Dogs Who Feel Stressed Staying Home Alone - Part 2
The original goal of the Dog-Friendly Office Project was to encourage more and more companies to consider allowing employees to commute to work with their pets; however, there are still many issues to be addressed. By launching this project back in 2019, we felt that if we could reduce the amount of anxiety felt by those who leave their pets at home and also help to reduce the stress of pets left behind, we could help improve the quality of life for all concerned.
So, as part of our ongoing promotion of the Dog-Friendly Office Project activity, we started conducting a national survey to investigate ways to reduce the stress of pets who are often left alone at home.
First, we asked all participants to fill out a questionnaire about their pets' stay-at-home situations. Once again, we received a large number of helpful responses to the survey that presented an interesting range of results. We discovered that the type of pet owned by those our respondents was an overwhelming result for 94.8% dogs, followed by 2.1% cats, and then finally 3% for both.
Next, we asked our respondents to give more information about their current living situation in their households. From the 96 respondents, the results were as follows: 50% live with two people, 39.6% live with a family, 9.4% live alone, and 1% live in other households.
We asked how often the household pet(s) was left alone at home, with the most common answer being an average of one day per week; however, we also found that pets being left alone five days a week was a close second.
When asked how long pets were left at home on average, about 30% of the respondents answered between four to six hours, followed by between one to three hours. Due to the fact that many of our respondents are working professionals, it seems likely that many pets spend six to ten hours at home alone.
What we are most concerned with here is whether pets are relaxed about being left at home unattended. Generally, if they enjoy being by themselves or feel calm when left at home, there is usually no problem. We asked how long pets feel relaxed when left at home and the results of the survey were that it seems to vary depending on the breed and age of the dog - but when compared to the aforementioned average time spent away from home, there is a tendency for many pets to suffer from pent up stress.
Since the response to pet stress is based largely on the subjectivity of the owner, we plan to conduct further research into the issue by encouraging the use of pet monitoring devices, such as pet cameras.
In the next blog, we hope to look at what kind of behavior pets tend to exhibit when they feel stressed or anxious and what measures we can take to help reduce such stress.
Click here to see a news roundup of the Dog-Friendly Office Project so far.
For more information, check out the Dog-Friendly Office Project SNS!
