I work at a dog friendly office, but my dog isn’t well behaved :(

[e4rljune]

@mrpaul89 I've used Rover many times and never had an issue. I just look for someone with a lot (think 50+) of good, verified reviews. Verified review means the reviewer booked through Rover and left a review after the service was completed. There will be a tag at the top of the review if it is verified.

 

[gago]

@mrpaul89 I’m a sitter on Rover. Just as any for hire service, some sitters/dog walkers are better than others.

 

[mrpaul89]

@gago Definitely true. I think with any dog sitter I’ve never met, I’d talk with them a lot before deciding to go with them.

 

[mamabear0213]

@mrpaul89 Honestly I never just talk to them. I read reviews and look for glowing reviews left by owners that show they understand canine behavior by looking for behaviorally savvy words in the review like forward posture, flag tail, whale eye, lip lick, paw raise, ear position, air sniff, lip lift, flag tail, etc. A canine behavior savvy owner can easily tell how comfortable their pup is with the walker by observing their dog's body language around the walker.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@mrpaul89 There are some indoor artificial potty spots, look them up, they are like easily cleanable fake grass. That is an option.

 

[mrpaul89]

@imagebeastmarkbeast That’s a great idea actually. There’s a balcony on my apartment, and that could be perfect.

 

[riabb]

@mrpaul89 Is there any way your dog could fall off the balcony? It might be safer to have the dog potty inside than to let your dog onto the balcony unsupervised.

 

[carebear47]

@mrpaul89 be careful. if the dog pees and it goes on the ground and drips down to the apartment below, a) you'll have pissed off neighbors. and b) you might get fined for it if it happens more then once or twice....written by a neighbor who lived under a neighbor who let their dog piss all over their balcony then hose it off once every other day and regularly got face fulls of sun concentrated dog piss....

 

[mrpaul89]

@carebear47 Ohhh that’s a good point.

 

[mike7377]

@mrpaul89 The piddle place indoor potty has worked really well for us. Far less smelly than the other options we tried.

 

[christiang8rgal]

@mrpaul89 Depending on what hours you'd need to be gone and how well behaved your dog is on the lead, you could have a teenager in the neighborhood do it. My neighbor pays $50 a week to have the kid down the street bring him out at 2pm to relieve himself.

 

[plum1000]

@mrpaul89 I have a similar issue with being gone 9.5 hours a day. My dogs are just stuck at home. I let them out as soon as I get home. They do okay. I'm looking to build an indoor/outdoor kennel for them so they can go outside when I'm not home

 

[jedkid]

@mrpaul89 I was able to leave my dog for about 10 hours at one point. I got him used to being out of the crate while I was gone gradually. My daughter would stop off some days to walk him really quick but still was alone for 10 hours at least twice a week. . I had a camera set up so I could watch him from work and he mostly slept.

 

[bret2140]

@mrpaul89 Depends on your dogs age and bathroom needs but 10 hours should be fine. I have to travel to see my family about once a month and my dog isn’t always friendly so we leave him at home. Sometimes with traffic we can be gone 12 hours. When we get home my dog is more eager to see us than use the bathroom. He has to be encouraged to go at times. All that to say, your dog should be fine if you take him to the bathroom before you go.

 

[habakk]

@mrpaul89 With a bit of training, dogs can easily go 12 hours between potty breaks. Mine can do 16 if needed, and will still hold it until we get to the right spot.

 

[kdiddy1551]

@mrpaul89 How old is your dog? I started out working from home after Covid and then slowly went back to the office. By the time our dog was 1 year old he could hold it for the full day I was at the office. Roughly 10 hours. Depending on the age of your doggo you should be able to train him up so he won’t need to be let out every day.

 

[gabrielleb]

@imagebeastmarkbeast

their quality of life does not decrease just because they are left alone.

Do you have any science backing that up?

Dogs are highly social animals unlike for example cats.

All animal welfare organisations from where I'm at says a dog shouldn't be left alone more than 4h habitually as does this animal behavioral scientist (who specialises in dogs).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/09/25/what-makes-dogs-so-special-successful-love/