Staffy Home Alone

i'm going to have Staffy soon, but we are not home all the time.
can staffy tolerate up to 5-9 hours alone?
i really need it to, as i have college, 3 times a week.
any suggestion?
do i keep the dog in garden or inside of the house?

my Bailey would not be happy staying alone that long, the longest we have left him is a couple of hours, and he greeted us as if we had been away a week lol we left him in house and he was fine, but I have read about some who get bored and destroy things. Is there anyone who could dog sit for you?

I think your dog will be fine as long as you spend a heap of time with him/her when you are at home. I would leave him/her in the backyard. I have 3 children and some days I gone 4-5 hours .

9 hours is way too long!

Do you intend getting a pup or an adult rescue? Whereabouts in the world do you live?

Can you not wait until you finish college to get a dog?

Agree with Caryll - they should never be left for 9 hours. I think 4 is the maximum. We don't leave our 2 longer than 4 hours ever, and they've got each other for company.

Wholeheartedly agree with caryll, 9 hours is far to long darcy has never been left for longer the 3 /4 hours.

I would agree 9 hours is too long.  Is there nobody who could help you with dogsitting?

unless you can cover these long periods with other interaction ( family member etc ) then I would seriously suggest you reconsider . It's one thing to get a dog and your situation change and have to cope with it , and I don't mean to sound hard but a totally different situation to contemplate a dog when you know about things like this .
Why don't you dedicate some of your time to other dogs like maybe volunteer to help at your local rescue to help in your spare time and get to know the dogs a little and do some good work , you can then learn to appreciate their needs and when your circumstances change be a lot better prepared for it

Thanks everyone, i just started college, and im getting new timetable so hopefully i will not be in college for too long.

But why get a dog now, when you know you don't really have time for it? Why not wait a while until you know that you can dedicate the time & care it will need?

Whereabouts in the world are you? The UK?

I agree with Dave and I think you need to seriously consider a few things before leaving a Staffie for long periods.

Depends on the dog, some Staffies bond with their humans and cannot stand being parted from them while others maybe OK with it.

If the dog is outdoors you have to remember Staffies don't have very thick coats so they do feel the cold, alot of them cannot stand getting wet and then there is strong sunshine. The dog would need somewhere secure, warm and dry to go to. If the seperation is too stressful the dog may bark and your neighbours will not thank you for that. I have lived next to a guy who used to leave his dogs for long periods and it's just plain bl**dy awful having to listen to a dog barking for hours on end.

Staffies have a habbit of being destructive when they are board. The arm chair may not look like a toy to you but to a Staffie it's a massive tug and shake toy.

The dog will need access to fresh drinking water and if it knocks over the water bowl through stress then it has no water. You are the providor of these things and if you are not there you cannot provide.

You will have to fit into your schedule time to walk and exersise the dog, just being free to roam outside is not enough.

In the case of rescue dog, unless you are prepared to tell pack of lies about your situation you almost certainly would not pass a home check.

Just my thoughts

Regards

Simon & The Tedster

Chiquito stays home by himself throughout the day as I work, however I ensure that the period he is along is as short as possible. I also took quite a large amount of time off work over the first few months he was with us to settle him in ..... he was well over three months before he was left home alone for any amount of time, and even at 7 months I still would not leave him for 9 hours.

There are few of us who can afford to not work at all, so please don't think that all of us are home all day every day. It is not as simple as popping them in the back yard each day you need to go out though .. so if you know you will be gone for 9 hour periods of time from day one either make plans to shorten the time you will be away before you get the pup/dog OR get a reliable sitter/walker (and make sure you can pay for them) OR simply wait until you do not need to be gone so long and then consider adding a fur baby to your house.

