How do you guys work and have a dog?
 

Hey guys, how do you work for 8-9 hrs 4-5 days a week and still manage to have a dog?


A family member passed away and I want to improve my quality of life more... I am thinking of either a part time or full time job, live in an apartment but not have to deal with dog walkers... I don't trust random people with my pets or my things or my home enough to give them a key or leave them alone with it. Asides vets.


Anyway to make sure fido is happy and able to poop and piss, while keeping my apartment floors clean, and not have to worry?

When we first got Max we both worked long hours every day. We had talked for a few years about getting a dog but did not want to leave him/her home alone all day. Toni always wanted a yorkie and then one day her boss told her if she got a yorkie she could bring it to work every day. She was so happy she cried. And so Max came along. Everything was great for about 3 months until the landlord of the business complex sent out a memo saying that dogs were not allowed in the building. It didn't even have anything to do with Max. Somebody else in the complex was bringing in some big dog that was pooping all over the place. There went the perfect situation. It broke our hearts to leave him home every day so we brainstormed and came up with an idea so that we would not have to leave him alone all day. Get another yorkie! Off we we went and got his sister from the next litter and after some more potty training we are able to leave them together all day. They are still sooooo happy to see us come home every day but they definitely keep each other company. We have a Nest cam to watch them and they play with each other, fight with each but mostly nap with each other. We limited their access to the family room and kitchen with gates and make sure their pee pads are there (although Max wants to mark the furniture whenever he can!). A 2nd furbaby may not be an option for everyone but for us it was the perfect solution.

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I have had dogs for years and worked a full time job. 8 to 4. I house broke them to potty outdoors only. I walked them at 7:30am then left for work, home at 4:15 walked again. They must be on a schedule, feed same time every morning and night, walked same time everyday, snow, sleet, rain, they must be walked unless, they are pad trained. For many years I had one dog until I got hooked on yorkies, then I had a pack of 3. Most dogs sleep all day.You can work and own a dog.

You would have a few options. Training to use a pad or inside grass patch, meet with some people to see if you like one of them to come over to walk and potty, come home at your lunch break or find doggy day care. I personally do not think a dog can be really comfortable to hold it for 9 hours. You could end up with potty accidents and boredom issues.

I might have to pad train her. Makes sense.

grass patch? you can grow grass indoors?

Duchess is pad trained plus she still goes outside. I pad trained her because some times I don't come home straight from work and I wanted her to have a safe place in the house to relieve herself. It would seem cruel to me to have her hold it for long periods of time.


You can also setup a webcam to monitor her to see how she is doing and then you can make corrections as needed. Fortunately for me, Duchess just went to sleep after I left for work. Webcam was a big help, it gave me some piece of mind knowing that she didn't have separation anxiety and that she was okay alone. I use to leave the TV on but she really didn't care. Now I have a cat and they tend to keep each other company while I'm at work.

It’s fake or sod depending on which you get.

This sounds like a good idea. thank you.

I might get some.

Sometimes it takes them a lot to train them to use those too. Callie refused when I tried. My dad even went and cut a large piece of grass one time when we had a hurricane coming in and put it in the gurage but that didn’t work for her either. She will only go outside.

We have two precious boys, Zeus and Perseus. Perseus came along because we felt guilty leaving Zeus home alone. My husband and I both work, and our teenager started 12th grade this year. They are home for about 5-6 hours alone on typical days, and, at worst, we will be in and out during school; so they are home alone longer. Our son is in band and we attend his events. They both potty on a washable pad. (They will go outside if they need to.) The way I look at it is this: If I never go to Ireland, I'm not going to miss Ireland. My dogs don't miss what they don't know. It is not safe to be outside where I live for them: Hawks, owls, rabbits twice their size, armadillos, raccoons, opossums, snakes (including poisonous), and the dreaded ticks. We also do not give our boys flea protection pills, because they both have severe sensitive stomachs. We simply feel they are safer inside, and they are both happy boys. Of course, we feel guilty for leaving them and wish we could be with them all the time; however, I would never want to lose that sweet, unconditional, constant love that we receive from them because we work. They are definitely worth it. The only thing I would add to my long, drawn-out post is that we do not ever leave our boys to go on vacation. If they can't go, we don't go. If we go home to visit family, if the boys weren't welcome, we wouldn't go. They are our family, and they are the best kind of family -- never judge you, always appreciate you, always happy to see you, want and need you, don't talk back to you, and are the best, sweetest companion a human could ever have.

