Barking Embarkers

When I first rescued Chloe Rue, this question begged my utmost attention. I love my dog, and strongly believe it is important to avoid having 10 hours of alone time every single day. Many dogs are able to tolerate 8 hours away from their people, and they often times spend it sleeping, frolicking around their house, or occasionally in crates. Personally, I don’t believe that Chloe should spend more than 4 hours in her crate at a time. This, coupled with her major separation anxiety issues have lead me to take important measures to keep Chloe happy and comfortable while I am away.

There are some challenges to supporting your dog while you work long hours, but I have learned that this actually has helped me be a more productive worker. I work 8 hour days, and ensure that I actually take a lunch, and find it very important to pick Chloe up from daycare on time, and to drop her off on time as well. Let’s dive into the options we have for full time workers to support our dogs.

Doggie Daycare

This is easily my favorite option. There are so many wonderful pros to allowing Chloe to attend daycare! Just as it is for children to learn social cues from their peers, dogs also learn from their peers in how to be social, appropriate, how to play together including turn taking, sharing, and chasing. Dogs are way more intelligent than we give them credit for, and spending time at doggie daycare is a great way to maximize their social intelligence.

I typically rely on a rover first, while I explore doggy daycare options. I like to establish a reliable person on rover or wag, because I prefer Chloe to have more one on one attention when I have to catch a flight, or if I have leave her behind overnight on weekends.

Most daycares will have an extra fee for a temperament test on their first day of daycare. Then they will continue to have a base daily fee beyond that initial fee. I usually look for daycares that have experienced personell on staff, provide constant supervision to all of the dogs, and who offer training classes as well. Do not hesitate to ask questions related to experience, supervision, training, how they manage dogs who are overwhelmed on your first day of daycare. You are evaluating them, just as they are evaluating your dog.

Dog Walker

Another wonderful option we can use to support our dogs while we are working, is hiring a dog walker. Rover and Wag are apps that have dog walkers available for a small fee, but local craigslist adds, local facebook groups, google, or even asking around the neighborhood (or campground) where you live are ideal for finding people who will walk your dog. There is usually a small fee associated with this, but it is an ideal way to let your dog be outside in the middle of your day if you are not able to take them outside yourself.

Take Your Dog to Work

Is this too crazy? I don’t think so. In fact, Chloe Rue spends a great amount of her time working beside me. Though, I usually work in home health, and spend most of my day in a car, I have found many of the nursing homes I’ve worked in to be extremely accommodating for Chloe! Most places were almost insulted that I did not bring her inside to greet everyone in the building. Of course, when you work with patients, or residents, it is VERY important to understand taking your dog to the office can be a huge liability if anything were to happen. On the other hand, people are happy to pet dogs, and love seeing their smiling, loving faces.

Live Close to Work

In small towns, it is not impossible to snatch a quick lunch at home everyday. This allows you to spend time with your dog, while also stepping away from the office for a mental reprieve. In an 8 hour day, it is within the 4 hour rule to run home for lunch and let your dog use the bathroom and run around releasing energy.

Things that Help

Of most importance, training your dog to be comfortable in a crate, or anytime you are not with them is a huge priorty for leaving them at home when you are not able to be there. Follow this link for more tips about training your dog for travel, and this link for finding a reliable dog trainer or animal behaviorist.

Personally, I use a camera called ‘Arlo to Go’. I keep a thermometer within sight of the camera, but if you have access to wireless internet there are a million options for cameras within your home that have temperature monitors. I live and travel by camper, which makes the arlo to go helpful, as it can be placed in my car if Chloe is in the car, in my camper if she is in the camper, and attaches to my mobile data plan, so I don’t have to worry about being off grid.

Ensuring your dog has gotten thorough exercise every morning prior to your work day, and every evening after your work day (with important mid-day break in there too) is a priority for those moments when you have to leave them. This way, they will be less likely to take their boredom out on your couch.

Last, if access to the outdoors is an option for you, such as using a doggy door, a fenced area, or a nearby dog park, these are hugely helpful for allowing your adventure pet to be as happy as possible when you are working hard to support their happy lifestyle.

Challenges for Travelers

Finding a reliable daycare, rover, or dogwalker can be a huge challenge when you transition from one job to the next every few months. It can also be challenging if you have a landlord who does not want a dog at their home when you are not there. And it can be challenging to ensure your dog is safe temperature wise if you have a camper, or work in the home health realm from a car. However, using screening strategies to find reliable situations such as I mentioned in the doggy daycare section helps immensely! Also having a camera with a temperature monitor to use in a car or camper can optimize safety, and also help give peace of mind to what your dog might be up to when you are not there.

When it comes to financial challenges of supporting your dog while you are working, I highly recommend budgeting a fair amount of money toward your pup every week. Daycare is likely the most expensive option depending on where you are located. In South Carolina, daycare was 1$ per hour and that was unbeatable! In rural Minnesota, we found daycare for 10$ a day! However in very dog friendly places and cities such as Montreal Canada or Portland Oregon, dog daycare can run closer to 30-50$ per day. In these situations, hiring a dog walker, spending time away from the office, or bringing your dog to the office are much more financially friendly options. Bear in mind, bringing your dog to the office involves a fair amount of training which may benefit from a trainer, which has a cost associated with it too. And hiring a dog walker runs about 10$ per day (also depending on location). However many offer deals, such as 40$/week deals etc. If you are struggling with your budget, I have recently began to use You Need a Budget (here is the link for YNAB), and it has been life changing. I highly recommend them, and making sure you are prioritizing your adventure pup in your budget!

Despite the challenges of traveling around the united states with my very own adventure pup Chloe Rue, I have found it is completely worth every moment we spend together. From the times she comes into the nursing homes and changes the lives of my patients, to the moments when my home health patient is finally motivated to walk outside, if only to pet my dog; to the wonderful fatigue she feels after a day packed with laughter and running around at daycare- these are the moments I chose to be a dog mom for, and they will continue to make me the craziest dog mom around!

Have a barkingly wonderful week, thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow on social media, and subscribe below. In the meantime- have a waggerful week! Happy Trails, and happy tails.

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