Feeling guilty

Hi All

I joined the site when we had Gordon at 8 weeks, well he is 5 months now and coming along lovely although a real handful   . When we had him I managed to change my shifts so he is not on his own for long when we are at work just a couple of hours, the rest of the time we are with him he even sleeps with us. I would just like to know does anybody else feel guilty when they go out and leave there dogs or is it just me being silly ( i'v even cancelled my holiday abroad as I cant bear the thought of him being in kennels). My oh thinks i'm being silly and I prob am but just wondered if anybody else feels the same. He has 2 good walks a day.


Thanks

Darcy is never left longer than 3 hours, I do go on hols but our 20 yo son still lives at home and he takes care of her so I'm really lucky, I couldn't bare the thought of her in kennels either so IMO no your not being silly

Not at all I think we all feel the same x

The most time my boys been on his own is about 4 hours, your not alone i miss him anytime im out / worried what hes up to haha

Nope you're definately not alone. I feel guilty, BUT work does call & 'life' must carry on. I just make sure I fuss over him big time when I get home if I've been out. Moreso, I worry about what he's been up to when I'm out as well - I thought only I did that so it's good to know I'm not alone     

Not at all Vin is only left max 3 hours at any one time, even then I am always rushing to get back home to him. I just take him with me on holidays couldn't leave him in kennels either xx

Nope, feel the same here - hate being away from them and honestly, I'd rather have no holiday than be without them. The longest they're left is on a Sunday for a few hours and even then I rush back to them (they probably can't wait for the peace though   )

Ronnie is 8 mth now and I feel awful leaving him. He is still chewing so has to be in his crate while Im at work and overnight.

Through the day we have to leave him for 5 hours and I hate it. He does have my company 6am-9am with a long walk before I leave him at 9ish.

Today I moved the crate in the front room and left the tv and fire on for him but worried constantly about him all day.

We have downloaded a program for the laptop so we can watch him via our I-phone through the webcam so Im gonna do that tomorrow just to see how he is when we are not there.

I tried leaving him out of the crate in the kitchen thinking there was nothing he could chew but it was a trail of destruction when I came home. Tried the hallway and he destroyed the carpet and underlay. Tried the empty spare room and it was wallpaper and skirting boards.

I look at him and wish he could understand that if he didnt chew I wouldnt have to lock him up all day. That would ease my guilt a little if I knew he had freedom in the house.

I do feel Im letting him down him being alone for so long through the day.

Not silly at all - just shows how much you love your dog    We only go on holidays where we can take them with us. Very limiting but worth it!! x

There are some alternatives to putting your dog in kennels when you go on holiday, have you considered this:

http://www.barkingmad.uk.com/

Aw I was terrible when we first got Bane! Couldn't get home quick enough! He went with us nearly everywhere

Winnie: That sounds great! We always joke about getting a wireless webcam so we could spy on him and see what he gets up to alone

And kathy that looks interesting! you might have just saved our holiday

Totally understandable, i am the same i hate having to leave Jed even if it is only for a few hours----they are all so cute and adorable, there are many places now that you can go on holidays with your dog, after all they need holidays to  

I'm the same with spud only left him for 3-4 hours tops, n can't stop worrying about him when I'm not there, sometimes take him to work with me though n he just sleeps in a corner on his covers,

I had Dobermanns when I was younger and had a family. As a breed they accommodate being left alone very well, which was how I managed to work full-time. Our first bitch came on holidays in the UK with us, but she was put in kennels when we went abroad. From the first kennels she came back absolutely stinking of disinfectant and was so withdrawn I doubted at first that we had been given back the correct dog! The second kennels was better, but she always came back with a sore throat through so much barking   

When I had my second Dobe she never stayed in kennels; she either came on UK holidays with us or I had a very successful reciprocal arrangement with a dog-owning friend and we took in each other's dogs when we went abroad.

Now I have a Staffy, and it may be that now I am retired he has never had to be left alone for long (I hour max) he is so outgoing to everyone and would go off with anyone if I let him, I think he would probably have a whale of a time in kennels socialising with the other dogs. Don't know if I would ever put it to the test though!

The Barking Mad idea sounds like a great alternative to kennels!

Thanks Kathy for the link will look into that, and thanks for the replies i'm so glad I am not alone feeling the way I do when I leave him xxx

I feel extremely guilty after reading everybody's reply!! My husband is working from home so we hardly ever leave Zeus alone. But when we go out to see movie or visiting friend etc we left him max 7 hours before. Needless to say we feel bad then rush home to see he is ok. We haven't had a proper holiday since we have got Zeus and wondering what should we do. We have friend who has 2 dogs and we spend 3 days at her house recently. Zeus gets alone with her dogs and loves dog flop. She offer us to look after him when we go to holiday but Barking Mad might be good option for us too!

Yes barking mad looks a good option for next year, I don't think it would be fair for me to leave Gordon with anyone at the moment because at 5 months hes a real handful  

We are the same with our two girls, we went on holiday last year and my mum took the week off of work to look after them
I hate leaving them x

our staffs never get left any longer than 3 hours either i used to feel guilty but its part of routine now … as i leave for work at 3pm my fiancé is home for 6 / 6:30 latest however has one late shift a week when she aint home till after 9… but we have to keep paying bills and it doesn't harm them as long as they have toy plenty of clean water and food they will be fine

we at times leave our dogs max 5 hours but I don't work and they are with me most of the time, As for Kennels I did put them in kennels last year, my oldest dog came back with all the skin missing from her nose where she had been rubbing it across the bars and she had lost weight due to not eating, she is a greyhound and slim at best, the other dog was fine a bit quite and couldn't weight to be out, hence we wont be using kennels again, the kennel we did use on the whole I would recommend as they do get taken care of and taken for long walks,