I was 12 when we got our first family dog. I and my younger brother would be in school, my mum worked in a school and my dad was a self employed driving instructor. My mum, my brother and I would be out from about 8am weekday mornings until 4pm in the afternoons and he'd have my dad coming in and out a couple of times during the day so he didn't really get left for long.

I would NEVER get a dog walker unless it was someone I knew had a reference, who had experience and basically who I trusted. Some dogs are ok no matter how long they're left alone in the house for, within reason. Some other dogs, like my own, get upset after a while and starts to show signs that its stressed about being left alone for so long. My dog has twice gnawed his back and the base of his tail when we have stayed at my uncle's place for the weekend. My older brother was looking after him but even with him there, he still got stressed out about it. Our neighbour used to hear him barking a lot when we'd been out for the day and only my dad had popped back for his lunch or just between lessons during the day.

It all depends on the dog and how many times its left for a long period of time, what distractions it has to entertain itself, if it has somewhere to go to the loo if it needs to and knows where it can and can't go to the loo. Seperation anxiety is very high in dogs so its difficult to make sure your dogs ok while you're out for a while.

Either don't own a dog if you're not going to be in or have anyone else going to be in the house to take the dog out for a walk during the day, as everyone knows, the average walks a day for a dog is 3; morning, noon and night. Train your dog for when its on its own, give it toys or a t-shirt that smells like you for it to relax with. Have the radio or TV on so its like someones in anyway. Or take the dog with you if you can, but don't then leave it in your car!!!