Single Dog Owners

[tigerlily46514]

lol, nope, it's not a match-making thread! I just have been wondering about this:

Anyone here a single-person who owns a dog,
and lives alone, and works outside the home?
or does anyone here know of one?
(it's one thing, if you are single, but live with a roomate, or your mom, or someone who will let the dog out while you work, i am talking about "living alone" dog owners).

btw---for safety's sake, of course, do not reveal where exactly you live, nor your full name, etc, or you can just say " i know a person who does such and such" for safety's sake.

How many hours do you work in a row?

Can you go home for lunch or something?


How does the person manage letting the dog out if they work over 8 hours or even 12 hour shifts?
What all arrangements have you heard of, or do you have ideas on this?
Do you have a pal who comes over to let dog out?
Does your dog have a doggie door while you are gone?
Does your neighbor help you out and has key and lets dog out?
Do you drop off dog to doggie daycare?
Do you hire a dog walked to come by while you are gone and give her a key?


HOW IS IT DONE BY THE DOG OWNERS WHO LIVE ALONE AND WORK OUTSIDE THE HOME?

 

[tigerlily46514]

"DOG SHARING"

the other day, i saw a tv show, about dogs,
and these two neighbor families,
one an older couple,
and
one was a family full of children,
who "shared" a dog!!

when the family went to work, and the kids were in school,
the older couple took the dog for the entire day,
and then,
in the evenings,
when the family returned, the dog spent evenings and night at the family's home.


was kind of cute, really. Everyone involved seemed happy,
as the older couple wanted a dog, but couldn't keep it busy enough/give it enough exercise, and didn't want full responsibility i guess,
and the family did not want their dog home alone all day long.

this probably worked out great for vacation times, too, i'd think.



EDIT: the dog in this case was chubby, and both homes blamed the OTHER home for overfeeding the dog though, i forgot that part...

 

[tigerlily46514]

A movie i watched once,
the couple in the movie had split up,
and they shared the dog, with one person having the dog on weekdays,
and the other person taking dog on weekends.

i guess they could do every-other week, too, the way some ppl do with children....

not sure i'd like that, but, it made my scalp slide back to think about it all, and even though it was just a fictional couple on a movie... i wondered if there might really be ex-couples who are sharing "custody" of the dog!

 

[Mr-Remington]

I have a friend that works from 5:30am-7:00pm 7 days a week.(She owns a business.) And she had poodle that she rescued. This was the worse idea, that poor dog never saw her. And if the poor dog peed or pooped in the house she would hit her. She started to hate her, and eventually she gave the dog to a family friend. She blamed the dog for being 'Retard'

I saw that story about sharing the dog, and I thought it was clever, for two families that didn't want full responsibility of a dog. But I wouldn't want to share my dog, I'm very picky about how my dog is raised, and how he is allowed to act. I'm selfish when it comes to him.

 

[bekah1001]

These are the things that Im worried about when Im done school. And Brody moves from my dads house to my moms house every week with me.

 

[bekah1001]

I have a friend that works from 5:30am-7:00pm 7 days a week.(She owns a business.) And she had poodle that she rescued. This was the worse idea, that poor dog never saw her. And if the poor dog peed or pooped in the house she would hit her. She started to hate her, and eventually she gave the dog to a family friend. She blamed the dog for being 'Retard'

I saw that story about sharing the dog, and I thought it was clever, for two families that didn't want full responsibility of a dog. But I wouldn't want to share my dog, I'm very picky about how my dog is raised, and how he is allowed to act. I'm selfish when it comes to him.

Poor dog

 

[jackienmutts]

I'm single and have two dogs , and work - and they have a doggie door. I also was a full-time petsitter for about 8 yrs (and might be getting into that more again) - and had several clients who worked all week, and I used to walk their dogs mid-day for the very purpose of the dogs getting out (no doggie door) to potty and getting exercise mid-day. I have one customer now who is a nurse who works 3 - 12hr shifts/wk, and her husband also works long hours - I walk her dog twice on the longest day, and once on two of the other days -- and she also has a doggie door.