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I am so blessed! Cali goes to work with me every day. Guess that is a perk of being self employed. In fact she kin d of runs the place I think!

I work full-time and am lucky enough to have an hour for lunch and some flexibility on arrival and departure times. I go home every day, rain/snow or shine and walk Fabian at lunchtime. If I had the luxury, I might get a dog walker once or twice a week.

He stays in a Richell pen (best purchase ever!) when we're not home and overnight, as he likes to explore and gnaw things if bored and unattended. He has a pee pad in there, but almost always holds it 'til we take him outside. It's taken forever to train him, because "go outside, except when you can't hold it or we're not home or it's the middle of the night, then go on your pad" is too complex.

I strongly agree with the other posters about the importance of routines.

We just make it work. I just started a new job where I'm in an office 8-4 and it's about an 18 min drive each way, so unfortunately, they are currently alone for nearly 9 hours 3 days a week. Tues and Thurs are my slower days and I can work from home most of the day.

Dogs adapt super easily. Jackson and Lola were used to no more than 5-6 hours being left alone with my old schedule but they don't seem worse for the wear. I watch them on the camera and they just rotate between sleeping all day and looking out the window.

I always immediately rush home though. I don't ever stop anywhere etc because I know the dogs need to get out. I also don't really have much of a social life in other regards sooo all my spare time is spent with the dogs. They pretty much get every weekend and every single evening - which is spent walking, swimming, hiking, etc. They're both super active pups.

It's not ideal but people have to work. I need money to pay for all the crap I buy them LOL. I'd love a dog in the future to know how to use pads but I hate the confusion that comes along with it sometimes - and I travel with my 2 a lot and need them to be 100% potty trained and not have accidents, so that's my only hesitation with pads.

But for a younger dog, 8-9 hours is way too long, and if I had a new puppy, I'd have a dog walker. Mine wouldn't take well to randoms coming in the house and taking them out unfortunately. I can hardly get my mom and step-dad to take them out because they choose to stay in my room until I get home lol.

That is how my 2 are. Even if I encourage him to go somewhere else, he would rather hold it.

During one Hurricane years ago, he willingly chose to hold it for like 13 hours before wanting to go outside lol.

It’s probably the same hurricane I had to leash Callie up and take her potty. It was rough. Thank gosh I only had her at the time.

Working… I did the best I could with my three dogs. I kept them in the kitchen with baby gates so they would have more room to move around. We had three dog beds and pee pads. It can be done as long as there is lots of quality time when you get home.

I am using the past tense since I just retired and now can hang out more with the pups.

get 2!

I worked full time 8-9 hours but with a 20 min commute when I trained both my yorkies as puppies . I would come home at lunch to let him/her out. I tried puppy pads , the faux grass and attempted litter box training but crate training to outdoors always worked best for both Troy and Emma . I joke that Troy trained me bc I didn’t know what I was doing .

Emma is trained to go outside, yet if there’s snow and no where for her to go she will use a pad if I have some. I prefer outdoors so your floors are safe , House doesn’t start smelling “like dog” and it allows both of us to get some fresh air as I walk a bit at each potty break .

I’m fortunate now where I work from home so Emma has more human face time but it is certainly possible to have a dog and work full time .

LOL, I want to say maybe hurricane Irene?

I had no idea how I managed to go to work when I first got Scottie. I was a mess. Had to watch him on the dog camera all day at work to make sure he was okay. And then, I started brain storming on how I could find a job that pays the same that allows me to work from home (haha..no solution yet!).

Then I got Casie the trouble maker. Because there's two of them at home, I feel better. I still watched them at first on the dog camera. But I know all they do is sleep while I'm at work. They're super chill. And super bored. But they have each other, so at least I know they don't feel 'lonely'.

As for the grass turf that someone mentioned, I have one! It's called the Porch Potty. You can see Scottie and Casie use it on my balcony here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMC1txtB...ttie.and.casie

For a less expensive option, I found a really cool DIY article to make your own (I would have totally wanted to do this, but I don't have the luxury of space to make anything at home): https://imgur.com/a/KAT5F