My partner and I have a 1 year old kelpie border collie. She is an active and happy dog who receives immense amounts of love, affection and care. We take her out without fail every morning and afternoon for a 30-45 minutes and play fetch with a frisbee while we are out. I would describe the exercise to be strenuous and fitting for a dog of her nature. As we now have an apartment we are taking her out more regularly for toilet.
We got Billie last year during the first Sydney lockdown. My partner is a social worker so she was home quite a lot, and our other roommates were in the same situation. Someone was always home. Our other roommate also had a dog.
Billie has always been fairly attached due to the nature of her first year with us. However, it was not uncommon that she would be at home for elongated hours alone with the other dog. We were close with our neighbours and we’re ensured that she wouldn’t bark excessively (she does bark at us for attention often to play) while at home alone with the other dog.
However, since our move I have recently started a new business and my time at home is limited due to the long hours I work. My partner still mainly works from home but she has regular visits for work with her clients. She would be out from anywhere to an hour or sometimes half a day (4-5) hours.
My partner has had to go to work and would leave her with a puzzle toy and numerous toys to play with. Alternatively, she would try leave her with a pigs ear to keep her occupied and then shortly after leaving. However, Billie would almost immediately notice she has left and would begin to bark and howl. Today she tried again, and was out fir 2 hours and came home to hear her howling and barking. We are unsure if she was barking the whole time, but we believe she could have been as she could hear her from the lobby of our apartment so she wouldn’t have known someone was coming home.
We are looking for any tips and info that we could use to help Billie settle into her new life on her own with out another dog. We have a doggy day care close by that we intend on using in the interim but we would like to help Billie become accustomed to being alone in our home while we are out at work. My partners job will mainly be working from home but she will always have to go out time to time for visits. As for me, my business is a cafe and I require to be there 5-6 days a week as we are still in our first month of operation. Hopefully within the next few months I will be able tk work a 5 day week, however, I will never be able to be at home during work hours.
Thank you for taking the time to read my question and any help or tips are greatly appreciated!
