I know that Airedales can be fairly independent, but I wasn’t sure if they could be left alone. I did some research to find out.

So, can Airedales be left alone? A mature Airedale can be left alone for 2-6 hours. Puppies and younger dogs, if left by themselves, may release their energy in destructive ways.

Airedales are a high-energy dog who don’t like to be bored. Especially when they’re puppies and not yet accustomed to being by themselves, leaving them along for any prolonged period of time might lead to them take their energy out in a destructive fashion. This could include scratching furniture, digging, eating personal items, or other unappealing behaviours. The best way to prevent this is to leave your puppy alone for as little time as possible; however, as this isn’t possible for everyone, there are some other steps you can take.

Leaving Your Airedale Alone: A Guide

I’ve written in the past how Airedales are not exceptionally cuddly dogs, and like they have an individualistic streak in them. However, despite that fact, these dogs aren’t the best at being by themselves.

There are three character traits to the Airedale that makes them a bit of a risk when they’re alone:

Airedales get bored easily: These are intelligent, exploratory dogs who love to try new things. Because of that, Airedales get bored quickly if they’re not occupied.
Airedales prefer family time over everything else: Nothing entertains an Airedale like getting to spend time with the people they love.
Airedales are high-energy dogs: Especially as puppies, Airedales have a lot of hyperness that needs to be burned.

When you mix those three together, you get a bad combination for leaving your dog alone. Because the Airedale gets bored easily, they constantly need new challenges or new adventures to keep them occupied. However, an Airedale isn’t very good at entertaining themselves; they like to spend time and do stuff with their owners, because of their strong family bonds. This means that when you’re not around, there’s very little to keep the Airedale busy.

A bored dog, combined with the high energy nature of the Airedale, turns into destructive nature. The dog is so desperate to burn off their energy that they’ll break rules to do so by scratching your furniture or digging in your back yard.

This behaviour can also be a sign of anxiety in your dog; they’re stressed that you won’t come back, so they pick an activity to occupy your mind. Lots of times this activity might involve something of yours — shoes, clothes, etc — that your Airedale chews on, because they find something with your scent to be comforting.

Now, with all this said, Airedales aren’t excessively co-dependant dogs. They can be left alone just fine, as long as they’re old enough and trained properly. With that being said, there are some things you can do to make this process easier. In the rest of this article, I go into more detail about leaving your dog alone and how you can make it easier on them.

How Long Can My Airedale Be Left Alone For?

One of the most important concerns is figuring out how long your Airedale can be left alone for. As a general rule, I wouldn’t recommend leaving your dog alone longer than 6 hours, although I know this isn’t feasible for many people because of work constraints. If that’s the case and you’ll need to leave your dog for 10+ hours, I would suggest taking extra steps (which I go into later) to ensure that they’re not lonely.

Age

Age is one of the most important factors to consider when determining how long your Airedale can be left alone for. There are some general guidelines that you can follow:

When they’re less than a year old, Airedales should be left at home as little as possible. If you have to, leaving them for an hour or two is probably okay, but I would recommend locking them away so that nothing in your house gets damaged.
Between 1-3 years, your Airedale can be left for 1-4 hours depending on their training and emotional maturity. Some Airedales will be fine to be left alone for hours when they’re a year old, while some two-year-olds will need closer supervision. This is a judgement call to make depending on the personality of your dog.
When they’re 3-8, your Airedale can be left alone for 6+ hours. The dog is now mature and should be well trained and used to your daily routine; it’s okay to leave them alone for longer periods of time.
At 8+, you might have to re-evaluate how long you can leave your Airedale alone for. As they grow older, dogs can start experiencing some issues (such as bladder or health problems) that they may require extra attention for.

Bladder Control

Speaking of bladder control, it’s something that you should take into consideration before you decide to leave your dog alone for a long period of time. As a breed, Airedales tend to have fairly good bladder control, so you should feel comfortable leaving them along for up to ten hours without the worry of an accident.

However, this isn’t always the case. Especially as puppies and older dogs, you need to give special attention to the time your Airedale is locked in the house. This is especially important because of the mental strain it places on the dog. Airedales are intelligent, and they’ll quickly learn that there are consequences to having an accident indoors. If they’re locked inside, however, they may have no other choice than to act in a way that they know they’ll be punished for.

Another thing to consider is if your dog is feeling sick. My Airedale Theo has a history of getting stomach infections that make it more difficult for him to go long periods without a bathroom break.

Of course, one good way to prevent against this is to install a dog door, but that isn’t a feasible option for every house. If you have one, though, training your dog to use it can be a great way to lengthen the time period for which you can be gone.

Emotional Needs

This is something that you’ll need to be able to decide for their own dog. How likely are they to be okay being left at home alone? This can depend on a variety of different factors:

Age: As dogs get older, they’re more likely to become accustom to being left alone
Personality: Some dogs are naturally less anxious or destructive than others
Past experiences: How has your dog acted in the past? Have they had any experiences being left at home alone that could negatively impact them? If you have a rescue, do you know if they were ever neglected? All of these things can be important factors in decided how okay your dog is with being left at home.

How Can I Make them Feel Better?