Hi Oligators, it really depends, if it's 5 hours then it's possible, with some planning and preparation, but 9 hours is really too long. It also depends on whether you are looking to get a pup or an adult dog? Pups are so much work and very time consuming and there is no way you could leave them for that long...
If it's an adult dog you are thinking of getting then leaving him for around 5 hours may work, however he would need a good walk before you head off to college, a secure place to stay when you are gone (personally i would not leave him outside, for fear of theft, and of course the weather) and you would need to invest in interactive food toys such as kongs and kibble balls to keep him mentally stimulated when you are out...also bear in mind that you may need to do some work and preparation in teaching the dog to cope with being left alone. As Kell says we are not all lucky enough to be able to stay at home with our dogs, but you do need to think about how it will work and how you can manage it before you decide to commit to getting a dog.
Our older dogs are usually fine if left for around 7 hours, however at 6 months old we would still not leave our staffy for that long. We are lucky as my OH is in college and off for the summer so he was able to be at home, also my hours in work are irregular so I'm often here in the mornings. I'm also lucky in that I can take Reggie into work with me if needs be. The OH will be back in college from the end of Sep so we will need to do a lot of planning around how we are going to work around the dogs.

yh Uk
my mom work 4 days on 4 days off, so i will find time because me and my brother have different time table, when he's in college i'm home, when i'm in college he is home, thanks! everyone!

If there is someone at home most of the time, and they are willing to take care of the dog ie give him companionship, stick to a routine of regular feeding and walking, keep his water topped up etc, then getting an older dog may work; everybody must be fully on board however.

I would certainly advise against getting a puppy in these circumstances though, they're babies and need 24/7 care and attention.

I'm at Uni and work so have a pretty full on day, every day, but would never leave Rocky for long periods, so I drop him off to my mums through out the day or mum will come to mine and stay with him for a few hours and walk him! They are very active dogs, and really do need company also, much safer for them to be with someone than left alone for that many hours!

Our 1 year old has roughly 8 - 9 hours on her own mondays and Fridays with no problems. Lots of fuss when we see her and she's fine.

What about night? Ours sleeps on her own in the kitchen for around 10 ish depending on what shift im on.

possle wrote:Our 1 year old has roughly 8 - 9 hours on her own mondays and Fridays with no problems. Lots of fuss when we see her and she's fine.

What about night? Ours sleeps on her own in the kitchen for around 10 ish depending on what shift im on.

It really is too long. 

Night time is different - but a dog can't be happy having to sleep all day and all night. And if he doesn't sleep all day he's going to be bored and unhappy.

But how can you tell a unhappy staffy?
Our house will be empty from 8.00 until 15.00 tomoz.
A long walk when im home (about 1.5 hours) and she's fine

are we wrong to own a staff?

You're wrong to not find an alternative to leaving her for 8 or 9 hours a day! Just my opinion.

Is there nobody who can pop in to let her relieve herself & to give her a bit of company during the day? What about a friend/relative/neighbour or a dog walker?

Staffords are people dogs - they do best when they have human interraction.

Nope not really. Everyone we know works.
She's been fine for the last 8 months so until we run into a problem I don't think we need to change anything

I just think it's wrong to leave a dog of any breed alone for such a long period of time for so many days a week. Once or twice maybe, but not 5 days a week. It just isn't fair on the dog.

It means that for 5 days a week your dog has human contact for a maximum of 5 hours (when you take into account night time as well). When you then also take away time spent cooking/eating etc, you're dog's only really getting about 3 hours of human interraction a day.

I did state Monday and Friday not all week
If it was all week we wouldn't have got her in the first place

possle wrote:I did state Monday and Friday not all week
If it was all week we wouldn't have got her in the first place

I'm so sorry! I misread it - I thought you said monday to friday! 

Ledger stays home alone when Im on nights but i don't think he moves from his spot on the sofa the whole time. During the day though its a different matter anything more than a planned 5-6hr away (we all know traffic etc can cause delays) then he goes to my parents or I book the dog walker for one or two visits a day and if with the dog walker he gets a good 45 min walk or wear out run with his ball before I go. He isn't destructive in the house but will sulk when I get home, destuffing teddys getting all the toys out of his box generally vying for attention

I never leave Vinnie more than 4 hours and that's too long imo.
I am lucky that I can arrange my work so I can do half days most the time, if not I am always available to be back inbetween for a couple of hours to walk him and play. 

Sorry, but I must agree with Caryll. I really think you need to reconsider given your circumstances. I believe you mean well but you must put the needs of the dog first. No dog should be left for this amount of time, let alone a Staffy. I've had dogs most of my life and never come across a breed which craves human contact in the way a Staffy does. Please look at the bigger picture and think about the time required to satisfy the dog's requirements with regard to exercise,feeding, training and companionship. I'm retired but even so struggle to fit everything in on top of the time I spend on Bacchus.