How long is too long to leave a dog/dogs alone at home

[Hiijinx]

I'd always heard that 4 hours was a recommended max time although we try to limit it to 2 hours at the very most.

Think it depends on the dog/how many etc.

 

[Gabbatek]

I dont like to leave my dog alone at all, he pretty much goes everywhere with me and keeps my anxiety in check. But i can leave him for 4 hours. i have a wifi cam that i can look on the iphone to make sure he is okay.

if i had the room for a companion for him then i'd feel better leaving longer.

 

[darkgen]

Simple - We take ours on holiday with us.
If a place doesn't take dogs, we go somewhere else, which can get awkward as many will accept one or two, but it's far rarer to find one that will cope with three. If they don't specify, then neither do we!

Understood. They're family, integral part of the family; why would they not come with you. Hmm. Since the primary trip in the year would be to the US (wife is American) I would then start feeling pangs of guilt putting a pet through those flights. Gracious me; these days it takes its toll putting my wife and I through those flights!

 

[Street]

Since the primary trip in the year would be to the US (wife is American) I would then start feeling pangs of guilt putting a pet through those flights.

We're heading to Cham for a couple weeks next summer and looked at flying over with the dog, it seemed like a total nightmare so we gave up on that idea pretty quickly. Luckily he's fine in the car so we'll drive down over a couple days.

 

[FurryLemon]

I'd love a dog, but I'm out of the house for over 10hrs a day sometimes 12+. It wouldn't be fair. And my wife wouldn't have the time either having to look after our child when back from work.

Not sure how people with full time jobs have dogs It's the one thing missing from my life - despite living in the country with a big garden, it's just not feasible. This makes me sad.

Get 2. Greyhounds are notoriously lazy, so they'd get by on a couple short walks a day. You'd also do your bit for charity by taking in a couple of old race dogs...

 

[hubblefrog]

Usually, we live our dogs maximum of 3 hours and seems they are still fine.

 

[BigT]

I get uncomfortable leaving ours for more than four hours. My wife is at home most of the time so he isn't used to being on his own.

 

[Dynix]

I don't like leaving ours for more than 3-4 hours but have left him for 6 hours on occasion when having longer flying lessons. Our kitchen is quite large so he's got plenty of room and we have a camera in there so can check up on him. Always leave him treats / kong to keep him busy and 'relaxation' biscuits. We've often asked the neighbour just to pop in if we knew we were going to be longer.

 

[ttaskmaster]

Understood. They're family, integral part of the family; why would they not come with you. Hmm. Since the primary trip in the year would be to the US (wife is American) I would then start feeling pangs of guilt putting a pet through those flights. Gracious me; these days it takes its toll putting my wife and I through those flights!

Yeah, we don't fly overseas at all. Besides anything else, it's all full of foreigners!!

 

[Mark1989]

Ours is 9 years old, we both work but I'm part time atm so am home allot soon going back full time however when we did both work full time the Mrs would go home every day for dinner to let him out and play abit, however he is just lazy most of time anyway but was maybe 5hrs at a time. We do have a cat so he was ever truly alone and they play and get on fine.

He has full run of the house so he is never just stuck in a room, I feel that helps dogs massively if you have to be out for awhile