How long do you leave your dogs at home?

[stargzng386]

I just had an offer on a house accepted and of course am now panicking a bit because it’s a huge life decision. Basically I am in a tiny townhouse and have to drive anywhere to do anything fun outside. With my new job I can work a shifted schedule and miss traffic so I started house shopping.

Currently I have a 15 minute commute and they have a midday dogwalker. I do typically currently work longer than 8 hours. I do normally drive and do a 2 mile walk with my dogs in the morning, I do less in the evenings. They typically go to the barn with me some evenings and get to do activities around town I try to take them with me lots of places.

I’ll be moving to an hour commute to be able to afford land. I found a place where you actually own river front land. The house is smaller but doable and the dogs will have a fenced in yard. The house is also a ranch, my one dog has disc problems and can’t do stairs so they will have access to the entire house versus just a small family room right now. My plan is to put a dog door in so they can be in the yard during the day by themselves and I won’t need a dog walker. The yard has a privacy fence so they shouldn’t be able to see any people or neighbors who are spaced pretty far anyways. Looking at just my schedule they will potentially be home alone for 10 1/2 hours max. I won’t be working late at the office I’d go home after 8 hours and sign in from home if I’m needed for extra hours. My boyfriend is normally home hours before me so daily it should be more like 7ish hours (but relationships aren’t always guaranteed to last). Generally when we’re gone they just sleep in the house but I am hoping that with access outside they’ll spend more time out there. In the mornings and evenings pretty much daily we’ll be at the river and have direct access to 10 acres along the river for walks.

Will they see the benefit of me being gone a bit longer but them having an awesome yard and river? Am I just overthinking this? My dogs are basically my kids. Does anyone have this setup where their dogs have access to a dog door and backyard alone during the day and the dogs love it?

[2tempe]

Just some random thoughts: Will you be worrying if dogs could go in and out all day? Are they diggers? I am a worrier about things like that - never leave them out unless I’m at home. What they love counts less than my sanity.
If you do something like this I would put good, solid locks on the gates. I would inspect the fence regularly. I would need valium, lol.
Regarding the river: Given all the rain in various parts of the country - are you at risk of flooding? Snakes or other critters accessing the yard? I live in Fla - all manner of things could come thru a doggie door.
Back in my working days I had a dog who spent close to 10 hours alone - with his cat. For much of his adult life. He was fine. I was lucky that in nice weather my neighbor would often come over and let him out, with their dog at around 3 pm when he got home. They would hang out in fenced back for a couple hours. I did walk him the nights that I didn’t go to barn. He went to barn with me. Took him hiking weekends, etc.

I went from a 15 minute commute to about 50 minutes. Loved the new property but HATED the drive, especially in the winter.

[Sswor]

Yes, I do. I have been living in my home with a dog door for 18 years and love it. In fact, I do not see how I could ever return to life without a dog door. I, too am gone for 8-10hrs at work and the dogs (recently now dog, singular) have access to the yard 24/7. It is huge piece of mind knowing that they have access to the yard when they need to potty, or to play, or to watch the backyard hens, or to sunbathe, lay in the shade, do whatever they like. Realistically, they just go out to potty and spend the rest of the day on the couch or playing in the living room.

I also have a 6’ privacy fence which is set 12" to the inside of an old chain link fence so the yard is effectively double fenced. I also lined the base of the fence with brick pavers which makes it dig proof. I have locks on my gates so no matter what, no one is getting access to the yard from the outside. On the off chance a utility company thinks they need to access the yard when no one is home, too bad/so sad, they’re not getting in. All it takes is one of these guys to forget to latch the gate, so locks it is. They can reschedule or call, I figure. It’s never been an issue.

My parents have also had this set up for years, which is where I got the idea but be aware–their dog got skunked in the yard once while they were gone all day and the dog subsequently came inside, rubbed her skunk stink all OVER every surface in the house trying to get it off and wooo boy. Yeah. It was bad. Lol.

They also had a raccoon enter the house through the dog door at one point and go into the basement. It was a bit of a trick to get it back out again. Adventures.

I have never had these issues. Knock on wood. In any case, neither scenario is bad enough to make me rethink the dog door. It works so well for me. My dogs would never tolerate a dog walker entering my home in my absence, nor could I realistically afford one, so the dog door has been a life saver for me, especially during horse shows when I could realistically be gone for a good 12hrs.

