Nurses and everyone else who works 12+ hours (how much, schnauzer, barking)

[Abirdinahand]

Hi! I need to know if you live alone, what do you do with your dog/s??

I find this to be the hardest part of living on my own! Currently a family member watches my dog. The dog daycares open at 7am and close at 7pm. I start work at 7am and get out at 7:30pm (or 8pm-9pm depending on how busy a day it was and what charting I have left to do). I had really bad luck with rover pet sitting (one girl just never showed up another just charged a ridiculous price for 12 hours it was half my salary). I want to move but this relative doesn’t mind watching my dog and does so for free. I don’t have a significant other or children yet. I could definitely find an 8 hour a day job- but the pay is dramatically less. And I do like my 3 day work week. On my days off, I do lots of activities with my dog and day trips plus I can go away a lot with this schedule. Easy to get 8 days in a row off. And my dog comes with me!

Please share your tips! If you found a pet sitter, what site did you use? How much do they charge for how long? Or what other solution?

Thanks !!

Edit: I’m actually considering getting a 2nd dog. (I had 3 growing up, they passed and my current dog is 6 months). To keep her company during the day and plus I would like a 2nd one. But I need to come up with a schedule for my work days. I don’t know if they’d be fine with just a once a visit pet sitter to walk them?! Is this a good idea? And I need a reliable one. My work schedule changes weekly. many hospitals require nurses work every other weekend so that changes plus then the work week days change. So my schedule could be Monday, tues wed one week, then thurs, sat Sunday another.

[Parnassia]

Can your dog spend time alone in the house? You're talking three days per week, not seven. Maybe you can re-think/scale back what's actually necessary instead of what you prefer as ideal. On those three workdays, what about having someone let the dog out for a short time halfway through the day for a potty break in the yard? You spend a lot of time with your dog outside work so it's not as if he gets no social interaction or attention.

FWIW, I have lived alone pretty much all my adult life and have had several single dogs. Typically, my workdays were 8 hours 5 days a week, but sometimes stretched to 9 or 10. Once my dogs knew and trusted the daily routine and we did activities together the rest of the time, they were confident and just fine. I'd always leave them something to do: puzzle, toy, or chew. Depending on the house, I installed dog doors so they had access to a fenced yard or run.

[gizmo980]

All dogs are different, so it really depends on what THEY need and want. I used to be a pet sitter, and had one client who was an overnight (and traveling) nurse working IIRC 6pm-6am. She had a Mini Schnauzer who was crated, so I'd go around 2am and take her on a good walk - then put her back in the crate, where she'd stay until her owner got back. She was lucky to find me, since I'm a weird nocturnal being who didn't mind those 2am visits.

My dogs are usually home alone for 9-10 hours 5x/week, since I work full-time with 1.5 hours of roundtrip commute. They're fine without any daycare or sitters, as they have outdoor access and each other + my 3 cats. I keep a security cam running in the living room, plus the husky wears a GPS collar. That way I can check on them periodically, and also get alerts if the latter manages to escape (only happened once shortly after I adopted him). Then when I get home, I feed them both and take the husky for a good walk or run around at the park. The other one's too old @ almost 17 for outings now. This routine works just fine for us, and of course they get more time on my days off. But only you know what your dog requires.

Getting another dog may or may not be a good idea, depending on your current dog's temperament and your own lifestyle. My Rudy was a solo dog for 16 years, and happily so... but he's fine with the new guy, and I think they enjoy each other's company. Mostly they ignore each other, though, given the age and energy differences. So yeah, it totally depends.

[Katie1]

You need a Dog Walker more than a Pet Sitter. Pet sitter stays all day & charges by the hour or whatever. A Walker come in 1-2 times a day takes your dog for long walks or dog parks for about 1 hour each trip. Rates are Reasonable cause they usually take care of a lot of dogs at once.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

What is your living situation? In the past, I've had a special dog yard area with a super safe fence and an insulated building and dog toys. The dogs were safe and could chose what sort of space to be in and how much heat or cooling and they could sleep or play with toys.


