[94Magna_Tom]

I've left Elroy alone in the (closed up, safety checked), kitchen for up to about 4 hrs with no potty issues. To provide a different context, he sleeps thru the night, sometimes 9 hrs, and when I let him out (sometimes, occasionally) in the morning, he doesn’t even pee. He'll go if I go out with him, so I'm thinking it's not urgent for him. He will go the 2nd time I let him out, so total time without peeing/pooping is like 10 hrs.
How long can I expect to be able to leave him indoors, alone, once he's all grown up? I like to ride my motorcycle with a bunch of friends on weekends, and we usually are out for 10-12 hrs. Right now when we go riding, I'm leaving him with my Dad, but hoping I can leave him home in the future. This is in the order of 1-3 times/month May-Oct.

 

[Johanna]

We have a dog door that lets out to a small fenced, graveled "dog yard". Our dogs always have access to it, so we can be gone for 8-12 hours without worrying.

 

[Basil_the_Spoo]

How old is Elroy now?

Ive gone from 7am-1pm with Basil once when my key fob to the apartment stopped working... She was literally doing the poop/pee anxious walk down the 1 flight of stairs and the whole way down to outside.

I think she was ~11 months. She already had a morning poop and pee, with normal chicken breakfast.

Sometimes too many salty treats can throw off their pee routine.

 

[cowpony]

Urine production is decreased when an animal is asleep. When Pogo and Snarky were mature we could leave them for 9 hour stretches, basically an entire work day for us. They would snooze on the couch while we were at work. Occasionally, however, we would come home to discover someone had upset digestion and made a mess. When the boys were young and more prone to eating odd things we would confine them to our sunroom. Later, when we gave them more freedom, we found Pogo would hie himself into the cellar when he was feeling unwell.

 

[reraven123]

Zephyr can go 15 hours pretty easily (by his choice). He doesn't get up when I do in the morning, and when he does get up I ask him if he wants to go out and sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. He regularly goes until early afternoon before going outside.

 

[Raindrops]

Misha can easily go many hours without a potty break. I'm sure he could go 12 hours if he had a good walk before. But I wouldn't leave him that long because he would get distressed. Any time I'm gone more than 6 hours I try to have a friend drop by and take him for a walk. Even with that I still don't typically push more than 9 hours.

 

[94Magna_Tom]

How old is Elroy now?

Elroy is 5 months old now. I guess it also depends on you poodles size.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Overnight? 12 hours, easy.

During the day, I would not ask that of a dog at any age, unless there were exceptional circumstances. They are so social.

We are exploring sitter options right now, as we’re hoping to do some rare dog-free day trips in August. They will come hang out with Peggy for a few hours in the afternoon.

 

[Piper 2020]

No sidecar for the bike? I can just envision Elroy in googles with his ears flapping in the breeze. 😊

 

[cowpony]

Overnight? 12 hours, easy.

During the day, I would not ask that of a dog at any age, unless there were exceptional circumstances. They are so social.

We are exploring sitter options right now, as we’re hoping to do some rare dog-free day trips in August. They will come hang out with Peggy for a few hours in the afternoon.

That's a good point about the social aspects. Pogo and Snarky had each other, plus a cat.

Additionally, the routine matters. Pogo and Snarky thought it was entirely normal to have their humans disappear at 8 AM. They just found a comfy cushion and went to sleep on it. In contrast, Pogo used to get very concerned if my husband left the house at night. I have a series of photos taken over a several hour period in which Pogo was just lying in front of the door in different positions, waiting for my husband to return.

 

[94Magna_Tom]

No sidecar for the bike? I can just envision Elroy in googles with his ears flapping in the breeze.

No, no sidecars. Sports bikes are not conducive to that!

 

[Mr.Ziggy]

I normally don't leave Ziggy (almost 2) alone more than 3-4 hours, but this past weekend something came up and I had to leave him alone for 7 hours. I was really worried about him but every time I checked the camera he was just snoozing. When I came home and took him outside he wasn't desperate to pee.

I don't want to do that regularly but it is really good to know what he is comfortable with when things come up.

 

[Rose n Poos]

Overnight and sleeping, my boys are good for 10 hours. I think 6 hours is the most we've gone in the daytime and that was unavoidable due to a medical emergency. I think they might have been ok for a while longer, but I don't want to have to find out.

If it's not ideal to always leave him with your dad, is there a trustworthy neighbor who could stop by midway thru?

 

[Mufar42]

Renn can easily go 8 hours. I'm always home though so he doesn't need too but there are days when he is out at 6 am and not again till 2 pm. He really is good and after that he will go out at 7:30-8pm and be done for the night. When I think about these things, I tell myself, don't add another dog you don't know how lucky you are.

 

[Dechi]

You need to teach him a « go pee », « go poop » command. This way when you have to go, you take him outside and he pees, so you know you’re good for 4 hours.

It’s easy to do. While he’s peeing, just say « go pee » and praise abundantly when he’s done. Same when pooping. You’ll have a dog peeing on command in a few weeks/ months !

Of course for pooping command, if he doesn’t have to go it won’t work. But sometimes WE know they need to go and a little encouragement makes them go.

 

[For Want of Poodle]

About 10 hours is the max I have done, not with Annie though. It would help to have a dog accustomed to you being away every day for 8 hours, there is a huge jump between a 3-4 hour absence and a 6+ hour one. If I was going to be away for 10-12 hours, I would have someone stop in to let Annie out. 8 hours is the longest I have ever left Annie and I think she was crossing her legs!

 

[94Magna_Tom]

I normally don't leave Ziggy (almost 2) alone more than 3-4 hours, but this past weekend something came up and I had to leave him alone for 7 hours. I was really worried about him but every time I checked the camera he was just snoozing. When I came home and took him outside he wasn't desperate to pee.

I don't want to do that regularly but it is really good to know what he is comfortable with when things come up.

This is kind of info I'm looking for. Life happens! Thank you. I'm glad Ziggy handed it well!

 

[94Magna_Tom]

Overnight and sleeping, my boys are good for 10 hours. I think 6 hours is the most we've gone in the daytime and that was unavoidable due to a medical emergency. I think they might have been ok for a while longer, but I don't want to have to find out.

If it's not ideal to always leave him with your dad, is there a trustworthy neighbor who could stop by midway thru?

Yes. At least 2 trustworthy neighbors that have already offered!

 

[94Magna_Tom]

You need to teach him a « go pee », « go poop » command. This way when you have to go, you take him outside and he pees, so you know you’re good for 4 hours.

It’s easy to do. While he’s peeing, just say « go pee » and praise abundantly when he’s done. Same when pooping. You’ll have a dog peeing on command in a few weeks/ months !

Of course for pooping command, if he doesn’t have to go it won’t work. But sometimes WE know they need to go and a little encouragement makes them go.

I am constantly working on this. It works sometimes, so I must be making progress.

 

[94Magna_Tom]

About 10 hours is the max I have done, not with Annie though. It would help to have a dog accustomed to you being away every day for 8 hours, there is a huge jump between a 3-4 hour absence and a 6+ hour one. If I was going to be away for 10-12 hours, I would have someone stop in to let Annie out. 8 hours is the longest I have ever left Annie and I think she was crossing her legs!

I'm retired now, so I won't be gone most of the time. He'll be used to me being with him most of the time, so I'm sure that doesn't help. Like I said, this will be 1-3 times/month during riding season. I've cut it to 3-5x for this season though because he needs me.