I'm too "selfish" (and attached) too share a dog too - but for those who work really long hours (or whatever the situation might be) that sounds like a great plan if you can work out all the details (so the dog doesn't get too chubby etc .. such as vet responsibilites, etc - altho I guess you would split those). I had a friend who's dog became best friends with the dog next door. The man was retired, his wife was very ill and house-bound, and his dog had become his life (outside of the house and his wife, and he did lots of caregiving - his dog was his outlet). He started taking his dog to the park every day and meeting up with a group who also took their dogs to the park each day. One day he took my friend's dog with him and his dog, and they had a blast. He soon started going over and getting her, then they'd no longer just go to the park, but she'd stay most of the day at his house so the dogs could play and hang out together - so it was like he had two dogs for a good part of the day - and he'd return her before my friend got home from work, except for days when he had lots of errands, docs appts, etc. Great for my friend's dog!!

Oh, Mr-Remingtonl, that story made me so sad. So glad that little poodle is with someone else now.

 

[648117]

I know someone who is single and works, she has a young lab cross and he spends the day in the backyard with his kennel (he was chained up for a while because he kept escaping, but now he's not), I think he gets pretty lonely and bored. She shouldn't have gotten him

And I know of another person who pretty much never walks her dog (its a small dog), the lady down the street does (with her own dog) and then keeps him for a couple of hours till his owner finishes work (I think she started walking the dog because she got sick of the barking).

Also, my nana used to walk my aunts dog during the day (when she only had one dog and worked), nana would just take the dog out for a hour-long walk in the middle of the day and then take it home (the dog then got walked again in the evening - it was a lab).

When I was a kid, before I was allowed a dog, me and my friend would walk an old ladies dogs (otherwise they wouldn't have gotten any walks) after school, they were a pitbull and a rottie. Looking back I can't believe my mum let us do that on our own (especially since the pitbull would sometimes bite (but not hard) and had been previously owned by some rather rough people and had some issues), I was at primary school at the time but I can't remember exactly how old I was (maybe 10?).

 

[southerngirl]

I don't live alone I live with parents and brothers, but no one lets Missy out during the school year to go potty. I leave for school at 6:40(I think) and get home at 2:30ish. Right when I get up I take Missy to the bathroom than when I leave for school I put her in my bedroom were she stays until I get home. She has to be put up cause she searches for beds to get in so everyone gets mad at me. Right when I get home I let her out to potty. My mom comes home for lunch break and says she doesn't have enough time to(All she has to do is open the door and let them out than let them back in after they finish using it. She doesn't even have to watch them so it kinda frustrates me.). My brother is usually home till three but refuses to let her out, Yet he lets Chase out. So Missy holds it for about 8hrs. I feel bad about it but she has never had an accident in the house because of it.

 

[Dogster]

I saw that dog-sharing story before. Seems like a good idea for people who really don't have time to own a dog full-time, but I wouldn't do that. I'm too selfish, LOL I want a dog all to myself.

Shivon doesn't go out from 9am to 3: 30 pm (when I come home from school) She never had an accident, she just sleeps on the couch all day

 

[GEORGE'SDAD]

I am married and my brother lives with us, but all of our dogs are housebroken and doggie door trained (THANKS MAX!) so they stay out all day. we have a 1/3 acre back yard that they run and play in all day, and nap on the furniture while all of us are at work. the only problem is, george is big enough to get things off the counters so it's hard to "puppy proof" the house. but the other two are completely content wrestling, and then napping all day long!!!