I've also had dogs who were reliable in the house that had a dog door that let them out into a super safe kennel, so they could be outside or inside as they chose. Actually two different dog doors and two kennels so that the dogs could be separated into groups with the tiny dogs separated from the big dogs. The trick is to have outside areas that no one can get into, no predators can get in and the dogs can not get out, no matter what tricks they try.


I have friends who have video set up so they can check on their dogs and talk to them. Spend lots of cuddle time and some walks when you can be there with them. If they are over a year old, they are going to mostly sleep all the time you are away from home.


Your work situation is not ideal, but if you give the dogs a choice, I suspect that they will vote that they want to keep you.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I have friends who have video set up so they can check on their dogs and talk to them. Spend lots of cuddle time and some walks when you can be there with them. If they are over a year old, they are going to mostly sleep all the time you are away from home.

I can confirm this. I check on mine via the security cam periodically, and 98% of the time they're sleeping - mostly on the deck, but Rudy (the old guy) switches off between his outdoor vs indoor beds. Usually depending on the weather, as we don't have A/C here. So if it's a really warm day, they're better off on the covered/shaded deck.

[Dashdog]

I have worked as respiratory therapist for 40 yrs most of it has been 12 hr shifts and night shift. Since buying my condo 32 yrs ago I have always had dogs, sometimes it was just one but most of the time 2 and even 3 for a few months a couple times when an old one was in its final months. We are talking dogs that weigh 45-50 lbs so not small dogs. I do have a dog door to a small fenced patio that they can go out on if they need to relieve them selves,

People told me I could not raise a young puppy or have a high energy breed working 12 hrs shifts. Well I have done both and been very successful as I was honest at what I was willing to do and even miss out on like movies or happy hours with friends. I made new friends that owned dogs and we would do things together with our dogs. People that meet my dogs always comment on how happy they are. 3 of the dogs started life with me as young puppies the others as older puppies or young adults. Several have been very intelligent high energy breed mixes.

With a puppy and even a new dog I start off by puppy proofing my dining room where the dog door is and putting a shower floor liner on the floor to protect the floor should there be an accident then I use an ex-pen to create a space often the whole room that includes the dog door and that is where the dogs stay when I am not home and until I can trust them. Once trusted they have the run of downstairs and eventually the whole upstairs too.

When I am home I keep evenings calm so they see it as a time to relax. When I go to work I never make a big scene about leaving them and sort of ignore them that last half hour and walk out just issuing a command like " be good' or "go find your treats". I have been blessed that my dogs have always been willing to share food or bones with each other so I hide stuffed bones or kongs around downstairs that they then go find after I leave. Some of them act like " get out of here so we can go find our treats".

I worked my 3 shifts in a row so made sure I got up early enough that they got an hour long walk and about an hour of play time too on work days and on days off they got a ton of exercise and many did agility.

Living in a condo I would tell my neighbors when I ws getting a new dog and ask them to tell me if they heard barking etc. I make sure my neighbors know they can approach me about the dogs and I will not get mad. One of the puppies was going out to the patio and barking and because I was told that I was able to correct it and the neighbor let me know when I had it solved. Other neighbors have asked me "where are your dogs when you are at work as we never hear them?"


I see so many on here say you cannot live alone,work and have dogs but trust me you can and both you and the dog can have happy lives. Right now I am home recovering from a knee total knee replacement so cannot walk the dogs. I have a girl I use as a pet sitter when I travel stopping by every morning to take them on an hours long walk as she does dog walks besides pet sitting. It is funny as if she is late the younger dog throws himself down with a sigh and vocalizes his displeasure with funny noises. Then I walk them out to the grass midday,evening and before bed as it is good PT for me! One of my dog park friends uses a college student to take her dog out. The girl is very responsible and offered to help me if I want to get my two out more as I recover. If you ask around and ask other dog owners they probably can help you find a good dog walker or maybe you can find someone in a similar situation and you can help each other. Good luck