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[quote=Anonymous]We both WOH.  We adopted our then 5 year old dog (pug-mix) from an animal rescue about 2 years ago and we love her and she is great! She gets walked in the mornings and then is typically home for about 7 hours before my teenage son gets home to let her in the backyard.  You have to figure that most dogs can go at least 9-10 hours without going out (that's a conservative estimate of how long dogs go without going outside while we all sleep).  So I don't think this is a problem at all.

My biggest bit of advice is not to get a puppy.  They: (1) are full of energy and need more attention; and (2) require more effort to house train and need to go outside more often.  The other thing is, especially if you are thinking of a rescue dog -- a lot of organizations will not like the fact that you are away from the house so long during the days with a puppy.  They are far more lenient with full-grown dogs.  When we were considering getting a puppy, we got a lot of push back from these organizations.  They wanted to know if we would be able to come home in the middle of the day to let the puppy out or if we would have a dog walker.  I get that now, and I absolutely think adopting a grown dog was the right choice for us for that reason.

I also telework once a week and it's true that my dog sleeps almost all day long.  I do end up letting her our a few times - but mostly to lay in the sun or chase squirrels ;-)  She refuses to go out when it's raining or cold ;-)

We had her in a crate during the day for a short period of time, to be sure she was house-trained and wasn't going to eat shoes or stuffed animals or who knows what when we were gone.  There are people who are strongly opposed to this, but we have been told by vets and rescues alike that this is acceptable.  She was very good about it and I think it was necessary at the time, but I'm glad we didn't have to continue it very long.

Anyhow, OP, I think you should go for it.  Don't let people make you feel bad about not being there 24-7.  There are so many dogs that need a loving home, and you sound like a genuinely nice and caring person who has given this plenty of thought.  Enjoy your new companion![/quote]

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