Hello everyone,

We have a husky mix who is 1 year and 9 months old. Due to work schedules changing for my husband and I, it means for two days a week no one would be able to be home to give him a mid day potty break.

What it would look like is my husband taking him out around 7-7:30am for his potty and workout and the. Again when he gets home at 6:30PM. This would only be for maybe 1 max 2 days a week. The rest of the days I am working from home and can take him out 1-2 extra times throughout the day as usual.

My question is would this be cruel or wrong? Would be okay? So far he has held it and been ok once already this week. But im wondering if its ok in the long run.

My Sibe has a leak so that would be a problem for her - every place she sets has a half dollar wet spot when she gets up.  
My Alaskan wouldn't have a problem with that at all.  He wants out in the morning when we get up and then doesn't care if he gets out again till it's time for bed - 12-14 hours later.

All my dogs, over the years, have all had that occasion when something has come up that they don't get out when they need to.  All have been able to handle it without any problem (( except "Daddy, I'm going out!!! Now!!" ))  If he's not crated while you're gone you may have an accident or two until he "understands" the change in schedule but 12-18 hours on occasions shouldn't be a problem.

Some might debate "cruel" but too many people have dogs who are crated from the time their owners leave in the morning till they get back in the evening and all the dog does is sleep -- not particularly cruel.

If that were an everyday occurance I might wonder about long term effects but since it's not an everyday, all day thing I don't see any real problem.

Shadow is not a husky and squirt is half husky and both get left home for long periods of time. Denver and back plus appointment and stops is 12 hours easily and they are fine. Unless squirt has a revenge pee but thats different. But regularly in summer shadow goes out at 5 to 6 am comes in and doesnt go back out till about 9pm. Door is open its his choice. Winter mine are in from 8pm till about 8am.

And some would say what i do with squirt is cruel but i know she wouldnt get adopted and she has it much much better then at a dog shelter. She has a bedroom and a schedule when she comes out and she scratches if its a random time. Cant let her kill the boys or get killed by spider. We make it work.

That's a long time. I would find a walker.

Give 'em a place to go!

Recently my nephew's girlfriend was boosting how their dogs could "easily go 8-10 hours in their crates during the day".

I screamed: How the F do you know how "easy" that 10 hours was?

I dont crate my dogs and accidents happen

Windfishin wrote:

Give 'em a place to go!

Recently my nephew's girlfriend was boosting how their dogs could "easily go 8-10 hours in their crates during the day".

I screamed: How the F do you know how "easy" that 10 hours was?

I've heard that dogs can be "litter trained" but know of none from personal experience so that's not one of my suggestions.  Of course getting the dog out on a regular schedule is the best thing but failing that, I agree, a walker is high on my agenda when it's a regular situation, for the occasional situation (1-2 times a week?) I don't see crating for 8-12 hours as a major problem.  My Sibe is crated overnight because she won't hold it if I give her the run of the house, the interesting part is that when I open the crate to let her out, she often looks at me with a "Oh, it's time to get up?" and dozes off to sleep again.  Obviously it's not that pressing a matter.

Short story:  I was living in Houston while my aunt was living in Lakes Charles - app 150 miles apart - I had to go over to take care of some legal matters and expected to be back later that evening so my Lab spent the afternoon in my apartment.  As things worked out, I didn't get home till the NEXT afternoon.  Lady was standing inside the door when I opened it - as she normally did - but didn't greet me, it was a mad dash to the lawn to relieve herself.  To my absolute surprise there wasn't a spot in the house - but I'm guessing her bladder was uncomfortably full!  
I wouldn't do that to any dog if I knew what was going to come up - but knew that she could even if I wouldn't want to make her face that again.

I'd be inclined to say that most dogs can retain their urine for that 8-10 hours without too much of an issue.  I won't comment on how comfortably - it's not my bladder - I know that some seem to be uncomfortable since they want out as quickly as possible, others don't seem to be pressured.  I think it depends on the dog and their comfort that they'll be allowed out as soon as their owner comes home.