8 Hours Alone?

[Guest Jordan33]

Hi,

 

I'm new to Greys, hoping to adopt my first in two weeks! I'm taking two weeks of vacation to spend with my dog and am planning on leaving for short periods so she knows I'm coming back.

 

My biggest question though is whether I can/should leave her alone for 8 hours when I go back to work. I'm assuming 8 hours in a crate would be too long without a potty break. I live alone and while I theoretically could get home on my lunch break, it would be a tight fit into the schedule, and more stress than it might be worth.

 

Does anyone have thoughts or recommendations? Thanks! I'd like to make sure I know what I'm doing before she comes home.

[Hubcitypam]

Never had a problem with 8 including commute. When it reached ten I had a neighbor let them out.. Not a big fan of crates other than for medical reasons. Baby gates and ]muzzles have worked better for me.

[GreytTerp]

Same with us here. We found a dog walker we trusted who could come walk Marvin some time during the day if we knew it was going to be an extra long day. Otherwise, babygates and a few comfy nap spot choices, and our hound was perfectly fine. It actually seems to bug him a bit when I work from home now, as he likes his full day nap routine. Just get your new girl on a schedule where she does her business outside right before you leave for work, and you'll be good to go. Congratulations on your soon-to-be hound!

[PatricksMom]

Never had a problem with 8 hours, maybe with a super senior, but I wouldn't worry about it.

[RedHead]

My guys are fine with 8 hours. I usually come home at lunch and they won't even go potty when I put them out in the backyard. I do exercise them before and after work. I personally wouldn't crate 8 hours, but mine have free roam of the house.

[Houndtime]

I used to leave my guys for more than that some times when I was working. They sleep a lot and get used to your schedule. It is not the optimum adoption experience, but it can work. Now, since I am home most days or only out for short periods, if I am gone that long, I have dog walker come over and let them out or walk them. Only, because, they are not used to long periods of us being away.

[smurfette]

I used to leave my guys for more than that some times when I was working. They sleep a lot and get used to your schedule. It is not the optimum adoption experience, but it can work. Now, since I am home most days or only out for short periods, if I am gone that long, I have dog walker come over and let them out or walk them. Only, because, they are not used to long periods of us being away.

The same here. When I lived alone Col was used to his alone time. Since I'm married there is always one of us at home or my mom comes to walk the dogs. And I don't crate, either. I just close the doors of the rooms I don't want them to explore.

[Guest Merrilyn]

My boy is alone 9 hours a day, he graduated out of a crate into babygates and has access to outside. I have a camera on him as I was worried but he seriously sleeps all day, doesn't leave his bed. Every dog os different but when I first picked my boy up I was so worried so it's nice to hear when people have success.

[sarabz]

When we adopted Bella we were living in Manhattan and both worked within walking distance of our apartment. The first two weeks we traded off coming home at lunchtime to give her a potty break. By the end of the second week we were having to wake her up to take her out, so she obviously didn't desperately need to go. Now at 11, she routinely goes close to 10 hours and is perfectly fine. In fact, on the one day a week that I am usually home, she typically can't be bothered to get up to go out in the middle of the day unless I'm pretty insistent.

[GeorgeofNE]

You will get various opinions, but my dog(s) have all been home alone Mon-Fri with my full time work schedule.

 

Plan on getting up earlier than you normally would, and taking the dog for a long walk whether or not you have a fenced in yard. Turning a dog out into the yard is great for going to the bathroom, but a solo dog with not typically get meaningful exercise unless you go out with the dog and do something to get it running around. With a new dog, a long walk is great for bonding and for tiring the dog out. Your goal is to burn off some energy making it more likely the dog will simply sleep while you're gone.

 

Avoid the temptation to spend all day for two weeks with your new dog. Try to get the dog on a schedule immediately--one that mimics what the dog is going to have to deal with on a regular basis.

[krissy]

I leave my dogs for work. And I do crate the one... no way I trust her not to get into trouble or pester her senior brother. They spend the whole day sleeping and she loves her crate, so I don't worry too much about it. Just make sure your dog gets lots of exercise when you're home.

