Up until now the max murphy has been left is 2 and a half hours in one go. If I am going to be out longer than that he has a pet lady come in and spend half an hour with him. Tomorrow however I am going to be out all day from 9.20 till 15.45 and so pet lady is coming at 11 for half an hour and 2pm for half an hour. This is just a one off but I'm really worried about leaving him for that long overall
Re: Worried about leaving murphy We had to do something similar with Riley when he was young, the neighbours came in at similar intervals. He was fine and I'm sure murphy will be too
Re: Worried about leaving murphy dont worry he will be fine,.....i have left jasper with walkers coming twice a day, he was fine i was worried sick and had no need to be
Re: Worried about leaving murphy I think that your plan sounds really good and that he'll be totally fine
Re: Worried about leaving murphy Absolutely. You've made sure he is being looked after at appropriate intervals - he'll be fine.
Re: Worried about leaving murphy I had to do very similar on quite a few days, at one point 3 days a week, and will have to again in the future - i was worried about it, but I think he is fine. Although I prefer him to go to day care, that's not always possible as the spaces are limited and I can't always get him in. Now Charlie is a bit older and can go longer without going out, if I have to leave him, I have 1 hr puppy care visits every 3 hours but I think it would be fine to leave him a bit longer. I leave at 6am, and he has visits at 9am, 1pm, 4pm and I get back at about 6pm. I'm wondering, when he is grown, whether he could just go out with the dog walker for 90mins mid morning and 90 mins mid afternoon. I hope so, anyway. I also have a secure place in the garden (it's really secure with concrete at the bottom of the fence etc.) and on nice days I have wondered whether he would be happier there for a couple of hours between visits rather than inside - but I worry he might get scared by a killer pigeon or something, so I've never left him outside. Does anyone leave their dog in the garden when they go out ? I suppose dogs getting stolen would be a huge worry.
Re: Worried about leaving murphy I would worry too much about Riley getting stolen to leave him outside unless he was in a very secure kennel but then we have seen spates of dog thefts in our area at various times. The timings sound ok to me. My work varies and occasionally I have to head out for the whole day. I try not to leave Riley more than 4 hours and if I can't get a friend to look after him I get a dog walker in around 11 and OH comes home from work as early as possible around 4.
Re: Worried about leaving murphy If Obi is at home (i.e. not at day care) he is inside the house. I worry about dog theft too. Plus I don't want him to run up and down the fence all day, barking at people....(which he does not do - and I don't want him to learn to do it either). He is at day care Monday to Wednesday. On Thursdays and Fridays he is at home alone from 8.45am to 5.15pm. He is fine with that regime. In fact he kind of needs the rest after 3 solid days of day care!! He also has a daily 40 min walk in the morning, obedience on Thurs night, dog park and/or long walks on each weekend day and Flyball lessons on Sunday.
Re: Worried about leaving murphy He was fine! Thank goodness, to be honest I don't know what could have happened that would have been bad apart from I was worried I was going to get in and he was going to be traumatised about being left but he wasn't . I worry a lot about dog thefts as just recently near us a lady got followed walking her pure breed collie by a man in a van to see where she lived. It's really annoying because Murphy is our first dog and I had been really excitedly about taking him out and about to meet people etc but now I am scared to take him on my own! Iv been thinking what I could say he is crossed with if any dodgy looking person asked but he looks too labby I think. It makes me angry that in this day and age people can't wal their dogs without the worry of someone wanting to nick it!
Re: Worried about leaving murphy glad wee Murphy was fine! Home Alone used to worry me too, but my dogs just seem to adapt quickly and happily to care routines, and I think that is the key, a routine they understand, and like others I make sure mine get plenty of exercise and stimulation in the times I am not around. My two were at a big outdoor day care centre 4 days a week for a good while, so were used to being up and at it all day, then for a variety of reasons I took them out. worried myself silly about it, but they didn't seem to give a hoot! They now have two days a week when they are home alone for 4 hours am, get an hour visit from me at lunch time, and 3.5 hours alone in the pm, the other three days I just work mornings so home alone then. they get loads of physical and mental exercise anyway, and I get up really early on their long days home alone to make sure they are busy for a good few hours before I go, and the evenings on these days are mostly filled with dog stuff as they are ready for some fun when I get home...not much chilling out after work for me ;D. They are in such a routine now that if for some reason I am around in the mornings after their walk and breakie they still just go to sleep, and look quite peeved if I get them doing other stuff...Cuillin has been known to stand whining at me to stop mucking about being busy, and sit down on the sofa with them, mornings are for snooooozing it seems......so home alone time seems fine for them...
Re: Worried about leaving murphy We all have to leave our dogs sometimes but like everyone else as long as you have someone popping in to make sure they have water, a wee etc. they do get used to it. We leave ours but walk them before we leave and my neighbour always pops in to make sure they are OK and guess what? they are usually asleep : I think we worry way more than our dogs do Helen x
Re: Worried about leaving murphy Lilly can't wait for me to leave for work so she can nip onto my bed and curl up for a post breakfast snooze. Actually, she LITERALLY can't wait these days - fast asleep again before I even leave the house
Re: Worried about leaving murphy We are going to Sydney this weekend for my Mum's birthday and Obi is staying in Canberra with a family. It's a commercial pet minding service, but the dogs stay in people's homes. The people he is staying with have a dog and two small children (doggy heaven). We dropped him off this morning and within 5 minutes he had gone into their bathroom and drunk out of the toilet : I just hope he doesn't unstuff too many of the kids' toys. Or terrorise the cat.... When we left Obi was bouncing on the couch with their dog, Buzz.... Could be a long weekend for these people.
Re: Worried about leaving murphy Oh you do make me laugh...they will love your Obi,your biggest worry will be getting him back off them! Have a great weekend, I'm on the countdown now to get back home..... Can't wait x
