I can't go that long either, but when I was working outside the home I used to leave my dog from 8:30 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. She couldn't go that long now that she's older, though. So I'd say much depends on the dog.

Holy cow. Can anyone on this forum go 14 hours without having to pee?

I let my boys out right before bed time and then the very first thing in the morning. I don't wait for them to ask to go out it's just the routine. We wake up and pee. Then we eat then go out and potty again.There's another opportunity to potty in the afternoon before and after walk then again after supper.

Do you have an enclosed yard where he could go out thru a doggie door? Years ago we had a Doxie who was left in our house from 7am to 6pm every day and he held it. We probably killed his little kidneys, but he waited. He lived to 16 years so not too much damage was done.

The key is whether or not you take him out often during the day. If so, he will be used to it and expect it, they are very habit oriented as to their behavior.

Maybe a trusted neighbor could let him out in the afternoon?

There is a potential health concern associated with forcing an animal to hold urine for extended periods of time. Although your dog might be able to hold urine for 9 hrs at a time day after day, urine retention can promote the formation of urinary crystals and stones. That can be both excruciatingly painful and even life-threatening is a complete urinary blockage occurs. It is always best for an animal to be able to empty his bladder whenever the need arises.

Laurie

I am just curious but don't most of you guys work full time?
Everyone I know, who owns a dog, works full time. We all have to keep our dogs indoors for that time. A normal work day is 8.5 (because of lunch) hours, with the commute it would be about 9.
I am not saying we all want to do this, however where I live this is considered the norm. Noone lets their dog stay outside when they are not home. They could escape or be hurt and during the winter it is too cold.
When we get home our dogs do not immediatly run outside to go bathroom. They usually want to say "hi" to us and jump around and then go outside quickly. Then they rush in for dinner and then back outside to play and hang out.
If dogs didn't hold it for this long then most people would not be able to own them. Most families have both parents working now-a-days.

What type of kennel has 'potty breaks'? All the kennels I've used have attached outside areas the dogs can access whenever they need to.

Dogs that go long periods without being let out learn not to eat and drink during that period and I can help but think it eventually leads to health problems.

Is your nephew truly going to spend time with the dog and return to the home after work every day? Think thru all the possible scenarios and then decide if the dog is better off at home or at the kennel. If you choose the kennel, be sure to make an early reservation and ask what vaccinations are required.

We left ours for 9 hours daily from when she was a puppy. She had accidents of course when she was a puppy. But she had papers she was trained to use then. When she got older - 2 years or so. She stopped using them as she gained more control. I let her out immediately upon getting up, once again before I left the house, then immediately when we got home.
When she got older, we crated her as she slept all day anyways, with her blankie because she would have accidents in the house - as we expected.
Dachsie lived to age 17 and was very happy and spoiled little doggie!

Thanks for the responses. They leave still ambivalent. Many people I know do work all day. The kennel I have used and another I have seen, do not have outdoor kennels. They take the dogs out of their kennel 2 times/day, and allow them to piddle in an area towards the back where they can clean up. My dog would not probably go unless outside. I guess I will try to get a neighbor, but not freak out if it's missed a day or two.

We have a doggie door, and I thought most people did. I don't know how long you could leave a dog, but I think the lack of socialization would be a problem.

Sammy

My dog goes at 10 am (we sleep in) and often refuses to go until almost 6 - so it depends on the dog. I would try and get someone reliable to come and walk the dog midday tho..

There are dog walking services, you could try one of those, if you are concerned. I don't know their cost, but if just for a week, it might ease your mind a bit. The kennels you speak of are probably veterinarians that board. I've done both. I have found that some vets give extra love if they have time. I walked into my vet's office to pick up my girls once, he was carrying one of them around in his arm! Another time they stayed at a small kennel without runs. My girls were the only ones staying, so she brought in her mentally challenged 11 year old, and let them have the run of the place! Can you imagine everything they sniffed!! I do understand your predicament. We do travel, it is very expensive in this area, and we have no one we trust to take care of them. Good luck! Christy

I used to leave my dogs 9 or 10 hours a day, and they never had an accident. This was from about age 2 to age 9. Then I got a job extremely close to home, so I'd visit at lunch time.

I wouldn't leave an older dog that long. And I wouldn't leave an 'only' dog that long, not because of having to potty, but I'd feel like they were lonely. Not sure if that is true, because they say dogs sleep 18 hours a day!

My dogs are about like me, and go every few hours. They also don't always do 1 and 2 at the same time...
I don't understand leaving dogs by themselves for so long, it seems cruel to me. But my life revolves around my dogs schedule and not the other way around.

"Noone lets their dog stay outside when they are not home."

LOL Scryn obviously doesn't live in the atlanta suburbs.

I kid you not, I could wind up with about 3 new dogs a week just from all the idiots. If only I had a place to put them all.

How do working couples do it?

Live-in grandpa is our best solution.
Our petsitter lady came before Grandpa moved in, and she visited any day that was longer than 7-8 hours.
People have relatives stop by
Hire a local kid
Drive home at lunch
Live with the "oops!" events! Dog can become un-potty-trained, though.

It always amazes me how people say their dog is forced to hold it for 9 hours and is "fine." I don't have a dog and never had one because I work. I wish I could, but I wouldn't put a dog through that.

I'd like to see you hold it for 9 hours and feel fine. Tell me the first thing that dog did not want to do was run out and pee.

Actually, their systems are different than ours, so you can't really compare to yourself. I am gone 9 - 12 hours per day, and I have a neighbor who lets my dog out midday. She doesn't always pee, which surprises me.

