[Calum]

Hi,

I would love to get a dog - there are 3 dogs currently located at my Mum's house and they are great fun however hard work. (that's another story in another of my posts)

My only significant problem is I will not be around for the vast majority of Monday to Friday daytime and this is a big worry for me. I would hate to buy a dog and leave it unattended all day knowing it is very lonely and most likely scenario would be behaviour problems and so on.

My question for you folks is, do you think it is possible to get a dog in these circumstances and what circumstances should I take if I wanted to do such thing?

I have a 6 week break in Summer and therefore if purchasing a puppy (most likely rescue dog though) and will use that time to get used to the dog and try train it.

Thanks for any advice.

[chucky]

bad idea, 10 hours a day alone isn,t good for a dog, and your belongings as well, i bet the dog will find something to entartain itself eventually, usually they like to rip apart soft furniture, shoes, and anything they can sink their teeth into.
when my wife had to visit her perents in europe, my dog was alone for 10 hours a day for 2 weeks, thou he is used to being alone 3-4 hours a day with no problems, but 10 was too much, i lost many cds, dvds, few house plants got destroyed, remote control was chewed up, along with many other things, while i let the dog know it was wrong, but i can,t fully blame the guy, after all he is just a dog.

[Snowshoe]

You may want to look around and see if you can find any other threads regarding this. I know for a fact that there was one about a week ago that had several replies and different opinions.

[Calum]

I would be leaving the dog at 7:30am in the morning and would have gave the dog a 30min run and then come back at 4:30pm and probally would give another walk

[dawnalina]

Do you like cats?! Cats are very independent and sleep most of the day anyway. That might be a great pet for you. They are very sweet and fun pets as well. Just a thought .... :-)

[DogAdvocat]

Originally Posted by Calum

I would be leaving the dog at 7:30am in the morning and would have gave the dog a 30min run and then come back at 4:30pm and probally would give another walk

In your first post you were talking about getting a puppy. Puppy's don't do 30 minute runs. They sleep and play, sleep and play, all day long. If you're not there to supervise the play periods, you're going to have a mess to come home to, and no matter how well you try to disguise it, the puppy will know that you are unhappy. This sets up a bad situation. Of course you could crate the dog while you're gone, but that's really unfair to do to a puppy all day long. Can someone come in mid day to take the puppy out to potty, and then to play?

Another alternative is to get an older dog that is more settled and better trained. Since you said you would be going through rescue, why not have the rescue decide which dog would be best for your situation?