If you work away from home or are gone for parts of the day, what do you do with your pets? I've seen people leave their TVs on (anyone see that channel for Dogs?), lock them in crates, I even know someone who brings their dog to work. What do you do?
I leave my dog alone while I work everyday, and that makes me feel bad to leave him by himself. So I always give him a treat before leaving and I leave the TV on every day. I'm not sure if he really pays attention, but eventually he will look at the TV and and turn his head while seemingly be paying very close attention. So I leave it on, at least i know the noise will make him feel less lonely.
I am guilty of the TV trick. I usually set the timer for a few hours and my cat LOVES to watch "Animal Planet" shows. She used to cry when I left but if I leave the tv on, she let's me walk right out. I also leave a curtain up in a bedroom window facing my back yard. She loves to watch "cat tv" there too, especially since she can see my garden and a few bird feeders.
I just place my cat in a cage when I leave the house, since he is a lazy cat (actually most cats are) and he doesn't mind being in small confined spaces as long as he has food and water to drink. He does nothing but sleep most of the time.
Nah, not usually. I like to think that my pets kind of like being left alone in the peace and quiet for a while when I'm gone. Currently, I work from home and the cat probably gets sick of me being here all day long, typing away or being on phone calls, annoying the heck out of him. When I do have to go out, I turn everything off so it's not too loud in here for him, hehe.
My boyfriend has a doberman/greyhound mix, and works 12 hour shifts. We buy him treats/bones sometimes, and like to take him to the dog park once a week on Fridays. Most of the time, one of us can stop by in the middle of the day to walk and feed him. On Saturdays he gets to go to day care at the kennel where my boyfriend works- the dogs get to run around in a pool and park for 5 hours, and he really likes it. We try to make up for his alone time as best we can. Soon, we'll have another dog so he's never alone!
I wish my dogs could get into TV like some others' have! They don't pay attention to the TV when it's on (maybe because it's on most of the time when someone is home?). The only time any one of my dogs paid attention to a screen was when I played the YouTube video of the cutest frog sound, or something like that, on my iPad. My dachshund turned her head all cutely and thought, for a moment, that the frog was real. (She would've eaten him, though..) I should check out that channel for dogs and see if my dogs get interested in it. Since I have three dogs, I only leave the light on in the kitchen (where they mostly stay) if I think I'll be out until dark. One of my dogs doesn't mind being alone; I actually think he prefers being alone. He didn't used to be that way, but being 15 years old, he's just at that grumpy geezer stage. They don't mind when anyone leaves the house, because they know that they get a treat when someone comes home. I think the treats helped them think: "They won't be gone long, plus I'll get something yummy when they get home!"