Congrats on becoming a home owner!

[stellaroo]

I have a dog door also and I have left my dogs home for days with my neighbor checking in and feeding them. I would be careful about the river. IMO that’s an accident waiting to happen if the dogs have access to it. I would fence it off.

Dogs deserve to be able to go potty when they need to. Mine are happy with the dog door. My little one loves to go out and lay in the sun.

[S1969]

I think that’s too long to leave dogs without access to outside, but no, I would never leave mine with access to my regular yard without being home. I am looking to start working again and will have similar issues so I am putting in a kennel off the back of my garage. The kennel will be fully fenced and have a shade top - nothing will be able to get in or out. Access to the garage will give the dogs appropriate temperature control.

I would consider trying to find a spot in your yard that you can convert to a kennel in some fashion. It would be much safer than leaving the dog with access to the yard where someone could open a gate, animals could get in/out, or that the dog could jump/climb out.

[Knubbsy]

Neighbors in our last suburb fenced off a chunk of their yard and their dogs could go in the house and out while they were gone for the day - I spent some time herding their snippy dachshund back to their house (my sheltie had a blast though, a little more exciting than sheep.) Depending on your area, I would also be concerned about coyotes jumping into the yard. There are dog doors that only open if the animal trying to open it has a certain transponder on their collar but I don’t know how reliable those are.

We leave our Sheltie crated at most 7-8 hours, but DH is 99% telework so that only comes up on weekends or when we both need to go in. She has gone 9 hours but I was concerned about accidents or UTI - plus her separation anxiety (she can open doors if properly motivated/stressed). When we had to work 11 hour office days, we got a dog walker. We tried for a 30 mn visit every 5 hours for piece of mind and to keep the dog sane.

[islgrl]

Mine is inside, no dog door, 8-9 hours a day. Every dog I have ever owned has had this schedule. They have always been fine.

[rockonxox]

@islgrl

Mine is inside, no dog door, 8-9 hours a day. Every dog I have ever owned has had this schedule. They have always been fine.

Same here. Both of mine do perfectly fine this way. Sometimes my room mate will let them out if he happens to be home, but my dogs have no issues with this situation. Yours are used to being let out during the day so it could be a difficult adjustment for them. Personally, I would not use a doggy door in my situation. Not because I don’t trust my dogs… but because I have heard too many horror stories of people’s dogs being stolen and one of mine I can see that situation happening to. I would be way too worried. I also live in the suburbs and close to other neighbors… if I was in a more remote location maybe it would be a more viable option for me (but I’d put up a camera and some kind of noise maker to scare off anyone who tried to get near my dogs.

Now, if I had smaller dogs who have smaller bladders I would definitely have someone come to let them out during the day.

[Sswor]

It certainly helps my confidence that my dogs, now dog, are not in the slightest bit friendly with strangers. Definitely the bark furiously/run away/random-bred mutt model. Not high on the potential dog thievery list. In fact rock bottom on said list. If I had friendly, purebred dogs, I would be less confident with the dog door/24/7 yard access.

[S1969]

@islgrl

Mine is inside, no dog door, 8-9 hours a day. Every dog I have ever owned has had this schedule. They have always been fine.

I agree that 8-9 hours can work…but the OP is saying it would be 10.5 hours unless the boyfriend gets home first. That is too long, in my opinion. And what happens if there is traffic or bad weather. 10.5 hours could easily turn into 11-11.5 hours in a winter storm. For that reason, I am putting in a kennel because I would be so much happier knowing that in the event of a storm, breakdown, hold up at work - my dogs will not be suffering, and I won’t be coming home to a mess.

[LauraKY]

10.5 shouldn’t be a problem, particularly if you have dogs that go into semi-hibernation mode when no one is home. Really, 10 to 10.5 hours about average for a working person to be away from home.

I wouldn’t use a doggie door either. I too have heard the horror stories…gate left open, dog stolen, doggie door used to break into the house, etc.

[stargzng386]

My dogs will never be left without access to the outside to go to the bathroom for that long, I never leave them more than 7 hours between potty breaks as a rule of thumb. The yard has a privacy fence and the neighbors are all very spaced out which is why I was going to do the dog door to the yard. My original plan was a dog run but this area is so secluded. They won’t have access to the river you have to go past the fenced in yard down a hill to the river. They can go with me off leash but never unsupervised. The house isn’t on a flood plain because of the hill so there shouldn’t be any water issues. The inspection is tomorrow morning so I’ll have more information then.