Nope! I don't live in Atlanta! I live in in NY state, so it can get very cold here. A dog would die outside in the winter.
Actually, when i sleep (usually get to bed around 10-11 and wake up around 7) I do go 8-10 hours without going to the bathroom because I am sleeping.
I have noticed on days that I am home sick that my two boys sleep all day. I see them move around and change beds or positions but they don't play with their toys or with eachother. They really DO sleep all day! They are so lucky!
We adopted both our boys and were interviewed before we could get them. Neither adoption agency had a problem with us being at work during the day.
It isn't perfect and we would like to be home or work shorter hours but then how do you pay for your cost of living? Most people can't even stay home with their children so staying home with a dog is really out of the question.
Our dogs do not cause trouble, so they must not be bored. They get play time every morning before work and after work. In the weekends we go hiking and have lots of fun. Sometimes they just lay in the sun. I don't think they are missing out much because we work. they seem very happy.
Everyone has different schedules so we all do what we can do.

I've always worried mostly about big guy when we go away. But somedays at home, he refuses to go outside and he'll keep it in for well over 12 hours. Some days he sleeps well over 12 hours and doesn't want to get up to go out. If we make him go out when he doesn't want to he'll just turn around and come right back in without doing a thing. Other days he seems like he needs out every hour on the hour.

But I'm home all day, so my dogs get let out. I don't know if I'd leave them and not come home for lunch or something, just because they're not used to being alone, not so much the potty thing.

I had one very big requirement before my first dog came along. That was, they simply had to be offered a relief time around mid day, no matter what my circumstances. This is in addition to early morning walks, afternoon walks, and "last call" around 9 or 10 p.m. for bed time.

They are all females. My alpha dog, Anela 70 lbs. about 5 years, can hold it forever. Sometimes she doesen't even go on our one of our walks. Meredyth, the bottom dog about 55 lbs. and 10 years, always goes on the walks and mid day. Middle dog, Kai, about 15 months, 90 pounds, does the same. Kai has had urinary issues. Additionally, she has spaying incontinence. As she has grown, she can hold it longer. Sometimes, she doesnt go when I let her out at mid day.

SG

a good trained dog can go for 12hrs.My dog holds it that long.Also if I take my dog outside he will pee on every pole.If it's bad weather he will pee for three minuets on one pole and demand to be brought back in.I have a good dog.He can read my mind.I don't like bad weather either.

Maybe dogs have bigger storage tanks for pee and poo?
Over the course of 9-12 hours I may consume 24-48 fluid ounces of drink. so maybe it's just that humans are eating more, sleeping less and smaller storage tanks.

when you leave a dog alone for a long time he does not spend his time eating and drinking.Most dogs sleep for hours at a time.Now if you have one of those dogs that tare up a place "thats" another story.If you don't move or rump around you can hold your pee.My dog meets me at the door and as soon as I put down my stuff we are good to go.

I think dogs are like teenagers. Teenagers can sleep for 12+ hours a day and not have to get up to pee once. So I guess the better part of a dogs adult life, is simmilar. Lots of sleep, a lot of eating and more sleeping, not much time for peeing. And then when they get old like us, they have to go more often. And when they're pups, like us as babies, they go constantly.

It sounds like the dog usually isn't left alone all day. If that's the case, I'd be more concerned about that, than potty breaks. I'm not saying that dogs don't do fine all day without their people, but if you are usually around to let him out or walk him frequently during the day, and now he'll be alone for 9 hours, that could cause anxiety. Get a dog walker to come in once or twice a day when your nephew is working, or find a good boarding facility that will include playtime and ample stimulation and walks.

Also, dogs can hold their urine much longer at night (just like people can!) than they can during the day. So don't use the nightime results to gauge daytime needs.

Our 2 1/2 year old dog (shepherd/lab mix) is home alone all day, from about 7:15 AM to sometimes as late as 6:30. We kept her crated until about 9 months of age, but after that she had free-run of the house and she has not had a single problem/accident (although it's only been the past few months that we don't get home until 6:30-- prior to that, I was always home by 5:15).

She has a full bowl of food and water when we leave in the morning, but she NEVER touches either all day, until we get home after work... So maybe she knows she'll have to hold it, so she doesn't drink or eat?? I have no idea.

But I DO know that when we let her out after work, she usually does a little running around the yard before she pees, so I don't get the impression that the need to go is critically urgent.

I guess every dog is different... I would suspect that larger dogs would have an easier time holding it than smaller dogs, but that's just a hunch...

Several years back I was in a training program that required much longer hours from me. I went looking to hire someone to let my dogs out around lunchtime. By accident, I managed to find a young vet asst at a nearby vet clinic who was anxious to earn extra money for school. He came by during his own lunch hour. The drive to my house was minimal and I knew if anything was amiss, he'd recognize it and alert me right away. It was a good match...and being so close, he still had time to eat lunch himself.

I went away for the weekend and my friend forgot to let my little dog out and when I home she hit that door wide open peeing the whole time. Not 1 drop in the house nowhere for 48 hrs.

Pam, I had a dog that had belonged to the adult son of my elderly neighbor. The story was that a week after the son retired from his job at Ford Motor Co, he died at home of a sudden heart attack. The dog was always at his side, even at work, as the man worked on the shipping dock. After many days had passed and no one had heard from him, a friend went to his house and knocked. The friend knew that the dog was always with him, so he knew something was terribly wrong when the dog barked furiously and no one answered the door. The friend called the police, explained the situation, and they broke open the door. The man was found dead, with Megan at his side. The family was contacted and they later went to the house, expecting a mess. The coroner had told him that the man had been dead for several days. They found no dog poop or pee anywhere in that house, too.