I have a second interview either later today or tomorrow for a dialysis position that I am hoping to get. Three twelve hour day shifts, no Sundays, no major holidays, so a pretty good gig for a nurse. However, my husband also works days, and often twelve hour shifts, sometimes longer.
We have a dog (hence my name and avatar, lol) and herein lies the problem. Including drive time, she would be stuck in the house for all this time and I think 12+ hours is way too long for a dog to not go outside. We got the dog when our kids were teenagers, but they are grown now so it is two middle aged adults with this dog who needs to be let out. Most of our neighbors are gone all day too, except for one older lady with some health problems whom I cannot expect to come over and let the dog out during the day. We live in a small town so there are no services where you can pay someone to come and let your dog out, and we have no immediate family nearby. Our daughter is graduating from college next week so she may be around temporarily to take care of this, but if she finds a job elsewhere, we will still have this problem.
Can anyone suggest a solution to this problem? I really want this job, and I don't want to have to find a night job just because of our dog, because I am totally a morning/day person and I could never sleep past noon when I worked nights in the past and walked around feeling like a zombie all the time.
I figure there must be someone here who has the same problem.
Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.
We have an outdoor kennel for our dogs when we are gone. It gets really cold here too, but we have the large kennel, then a good doghouse that's inside the kennel with straw inside of it for them to go into in bad weather. They have always done fine.
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Buy panels of chain link ,create a pen,push the open end up to the doorway in which you have installed a doggie door.Problem solved.She can go in and out at will.Make sure the panels are securely connected to something so they can't push away from the house in bad weather and anticipate training her to use the door
Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.
Put an ad in the local paper or on Craigslist, find a petsitter of some sort. I've done this in the past for house services and I've also gotten some farmsitting gigs that way as well.
Surely you can find someone through word of mouth who would like to make some extra $, and is home during the day? Semi-retired person, stay at home mom, etc.?
I vote for having a dog walker/sitter visit. Care.com as someone already suggested, or ask your vet if they have any recommendations. You can also advertise at your local high school or college--I used to dog sit when I was in college for extra money, and it was great because I got paid to hang out with pets :)
Specializes in med-surg, IMC, school nursing, NICU.
Definitely go for the dog walker. I'm sure there is someone in your area who offers this service, you just need to look. Try care.com, they have a pet sitter search.
Specializes in Care Coordination, Care Management.
What about checking with a local senior center, they may have a program for volunteering for seniors, there may be an older adult willing to come let her outside.
Instead of vetoing the doggie daycare outright, perhaps you should look into it first - see if there is one near your work, what the cost is, etc.
Um, no offense, but you keep shooting down EVERY option being given to you. I'm not sure what you're hoping for here?
Thanks, that would be a great solution except that we live in an area where it gets very cold in the winter and she would literally not survive outdoors all day. I'm afraid I would come home and find a little pupsicle.
I would really like it if our daughter could take the dog when she moves out, since it is technically her dog (birthday gift eight years ago) but she will likely end up renting at first and probably couldn't have a dog or would also end up working days so the problem would still exist.
I do know that I am not willing to pay for doggie day care, which I'm sure is available in the city where I will be working, although I'm not sure if I could even drop her off at 5 am. That would probably be just about as expensive as having a child in day care, which I never did either, and it would probably just stress her out.
So you have an 8+ year old Westie who you need to leave alone for 12+ hours a day, but based on prior suggestions and responses you don't seem very willing to explore reasonable options. This dog could technically live for another 8 years, so installing a fence seems to be something that makes a lot of sense. Even if it is just a small area that the dog can be given access to through a doggie door.
As someone who used to work in a dog daycare, most well socialized dogs actually enjoy it quite a bit. You might want to look into that for her one day a week (maybe the second of your three shifts) so that she has something to break up that period. I would not try training her to go inside as it could potentially lead to her going elsewhere in your house where you don't want her to. I understand your wanting your daughter to take her, but ultimately you were the one who purchased the dog and are therefore the one who is responsible for the dog. Perhaps once your daughter is set up and established she can take her, but until then it definitely should be what is best for the dog as she is the innocent party.
