I generally work from home (farm) most days, however 1-3 days a week I am gone for long hours while working my other job.
Breed/age of your dog: Two 3 year old Maremma X girls & a 7 year old Japanese Spitz girl
Types of toys/treats you leave them with: None in the house as the bigger Maremma can lash out if she starts to "guard" something
On away from home days my schedule looks something like:
5:00am: Take dogs for a quick wee in the yard
5:15am: Give dogs breakfast (dry food)
I then get ready for work, make lunch, etc. while waiting for it to be light enough outside to walk them properly
5:30 or 5:45am: Take the dogs for a 30-40 minute walk which consists of a big flat grassy paddock where they take it in turns to go off leash and do their business, then up the side of a mountain and back to the house where they have the choice to either hang out for a few more minutes in my big yard or come straight back inside.
6:30am: I leave for work. At this point all dogs have had breakfast and have been to the toilet. They know the drill and settle themselves on their beds. I do not leave ANY food/treats for them as the biggest can lash out unpredictably around food.
I leave the TV on for them as the small & medium dogs have separation anxiety and they seem to stress less if I leave something on for them.
12:00pm: I live across the road from my mum, at this point she goes to my house and lets my dogs into my fenced in (roughly 1/2 acre) yard where they have some toys. They also have my ducks and chickens there so the Maremmas do a bit of "work" guarding them.
2:00pm: My mum puts the dogs back inside my house. The glass door is left open so they have access to both my house, the 9x3m screened in verandah and the 9x3m screened in level below the verandah. From here they just generally play with my cats, each other or sleep until I get home.
8:00-9:00pm: I get home from work and let them straight out into the yard where we play chasies and I throw some toys around for them. If the weather is alright and it isn't too dark we go for a bit of a leashed walk.
The following morning I take the more energetic Maremma either on a hike up a mountain or bring her along at speed while I am riding my horses around the mountains. She is a high energy dog and the previous days confinement makes her loopy if it gets repeated two days in a row.
If I need to work two shifts in a row away from home I dedicate an hour and a half to exercising her before I leave.
Here's a photo of my girls & the areas we do our morning walks :) http://i.imgur.com/IlTgAqD.jpg
