Working and still keeping a happy cavalier?

[Dee]

We both work and Audrey spends her days in an X-pen (4x12) with her crate open at one end. The crate has a cover so it is very den-like. The pen is in front of a large glass door overlooking our back yard. I have a great dog walker that comes mid-day to give her a potty break and spends 1/2 hour playing with her. One day a week she takes her for a play date with another small dog. All in all Audrey has been okay with this and goes in the pen without trouble. I often think of trying her elsewhere in the house but I know she is safe in the pen and can move around. She is just 16 months old and still has some puppy tendencies. I give her a treat ball with a portion of her daily food allotment in it when I leave for work and I leave a stuffed kong for the dog-walker to give her mid-day. My husband plans to retire in a few years which we look forward to- I am sure Audrey does too!

[Maxxs_Mummy]

An X-pen is a good idea Dee. It's just somewhere that Audrey can feel safe and not wander and pine for you

When Maxx was tiny we had a fairly large kitchen so we used to leave him there if we were out, or at bedtime. then we moved and the kitchen was tiny so he had the run of the house.

THEN we moved again and againe we have a large kitchen but Maxx is so used to his freedom that he still has the run of the house and no one is 'allowed' to shut their bedroom doors or he scratches them to get in

He's usually found on my bed or in our en-suite on the cool tiles but he does a running check on the kids every 2 hours or so LOL

[hillyb]

Hi

I totally sympathise with you on the dilemma of leaving our pets on their own - my partner and I have totally changed our schedules so Sam is not alone for too long 4-5 hours max as I just feel it is so unfair as he loves company so much ... Also toying with the idea of no.2 but have first baby on the way so will wait till next year as I will home all day for the next 5 months and I am looking forward to spending time with my 2 babies.

Best of luck and probably no.2 is the long term way to go...

H&S

[yaelelish]

hillyb,

How exciting to have your first baby is the due date close? (I have two girls one is 7 and the other 5.5).
Good for Sam too that he'll have all day company for a while.
I concluded that 4-5 hours is about the max time. So I now got baby sitter that comes at around 2pm, takes Zita out for a long walk and stays with her for an hour. Then I arrive at around 4:30pm. She seems to be doing well on this arrangement so I think it is ok for now...
I keep visiting people that have puppies because I am toying with the idea of taking a number 2 but I when thinking clearly I think I shouldn't. I already have enough things I need to take care of as it is..

Yael

[GudrunTheRed]

I don't need an excuse, I just want another Cavalier

Back off lady...you CAN'T have Chester....grrrrr....

But back to the business at hand...there's tons of great advise in this thread and I agree that doing the X-pen with the crate and a view is a wonderful idea. As long as they have a view they have lots of squirrels and other critters to look at and bark at.

I work at home but when I leave I always leave the TV or radio on for Mr. Chester. If it's the TV I like to leave it on BBC America so he can have fun with listening to the accents. There have been times where I've been gone for 6 hours and he was asleep on my bed most of the time or in the window imagining he's the Mighty Squirrel Killer of DOOM!

Another good and fun option is if you have a good neighbor that has a dog and you can put the dogs together for the day while you're gone. That way they can play and you can swap back and forth with your neighbor so they spend time at both houses. You would just have to know the neighbor and the dog very well. My next door neighbor has a Papillon named Riley and he and Chester are great buddies. I kept Riley for a long weekend while his Mom was at the beach and I left the two of them together for a good 4-5 hours one Saturday and when I came home they were konked out on my bed and snuggled up together. Luckly they are both good boys and do not chew or distroy anything so I don't worry about letting them have the run of the house. But if you're not as confident, a large X-pen is great OR keeping them confined to a kitchen or other larger room is great too.

Alot of people pay for Doggy Daycare, but I think another animal in the house with them most days is a wonderful substitute.

So there's my 2 cents.

Personally, I think you should get another Cavalier...but that's just me...