How long can a Cavie be alone?

Hi all...my Joshie is now 7 months old and I am wondering how long I can leave him alone now, as well as when he is older...

We rarely leave him home alone for more than an hour when he was younger, to 2 hours when he reached 4 months. Since 6 months we've on occasion left Josh for 3 hours for special events where we couldn't take him.

Yesterday we had to leave the house for 5 hours, so we dropped Josh off at doggy daycare for some playtime and we went to our family event. Luckily this was a day event where we were able to use the doggy daycare.

We have an important family event in a few weeks that falls in the evening where we'll be gone for the evening and don't have the use of the doggy daycare. Any advise would be appreciated!

There are times when we all have to leave our "kids". What's the longest you have ever crated your puppy with no accidents etc. I sure wouldn't leave him where he has the run of the house but how about one of those pet dogpens. They work great--can confine him where you want him to like a kitchen or something. The worst thing then is that he could have an accident just out of stress too and then you would have cleanup. Depends on the temperment of the dog also. My tri never had accidents in the crate. My blendheim still does.

How long

Hi Linda:
Well we have Josh's crate with door open inside a very safe area that we call 'Josh's Villa'. It is surrounded by three solid walls and the front is a moveable gate. He goes in and out of his villa to get his toys, and when he is tired he sometimes has the wherewithall to go into the crate to get some quiet (he usually will not sleep when we are home unless we give him quiet time within his villa.

This little area is where we leave Josh when we have to leave the house for a no-dogs-allowed event. He has gone 3.5 hours at the longest in his villa area and he has not had an accident.

I know he can 'hold it' during the day for maybe 4 or 5 hours if he isn't too active with play. I guess I've conditioned Josh to be with us most of the day as he asks to be played with ALL DAY long, and we do spend most of the better part of the day active with Josh. I partially feel like I'd be the one having a hard time leaving Josh for a very long evening alone, mostly due to my doggie owning friends telling me that I'm crazy and should be content to leave Joshie home for 8 hours easy. I've been telling them that Joshie isn't your ordinary dog and that Cavalier's (from what I've read) are not good all alone for long periods of time. Oh...the dilemma's of adjusting to having a doggie, whom we adore sooooo much (maybe tooooo much)....

How long you can leave him alone really depends on what you get him used to.. We both go out to work and our furbabies are alone (but not completely as they have eachother) for 8 hours a day.. they don't mind, they have their area and they mostly just sleep.. When we get home they have all their energy to spend with us lol

Crate him if you can and give him something to keep him busy with like a stuffed kong made into an icycle or an activity ball with treats or a chewing bone.. That'll usually keep them busy for a while..

And if you are REALLY worried you might ask a neighbour to check in on them? That's what I did on new year's eve as we had to go out and I was worried about Qwick and the fireworks..

Hi

I believe that Cavaliers are people dogs and should not really be left at all but if they really must be then a maximum of 2-3 hours a day at most even if they have another Cav for company . I also believe that a dog of any description should not be on its own all day and the only alternative if both couples work and theres nobody to doggy sit is not to have any dogs or get a cat ,I relise a lot of people to survive in todays work need a high income stream into the house but from any dogs perspective its not at all fair on them.

I leave mine alone for Five hours four days a week,but they have someone drop into them for around 30 mins. During this time. Also I always leave a radio on.

If there is a reason I need to leave them longer,I usually try to make sure someone is home part of the time or can look in on them,let them out to toilet, refill water etc.

Is there a friend who could pop in even for a few minutes to break up the time?

Hi there.
I have a 2yr old and a 7mth old.
They are not left alone on a regular basis as i dont work due to having kids....i volunteer at my kids school but am never away all day.
At the weekend when we had xmas shopping or alot of things to do, 4 hrs is the max they had been left.
Both of mine are crated seperately but crates are next to one another.If i know I will be out for 2-4 hrs or so i make sure they get a long fast walk of maybe 40 mins and then off leash for 10 or so to play so that i know their minds are exhausted aswell as their bodies.I also put a kong in for the dogs when i leave too.
It just means they will sleep most of the time im out and when i get bak i take them straight out again.
In regards to an evening event i would leave mine with my mum if im leaving quite early on say 5/6pm or so but if its a later event say 8pm ish i quite often take them a good walk,off leash play for a bit and heat their snugglesafes so they think its actually later than it is and i make sure i am bak home again at least 4 hrs later.
Hope that helps :razz:

When we have gone away for a nite i put them in kennels.I wouldnt be able to relax otherwise.I only leave them for 2hrs max.What about a neighbour popping in to let him out and put him to bed,and giving him breakafast.

Ross

3 hours is quite long enough to leave a Cavalier ,and anyone leaving their dog for 8 hours a day really should not own them, to say that they just go to sleep, how do you know that if your not there? not a good idea.

Ross

I would definitely think he would be fine for 3-4 hours at this age, especially if he gets a good long walk right before you leave.

How long you can ethically leave them as adults on a regular basis is obviously a loaded issue. Personally, I think people know their own individual dogs, and they make the best decisions they can given that knowledge, so I try not to be too judgmental or make blanket statements. Every dog is different and some would be OK for longer periods alone and some would not.

At 7 months, if I was going to be gone longer than 3-4 hours I always got someone to come in and let the dogs out. Luckily there is a woman in my neighborhood who does doggie daycare at her house and will come to your house to let the dogs out and/or walk them. My dogs adore her. So I would just arrange to have her come over about halfway through the time I would be gone to let them out and play with them for a while. She usually stays for about a half hour. I think the longest we were gone at that age was about 6 hours for a wedding. And Oz was just fine.

Thanks!

Lot's of great feedback. Thanks. I am leaning towards hiring a Joshie sitter.

I don't think kenneling Josh at the doggy daycare is something I want to put Joshie through again as he had a hard time recently when we had our week long holiday. I think the daytime doggie daycare play was find, but being kenneled for the long night caused him some stress.

I am comforted in knowing that I am not going overboard in not wanting to leave my pup alone for more than a couple/few hours, as I am incessantly teased by many here by 'friends and family alike'.

Nice to make new friends here!

What I did when we had to go out for the evening and Max was still a little pup who needed to go out very frequently was hire my neighbour boy to come over for the evening, let him out and just generally hang around until his bedtime. It worked well for us.