I know many people have to work - just wondered what the average time people left their doggies alone at home?

The longest I have left Rocky so far is 3 hours but am planning to go back to work in the near future preferrably 2 full days per week so will have to build up the time he is at home alone.

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Proud owner of Rocky the Yorkie, born July 2008, who came to live with us at 8 weeks old

I work 3 full days a week - and mine are fine - I built it up gradually and now on the day's I'm home they ignore me most of the day and sleep on the sofa, then go hyper at 4pm when everyone would be arriving home from school/work etc and are very active in the evenings, we play games and practice agility in the garden then go for a really long walk before settling down for a snuggle on the sofa before bed.
They are really happy and don't bark or whine when we're gone as I've asked the neighbours.

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Zipper and Lilly - my two little scruffy mutts
A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.

we left ours for 4 hrs longest i think....as far as i remeber lol
We came back to a poo on the floor but it wasnt that tragic haha
Mine dont bark at all when we leave now...they lay down in their crate or their blanket. They do bark when left on their own without the company of the other dog....but that will be sorted soon too (i hope )

The longest I left Mia was yesterday afternoon when I went to the theatre to watch Dirty Dancing, I had anticipated that she would be alone for 5 hours but the show was nearly 3 hours (was told 2.5 hours) and in the end she was alone for nearly 7!!!!! I was making a mad dash through the west end and underground to get home ASAP and picturing pee and poo on the floor and when I got through the door she jumped into my arms and there was not a poo or pee in sight. Before yesterday the longest I have left her was 5 hours.

Mia is 5 months and when we first got her I thought we would never be able to leave her alone because she would howl the house down if left in the crate with the door closed. But after many weeks of trying to get her to trust us and us trusting her we began to leave her with the crate door open and leave her in the living room. So far (touch wood) we have not come back to a wrecked house and if we come through the back and sneek a peek through the back door she is always sleeping on the sofa curled up quite content

When I just had one, I arranged my work around her so that she was never left for more than 4 hours. Now we have three, and also live about an hour away from the nearest 'proper' shops/town, they do get left for longer, maybe up to 6 hours, but that is only very occasionally.

If we take one to a show and not the others, then we are out for a long day and I get someone to come in a few times and let the dogs out for a bit and have a play with them, but I would still never leave one alone for longer than 4 hours.

Oooohhhh spooky!! I was literally opening up this page to ask exactly the same question!

We are thinking about getting a dog, but I work at a school, so during term-time would be out of the house from 8.30 until 2.00 every day. If anyone else is in this situation, what did they do when their dog was a puppy. I am sure a dog would be fine when it was older leaving for this long, but not sure about a puppy.

I'm just waiting for a local dog walking company to phone me back to see how much they charge to come and let the dog out and play with it for a little while, but I would much rather do it myself!

So basically the question is, what did all you workers do with your puppy whilst you were at work?

Many thanks.

I used to pop home at lunch time, for 30 mins and go for a 10 minute walk, have a 10 minute play and a 10 minute snuggle on the sofa to settle them before I went back for the afternoon.

And i had the crate set up opening into a play pen so there was no chance of them getting into any trouble - now they have the conservatory and garden to chill out in.

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Zipper and Lilly - my two little scruffy mutts
A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.

My problem is I don't get a lunch hour, I work straight through from 8.30am until 2.00pm.

I'm sure not everyone would agree with me - but I think it depends on the dog, mine were left from 8 - 12.30 then from 1-3.30. With the play pen set up with newspaper in the corner for the toilet a stuffed and frozen kong or dry food in a treat ball and their crate to sleep in and they never seemed stressed and never got into any trouble. If your puppy seems anxious at all then I would probably get a puppy walker in.
This was from about 18 weeks old as I made sure they had company all the time at first for toilet training etc then gradually increased the time they were left - I took time off work, then the kids were home for school hols and after that persuaded friends etc to take turns.

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Zipper and Lilly - my two little scruffy mutts
A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.

mine generally only get left one day a week because of shifts .... then i pop home lunch time for half an hour.

i have left then for about 7 hours max and they were fine - just slept on sofa :-)