how long are you allowed to keep your dog at home alone?

[Anonymous]

Also, a puppy won't be able to do this for a long while. They really can't hold it in longer than a couple of hours at first, gets better, but I would say the work day is too long for the first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dogs have never been alone for more than 5-6 hours. We have always had a midday dog walker, and we would work from home if they couldn’t come.

+1 I know some people let their dogs go 8-10 hours alone but I think that’s cruel. No more than 6.

Yep, any longer than 5-6, then at least get a dog walker to come in. Would you want to hold your pee for 10 hours straight?

I think the op was thinking about an outside/inside situation with yard and dog door. But still, some dogs wouldn’t like that full time and clearly not ok for a puppy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long can you keep your dog at home alone?

It's a good question that I have asked a few dog owners that I know. The reason I asked them is because I am single and would love to have a dog. The problem is that I work and I am out of the house for 9 hours a day. There seems to be no definite answer. Some people have told me that it would be fine to leave it alone while I am at work to another telling me that it's a bad thing to do to a dog.

I do have a house with a fenced in yard and I can easily have a dog door installed but I think I will wait until I am retired which should happen in about 4 years.

Get the dog. I worked from home for a year (before pandemic) and afterward I never felt guilty because my dogs slept nearly all day and my comings and goings and moving around just disturbed their sleep lol.

But seriously, dogs sleep 18-20 hours/day given the choice. Just make sure that you most days spend quality time taking the dog for a good walk, it’s good for the dog and good for you too.

Beyond 9 hours you’ll need to either stop home at lunch if that’s possible or hire a dog walker to take your buddy out - or train the dog to use an area inside with pee pads.

Definitely crate train to start with until you know the dog is reliably nondestructive when left alone - some dogs get separation anxiety pretty bad and will eat your stuff to soothe their fears.

Consider adopting an older dog; a puppy will be very hard to manage unless you can spend a few months working from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long can you keep your dog at home alone?

It's a good question that I have asked a few dog owners that I know. The reason I asked them is because I am single and would love to have a dog. The problem is that I work and I am out of the house for 9 hours a day. There seems to be no definite answer. Some people have told me that it would be fine to leave it alone while I am at work to another telling me that it's a bad thing to do to a dog.

I do have a house with a fenced in yard and I can easily have a dog door installed but I think I will wait until I am retired which should happen in about 4 years.

Totally depends on the dog and the age of the dog. Even when I'm home, my dog will go 9+ hours without wanting to be let out and just switch between sleeping on the couch and the floor (generally this is what she does between 6am-4pm). When she was a puppy, I would never leave her for more than a few hours. Then, when she was a bit older I'd come home at lunch (my parents who also had a young dog, but couldn't get home at lunch, hired a dog walker to come and let their dog out mid-day). At my previous work situation it was not unusual that she would be home alone for nine hours. I would give her a short walk in the AM after breakfast and then a longer one at night. After I got home, she could ask to go out whenever she wanted.

Get a dog. If the dog needs to be let out during the day, plan on having a dog sitter come 1-2 times during the day to take the dog out. Generally, that phase won't last forever (and it sounds like you'll be retired soon anyhow).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long can you keep your dog at home alone?

It's a good question that I have asked a few dog owners that I know. The reason I asked them is because I am single and would love to have a dog. The problem is that I work and I am out of the house for 9 hours a day. There seems to be no definite answer. Some people have told me that it would be fine to leave it alone while I am at work to another telling me that it's a bad thing to do to a dog.

I do have a house with a fenced in yard and I can easily have a dog door installed but I think I will wait until I am retired which should happen in about 4 years.

Get the dog. I worked from home for a year (before pandemic) and afterward I never felt guilty because my dogs slept nearly all day and my comings and goings and moving around just disturbed their sleep lol.

But seriously, dogs sleep 18-20 hours/day given the choice. Just make sure that you most days spend quality time taking the dog for a good walk, it’s good for the dog and good for you too.

Beyond 9 hours you’ll need to either stop home at lunch if that’s possible or hire a dog walker to take your buddy out - or train the dog to use an area inside with pee pads.

Definitely crate train to start with until you know the dog is reliably nondestructive when left alone - some dogs get separation anxiety pretty bad and will eat your stuff to soothe their fears.

