Many dog owners need to know how long they can leave their dog home alone, but even with all of the conversations about whether or not it is completely fine, or evil beyond words to leave a dog alone, or whether 2, 4, 6 or even more hours are OK, it is hard to find any expert prepared to give a definite time.
On the dog forums, lots of different times are talked about and you often see views like '4 hours are best' but nobody ever claims what that figure is founded on. Is it a guess? Is it primarily based on years of experience with plenty of dogs? Or is it driven by feelings of guilt? It might be good to see some scientific research done into the subject to take a look at what the short term and long term effects are on dogs.
It Is Your Judgement Call
Because there is no answer on the question of time, whether or not it is fair to leave your dog home alone and for how long is a judgement you have to make.
In an environment where more and more of us need to work full time, our dogs are often left out of need instead of choice, so the best we can do is spent quality time with them when we are able to be around them, and ensure they are fine when we can't be there.
As our dogs are individuals and will all respond differently to being left alone, we have to work at understanding how they deal with being alone and sort out any difficulties that come up like separation anxiety in dogs.
Coping With The Guilt
There are loads of folks who would like you to feel guilty if you leave your dog for over a few hours. Mention that you're out at work full time on some of the forums and you could have folk telling you in no uncertain terms that you do not deserve to have a dog.
The truth is, many of us do feel guilty when we leave our dogs, but that doesn't help either us or the dog. However, if we can accept that in an ideal world few of us would leave our dogs alone for long, then face up to the undeniable fact that few of us live in an ideal world and make the best possible job of it we are able to, we should be in a position to live with our conscience.
On the dog forums, lots of different times are talked about and you often see views like '4 hours are best' but nobody ever claims what that figure is founded on. Is it a guess? Is it primarily based on years of experience with plenty of dogs? Or is it driven by feelings of guilt? It might be good to see some scientific research done into the subject to take a look at what the short term and long term effects are on dogs.
It Is Your Judgement Call
Because there is no answer on the question of time, whether or not it is fair to leave your dog home alone and for how long is a judgement you have to make.
In an environment where more and more of us need to work full time, our dogs are often left out of need instead of choice, so the best we can do is spent quality time with them when we are able to be around them, and ensure they are fine when we can't be there.
As our dogs are individuals and will all respond differently to being left alone, we have to work at understanding how they deal with being alone and sort out any difficulties that come up like separation anxiety in dogs.
Coping With The Guilt
There are loads of folks who would like you to feel guilty if you leave your dog for over a few hours. Mention that you're out at work full time on some of the forums and you could have folk telling you in no uncertain terms that you do not deserve to have a dog.
The truth is, many of us do feel guilty when we leave our dogs, but that doesn't help either us or the dog. However, if we can accept that in an ideal world few of us would leave our dogs alone for long, then face up to the undeniable fact that few of us live in an ideal world and make the best possible job of it we are able to, we should be in a position to live with our conscience.
About the Author:
Author Venice Marriott is a writer and dog owner and runs a Dog Anxiety website, which provides help and information for dog owners dealing with dog anxiety. Get more information about leaving dogs home alone when you visit the site.
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