How Much Time Does Your Dog/s Spend On Thier Own?

[PennyGB]

It's hard to say because my husband is a shift worker but generally we will leave Archer alone for at least an hour or so each day, some days can be up to 9 hours.

He goes to doggy daycare one day a week which he loves.

As for the time he is alone I suspect he sleeps a lot, he has lots of toys and access to most of the house plus the backyard via doggy door, I've spoken to our neighbours and they never hear him bark or cry and nothing is destroyed when we get home, when we are with him we spend lots of quality time playing, training, exercising, cuddling etc so I don't feel too bad about leaving him.

[PennyGB]

I am home 24/7 unless I go shopping which isn't that often these days. Smooch won't drink if I am not home so on hot days can't be left on his own for too long. Normally when I have been gone for the couple of hours, the first thing he does is be all over me than straight to the water bowel. I suppose he has me well trained

Genuine question, what would you do if for some unforeseen reason you couldn't be home? My friends had a dog trained to only eat from from them (they suspected their previous dog had been purposely poisoned) but then they could never go away for a weekend, they turned down wedding invites etc and when they had a baby the dog didn't eat for 3 days because they were in hospital for the birth and the dad stayed with them the first couple of nights, luckily the dog still drank water during that time...

[BJean]

Just wondering how much time people's dogs spend without humans on the days where it isn't possible to be doing things with them. So days when you are at work or at school or whatnot.

My dogs spend a lot of time on their own without human contact (13+ ?)

but they have the contact of their small packs

and I really don't think they are worse off for having less human time.

I guess they do their own thing during the day. Chase, sleep, play fight, maybe real fight, but probably not :D

They go about their business and seem happy.

Sometimes when I go out there, they hang around me for a while but then its like, meh! you're boring, you can't run with us and you can't keep up, what good are you ???

Their minds are always active and I don't believe they are bored. To an extent they pretty much do what they like.

Edited November 27, 2011 by lilli

[Dory the Doted One]

Dory comes everywhere possible with me, including work.

I did vote 1 - 3 hours tho. Because I try to create some separation from time to time, especially as Summer hots up and you just can't leave her in the car. She is starting to spend more time outside on her own.

[Blonde_Phoenix]

My boy is home alone in the yard generally about 8-9 hours, on occasions a little more.

To keep him busy he gets a variety of food things, stuffed kongs, 'sardine/dog food popsicles', food stuffed in cardboard (toilet rolls, pizza boxes or whatever we have around). He also has his shell pool now that it's warmer, he's a big boy so no risk of drowning, the only risk is him dragging the pool around the yard ;) . And of course plenty of shade and water.

He seems pretty happy during the day, he's not destructive at all generally. If we are home during the day he's usually resting anyway. In fact when my OH came home during the day he managed to get in the house and step over the pup without him waking, awesome guard dog we have here

[cointreau]

By the time I take into account travel mine is on her own for about 14 hrs a day but that is only 3 days or nights a week unless I do an extra shift. I don't have to leave anything out for her because she tends to sleep most of the time, my neighbours have told me they never hear her barking nor do they see her outside in the backyard very often. I could do shorter more frequent shifts but I find being away less days for longer is much better for me and my dog, who has her cat to snuggle up to if she wants.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

This is good! You're all making me feel normal (there's no right answer here, but lots of you are saying your dogs are doing similar things to what I see mine doing - ie sleeping the whole time!). :D

I'm also wondering if you think it makes a big difference if you are a single or multiple dog household? I'm currently a singly dog household, looking to rejoin the multiple dog household clan again soon-ish. I have to say when I had 2 dogs I didn't feel so bad about leaving them for longer periods as I do now that there's only 1 dog (although she does have the 2 cats to hang out with - and they do). But that being said she does cope really well, and I sort of think she also enjoys having some of her own time - I'm pretty sure she gets sick of me when we spend too much time together!!!

[NOCTRL]

Arby spends about 7 hours on an average day - OH and I both work but he starts before me and is home before me, so about 7 hours, but i come home in the middle of that for lunch and a quick play.

As much as i would love to be able to spend every moment with him, we have to work! Also i wouldn't want to end up with a clingy / fussy dog that frets when we're not around. He is an only child and keeps him self entertained with his shell pool, toys, kongs etc.

Edited November 27, 2011 by NOCTRL

[Juddabug Whippets]

I work full-time, and so does my partner, though my roster rotates. Some weeks they only have 2 days home alone or 5 one week per month. They are home for 12hrs.

They have their beds, toy box, diggy pit and each other (3dogs total)... They play chasey and wrestle a lot together. I'll scatter the kibble on our lawn for them to find (only when it's dry), if wet I scatter it on concrete.... Not nearly as hard to find.

Usually one weekend day per month the two whippets go racing so the lil fluffy guy has to stay home. He usually gets his dinner, lamb bones, frozen pupsicles or a treat to chew. He loves his time away from the crazies!

When we're home, the dogs are inside!

[Sydoo]

Anywhere from 7 - 11hrs. We both work full time. The higher end of that range is when OH is away as we generally stagger our work schedules when both home. When someone is at home she has free access to the house so there is a fair bit of interaction.