So, for the times that you do need to leave them alone, what can you do to make it less painful on your dog? There are a few good options.

Food and Water

First and foremost (and most obviously), make sure that your dog has plenty of food and water so that they won’t be uncomfortable during their time alone.

Obviously, the amount of thought that you need to put into this varies with how long you’ll be done. If you’re only leaving for an hour, you probably don’t need to be too concerned with it; if, however, you’ll be gone for six, there’s a good chance that your Airedale will get hungry or thirsty.

Toys

Even though they don’t provide endless entertainment, having a few toys around for your dog can at least give them something to do. Hopefully you have a good idea about what some of your Airedale’s favourites are; make sure they’re available (e.g., not stuck under any couches) before you head out.

If you’re going to be leaving your dog for long periods of time, you could consider investing in some of the more complex toys that are out there. Some companies such as Cheerble, have started to produce what are called interactive toys. These have the power to move around or make sounds by themselves, which will keep your dog interested more than a static ball will.

Another thing to consider is automated dog feeders, which require your dog to perform a task before they get fed. Some of the newer ones even have increasing levels of difficulty built into them, so your dog has to stay more and more engaged to get rewarded. These tools are great for Airedales, who tend to get bored quickly and need stimulation so that they stay interested.

Other Company

This one really only works if you have to leave your dog on a regular schedule (such as going to work every day). If you can’t be there for them, the next best thing is to find someone who can be. This will provide your Airedale with some company and break up the monotony of their day.

The most common form of this is to hire a dog walker, who can swing by your house around lunch time and make sure that your dog gets some energy. If possible I would say to bring them every day, although I know that’s not feasible; two times a week is still better than nothing.

One thing that I would mention here is that, when your dog is still a puppy, it’s be if you’re the one who interacts with them the most. During the first year of your dog’s life, I would really recommend trying to make the time to walk them yourself, so that they learn to associate you with the activity.

Proper Training

While the other three methods mentioned are reactive — ways to make your dog less sad once you leave the house — proper training is proactive: it pre-emptively prevents your dog from being sad when you’re leaving. You do this by acclimatizing your dog to the time that you’ll be done.

Some of the training methods used here are counter-intuitive, such as:

Not saying goodbye to your dog: This is hard, because I always feel that I should give my dog one more scratch behind the ears before I leave. However, letting them know that you’re leaving can actually make it harder on the dog, as they’re then sad to see you go. Walking out unceremoniously can actually be better, as mean as it sounds.
Greeting them less enthusiastically: Again, this can be really hard to do, as I love seeing my dog get excited when I get home. Trainers, however, recommend that you actually make your dog go to their bed or cage and act in a calm manner as soon as you get home; once that’s done, you greet them calmly.

These training methods are meant to make it less of a deal every time you leave the house. By doing so, you’re teaching your dog that you’re leaving isn’t a big, important event; it’s just something that happens. This can help them cope and causes less anxiety.

Side Effects of Leaving them Alone

Finally, I thought we could review some of the side effects of leaving your dog alone. It’s important to know what these are so that you can judge whether or not your dog is getting too much alone time.

Behavioural Changes

Not seeing their humans enough can actually have negative impacts on your Airedale’s behaviour. This may take the form of them sleeping more, having less energy, or acting withdrawn, even when you’re around. If you notice these traits in your pet, consider taking them to a vet to get checked out.

With puppies, it might actually be the exact opposite: you may have to deal with a hyperactive ball of energy from the moment you walk into the door to the moment you try to go to bed. That’s because these dogs, still young and less experienced, spend all day bored without anything to entertain them. Once you get home, all of this boredom and pent up energy gets let out.

Fear of Being Left Alone

With my last Airedale, we made the mistake of leaving him in our garage for one 18-hour stretch after our dog-sitter fell through in the last moment. He had food, water, toys, a climate-controlled garage, and a dog door to get outside. We didn’t love the idea of leaving him like that, but we thought we would be okay.

After that, however, he almost never wanted to be left at home alone, no matter how short the time period was. It seemed that every time someone tried to put their shoes on, he was sitting by the door begging to be brought along, because he was terrified that we would leave him along for another day and a half.

So, speaking from personal experience, I can say that it’s important to not leave your Airedale home alone for too long, or there may be some long-lasting effects. If you’re going to be out for more than 10 hours, or if your dog is young and not accustomed to being left alone yet, I would recommend getting a sitter or one of your friends to look after them.

Destructive Tendencies

Finally, as I said, there’s the destructive tendencies that you need to worry about. When my current Airedale Theo was a puppy, it was always an adventure to leave him home alone and see what he would get into: shoes, toiletries, paperwork… the list went on and on.

Breaking your dog out of this habit involves walking a fairly thin line. On one hand, it’s important to discipline them so that they learn the difference between their toys and your positions. Especially with a stubborn Airedale, failure to do so young can lead to some consequences later down the road.

At the same time, however, you need to be careful to listen to what your Airedale is trying to tell you. If you have an otherwise well-behaved dog who destroys stuff every time they’re left alone, it could be their way of saying that they’re constantly anxious when you’re gone. Try being home for longer periods of time, or using one of the training methods mentioned above to help your Airedale adjust.

Can Airedales be Left Alone?