How long do you leave your dog alone for?

[Clappedoutvolvo]

Controversial topic perhaps.

I have friends who won't leave them more than an hour

I have one acquaintance who leaves theirs in outdoor kennel/small run all day

Everyone else either works from home or one of the family members is in and out

In laws leave theirs max 6 hours per day now it's grown up

We are thinking of getting a dog but would have to build up to being left for around 5 hours. Until that point we can have a walker come in in the middle. Some say its not fair, but we would like to rescue and give a dog a better life. It will be lavished with attention and walks, just not for those 5 hours a day, 6 at a push.

[pti]

Clappedoutvolvo said:

Controversial topic perhaps.

I have friends who won't leave them more than an hour

I have one acquaintance who leaves theirs in outdoor kennel/small run all day

Everyone else either works from home or one of the family members is in and out

In laws leave theirs max 6 hours per day now it's grown up

We are thinking of getting a dog but would have to build up to being left for around 5 hours. Until that point we can have a walker come in in the middle. Some say its not fair, but we would like to rescue and give a dog a better life. It will be lavished with attention and walks, just not for those 5 hours a day, 6 at a push.

4-5 hours maximum (when we both need to be in the office). Probably no more than a handful of times a month.

ETA - that's a maximum, not the only time(s) he's left alone. A decent walk, long-lasting treat and the words "back soon" mean he's happy until we return (verified on dog cam )

Edited by pti on Wednesday 23 February 15:46

[UTH]

Interested to see what people say here as we have friends who cancelled coming to New Year's eve because of their dog, even though we said they could bring it with them, let alone leave it on its own for a bit - they live very locally.

I am a big animal lover, but I think I give the impression to my friends I hate dogs - I don't, I just hate the fact their owner's lives revolve around the dog. Unable to come to things because of the dog, can't leave the dog alone for 2 hours to go out for dinner and so on.

[Gweeds]

4 hours max. That’s rare though. One of us is usually at home. More usual is 1-2 hours.

[Monkeylegend]

On the basis ours sleep with the cats in the lounge from 23.00 to 08.00 without making a mess indoors, in theory we could leave them for 9 hours at a time with no issues.

We makes sure they both go out for a wee before we bed them down. Well one starts off on the settee and is sometimes still there in the morning, but has often buried herself under her blanket in her bed, the other one starts in her bed and is then usually rattling the door about 07.45 to let us know it is time for us to get up.

But we don't leave them during the day for the full 9 hours, the max is usually no more than 5 hours or so, and then not very often.

They are always pleased to see us however long we have been away for though.

[tim1830]

for us 2-4hrs a day

We make sure he's walked before the misses goes to work at 12pm, and he sleeps, until she comes home at 4pm, or daughter comes home at 2-3pm, he then goes back to sleep until i get home at 6pm

I think all dogs are different, and although some breeds do better than others, it's still a risk assuming that the "type of dog can do x hrs" will be the same for every dog from that breed.

We built ours up over months, and still have camera in kitchen to check up on him.

[MonkeyBusiness]

Gweeds said:

4 hours max. That’s rare though. One of us is usually at home. More usual is 1-2 hours.

This for me too.
Old English Sheepdog. Notorious for separation anxiety.

[sociopath]

Used to leave mine for up to 10 hours when I was working, always with a dog flap though.

Never bothered either of my dogs, in fact during summer I used to come home and not be able to find them as they'd be out lying in the sun in the garden

It's not something you just drop them into though, you have to build up to that sort of timescale.

[Vasco]

Totally unrelated (!!) but I have a neighbour's cat that is very happy to come in to the house, have a bit to eat, and go to sleep for 8-10 hours.
Wakes up, has a few snacks, and goes off home. Always amuses me.

[LordGrover]

I don't think you can generalise like that; most dogs won't do well being left for more than an hour or two, but some will be fine all day. You can't even say one breed will be okay where another isn't, though some may be better disposed.

My two are rarely left for more than an hour or so, though I'm at work 9-10 hours a day, my father looks in on them.
They go batst mental when I get home, even if it's been only a ten minute visit to the corner shop.

