How much alone time is good?
I am looking for some advice. I work from home and sometimes I actually have to WORK, go figure. So, I was wondering what is the appropriate amount of time I can leave Wilbur alone? We keep him in the kitchen behind a baby gate for his na-na time and once in awhile he will whine and my initial reaction is to go scoop him up. But I can't cause he is the size of a coffee table. When I leave the house to go groceries, I am in a panic cause he has been alone for 2 hours. When we visit family for dinner, we aren't relaxed cause we need to get home to the dog, when I am working in the office, after 2 hours I feel guilty cause I know he is alone in the kitchen. Any ideas what is acceptable alone time? Keep in mind I have two cats that will sit at the gate and taunt him. Don't want to create a frustrated monster. |
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| I am sure you will get a variety of responses here. Tasker has been "left alone"' for 9 or 10 hours a day since he was 8 weeks old. He is crate trained and until just the last couple years (he is 11) was left in the crate when alone. When he was a puppy, for the first couple months while at work I had a neighbor that would come over mid day and take him to potty.
He has always loved his crate and never had any kind of seperation anxiety. |
| Izzie stays in her crate from 8:30am to 5:00 - 5:30pm at least 2 days a week. Various other times she spends hours in her crate. She is used to it. When she is in the crate all day we always are home that night so she is free to play and get exercise. We leave the tv on the Food Network and give her a cookie when she goes in her crate. |
| Fozzie is in his crate from 8:00-5:00pm daily. If I ever get a demanding job or one further from home, he will be in there a little longer. For the first 5 months I came home every day at lunch when my office was closer. Without incident, we moved him to being in his crate all day without a potty break. I've noticed that he doesn't even drink his water in there as he learned that meant he'd have to potty. Most dogs are very adaptable to our lifestyle. Your pup is still new to you and VERY exciting so I don't blame you for always wanting to be with him, but he'll be fine alone. It just takes some adjustment.
There are days when I have been home most of the day and the dogs just sleep and ignore me more of the time unless I'm eating  |
| He sounds like a typical puppy LOL
He'll be fine on his own for a few hours, and perhaps you might want to consider a crate for when you are busy to keep him out of some mischief? |
| Thanks for the reassurance. I think I am the one with the issue of him being home alone and not Wilbur himself. I need to get work done at home but everytime he hears me walk around or make noise, he starts whining.
Our breeder was against crate training. I know it is a personal decision and most dogs will stay in there even with the door open, but we just leave him in the kitchen when we are out and then he goes to sleep in his room at night. I feel much better knowing that he will be fine even for a whole day. I need to convince his dad so we can actually have a nice night out of the house! Thanks again, t. |
| Personally I would never leave a dog in a crate for more than 8 hours.
But that asice, alone time is good time. Practice it now and avoid problems down the road.. I certainly would be ignoring any whining for your attention when he is in his quiet space. |
Toby also resides behind a dog gate in the kitchen/conservatory. He loves it in there. I think he feels it's too hetic in the lounge with the kids and often retreats back to HIS part of the house. Toby is 12 weeks now, is left on his own several times a week with no sign of any problems. He's happy healthy and huge.. Do what you feel is right and you cant go wrong, well in theory any way lol. 
Michelle x |
I understand what you mean about feeling bad when you leave him to go somewhere else. I do that with Bingley, too. A LITTLE bit less now that he's a few months older, but he's a good boy and seems to have had a good time while we were gone!  |
| If you want some time out WITH Wilbur...we'd LOVE a play date! We've never had anyone close enough before....and I just noticed you're in Ottawa! We are just over the river in Aylmer!!
Don't be a stranger! |
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