I am a stay-at-home mom with three children. I do some light work from home, but am home several hours a day. I am almost always gone for 2-3 hours each day. I wake up around 6am each day and usually take out and feed any dogs I'm caring for. If your dog walks easily on a leash, he or she can accompany me and my children on my daily school walks with the children. I do that 2x a day. It's about a 25 minute walk round trip. Otherwise, I can do shorter walks between 9-11 or after 3pm. I prefer text messaging as my main form of communication, strictly because of practicality. I don't mind phone calls: but it is difficult to have conversations at length with 3 children around. I don't mind emails either; I just check those less than my texts. We have a large front yard, but our backyard is mostly pool. If your dog is nervous around pools then this is not the house for them. We use it a lot. There is just enough grass for one or two dogs to do their business. I also have experience with pad-trained dogs. I always had dogs growing up: from scotties to Rottweilers, there was always a dog in my home. The moment I began living on my own, I got a dog. I even "rescued" a dog from my in-laws who was living outside in the Texas heat, and never brought inside. He came to live in the a/c in my home instead. When my family re-located to London six years ago, very sadly I had to give up both of my pets. I joined a service in the UK similar to Rover, and looked after others' dogs. Now we are back in the US and while not ready for pets of our own, we are ready to look after others. I dog-sit for my family's pets often, and not only do I love it, but my kids do too. It is a great tool to teach them about responsibility and caring for other living beings.