You Work Full Time

[all that glitters]

Shyla gets a 45-50 minute walk every morning that she's left alone for 9hrs indoors, regardless of weather. Then she lays on the bed and watches me get ready for work, then I feed her and put the radio on and leave. Mum comes at lunchtime to let her out and give her a kong and other goodies. She has a rabbit in a cage and 3 cats for company, they are often all sleeping around in the same room when I come home. I come home and she gets another half hour walk and some fetch. Then she hangs with us all evening and is asleep by 9pm onwards anyway. On days off she is the priority and gets to spend all day with us, unless on the rare chance we are going somewhere. If I go to mums or my friends place she comes too.

She's uber happy and never stops smiling

My routine is very similar to this.

I have varied start times but walk my dogs for a minimum 25 minutes every morning - most of the time it is 40-50 (only on the really early shift do I have to do a short one). We get out of bed and walk straight away, then they potter inside with me while I get ready. I let them out for a quick loo stop as I'm leaving, then they stay inside for about 10 hours. In the evenings they have outside time playing with me, and just hang around with me in the house till bedtime.

On the weekends I try and spend as much time with them as possible, but of course I have to go to the shops etc, and every few weeks I'll do a day volunteering at the zoo.

Because I work a long way from home, sometimes if I have something on in the evening I can't come home in between. On those days I have a petsitter come for a couple of hours in the middle of the day to give them company, let them go to the toilet etc.

This system is working well for me for now, they are happy

Very much like my routine! Except mine's missing the volunteering at the zoo part, that would be nice!!

[Rileys mum]

I'm a shift worker so my dog is used to having a varied routine. I try to keep most things consistant, it's just the times that things get done that changes.

I usually take him for a run before work and leave him outside with treat balls and other toys to help entertain him while I'm at work and he's home alone. I then do my Training in the evenings plus a small walk around the block if I think he needs it. As others said my free time is pretty much devoted to my dog and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[ShesaLikeableBiBear]

When I worked full time (7.30am-3.30pm) I would either road walk my dogs for a minimum of 1/2 hr, or play ball, in the mornings, so they had some excercise before I went to work.

In mid/ late afternoon when I got home from work they would get a minimum of 1.5 hours either in the regional park (off leash) or on the beach (off leash). I am talking here about shelties.

Where we live now (am retired) they have access to our house yard where they have plenty of room to excercise.

My question is, if you have a "larger" breed working dog, how much excercise do you give it? If you are up at a reasonable hour in the morning, will you give your dog a "stretch" given the space you have?. Do you crate your dog at night, pop him/her into a smallish "area" during the day when you are at work with no excercise?.

So on your "days off" on the w/e's, what is most important to you?. Go out for 9-10 hours every day and leave your dog/s in the "smallish" area, come home with possibly 3-4 hours of daylight and leave them in that "smallish" area, or give them the opportunity of a "blat" in a paddock?.

[Esky the husky]

At the moment I am working a fair few hours.

It's been gradually reducing, as I am working in a supermarket that opened only 3 weeks ago, they are still assessing how many staff we need at any given time.

Initially it was a bit of a shock for both Esky and I going from full time unemployed to full time work.

My first few weeks I was sooooooo tired after work I could barely move.

Now we're getting into more of a routine.

When I can I'll walk esky of a morning. But the days I start early I can't bear getting up any earlier.

When I get home we'll do something together, training, riding etc.

Luckily she's not very active at the moment except for evening time.

[all that glitters]

My question is, if you have a "larger" breed working dog, how much excercise do you give it? If you are up at a reasonable hour in the morning, will you give your dog a "stretch" given the space you have?. Do you crate your dog at night, pop him/her into a smallish "area" during the day when you are at work with no excercise?.

Yes I always allow an extra hour in the morning before work to walk my girl for at least 45 minutes and fit in a game of fetch after if I can, too. She's never left without having burnt some energy beforehand, which is maybe why she is so trustworthy being loose indoors on her own. She is a German Shepherd so some people gasp at the fact that I leave her indoors! IMO it's not really right to go to work without exercising a dog, but thats just my opinion and how I live with my dog and it keeps her and me happy

[Tralee]

Alternatively, a Pet Sitter, who can visit and feed the pup, exercise and toilet it, as well as begin socialisation, is a wise investment.

Even better, if you can find a neighbour with a young pre-school child. Because they cost less.

Interesting.... I am super fussy about whom I would ever ask or allow to look after my dogs, in fact we are the only ones who do this because we are far more comfortable this way. But even if I was happy to have someone check in on, feed, empty, etc a new puppy I might have, I certainly would never ask a 5 year old to do it. OMG

No, no, no, you silly

Not a pre-schooler. But her mummy, too.

I did say a neighbour with a young pre-schooler.

They make some interesting comments, like: "Puppies don't eat peanut butter, Mummy!"

