If you have a dog(s) how much time do you spend with him/her?

Question

How often do you walk your dog and play with your dog in an average day? At night, do you play with your dog a lot in the house? I am curious to see how much time people on average spend with their dog. I'm looking forward to your responses.

Answer 1

When I had a dog, I spent about two hours a day during the week and about 4 hours each day on the weekends. I loved that dog! Time was spent with training, grooming and playing. Early every Sunday we went to a park that was about 30 miles away and I would let him run free. He would come to me in a heartbeat whenever I called his name. He was a real treasure.

Answer 2

My last dog I went to school 20 hours a week and worked 30 hours a week, so besides night time, I generally only had time with her on the weekends. My ex, however, didn't have a job or school, so he was around her 24/7-- bringing her everywhere he went.

As for the dog I am about to get, I am hoping to spend a lot of time with her! I work 16 hours a week and go to school about 10 hours a week, so the rest of the time is devoted to her.

As for the days I had with my last dog, I used to walk her about an hour or two a day, and would play with her on, and off, a few hours during the day. Every night when I got home from work I would take her out and we would play for about 30 minutes as well (I can't play too much inside because I am in an apartment).

Answer 3

I have an 8-month old lab that I adopted when she was about 6 months old. She is very energetic - she is a lab and she is a puppy. So we try to go on walks around our local lake - it has a 5K path around it, which we do at least 5 times a week. She is a retreiver so before a walk I toss her training dummy for at least 30 minutes - both into water and on dry land. If we are stuck in the house because of bad weather or because I'm busy, I will take her to PetCo to burn off some energy and we will play in the house - fetch or tug of war or indoor training. I am a graduate student, so I can take her to my office on days I don't have class and I can usually get home pretty early, so I'd say on average I spend about 10-12 waking hours with my dog - not all of its playing, but I've found the best study break for me is a 15-30 minute game of fetch in the back yard.

Answer 4

I'm pretty much a stay at home mom to my dogs. I own and operate a pet sitting business so I can pretty much dictate my own schedule and I only work in my neighborhood, so I'm usually home several hours each day. We live in the city but we're a 3 minute walk away from a nice park, which we walk to an average of 3 times every day. Even though I'm home most of the time, that doesn't mean my dogs benefit much from my company- nor me from theirs- since they sleep almost all day themselves, the bums. We do have our playtimes throughout the day though. Unfortunately, they're biggest play sessions always take place around 6 AM and 9 PM- we live in apartment building so I doubt our neighbors appreciate their barking, so we try to discourage play at this time.

I work a couple of mornings a week at a doggy daycare and Louie comes with me when I go. Sydney is fearfully dog aggressive though, so she can't. She doesn't mind though- like I said, she sleeps all day =P

Answer 5

My dog literally lives with me. He can not go to work with me and does not go places where he would be left for a long time in the car, but other than that, he's my constant companion. We live near a small rural town, and few people are surprised to see him with me, even in stores. We can read each other's body language, which is very important in SAR.

How much time do we spend together? I'd say roughly 14hr/day. How much do we play? Our playtime can happen at any moment, except when I get home... it's major play time then (for about 15mins).

Sorry that I can't be more specific

Answer 6

Well, right now, I stay at home all day (I just had surgery), so I spend all of my time with my two dachshunds, whether it's playing fetch or just laying on the couch petting them. We have property and a fenced yard, so they get about 4-5 daily romps in the yard. They also get a walk to the mailbox and back (about a 1/4 mile walk) almost everyday. My dogs usually play at night before we go to bed with their toys, so they usually sleep all through the night :)

Answer 7

Currently I go to school for 4 hours a day. Starting next week it will be 5 hours. I am with my dogs all day long other than that except for the odd half hour trip to the store. We go for several short walks a day (I have bad knees and hips and the ground is snowy and icy). We play whenever the mood strikes and I often talk to them even when I am doing something else.

Answer 8

Well i have 2 jack russels and they are my shadows. I can take them to work becuase i work at the local humane society and so they can stay in the office and meet many different people and animals and then when i get home i take them for at least an hour walk and then we play in the yard for a while and if i go anywhere they always come so yeah. Alot of the time i spend the entire day with them.

Answer 9

My dog followed me around as much as my children. We were always together. My dog was so well trained, he was a Gorden Setter(one of the top ten dogs for children) and loved kids that my kids teachers would let him come for a visit at there school. Our "Harley" would eat when the family ate and sleep when the kids slept. We lost him a few years ago, he died in my arms on my birthday, he was 11. We miss him. Good dogs are definately friends for life, part of the family and deserve a lot of attention.

Answer 10

I spent about 4-6 hours a day with them and I play with them in the house.