Consider adopting an older dog; a puppy will be very hard to manage unless you can spend a few months working from home.

I'm a PP. My dog is actually fine if I leave her for 12 hours - but it's not something I'd do regularly. I'd say I do it a few times per year. If I was going to leave her for more than 9 hours on a regular basis, I'd get someone to come take her out. Also, it's dependent on time of day. My dog's active time is in the late afternoon/evening which is funny because I'm a morning person - If I was going to be gone between noon and midnight, I'd definitely hire someone to come. If I was gone between 7am and 7pm I wouldn't worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long can you keep your dog at home alone?

It's a good question that I have asked a few dog owners that I know. The reason I asked them is because I am single and would love to have a dog. The problem is that I work and I am out of the house for 9 hours a day. There seems to be no definite answer. Some people have told me that it would be fine to leave it alone while I am at work to another telling me that it's a bad thing to do to a dog.

I do have a house with a fenced in yard and I can easily have a dog door installed but I think I will wait until I am retired which should happen in about 4 years.

Can you afford a dog Walker or a day care?

My pup is fine sleeping most of my work day if I get him out for a 45-60 minute walk in the mornings, a 10 minute walk at lunch, and another 1/2 or so before dinner. But then he’s very active after dinner. Training and playing.

[Anonymous]

When we were house hunting we saw a house where the owners had left the German Shepard in the back yard with a dog house and someone coming by to refill food. I felt so bad for the dog—he would bark like crazy but then when I approached he would wag his tail.
So I think that there is no law against it provided the dog is fed and not suffering from exposure.

[Anonymous]

It is really going to depend...we’ve only left ours for about 4 hours at a time but she’s only 7 months old.

[Anonymous]

If you have to be out of the house for 9 hours, get a dog walker to come mid-day and the dog will be just fine! We do this with our dogs and they are great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Consider adopting an older dog; a puppy will be very hard to manage unless you can spend a few months working from home.

I'm a PP. My dog is actually fine if I leave her for 12 hours - but it's not something I'd do regularly. I'd say I do it a few times per year. If I was going to leave her for more than 9 hours on a regular basis, I'd get someone to come take her out. Also, it's dependent on time of day. My dog's active time is in the late afternoon/evening which is funny because I'm a morning person - If I was going to be gone between noon and midnight, I'd definitely hire someone to come. If I was gone between 7am and 7pm I wouldn't worry.

Our dog has been fine on those occasions we've had to leave him alone for 12 hours, but we don't do it regularly. If we know we're going to be gone for that long, the dog walker comes.

As our dog gets older, waiting gets harder. At this point, I don't know if 12 hours is still an option. I really recommend finding a dog walker who can come as needed.

I will add that when we first got the dog, I was hoping a once-a-day visit from the dog walker would be enough. Then I worked at home and discovered that our guy was sleeping from 8-3 anyway. Maybe getting up for a drink of water, but basically asleep during the hours we were usually gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Consider adopting an older dog; a puppy will be very hard to manage unless you can spend a few months working from home.

I'm a PP. My dog is actually fine if I leave her for 12 hours - but it's not something I'd do regularly. I'd say I do it a few times per year. If I was going to leave her for more than 9 hours on a regular basis, I'd get someone to come take her out. Also, it's dependent on time of day. My dog's active time is in the late afternoon/evening which is funny because I'm a morning person - If I was going to be gone between noon and midnight, I'd definitely hire someone to come. If I was gone between 7am and 7pm I wouldn't worry.

Our dog has been fine on those occasions we've had to leave him alone for 12 hours, but we don't do it regularly. If we know we're going to be gone for that long, the dog walker comes.

As our dog gets older, waiting gets harder. At this point, I don't know if 12 hours is still an option. I really recommend finding a dog walker who can come as needed.

I will add that when we first got the dog, I was hoping a once-a-day visit from the dog walker would be enough. Then I worked at home and discovered that our guy was sleeping from 8-3 anyway. Maybe getting up for a drink of water, but basically asleep during the hours we were usually gone.

I'm PP with the dog that I can leave for 12 hours. She is getting older - 8 now. I took your recommendation and had a local (trusted) student come to meet her the other day to see if they'd be her occasional sitter/walker. It went really well!!! Win-win! I have someone I can trust for occasionally looking after dog and student makes a few bucks!