Oh yes they do.

I have had mixed success with pet sitters.

One couple didn't appear till 2:30 in the afternoon when they were supposed to let the dog out at 11:30 am.

Turns out, the neighbour and her daughter beat all the others; hands down.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post.

Still, and of course that is great that you found that arrangement worked well for you and I am also glad it did, but mummy or not, no 5 year old would be going onto my property without me being there... and no this is not because my chosen breed is Rottweilers. I would be afraid the child would step on or pick up my puppy or squeal and flap it's arms around like children do. Alot of mummies do not understand what children should and should not do around baby puppies.

Sorry, OT.

Agree, not all mothers are diligent on seeing what their children are up to on or with other peoples property!

My mum comes to let Shyla out for toilet and feed her at lunchtime, which is total and utter trust

Yep

As far as mum's go, she was a "gooden". sky, I think her name was.

However, the neighbour on the other side. Well that's a different thread.

[Rileys mum]

I have a GSP ( gun dog working dog ) and yes I get up early before work to excercise him. My back yard is a decent size so he has room for zoomies etc while I'm at work too. He isn't confined to a run or similar. He has free run of my yard. I personally feel that it's my responsibility to meet his excercise and mental stimulation needs so I get up early. He is crated inside at night and sleeps like an angel until I get him up for his off leash run.

[SpotTheDog]

I was starting to feel that Gus was being neglected because of my job, plus his interactions with me weren't good - he started to ignore me, wouldn't look at me when I spoke to him, no recall, so on. Part of that was puppy teenaged badness, the other part was lack of time together.

Gus now sleeps on his own bed in my bedroom. In the mornings, I get up at 6am and bring him out to the toilet. Then he stays in the house with me during my morning routine, while I let my cats out for a run in the yard. He follows me about as I shower, dress, unload the dishwasher, so on. Our relationship has improved mightily with the increase in time spent together.

Before I leave for work at 8.20am, I bring all the cats in and then bring Gus out to his run with his breakfast. The run is basically the area of my yard behind my garage, fenced off - so about 6m wide x 10m long, plus access into the garage where his bed and water are, and it's cooler in there during hot days. I make sure he has suncream on his white nose. I check his water, and make sure there are some toys in his run. He settles into his breakfast as I leave for work.

When I get home at 5.15pm or so, I let Gus out of his run through the garage door, and then into the house. While he's in the house with me, the cats go out again for their evening run in the yard. Weeknights, this is when i try to bring Gus out for a walk - round the block, or the bushwalk up the hill if I can, while the cats are out chasing grasshoppers.

Then home again, and he gets a treat like a pig's ear, and the cats can come and go freely for a few overlapping hours while he's in the house. The cats are in before it gets dark, and all of us are in the house for the evening. He interacts with the cats during this time. The only time he then goes out in the evening is when he's brought out to the toilet.

At bedtime, the cats get put to bed first, and Gus gets a traditional lick of the cat food spoon (they get fed as they're put to bed in their room and they love it). Then he's out to the loo, then in, locks up the house with me, and off we toddle to bed. Just like we're about to do now.

Weekends, he's more likely to get an early walk - 6am etc. Then I spend the day in the garden and he and the cats are with me or near me most of the time. I was tempted to get him a companion pup, but I think my OH would kill me if I pushed the animal quota up to eight...

Edited December 5, 2010 by SpotTheDog

[~JoLu~]

I have been thinking about this lately as we are planning on moving further out but on more land. At the moment I am only a ten minute drive from work so am usually gone 8 - 4:30ish, although do have days off for uni. The new place is about 30min drive but there is a chance I could be moved back into the city for work

With summer here I have been getting up early and exercising in the back yard. I used to alternate walking dogs (not quite game enough to walk both together :p ) but now do 45 minute interval session in the backyard and take them both out there and they just run around stupid, (whilst I run around stupid ) then plonk on the floor. We all seem to be getting a better workout that way I never let them off lead around here (no fenced areas and alot of idiots )

However I am a big softy and have a conference coming up where I will be gone from 7am to ??? so have booked them into a couple of nights stay at a kennel as I am worried they'll go a little loopy with no-one home that long.

I tend to spend all weekend with them out of guilt

If I'm not home then they are outside - rain, hail, shine. I'm trying to design the new house so it includes an enclosed dog-proof area (I am such a sucker )

Edited December 5, 2010 by ~JoLu~

[Bindii]

Wow I can't believe so many people are able to get up at 6am etc... The extra time sounds so lovely in theory, but in practice I just cannot get my hand off the snooze button... I always get out of bed an hour before I have to be somewhere.. whether that's 6am or 10am

My dogs have no routine whatsoever, both my OH and I work shift work. Every spare moment when we're not at work is spent with the dogs (pretty much) as they are inside with us. (when working night shift, Fletcher also comes to work with me!) when they're having their walks at whatever time of day they happen to be having it, or while we're sitting watching tv, they are there with us. Days off are spent at dog shows, dog obedience, or therapy dog outings... read: I do everything with my dogs.