Billie spends a lot of her alone time sleeping, interspersed with bursts of zoomies in the yard, watching the world go by from a high vantage point on our deck...and more sleeping. I'm home right now and she is outside napping on the deck by choice. She has access to whatever toys happen to be outside that day as there is a constant migration cycle from toybox - inside floor - deck - yard - toybox (except for those toys she has decided are purely indoor or outdoor...if you take one of those to the wrong area, she will hastily return it to its chosen home).

[Odin-Genie]

Usually about 8-9 hours a day. My two dogs are inside during that time. When we are back we spend time with them and they sleep in our room.

[Teebs]

I have always worked long hours. 12+ a day. Dogs have been used to it since they were puppies. They have toys but spend most of the day sleeping

[jacqui835]

I would love to spend all day with my dog, but unfortunately he is alone for about 10 hours every day. Our neighbours keep an eye on him, and according to them, he sleeps about 60-70% of the time and then spends the rest of his time either watching them play with their guinea pigs, or hunting mice/birds in the backyard. We give him a bone almost every day too, either turkey or red meat and that gives him something else to think about. When we get home, we do about 30mins of exercise, then 30mins of training/play. On Wednesday nights now he has 3 hours of training/play. We do 30mins of exercise in the mornings too. And weekends I spend 95% of my time with him - beach most weekends, tracking and training Saturday morning but I wish I had a job where I could take him with me. Esky what do you do that lets you work from home? - I'm very jealous...

[Agility Dogs]

Our 3 spend between 9 and 10.5 hours on their own each day. Before that they get about an hour of walking/training and then after work they always get to do something as well.

I have to leave the yard with pretty much nothing in it or they can fight over toys/bones etc. They don't make any noise (new neighbours are shocked when they find out that we have 3 dogs), but are always ummmmm.....happy to see us when we get home!

[Sin]

8 hours a day in a crate (2 weims in the same crate) but I always come home at lunch time to let them stretch their legs and to break up their day. Whenever I sneak up on them, they're always asleep. They probably see me going, fall asleep listening to ABC radio (or the cricket!) and then hear me arrive and wake up and think, he's back already! I used to worry about leaving them alone all day when I first got one, but he slept all day when I was there anyway!

[Esky the husky]

I would love to spend all day with my dog, but unfortunately he is alone for about 10 hours every day. Our neighbours keep an eye on him, and according to them, he sleeps about 60-70% of the time and then spends the rest of his time either watching them play with their guinea pigs, or hunting mice/birds in the backyard. We give him a bone almost every day too, either turkey or red meat and that gives him something else to think about. When we get home, we do about 30mins of exercise, then 30mins of training/play. On Wednesday nights now he has 3 hours of training/play. We do 30mins of exercise in the mornings too. And weekends I spend 95% of my time with him - beach most weekends, tracking and training Saturday morning but I wish I had a job where I could take him with me. Esky what do you do that lets you work from home? - I'm very jealous...

It's an outsourced telemarketing company. So you can work from anywhere.

The downside is selling to people- it's really not the best, but they always want people.

If you want the companies name send me a pm

[Pretty Miss Emma]

So, I got home early today. And I know that the munchkin spends a lot of time sleeping, but she didn't hear me get home so I figured I'd wait to see what she did. She was asleep when I got home, and it wasn't until I did something that made a bit of noise in the house that she stirred at all!! And the whole hour I was home without her knowing she spent like this...

Any guilt trips I'm having are over! I want her life I think!!!!

[Leelaa17]

I am living with my dad at the moment and he is retired so my dogs are quite lucky and are barely ever alone, however when they are they are quite content. I work a normal 9 to 5 job and when I am home they are always around me, following me, and i'm giving them cuddles, training them to do things (max learnt how to shake in one night and I am very proud of him, while jenna has absolutely no idea how to shake but has learnt 'leave it') and letting them relax and lie near me. on the weekends i spend a lot of time getting them out of the house, taking them to the dog park etc.

they are inside/outside dogs and our back door is always open so they can come in and out as they please, and dad is mostly always here so they always have company.

As i was saying before, when the dogs are along, they are fine. They have a lot of fun together playing, lounging around, and chasing lizards, minors, and other critters around the backyard (they haven't caught anything thank goodness - there are many good hiding places for critters in the backyard). we also have a wire fence at the back with a horse there so they hang around the back fence on (what we call) 'patrol duty', which is basically waiting for the horse to come around which they thoroughly enjoy.

[Trisven13]

I answered that my dogs are without company 1-3 hours a day on average but it would only be 1 hour on average over the course of a whole week. I work from home so I'm here with them 90% of the time.

[minimiss]

So, I got home early today. And I know that the munchkin spends a lot of time sleeping, but she didn't hear me get home so I figured I'd wait to see what she did. She was asleep when I got home, and it wasn't until I did something that made a bit of noise in the house that she stirred at all!! And the whole hour I was home without her knowing she spent like this...

Any guilt trips I'm having are over! I want her life I think!!!!

Precious!