im so pleased I won't have to worry now I know they can do it.

Thanks for all the input, Im off to the doggy park now to let me sleeping beauties have a good run. :D

[kiesha09]

[all that glitters]

Yayy!!!! Most dogs just sleep, or mine does anyway, even for 9 whole hours indoors ;) I don't feel bad AT ALL for keeping a shepherd locked indoors while at work, she doesn't even go outside anyway if her dog door is open and I am home, so there's the proof!!

Glad your dogs were ok! Knew they would be