For the times when they are left alone for a large length of time they are perfectly fine, i guess because they are used to the 'randomness' of our routine. We check in regularly with neighbours re barking and they never hear a thing.

[Elsha_UK_AU]

I don't have a working breed.... I have a sleeping breed

Cavaliers are companion Dogs so I worried about working full time....all the breeders we spoke to though seemed to have no issue with it, they recognised the modern family dynamics but recommended we get 2. We got D'Artagnan as a 12 month old (in Jan 2010) and 6 weeks later Porthos (10 weeks old) joined him.

My alarm goes off at 5.30 and I stumble out to the kettle. Both Dogs sleep on our bed however D'Artagnan (Tagnan) has usually moved down to his own dog bed in the night. Porthos however is usually under the covers with his head wedged between mine and hubby's pillows... he will generally be on his back, snoring. When he sees me get up, he wakes Tagnan and they both go into the garden... they pee and then come back to bed. I sit and drink coffee and snooze and they snuggle up and go back to sleep!

I go to work at 7.30 and hubby leaves same time. He gets home at 5 and I get home by 6pm. The dogs know our routine and each day at 7.30 I put them away in back part of house with rotated toys (Porthos loves playing with toys) and give them their treats - they run and jump onto their tramp bed for their treats. They have a dog door to get outside but don't use it.

We take them for walks each night (unless it is exceptionally hot or wet) for around 45-60mins. Then they run around the garden like mad things, get their dinner, snuggle with us on the couch or at our feet if we are on the computer and go to bed with us at whatever time we go... sometimes Tagnan sneaks off and I find him on our bed. Porthos will jump up at us if it is late as if to say "It's past our bedtime, hurry up and go to bed".

On my RDO and Weekends, besides grocery shopping and the gym and the occasional family visit...we spend the rest of the time with them. On my RDO they sleep most of the day - with the exception of about an hour of play time. I leave them to it.... it's a hard life

[kiwioz]

Shyla gets a 45-50 minute walk every morning that she's left alone for 9hrs indoors, regardless of weather. Then she lays on the bed and watches me get ready for work, then I feed her and put the radio on and leave. Mum comes at lunchtime to let her out and give her a kong and other goodies. She has a rabbit in a cage and 3 cats for company, they are often all sleeping around in the same room when I come home. I come home and she gets another half hour walk and some fetch. Then she hangs with us all evening and is asleep by 9pm onwards anyway. On days off she is the priority and gets to spend all day with us, unless on the rare chance we are going somewhere. If I go to mums or my friends place she comes too.

She's uber happy and never stops smiling :p

My routine is very similar to this.

I have varied start times but walk my dogs for a minimum 25 minutes every morning - most of the time it is 40-50 (only on the really early shift do I have to do a short one). We get out of bed and walk straight away, then they potter inside with me while I get ready. I let them out for a quick loo stop as I'm leaving, then they stay inside for about 10 hours. In the evenings they have outside time playing with me, and just hang around with me in the house till bedtime.

On the weekends I try and spend as much time with them as possible, but of course I have to go to the shops etc, and every few weeks I'll do a day volunteering at the zoo.

Because I work a long way from home, sometimes if I have something on in the evening I can't come home in between. On those days I have a petsitter come for a couple of hours in the middle of the day to give them company, let them go to the toilet etc.

This system is working well for me for now, they are happy

Very much like my routine! Except mine's missing the volunteering at the zoo part, that would be nice!!

Hehe it is good fun! It's quite nice reading that someone else does the same as me, even though I know it works for my dogs I do sometimes wonder if they're ok in for that long etc. But they are happy and healthy I'm working on trying to get a job closer to home too which would make it 8-9 hours and I wouldn't need the petsitter. I have my fingers crossed on a job that would mean I could pop home at lunchtime!!

Bindii it is a struggle getting up early sometimes, but I don't have a lot of choice. Finn is up at 6am (or earlier) every day, and whilst it is a pain in the rear end at times (ie. sunday ) it does make me get up and go. It is just so much a part of my routine now that I don't even think twice, and I'd feel far too guilty not walking them as that is what they know and expect now. Only if it is absolutely hosing down do I miss a day.

[FionaC]

my boys sleep inside so they go out early for a run around the back yard, then breakfast then maybe a 15minute walk each depending on the time and if we are running late for work - otherwise they are back inside on the bed whilst we get ready to head off to work ... during the day they are in the sunroom aka dog room with some toys, beds and pretty much they sleep and lounge all day (this has been their routine since they come home) - I work an 8-9hr day usually so when I get home they go out to toilet then they are with us till bedtime (they sleep in the bedroom in crates) - they may go for an evening walk, we may hit the dog beach (10 minutes from home and a fabulous trip out during summer), agility or obedience training for Morty or obedience for Archie ... depends on the evening ...

