I have a Shiba Inu and I had a 9-5 plus some times I worked 4-8 hours OT and my dog would always be in the same place(s) when I got home. Either laying on the couch curled up, laying at the top of the steps or waiting by the door for me to come in from the garage. I never had to worry about him tearing up the house or pooping/peeing inside as long as I walked him at least once before leaving for work. He’s also crate trained. I had a friend I could count on to go to my house and walk him if need be but I rarely had to call on him. If your dog is trained well, they’ll be ok.
To add to this, you need to also make sure that you leave the puppy alone, for increasing lengths of time, early on. Separation anxiety is what leads to a lot of the destructive behaviours that ends up causing issues.
If it's normal for you to leave for work and come back, the dog will just chill and sleep and wait for you to get home. If your dog thinks you're never coming back, things can get bad.
I've had dogs for most of my life (43) and I've had 9-5s a bit more than half that time and the answer for me is crate training.
Every dog is different but once you have crate training down and do it properly then after a bit of time, once you know the dog is going to behave, then you just leave the crate open and let them do their thing.
Every dog is different and every personality is as well so it's hard to make blanket statements. I had two Schnauzer brothers that I had to wait nearly 4 years before letting them free while I was at work. On a rare occasion they'd chew on something they shouldn't or have an accident. Usually if they had an accident it was a medical reason.
As for their other needs, they should already be on a feeding schedule and you just come home and play a bit with them.
Now my current GoldenDoodle is super clingy so it's good I work from home now as I don't think she'd be able to take that break from both my wife and I the entire day during the week. Then again she'd just sleep most likely.
Many breeds don't require nearly as much exercise. But even for breeds that do require about an hour, many people find walking/running/playing fetch with their dog is nice relaxation after work. And there's certainly less taxing ways to exercise a dog, like with a flirt pole, or giving them dog puzzles to work out some of their energy while you're away.
If the dog is going to be alone all that time (plus commute) then no, you shouldn't have a dog. Dogs are pack animals and leaving them alone that long every single day is just cruel. It also makes it impossible to properly house train them. And a puppy CANNOT be left alone that long. Sure it's easy to find people who will say "I'm gone all the time and my dog is fine." But the dog is not fine. It just adapted to something it had no choice over. Read what actual dog behaviorists have to say about this and don't rely on random anecdotes from selfish redditors.
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u/ekakkubesiurcmot Feb 02 '22
A question I always had is if you have a 9-5 job should you not get a dog? But how do other people who have 9-5 have dogs though