 

[tigerlily46514]

George, i will post link on your page, on how to teach George to leave things on your counters alone, it's not that hard to teach. I had to do same thing, too, even though my dog can't SEE on the counters, like most medium size dogs, he sure can stand up and see! rofl. so check your page for a link to short, quickie video, GeorgeDad, or post a thread about George eating stuff off of your counters. Most any problem a person has can easily become a thread, whatever problem you have,----------someone else has had it, too,
and there are always ways to make it better!


so far, i am not seeing any good stories about a single person in an apt.
See, apts can not have doggie doors, usually. A few on ground floor could, if their door led to a fenced in area and neighborhood was safe enough that no one would go into the ground floor apt,
and i suppose some apts with big enough decks could have doggie door if the owner was certain the dog would not leap off of the deck,
but, so far,
it seems a single working person with a dog
either has to live in a home with fenced yard + doggie door,
or
get a dog walker, that you can trust with a key to your home and trust with your dog..

seems like...

 

[tigerlily46514]

Interesting about Shivon and Missy being home alone all day and doing okay by themselves, for 8.5 hours to 6.5 hours home alone.............

..........guess it CAN be done.

 

[Dogster]

Well, even if I'm at home, Shivon still sleeps a lot. it's the whippet in her

How long do you leave Buddy at home, Tigerlily????

 

[GEORGE'SDAD]

Oh yeah, before we had thd doggie door, Max would spend 8+ hours in his kennel during workdays and never had an accident. He would just bolt straight for the door and wait for us to let him out. The trick is to get them to potty before you leave them alone.

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"How long do you leave Buddy at home, Tigerlily????'//


buddy is rarely home alone, almost never happens, usually, Buddy goes with us wherever we go,
and when Buddy is home alone, he is fine, not destructive,
but if we will be gone more than 8 hours, usually we have friend or relative come by and let him out or we leave doggie door open.
I think longest he's ever been home alone without a break is usually not more than 8 hours.

buddy can easily hold his urine, ...... we have to wake HIM up to make him go out and pee in the morning , cuz it's been over 8 hours since he peed last night----not him waking us up .............it's not urine i worry about so much, as once he was home alone for 12 hours, no accidents,
as much as i'd worry about mental sanity for my particular dog...
My dog can do ONE (1) boring day, just fine, almost no problem at all.

On second boring day in a row, i can spot some weird behaviors in him, like he starts killing toys, (rips them up or removes stuffing---my dog ONLY does this if he is bored)
and on 3rd boring day in a row, my dog is now becoming certifiably insane....killing LOTS of toys, doing laps, whining, antsy, can NOT pay attention, hyper, barkier, spazzy, his dog-aggression escalates, he has trouble focusing on anything very well, and Buddy is just "not himself"....

he's never ever had 4 boring days in a row, and i shudder to picture what THAT would look like...


If Buddy WAS home alone for 40+ hours per week,
he'd need SUPER EXCITING, EXHAUSTING evenings to keep him sane....

 

[tigerlily46514]

i think,
if i lived alone, in an apt*** with no doggie door,
or if my partner/roomate/neighbors, etc, all worked same hours as i did,

i think my dog would go nutz...unless i found reliable dog walker who knew how to walk a dog-aggressive dog.

and i'd definitively have to spend the bulk of each evening trying to wear out my dog!


***or dorm room, for all you young ppl talking about getting border collies...

 

[southerngirl]

Missy is a hyper dog but she is able to be home for 8hrs. without anyone there. When I do get home she goes nuts, shes making all of her strange noises(I really need to record this so ya'll can hear.) I'll play with her in the back yard for a bit after I get home than do homework(I procrastinate so I have to do homework after I get home other words it'll be done last minute. sometimes I have to take her on a walk before homework cause she won't stop bugging me. As long as she get her playtime, walk and training session she is fine.

 

[GEORGE'SDAD]

Max used to have really bad seperation anxiety too. That's part of the reason we kenneled him during the day as well. But now we can leave Max and George out for hours at a time, and since they have the doggie door, I don't have to worry about accidents

 

[tigerlily46514]

there is a difference between dogs who have separation anxiety, imo,
and
dogs who can not tolerate boredom/who go nutz if they have to live through more than one or two boring days in a row.


My dog can't tolerate boredom, and will go nutz, even if we ARE home, if he gets bored enough.

My dog could be home alone, and be content, if he had enough excitement/exercise that day, or the night before.