[mw88]

It depends a lot on the individual dog and breed - It's not often I'm working in the office these days so the current one is probably left alone for 6-7 hours once a month. He's getting on a bit, so spends most of his time curled up alseep somewhere unless it's time for food.

We had a dog years ago that couldn't be left alone for 10 minutes, which was pretty standard for the breed. A breed that's remotely intelligent will usually have issues being left alone without destroying stuff (Working/Gun breeds)

[cmvtec]

My whippet is happy to be left alone for around 5 hours, but that's an absolute maximum for us, always after a decent walk and with the radio, lights and heating on where appropriate.

He seems to spend the time "rutting" my bed into a comfortable place for him, then sleeping on it.

[Zetec-S]

LordGrover said:

I don't think you can generalise like that; most dogs won't do well being left for more than an hour or two, but some will be fine all day. You can't even say one breed will be okay where another isn't, though some may be better disposed.

Our old lab could be left for 5-6 hours during the day with no problem, occasionally slightly longer if we were unexpectedly held up. But we built it up over time, when he was younger it was 3-4 hours at the most.

Our current Keeshond pup, no more than 2-3 hours at the moment. On the 1 day a week we're both in the office we get someone to pop in 3 times a day for a half hour play session. At some point we'll drop that to 2 sessions but only when he's a bit older/calmer.

[fat80b]

I think it depends on the dog. We have friends with a greyhound whippet thing and they say it can't be left for more than an hour - it does seem very needy.

We have a Jack-Chi with wonky ears and he is pretty happy in almost any situation. We leave him downstairs overnight and he is as happy as larry. I wfh and can go the whole day without seeing him. He obviously loves it when people return but seems just as happy to have the run of the place and find a soft warm spot to sleep in.

Longest we have left him in the daytime is probably 5 hrs or so, but I think he'd be OK doing 9-5 based on our experience so far.

[PositronicRay]

Generally 4 hrs, sometimes longer in the evening when they tend to settle and snooze more.

Every dog is different though.

[geeks]

4-5 max for our two. Nara is just fine and will just go and find somewhere to sleep, occasionally get up for a wander, wave a drink and then go back to sleep. Noodle on the other hand is not keen, we have to fit her with a bark collar (it's a citronella spray one) generally its switched off as she is trained on it but we occasionally switch it on, we had to resort to this as she would howl while we were gone and throw herself at the door. The bark collar stops all that behaviour, she has a spot she sits on the sofa awaiting our return everytime we leave her. She doesn't really settle that much but otherwise seems ok, very happy to see us when we return and after the initial 30 seconds of madness when we return she just goes and lays down so clearly doesnt bother her too much. She is one of the "smarter breeds" not sure if that makes any difference.

[ozzuk]

As others have said it can be very dog dependant. However, you'll likely find it impossible to get a rescue do, they normally have a max of 4 hours at a time. It is sad given how many need homes but they are trying to limit impact to dog.

[PositronicRay]

ozzuk said:

As others have said it can be very dog dependant. However, you'll likely find it impossible to get a rescue do, they normally have a max of 4 hours at a time. It is sad given how many need homes but they are trying to limit impact to dog.

You can understand some caution, its why some dogs end up there.

[djc206]

Ours aren’t really dogs they’re pugs so lazy little sods quite happy to sleep all day. They’re are fine being left alone for ~8 hours. That probably happens once or twice a year at most and normally our neighbours would come and let them out if we knew we weren’t going to be around for that long though. It’s a bit of a how long is a bit of string question, get a nervous or energetic dog and that number would be much lower. I think the fact that we have two and they keep each other company helps a bit.

[HTP99]

6-8 hours, 3-4 days per week dependent on what shifts my daughter is on, we've been doing this just over a year now since the wife's job changed, we were going to look into a dog walker but as I'm an early riser I thought I'd give getting up early a go, to give them a decent walk before work and set up a motion detecting camera to see how they were.

Well a year down the line they are fine, I had visions of them barking and howling all day but nope, they all settle down and sleep for the day and are fine until someone gets home.