Imagine it; you’re on your way out the door to run a few errands or to spend the whole day on an adventure. You may stop and wonder to yourself, “how long can my dog be left alone?” Every pet parent has been there. You want what’s best for your canine, which means knowing what is and isn’t a healthy amount of time to be away from them. As you’ll discover, many factors go into answering this question, so let’s dive in!
If your furry friend has received any obedience training, then at the very least, they’ve been introduced to dealing with separation anxiety. When you or anyone in your household leaves, your pooch fears that someone in their “pack” is leaving permanently. Or worse, is in trouble. Proper training, though, helps your dog get past this, understand routines, and helps them look forward to your return instead of focusing on your absence.
Be honest with yourself; when you go, it’s not just Fido who gets anxious. There’s probably a few times you’ve been out of the house, especially for more extended amounts of time, and wondered (or worried) what your pooch was up to and if they were okay. If this becomes a constant concern in your life, you might want to consider investing in a monitoring system. You can find dozens of different systems made specifically for dog monitoring. Most of them even connect to your phone. Allowing you to check on your furry friend with a simple tap on your screen.
Some dog breeds are just naturally more anxious than others. Or because of their smaller size have equally as small bladders. For example, many hound breeds are prone to becoming anxious after only a couple of hours alone – while breeds associated with being guard dogs have been known to last up to 10 hours apart without problems. Every dog is unique. So your pooch can still be a fearless independent pup, even if their breed is known to be more anxious. Consider your four-legged friend’s individual personality before their breed. Finally, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that puppies and senior dogs are going to need more attention and less time alone than the average adult dog.
Your canine companion needs to relieve themselves at least 3 to 5 times a day. Some dogs can wait this out and last up to 8 hours before they need to be let outside. While other pooches can’t even make it to 4 hours. When it comes to puppies, though, you need to let them out at least every 2 hours. It’s also essential to create a consistent routine if you have a puppy. Since they’re still developing, they won’t be able to understand why you’re leaving or for how long. This is especially true if it’s continuously at random.
Even though there’s no definite rule or time for how long you can leave your dog alone, there are certain guidelines you can follow to ensure your pup is staying happy and healthy.
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