<p>How long do you leave your dog(s) stuck in the house? Do you hire a pet walker? Doggy day care? Is it expensive? I’m interested in hearing what other people do. Thanks.</p>
<p>We’ve got a big fenced yard, so the dogs stay outside during the day, but come in at night. Older dog likes to crawl under the deck (cooler, caving instinct) while younger dog stays vigilant for subversive squirrel activity.</p>
<p>Invisible Fence. We leave that 'hundred-pounder mutt OUTSIDE and he has free roam of our property but beep-warnings (radio signals, not electric, no pain) keep him from wandering away. </p>
<p>In the evenings, I take him out to a park for a real run. We don’t leash walk anymore in the neighborhood, not necessary. (Miss the social aspect there)</p>
<p>Ahem, he regressed when last S left and now we are having him spend lots of time outside so we don’t have an unwelcome chore when we return.</p>
<p>However, he’s of a mixed breed that doesn’t bark.</p>
<p>S had to train him (a week of mini-lessons) to the fence when it was first installed. </p>
<p>It cost us a huge sum but my brother saved by actually digging the trench himself. </p>
<p>We’ve had big dogs all our lives and couldn’t do without them.</p>
<p>EDIT: Friends of ours (never had kids) use Doggy Day Care, but as she points out, she has no tuition payments 
She likes it a lot for the socialization, says dog comes home very happy. We took ours for one day there once and he came home with a report card! Described how he preferred the outdoors to the video they run (Lassie),
didn’t fare well with the other dogs (tried to eat them) so had to be put into time-out, but loves attention from the people. I felt terrible and never sent him back.
Problem is his breed is hostile to other dogs, and I think they put an overnight kennel dog in with the “Circle Time” that the other dogs enjoy on a frequent basis.</p>
<p>Luckily for us, H works from home and, when he doesn’t, works locally and is in and out all day long.</p>
<p>We also have a great neighbor who has a dog, and we’ll sit for them or they’ll sit for us when overnight is required.</p>
<p>And Yes, Invisible Fence. We couldn’t manage without it.</p>
<p>You won’t like this answer.</p>
<p>I work from home. Otherwise I would have to pay someone to come let them out and take them for walks. If I go out of town for the day, I have to get someone to come over and let them out. They are Brittanys, which are not terrible barkers, but they find it difficult to ignore all of the squirrels, rabbits and deer that make regular visits, not to mention the occasional coyote or fox. My neighbors would start proceedings if I let them bark at will all day. (We have an underground “fence”; it keeps our dogs in, but does not keep other creatures out. Even a regular fence would not solve the barking problem, because they bark at sounds and smells as well as at sights.)</p>
<p>One of them, a pound rescue, has the smallest bladder in the doggy kingdom. Four hours is pretty much his limit. I suspect that is why he was on his third (and last, they told me) visit to the pound. That is why I have to make arrangements if I am gone for more than half a day. It is a pain.</p>
<p>Some breeds do fine inside for a normal workday, some absolutely not. You need to be careful about the breed, in my opinion.</p>
<p>^ Midmo, Indeed I work at home half time now and have never had to think about this before, but that MAY be changing in the future. I would not leave my dogs outside unattended because I think they could get stolen (they are Bedlington Terriers). I have a friend whose Bedlington goes to day care. He learned some BAD manners there! LOL. I have one dog who would LOVE day care and one who would LOATHE it. And one dog could easily “hold it” all day, the other would be miserable. </p>
<p>Anyway I’m figuring about $15/day for a dog walker. Sound about right?</p>
<p>My border collie/aussie mix is a “wimp”, considering her working instincts, as she much prefers staying wherever I am…usually indoors. We go on a brisk walk, about 1.5 miles, most days and she goes to daycare if I need to leave her home alone all day. She LOVES doggie daycare!</p>
<p>Work from home so this is not a problem. But when we go away, we use a dog sitter at $10 per visit. This is much cheaper than most - our backups charge at least $15 per visit. We won’t use kennels cause our dog gets really freaked out.</p>
<p>When we had a dog (don’t have one anymore)…DH and I had sort of different works schedules. He walked the pooch in the morning and I was home early enough to walk the pooch in the afternoon. We never had a dog larger than a cocker spaniel. The dog was just as happy to sleep indoors all day long, and was thrilled to see us when we got home. If both of us were going to be late, we asked a neighbor to walk the pooch…and then we would do the same for the neighbors in exchange. Ditto the kennel. We have “doggy camp” at various neighbors including ours for those times when a neighbor will be gone and dogs need a temporary home. A nice bottle of wine usually served as a treat (for the people).</p>
<p>My dog has a super-bladder and can stay at home all day, which can be 8-9 hours. We believe he goes into “doggy suspended animation” while we’re gone, and then comes out of it and happily “dogs” our footsteps when we’re home. He doesn’t bark much, chew things, or have accidents.</p>
<p>He’s really quite remarkable that way!</p>
<p>We have a doggie door. We actually have two doggie doors, but since our golden girl has gotten older she doesn’t use the one at the bottom of a long flight of stairs. The door she uses is a panel that fits next to the sliding glass door that goes from dining room to back deck. Doggie panel comes out easily when we travel. When we go away we either take her to a friends house where she also has a doggie door or we have a local college student who is like family and knows her well- stay in our house.</p>
<p>We used to have multiple dogs and a huge yard, so, as long as they were not wandering, we left them free to play or sleep, but every so often one of our neighbors would tells us the boys were having an adventure and then they had to go into the kennel for a few weeks when we were gone. We would then try to vary our schedules so they were not spending too long locked up.</p>
<p>Now that we are down to one dog, my DH’s best buddy, we pretty much take the dog every where, or some one is home with him. Since we are self-employed, the dog spends casual days at the office and/or in the car or one of us works from the home office.</p>