Weekends they are with us unless we have to go somewhere they can't come - ie shopping or restaurant ... we may visit family (they come along to play with the other dogs), go to the beach again, we may go to training or the markets ....

Edited December 5, 2010 by FionaC

[fainty_girl]

My dogs do have company in the day (from my family), and I work less hours than I used to which is good for me and them!

My dogs get walked in the evening and they seem happy with their little routine. They always know when we are going out for a walk, and when they come home they get their dinner, then they both crash not long after. Tilly is not a morning dog, she sleeps in and is quieter in the mornings. Tilly and Jessie don't hassle me to go out in the mornings either.

[wagsalot]

Life is easy at our household now - Riley is 10 in January and has settled down alot.

He is home by himself 4 days a week, and snoozing all day with a walk in the afternoon seems to suit him just fine.

We are home alot on the weekends and pretty much every night.

I do feel bad if we go out on the weekends though

[dee lee]

Every weekday I get up at 6am to take Honey, a GR, on a 40min run or on alternate days, walk to the park for some fetch.

Then we walk the kids to school and onward for our daily coffee. Home via the park for a final toilet stop, then if my OH is working early, she will be home alone from 10am til the kids get home after 3.

I get home at 6pm- if I can manage it we will go the the park, but mostly not (cranky, tired kids are not always able to be wrangled). From then she is my shadow and once the kids are in bed we will watch some tv together.

I wish I could manage the evening park visit more often, but console myself with the fact that she gets a good 4 hours with me in the morning, and the school/cafe run is a big attention pay off for her- She gets LOTS of extra attention then.

Weekends, aside from chores and the occasional outing, Honey gets less exercise (ball thrown at the school while the kids play on the play equipment) but is with us for most of the day.

To be honest, she fits in with us. She is pretty happy, quite fit and mostly sleeps when we aren't doing stuff.

[Agility Dogs]

When I worked full time (7.30am-3.30pm) I would either road walk my dogs for a minimum of 1/2 hr, or play ball, in the mornings, so they had some excercise before I went to work.

In mid/ late afternoon when I got home from work they would get a minimum of 1.5 hours either in the regional park (off leash) or on the beach (off leash). I am talking here about shelties.

Where we live now (am retired) they have access to our house yard where they have plenty of room to excercise.

My question is, if you have a "larger" breed working dog, how much excercise do you give it? If you are up at a reasonable hour in the morning, will you give your dog a "stretch" given the space you have?. Do you crate your dog at night, pop him/her into a smallish "area" during the day when you are at work with no excercise?.

So on your "days off" on the w/e's, what is most important to you?. Go out for 9-10 hours every day and leave your dog/s in the "smallish" area, come home with possibly 3-4 hours of daylight and leave them in that "smallish" area, or give them the opportunity of a "blat" in a paddock?.

We have 3 BC's - two are 4y.o. and a 7 month old pup.

Of a morning we walk down to the local park and each dog does 2 or 3 quick training sessions depending on what we are working on and what time I got up. Then it's home for a quick blast around the back yard chasing the ball or whatever toy they dump in my lap while I'm taking my shoes off.

Night time will either be a walk of up to an hour then some shaping exercises or play in the back yard if we are not heading out to training. (3 or 4 nights a week.)

That is 5 days a week.

On the weekends we have a good play in the mornings and then usually spend the days ferrying to and from some trial or other. If we have nothing on (heaven forbid) we spend the days doing something around the house and having toys dumped in our lap every 30 seconds.

If I have had enough the toys go away and the dogs know to have a rest.

They LOVE exercise, but because of the all the brain work we do they don't need it constantly.

ETA - they are crated at night and have the run of the yard during the day. (As long as there are no injuries. If there are then they are in their runs.)

Edited December 6, 2010 by Agility Dogs

[Sayly]

Our dogs (terriers and medium working dogs) are home on their own from 8:30am to about 4:30pm. They don't get walked in the mornings or special attentions/games/training but they are with us while we get ready to leave for work.

When we get home we spend 1-2 hours with them, playing, throwing the ball, grooming, patting. This tends to be combined with our after work/uni coffee and chat that Mum, Dad and I do which usually is outside weather permitting.

They then get 45min-1hr walk.

ETA: At night after dinner I find I spend the most quality time with my girls (Aussies and Poppy) as they are inside in my room with me, having cuddles or playing with toys.

They are outside when we aren't home on a reasonable size block but none of them use the space much, they seem to sleep all day except the morning and afternoons judging by what they do on our days at home.

When we are home we are with them, they are inside with us or if we are outside they are too. They get extra time spent with them throwing the ball and playing.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Lyndsay