[Guest Jordan33]

Thanks everyone for your sucess stories! They make me feel better already.

 

Yes, I am planning on getting up an hour earlier than normal, take her out, feed her, go back to bed, eat, shower, take her out again, go to work, come home, take her out, feed her, and then go out again later that night.

 

My work schedule has me working 9-5 most days, but 12-8 two days a week, hopefully she'll grasp this without a problem.

[Guest DarkHorse]

Ours go 9+ hours loose in the house when we both have to work, no problems, and our Dexter is now 11. Even when I'm working from home (I go in once every week or two), they don't go out at lunch. Really the only difference for them is that 1) I'm not in the office if they ever make their way up to the beds there and 2) we get home around 5 instead of "leaving work" around 4:45. And those 15 minutes really don't matter to them.

 

I also agree with the others that you shouldn't spend the full two weeks at home, although I think it's OK to ease into the normal schedule such that when you head back to work it's not a huge surprise. When we brought Cole and KB home, I spent the first few working days in the family room (where we had their beds) so that I could supervise them. Once they learned stairs, it was up to the office, which is the usual. And we started doing little trips out and about as soon as they seemed to grasp the idea of house training. Because we're not always consistent in schedule, it made sense to do random trips out so they didn't learn to expect a particular pattern. It seems to have worked - the only time we have issues is the rare occasion we have to be gone for 10+ hours.

[Guest CleverJason]

My boy is alone 9 hours a day, he graduated out of a crate into babygates and has access to outside. I have a camera on him as I was worried but he seriously sleeps all day, doesn't leave his bed. Every dog os different but when I first picked my boy up I was so worried so it's nice to hear when people have success.

 

Same story here, although mine goes 10 hours every day. But I worked him up to it. Took a week off work to start to introduce him to the routine, then for two weeks afterward, I would come home or have someone let him out during the day, increasing by about 30 minutes every day, until he could go 10 hours. Now, I honestly think he looks forward to it - a walk, a big Kong and then a 9-hour nap. I even think he gets a little grumpy if I give him too much attention during the afternoon on the weekend.

[XTRAWLD]

9-5'er here. Which means it's actually like 8am-6pm for the boys to be alone. NEVER an issue. Only until Kasey started getting sick and then I got a webcam to monitor him. Drove home when he needed me. I at times will leave a radio on, but for the most part they really just sleep. Make sure pup has a really good bathroom break before you go and after you get back and you are set. Might have to work him up to getting a bladder of steel but usually it's a non issue.

 

I think it's good to take time off to get your pup acclimatized to your house and to supervise, and during that time start working towards leaving pup home alone for a few hours at a time before you get back to your routine.

Edited April 5, 2016 by XTRAWLD

[jshell]

You will get various opinions, but my dog(s) have all been home alone Mon-Fri with my full time work schedule.

 

Plan on getting up earlier than you normally would, and taking the dog for a long walk whether or not you have a fenced in yard. Turning a dog out into the yard is great for going to the bathroom, but a solo dog with not typically get meaningful exercise unless you go out with the dog and do something to get it running around. With a new dog, a long walk is great for bonding and for tiring the dog out. Your goal is to burn off some energy making it more likely the dog will simply sleep while you're gone.

 

Avoid the temptation to spend all day for two weeks with your new dog. Try to get the dog on a schedule immediately--one that mimics what the dog is going to have to deal with on a regular basis.

 

This was my experience as a single guy with my lone girl. We'd do a big-ish walk in the morning (25-35 minutes) and a shorter walk in the evening (or longer, depending on temperature) and then I'd be at work all day and she'd have the loft to herself. The only time I really ran into problems was when she was a senior and had developed ongoing on-again/off-again digestion issues. I'd be gone 8 hours on average, but she handled longer, including close to 11 or 12 (happened very rarely, but it did happen a couple of times).

