Free time alone??

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

Discussion in my neck of the woods this morning...how long do you leave your dog alone, in the house, unattended? 

My answer, three hours or so, I always worry that they will need to go potty.  My girls are well behaved, don't chew up my house and keep themselves occupied.  They go easily 8 hours a night without going potty, but they are sleeping and not up moving around.  I always think during the day they must need to get out and go potty. Actually when we need to be out of town we hire someone to come and let them out to romp a few times during the day.

Others in the same discussion (they are not retired and need to be at work), trust their dogs in the house all day and don't worry about them going potty until they get home to let them out.

Just wondering what the common thought is here.  Do you let yours go all day or always make sure to give them plenty of opportunity to get out?

[Eleanor]

He is  a  little cutie.  Our Faye is 6 months and crate trained.  However, We have had her 4 months now and she has not had an accident in the house.  We are now getting her used to being out of the crate when she thinks no one is home.  I am off work for the summer, so when my husband leaves for work in the morning he would normally put her in her crate, but now he just leaves her in the den while I am sleeping.  I come down about two hours after he leaves and all is fine.  We use the back door when we take her out to "potty" and the front door when we go for our walks to the park.  So whenever she has to potty she'll sit by the back door.  Now if I can only get her to not be so crazy and jump on everyone who enters the house that would be great.  Everything in it's time, right.

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

You may want to try potty bells on the door to get your attention.  They really work! 

The jumping up does take time.  Work on her sit command, the stronger, the better ! 

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

We usually try to get home before our dogs are alone for more than six hours. I've got to say, though, that they don't seem to be in a rush to relieve themselves at that six-hour mark. And when someone is home with them all morning and early afternoon, it's often eight hours before their mid-day walk. One of us will usually let them out to pee around 12 or 1, but if we aren't keeping track of time, they can hold it much longer. 

[Amy and Annabelle]

We are retired also. We try not to leave her much more than 3, but we have left her as long as 5 and she did great. She goes out to go before we leave and doesn't touch her water dish while we are gone, at least it doesn't look like it. She has gotten spoiled from drinking from the garden hose this summer while I am out watering the garden and now that is the way she prefers it. So maybe she is just turning her nose up at the dish. There are times I take her out for a potty break at 10pm before I head up to bed and she doesn't have to go. Then the next morning when I  am up at 6, she may not make a sound for another 2 hours. So I know she can go 8-10 hours easy, at night anyway.