depends ours are left from anything from 5 mins at a time to 8-9 hours. with so many people in the house its vary rare that no one is in for such a long period of time but it does happen. My dogs also do not have a regular pattern as many others do, it has done them no harm and i personally feel its better for them so as when some strange occurace does arise they are not fazed by it, then again i know many people disagree and feel a dog needs a daily routine. i think it depends on both you and your dogs.

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3-4hours maximum at a time. I think up to 5 hours is ok, but no more.

i left my dog alone for the first time yesterday, i popped round the girlfriends for 2 hrs just becauase i figured he needs to get used to being alone sometimes, he comes to work with me everyday so he doesn't get left very often. he's a 17 week old estrela, i asked my neighbours to listen out for him in case he was getting stressed and barking. not a jot not even a whimper, i reckon he liked the break from me.

This thread has been really useful.

I am thinking about getting a dog sometime next year after our house is built. Both me and my OH work full time. However we will come home for lunch most days if not all. This means a dog will be left from 8.45 til about 1pm and then from 2pm til about 4.30pm. My mum is a delivery driver and Im sure would be fine to pop into ours to see the dog mid morning. We feel that we could offer a good home for a dog. We will be home all weekend with the dog and will happily take it with us to the beach. I would love to take the dog to training classes in the evenings.

Does anyone know which particular breeds would be best to be left for this time? We have considered whippets and pugs so far, both of which we have researched and have found they usually cope fine being left for this time.

Mine are left 4-5 hours max a couple of times a week due to me and Oh working different hours. They have been left for longer and have become destructive and dragged things off the counter and started to chew things.

Whippets and pugs are both gorgeous!!
I go by the 4hr rule. Any longer then this and I take them round to a friends place. Although TBH they've only been left longer then 2hrs a few times in their life. I feel too guilty even though Im sure they would cope with being left for way longer then this.

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I agree totally that "it depends". Depends on the individual dog, the individual owner, the overal situation, the "quality" of time spent with the dog, etc etc.

Certainly there are many dogs that just can't cope with being alone - whether that's genuine separation anxiety, or just that they get bored after the first hour.

But on the flip side, there are plenty of dogs left for 8 hours a day by full time worker owners with no problems at all. Our first bichon was left a school length day (about 830-4) with no problems whatsoever. No noise, no houstraining accidents, no destructive behaviour.... A number of my colleagues leave their dogs a working day - most put down newspaper by the back door in case the dogs need to wee.

As someone else mentioned, quality of time can be far more important than quantity. I've known a number of people whose dogs were rarely ever left alone - but then the dog was virtually ignored all day (except when being told off), rarely walked or played with, never trained etc.

Personally I think the "4 hour rule" is nothing more than an arbitury figure that rules out a lot of good homes.

There are supposedly an estimated 100,000 dogs in UK rescue at any one time (not inc private rehomes / sales), with maybe 10,000 pts every year. Outright refusing to consider working people who can otherwise offer an excellent home disgusts me if I'm honest.

Sure, in a perfect world every dog owner would be rich enough to not need to work, own their own large home in the country with enormous garden, have no other pets or young kids, be highly dog experienced..... but I don't think the dogs on death row care too much about "the perfect home".

On that note, one of my colleagues worked at one of the big rescues for some years - one of those with the "4 hour rule" in place. She pointed out that the dogs were left from about 4pm to 8am the following day (16 hours), and even when staff were in the dogs spent most of the day alone in a kennel. But prospective owners that dared to work for a living effectively got the finger. Hypocritical perhaps?

i usually leave mines for upto 5 hours but nothing more than that but we dont leave them everyday as i work from home so im home nearly all the time

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