<p>Sounds really silly, but it really is a consideration and if we had to leave the dog home we would probably have two, so that they had company.</p>
<p>Many people around here either have a dog walker come during the day or take their pups to doggy day care where they can play with other dogs.</p>
<p>Our dog, like garland’s, can easily go 10 - 11 hours and, even after that amount of time, would rather spend some time playing before “having” to go outside. Our expense comes when we go on vacation. We don’t use a typical kennel. Rather, it is someone who has a part of her house set up to take in “guests”. However, at $40 per day, at the end of a 10 day vacation, the $400 charge hurts a bit.</p>
<p>dog walkers are great!!! just look for a good one who doesn’t do tons of dogs at once</p>
<p>we have 4 in the city, and they have very good lives- long off leash walks in the park, a decent back yard</p>
<p>my friend worked, so her dog was alone alot and that caused him to be more neurotic (border collie) so she dropped him off to doggy camp daily and we shared dog walking duties</p>
<p>see if something like that might work for you- sharing dog duties with another family</p>
<p>My one year old dog that chews things up and still isn’t responsible enough to hold his bladder all day gets to stay in the crate while I’m gone and my older mutt (10 years old) who doesn’t chew things or use the carpet as a toilet gets to wander the house. For my poor crated dog’s sake the bedroom door is closed so he doesn’t have to get jealous seeing my other dog wander around. They get a medium walk in the morning and something like 2-3 longer walks at night so it works out. I’m moving closer to school in a month though so I’ll be home a lot more.</p>
<p>We have a terribly spoiled five-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Sadie, that spends her day napping on the couch while we’re at work. She is at home by herself from 7:30 - 3:00. She must have a huge bladder because she rarely asks to go outside. We make her go outside every morning and every night, and we often play frisbee or ball with her in the back yard after work, so she goes then, too. When we’re out of town, our best friends (who live right behind us and share a common gate) take care of her. She’s never spent the night outside and doesn’t really like to be outside unless there’s a gentle breeze and it’s not too hot or cold. What can I say … she takes after her people.</p>
<p>I do not work so our dog is usually inside with me. She hates to be in the yard alone; so if I don’t sit outside with her, she will not stay. </p>
<p>Once a week she goes to day care and that is the day I will run errands all day. She loves going and gets a report card every time! When I am not at home I leave her in her crate and she sleeps the whole time. I have never left her longer than 5 hours, usually I am not gone more that 3 hours at a stretch.</p>
<p>When we go out of town the man that trained our dog keeps her at his home. She gets to live there as if it was her own home and she loves it. Usually there are 4-6 dogs there at a time and as an only dog at home she loves the company!</p>
<p>Last time I checked it was about $15 for a day at doggy day care (it has been a few years) There is a professional pet sitter service which does mostly overnights and vacations, but they are also $15/hour for dog walking, so a high energy dog who liked the day care crowd might be better served by that, a less social critter might want the personal service. Of course, neighborhood kids are even cheaper, but less reliable and not “trained”</p>
<p>I’d like to add a comment about Invisible Fence; if you’re in an area that has any sort of larger wildlife, such as coyotes, they are not a good idea. The preyor can get in, but the preyee will not be able to escape its yard. In our area, where new developments are still going up several miles away, home owners are discouraged from using them for this case.</p>
<p>While my work schedule is erratic, I’m rarely gone more than six hours at a time, so my doggie handles it. Anything more, then I try to enlist either a middle-school kid in our neighborhood, or someone else to come let her out in our backyard (it’s fenced).</p>
<p>When we travel, we have always had someone come stay at the house with her - this is where your network of your kids’ friends comes in. I have a list of at least a half dozen high school/college kids I will call to come stay at the house when we’re gone. Just used a new kid (high school) last week since most of our kid’s friends are away at college now. But if we go away at Thanksgiving/Christmas/spring break/summer, there’s always plenty to pick from, and they look forward to having a house to themselves (with strict rules that I insist on).</p>
<p>The funny thing is, our dog (miniature schnauzer) is very, very territorial of me. If I’m at home, she barks for quite a while when anyone comes over… and it’s a LOUD bark. If I’m away, she’s whoever’s best friend that’s staying here. Every time I’ve been gone and we’ve had someone stay here, they report glowingly when I return how much they now love my dog that they used to hate. She will shadow them, sleep with them, be thrilled to see them… as long as I’m not around. Everytime I ask someone new to stay over, they give me a look of skepticism (but they really want the money), and I promise them they will become her new best friend. And it always works out that way… until I return. But it makes is much easier to find people to stay over when they know how she will respond.</p>
<p>By the way, I usually pay around $30/day for someone to stay here - that doesn’t mean they have to be here all day, but be here a reasonable amount of time to let her out or walk her, and sleep here. When the pool is open in the summer, they see it as them getting the good end of the deal! They are also privy to any food/pop, etc. we have in the house, and I try to leave a few goodies, to make it worth it for them.</p>
<p>We’ve never boarded her, and I never will, especially at 12-years old.</p>
<p>We are a foster family for a Golden Retriever rescue group. I know many people who leave their dogs home alone inside for 8-10 hours/day. If they are healthy adult dogs, and you get them into a good routine, everything can work out well.</p>
<p>We are not fans of invisible fences because they do not keep people and other animals out of your yard. Just this weekend I met a dog who was attacked in his own yard. Also, some breeds are willing to endure pain and will run through the fence in order to fulfill their breeding.</p>