Potential new dog owner

Fire_Fox

CFC wrote: »

Well firefox you and I will just have to disagree. Dogs are individuals, the same as people, and most dogs but not all will simply sleep a lot of the day when they are alone, in the same way that they will sleep if you are at home but are not doing anything of interest to dogs. Some dogs are very unhappy at being left alone, and some dogs will become hyperactive when they have company. It has to be one that is fine with it. I did read that the average dog spends 18 hours asleep, although I have no idea whether it is true or not.

When I took my 'private rescue' boy on, my OH and I had opposite shifts so he was never alone for more than 4 hours. We were devastated when 6 months later my husband was promoted which meant he would work days. He nearly turned the job down because of poochie. I considered that we might have to rehome him - finances mean that dogcare is out of the question. However with the greatest of relief I discovered that he really doesn't mind. He goes out for a walk at 5:30 am, comes home, sits with us while OH has brekkie and then takes himself off with his treats to bed in his area when we are ready to leave the house. (We have to leave him baby gated upstairs as he's chewed an electric cable in the past and I am neurotic about leaving him with access to cables just in case) He's perfectly capable of making his feelings known if he's unhappy.

I dont care what reputable rescues say - they have their reasons but it doesn't necessarily mean that they are right, it just means that their policies are what they are. My own feelings are that it's become a bit of a religous mantra, the '4 hours a day', one that I was originally taken in by but I am not any more.

Oversleeping is a symptom of understimulation, clinical depression and a whole raft of physical and mental health problems - numerous signs and symptoms cannot be seen from the outside or cannot be communicated without language. That is why your general practitioner and veterinarian spent years at university or in pre-registration practice. Many experts believe that ascribing human emotions to dogs is anthropomorphism, but since your blinkered thought processes trump real knowledge no doubt you will write this off too. :rotfl:

Person_one

If every dog who was ever left alone for more than 4 hours on a regular basis was given up to rescues 'for their own good', there would be chaos. Its an admirable goal but completely unrealistic.