Wish I could help on the dog walker. Along with doggy day care, I think they are a good solution for those that work, and often suggest one.

As I have mentioned in a couple of recent threads, leaving puppies as young as 7 weeks old for 4-5 hours has worked OK for us. I cringe at the thought of leaving a dog longer, but it is commonly done.

Your best bet would be to ask around your local area .
Some dog walkers are absolutely great and others are not , so recommendation is one good thing to go on

I could easily leave Ben up to 9 hours, not ideal for him, but knew if I had to he would be ok. He was always really well behaved so had no worries he would be destructive. As he got older he would just sleep most of the time anyway and did not seem bothered. On nice days if I knew we would be out all day, I preferred to leave him in the garden. He was very relaxed and chilled and not highly strung so took it all in his stride really. When we first got Ben we worked full time and back then I would get my Mum to pop over a lunchtimes to let him out etc, we then moved house closer to my work so I was able to pop home myself. When we had kids and I returned to work part-time (3 full days) he was left all day without and problems. Last year I returned back to full time work, by this time Ben was 10.5 and was more than happy to enjoy the peace and quiet, I think. I know there are many opinions on her about dog owners who work full time but only you truely know what is best for your dogs and if they are happy.

My dad used to have Toby through the daytime, but now he's gone Toby is left at home whilst we are at work. This has been since January and he has suffered no ill effects.

He is left around 7 hours for 4 days (which I know is not ideal) and much less on a Friday. However he is a happy dog, is out on a morning and every evening, and has the run of the downstairs. On weekends he gets longer walks and/or trips to the country or the coast. He comes on all our holidays with us too.

He's not destructive, i think he sleeps most of the day and is not averse to sneaking upstairs for some bed rest if we leave a door open!!

He's a well cared for dog and probably has more exercise than some whose owners are at home all day. if you look at any of his pics you can see he quite happy.

Still I do agree it is a long time to leave them on their own.

Thanks guys xx

I think as long as your dogs are happy being left then there isn't a problem. And as there's two of them they have each other for company to prevent loneliness. Most people have to work to be able to keep their dogs so don't feel bad.

Hi Jem - maybe worth asking your vet if they keep any lists of dog-walkers or if they could point you in the right direction of finding one - good luck

When I come home at lunchtime, I invariably wake my lot up....... they look at me as if to say "Mum! We were sleeping, you know!"

x0x