[Sugarwells]

Our hours vary, but for the most part the dogs are alone for over 8 hours. We have a very large secure backyard and a door that stays open for them. They are as happy as can be with this situation, and so are we.

I think it would be a great idea to set up a couple of cameras, one in the house and one that shows the backyard. They are cheap we bought ours for around $60 for both, no subscription fees, just need wifi. We can view he cameras from our phones, it activates with any movement and we get notifications. You can set it up to record but we use them to spy on the dogs, who are usually sleeping.

Hope all goes well and you have a nice new river front property. Your dogs will be just fine, get a dog door and allow them to bask in the sun or catch flies, or sleep on the couch like ours do most of the time.

[Equibrit]

My guys stay home with access to the fenced yard without event. They go in and out of the basement through a storm door with a a doggy door in it. I have a couple of Smartcams to check on them from my phone (free). They spend most of the time inside the house enjoying the A/C in the summertime. We do not have security problems; you have to seriously want to come to my house, as it’s up a rough mountain driveway that requires 4WD.

[tbchick84]

As someone who used to have neighbors with an “outside dog”, please consider the 24/7 outdoor access if your dogs like the bark and bark and bark. It won’t go over well with your neighbors. Your happy move might quickly go south. I would also worry about raccoons, opposums and other critters entering the house.

[Lizrd]

Sounds exciting! Sometimes I think we overthink it as diligent pet owners. Our standards are higher than most. In my opinion, having an opportunity to relieve themselves midday would be nice, particularly as they get older. And lets face it, hundreds of thousands of dogs are tethered up somewhere, without any human interaction, in the elements night and day. I think your dogs sound fortunate, happy and loved. Sometimes humans have to make human decisions based on OUR best interest, and dogs have to figure it out and be along for the ride. You’ve got this…

[Equibrit]

@tbchick84

I would also worry about raccoons, opposums and other critters entering the house.

I have used doggy doors for about 30 years. Never have I had a wild critter venture through one. One of my terriers dragged a groundhog in though!

[MsM]

I have a doggy door for my two small dogs - including a bad back dog. My house has a stockade fence around the backyard. Due to the configuration of my house, I had to put the doggy door through the wall. It opens into a 10’ X 10’ chain link run with stone dust footing. I also put patio blocks down before the stone dust around the inside perimeter so they cannot easily dig there (and possibly wiggle out - though that will only get them into the backyard!) I also had to build a doggie porch and ramp since the inside floor level was above outside ground level. They enjoy their perch!
I would encourage you to do the run if possible. Especially with a bad back dog, it limits running. Also it contains poop for easier picking up! And it greatly reduced the chances of anything else coming in that door.
I also limit my two to one room in the house since they never outgrew their trouble-finding tendencies.

[CanadianTrotter]

@tbchick84

As someone who used to have neighbors with an “outside dog”, please consider the 24/7 outdoor access if your dogs like the bark and bark and bark. It won’t go over well with your neighbors. Your happy move might quickly go south. I would also worry about raccoons, opposums and other critters entering the house.

Agree…totally unacceptable if neighbour’s are close. My neighbourhood just went through a big fiasco with a neighbour that left their dog home alone inside, all day almost every day. The dog was barking all day non-stop and someone called the by-law officer on them. The owner was pissed and started screaming at all the near by neighbour’s because they were on a three day vacation at the time and one of them had to come home. This had been going on for over a year, I live far enough away that I could barely hear the dog barking but the closer neighbour’s had enough. He ended up getting rid of the poor dog.

When I had dogs I was never in a position to leave my dogs at home alone for more than a few hours. If I ever were I believe I would have had a fully enclosed dog run with a large shelter with a dog door.

[Sswor]

OP’s dog sounds anything but neglected. More like doted on. I’d be quite surprised if it were a candidate to be an all day barker.

Considering, dogs don’t have to have access to the yard all day to be nuisance barkers. I had a neighbor who’s dog was an all day barker. It was a little silky terrier-type who sat in their front window and barked all day. She had a 3 bark cycle. Woofwoofwoof…woofwoofwoof…etc. all day. The entire neighborhood could hear her barking in that front window. This is a possible issue with any dog who is bored, inside or outside.