 

When I first adopted her, I only took a couple of days off work. I started separation training pretty immediately. At the time, however, I did have the benefit of living on the same block as my office so I could check in easily; and I had something to do when trying longer separation periods (2 hours, 4 hours) by coming to work. I agree that it's important to get the dog on a schedule pretty quickly.

[NeedlenoseJake]

Sorry if repeated- didn't read all the comments-

 

Is it possible for you to first come out at noon, then one, then two, then three... to see how well he does with longer hours and work him up to 8? If not, he will probably be just fine over 8 hours. Jake has a dog door, but I don't even know if he goes out at all during the day. My husband goes home for lunch sometimes and he barely lifts his head

 

Also, if you haven't bought the crate yet maybe see if you can rent one. As long as there are no other reasons for needing to crate him (such as a cat or if he just likes it) you may end up letting him have free reign fairly quickly. I think we ended up crating Jake for all of 1 week.

[Feisty49]

I'm retired and most days I'm home more than not so can let my girl Annie out any time she wants. She almost never asks. In fact, she's so laid back about going potty, that I have my cell alarm set for 1:30 PM, which is 5-6 hours after our morning walk, to remind me to have her go potty because I forget. She's gone 8 or 9 hours with me in the house, on a day when I've turned off the alarm for whatever reason, and never asked to go out and obviously had no issue about holding it.

 

Many people use crates to ease a new dog into living in a house. Many people always have a crate up with the door open long after it's needed, if it was ever needed, because the dog likes to use it for sleeping or a get-away place. Annie *hated* the crate. Less than 2 days after I adopted her, I stopped making her go into the crate, though I left it up, door open, for the rest of the week. She never went in it. She is one of those dogs who can be trusted. Never had SA. Never chewed on anything. Never tore apart anything. Never went into the garbage. Never bothered the cat, actually went out of her way to avoid the cat.

 

You may find your hound doesn't have separation anxiety. Mine never did. I think, though, that if you spend more time at home on your vacation than not, it could precipitate SA. If possible, it might be better to take only a couple of days off, then head back to work.

[Guest Jordan33]

I did buy the crate already. I'm not a big traveler, but I thought I should have one ready just in case. I can hopefully fit it in the closet when she's done with it, or even donate it to the rescue org she'll come from.

 

Ive got a few things to do outside the apartment in those two weeks, and I can easily stretch those times I'm gone, and include more for sure. :-)

 

It's going to be hard not to take her everywhere with me!

[Guest Merrilyn]

 

Same story here, although mine goes 10 hours every day. But I worked him up to it. Took a week off work to start to introduce him to the routine, then for two weeks afterward, I would come home or have someone let him out during the day, increasing by about 30 minutes every day, until he could go 10 hours. Now, I honestly think he looks forward to it - a walk, a big Kong and then a 9-hour nap. I even think he gets a little grumpy if I give him too much attention during the afternoon on the weekend.

Same as us now, my boy doesn't pee in the yard and holds it in so he can pee on all the trees during our walks. Very frustrating at times

[Guest Bean_Scotch]

Somedays my dogs are NEVER alone and some days they are alone 8hrs and occasionally 10. They never have issues.....The dog will get used to whatever schedule you set for it. You just need to be consistent!

[Guest bubbagumpshrimp]

If both of us are going to be gone for 8+ hours...we have someone that comes and checks in on him. It's only ~$16 to have someone come over the 1-2 days a week that we'll both be gone and let him out and chill with him for 20 min or so. I'd rather do that than have the poor guy seeing yellow trying to hold it all day. That and with the traffic in our area...it could be 1-3 hours to get home...so that 8 hours that you're planning to be gone can stretch to be 10+ hours pretty easily.

[JenniferS]

I see most people have said their dogs are fine for 8 - 10 hours home alone. I would like to contradict that with not all dogs would be able to hold it that long. I have been lucky to have jobs where I can come home at lunch to let them out. But if I had to leave my dog home alone more than 6-7 hours, I would hire a pet-sitter. That being said - a pet-sitter/dog-walker should have greyhound experience, and be well educated on safety and keeping your greyhound from getting loose at all costs.