Our dogs, Daisy & Scout, work side by side with us all day long, so they are kept pretty busy. But not too long ago, our dog Daisy was home alone while we went to work. To keep Daisy from getting too bored (and to give her extra exercise) we hired a dog walker to come once a day and take her for a nice long walk. Galveston County’s Daily News reports that more and more people are Worrying About Leaving Their Pets Alone. Paul Owens, the author of the book The Dog Whisperer (and the fantastic Dog Whisperer DVD) says that this trend (worrying about your dog being lonely) really started in the 1980s. That was when positive dog training for the masses took root, he said. “People started looking at their dogs more as family members than as something they owned,” he said. “It’s all a matter of getting them to do something else with their energy” Paul says.