Good choice on dogs by the way, Westies are adorable and so smart.
I have a Jack Russell with horrible separation anxiety, and I had a job that required me to work 10-12 hour shifts four days a week. He's always been really good about not going indoors, and no matter how long I was at work, never had an accident. But after one shift, where I had to stay an extra four hours because one of my co-workers never showed up, and I couldn't call any neighbors, because it was after midnight, I decided to hire a dog-walker.
I completely understand your reluctance to let someone you don't know into your home. That's why it's important to get references. I just went onto care.com and found a couple of people to interview, spoke with their current/previous employers and hired one of the girls. She was awesome. Nothing was ever missing from my place, and believe me, for the first few months I checked thoroughly.
My dog loved her, and I felt much better whenever I left the house for work, because I knew that in six hours, she would come and take him for a walk, and sometimes she'd stick around for awhile to play with him while she did her homework. She was a college student living in a dorm and really appreciated having a quiet place to study and she never charged me extra for staying with him, because she was doing her own thing. It worked out perfectly for both of us.
I moved out of the area two years ago, and am starting nursing school in a couple of weeks . I just started interviewing for a dog-walker again, as I will have to go straight from class to work two days out of the week, and will be gone for about 16 hours at a time. It's no less nerve-wracking than the first time I hired someone, but I'm taking all the proper precautions.
I get that it sounds weird, allowing a total stranger into your home, but just be smart about it. I won't pretend there aren't a lot of people out there with questionable morals at best, but there are some really great people with an awesome work ethic too. Just be sensible and trust your instincts. Your dog will thank you.
I know where you're coming from! I got through the first year with my dog by living very close to work and scooting home on my lunch break to give him a quick potty break. I made sure to give him lots of attention and activity on my off days, and took him to doggie daycare an off day or two a week so he gets plenty of socialization and fun to balance the long dull days. Fortunately, I have a roommate now that works 9-5 who works close to home, so pup gets walked on roommate's lunchbreak and when roommate gets home from work - and I still do daycare.
You will have a great deal of difficulty finding a commercial daycare that is open long enough for a nurse's workday. I have found some that are open early enough for drop off and some open late enough for a pickup, but nowhere is both.
If you can find someone to walk him but are concerned about security, you might set him up in the garage on your workdays and provide the dog walker access to the garage only.
If you really want to keep him, a doggie door with an attached playpen is a good idea. You can find outdoor garden fencing (moveable and non-permanent) that you can install in yourself if he will stay inside fencing that is 2-3 feet tall, or there are also canine-specific outdoor fence/enclosure options.
If you want to help your daughter keep him, maybe just pay for pet fees at a new apartment. A dog does limit options somewhat, but it is only one pet, and it is a small dog, and it isn't usually THAT hard to find a good pet-friendly apartment without paying a lot more.
I think rover.com is a pet sitting site. You can try there or ask around for recommendations for a pet sitter. Once you get a good pet sitter, treat them well and pay them well.
You don't know anyone who could help you, so the friend option is out.
You don't want a stranger coming into your house, so a pet sitter/walker is out.
You don't have a fenced in yard, so a doggie door is out.
You don't want to encourage indoor voiding, so pet pads are out.
You don't want to utilize or pay for a doggy day care center and it probably wouldn't work for 12 hour shifts, so that is out.
Your daughter would have all the same issues/problems you are describing, so that option is out.
I don't know what else there is to suggest. Even trying to adjust your start time at work might not take care of this, given your DH's long hours.
I would really encourage you to consider fencing in your yard and putting in a doggy door, but I'll warn you that fences do not come cheap. And that doesn't solve the problem of companionship that dogs, as social animals, need very much.
. I just started interviewing for a dog-walker again, as I will have to go straight from class to work two days out of the week, and will be gone for about 16 hours at a time. It's no less nerve-wracking than the first time I hired someone, but I'm taking all the proper precautions.
Eleven011
1,250 Posts
We have an outdoor kennel for our dogs when we are gone. It gets really cold here too, but we have the large kennel, then a good doghouse that's inside the kennel with straw inside of it for them to go into in bad weather. They have always done fine.