Those with "outdoor dogs"

LadyXaverian

I'm going to try to keep this short, but please stick with me if it get's a little long.

Background info:

- We have 3 indoor dogs

- Our house has been on the market for 7 frustrating months

- Whenever we have a showing, my husband, who has a somewhat flexible work schedule, leaves work to shuttle the dogs somewhere for the hour.

- We've recently had a no-show and then today a cancelation due to illness with the promise to re-schedule soon.

So, obviously the taking time away from work to shuttle dogs around for a showing is getting tough on my husband. We have a fenced-in back yard, but one of our dogs is a "digger", and they are all barkers. They bark when the UPS truck drives by, when someone walks by, when other dogs are in the vicinity. I realize this means they're not well trained in that regards. Please don't flame me for that. It's never really been an issue as they are indoor dogs and are only outdoors when we are home and get intervene and get them inside if they start barking up a storm.

Anyway, my husband is talking about the possibility of leaving them in the yard on showing days to make it easier on him, but I don't think it's a great option since people then wouldn't be able to really walk around our property. They would absolutely bark at and crowd the clients. Not a great impression.

So, I suggested maybe we try to crate them in the back yard, though they aren't crated in our home. A friend suggested training them with bark collars,w hich I haven't researched, but I'm going to guess isn't considered a good thing to do by dog enthusiasts. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

So, can you help me? Do you think crating them, even if it means them barking at the clients, might be an ok option? Are bark collars acceptable or cruel?

Does my husband need to suck it up and keep figuring away to shuttle the dogs away during showings?

This is going to be a bit of a post n' run, but I will check in later. Thanks

jorkz821

Bark collars that release a spritz of scent when they bark are ok. Shock collars are not.

Do you have any doggy daycares in your area that you could take the dogs to in the morning of showings and pick up after work?

[Deleted User]

Is boarding or doggy daycare an option? Or hiring a dog walker who has flexibility and can run over and walk on a short notice?

Otherwise, hubs needs to suck it up as part of the hassle of selling a home.

jorkz821

Just reread your post - I don't think crating in the backyard is a solution, especially if they're not crated indoors. It might help the crowding of clients but won't help the barking.

Sorry it's taking you so long to sell! Hope it turns around for you soon!

ghostof5letters

What about a local pet sitter / dog walker that can come and get them and take them for a walk or to their own houses during the showings?

Pips09

Having just gone through this, I think your H needs to suck it up to get the dogs out of there, or use an alternative location like a doggie daycare. We also had to get our dog out of the house for showings, and it was a pain. 

On the flip side, as a home buyer, there were a few houses that we saw that had dogs out in the backyard, and it was a turn off for me that the owners just left their dogs out back in the middle of summer for the showing. I felt really bad for the dogs.

[Deleted User]

Pips09 said:

On the flip side, as a home buyer, there were a few houses that we saw that had dogs out in the backyard, and it was a turn off for me that the owners just left their dogs out back in the middle of summer for the showing. I felt really bad for the dogs.

This would be me.  I would back out slowly and probably be too turned off to buy the house. 

JGY

SweetTurnip said:

I think the crate would be the best option of the ones you listed, but it still doesn't really seem like a great one. It would suck for them and how would you know ahead of time? Just crate everyday? Dogs out in the yard would be a big no for me, I absolutely would not go outside to a yard with three barking dogs and no owners around. Even if you bark trained them for other situations, it's their territory and I'm a stranger and that is a legitimate reason to be barking. I don't think I'd be comfortable going out into a yard even if the dogs were quiet and seemed well trained actually. We went to a showing where there were two dogs loose in the home barking like mad at us just being in the driveway. We attempted to call their realtor and figure it out, but in the end we just walked away. Not worth it. I was annoyed since they presumably knew we were coming. I'm not a huge dog fan, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I AM a huge dog lover, and I wouldn't have entered that house either.

We do doggie daycare regularly, but it's only for 1 dog and it still might bankrupt us.  I understand that you're in a difficult spot, and that the sale process has taken a really long time.  I don't think crating is an option, especially since you don't crate them inside the home already.  I absolutely wouldn't leave them outside for the whole day.  I think the best plan is to have your DH continue to shuttle them around whenever he possibly can and on the days he can't, try to find a daycare or dog-walker option, if one exists.

Good luck.  Home buying and selling is super stressful without this added complication!

NotSharknado

What is considered an outside dog?

KatWAG

Without knowing details, I think if your house has been on the market for 7 months, you should take it off the market for awhile. Maybe re-list it again in the spring. Depending on where you live, housing markets tend to dramatically slow down in the winter. When you re-list it, it will be blasted out like a new listing to everyone on MLS. 

Or look into a doggy daycare or a dog walker. 

LadyXaverian

NotSharknado said:

What is considered an outside dog?

Dogs that stay outside more often than not? 

LadyXaverian

KatWAG said:

Without knowing details, I think if your house has been on the market for 7 months, you should take it off the market for awhile. Maybe re-list it again in the spring. Depending on where you live, housing markets tend to dramatically slow down in the winter. When you re-list it, it will be blasted out like a new listing to everyone on MLS. 

Or look into a doggy daycare or a dog walker. 

Well yeah, that's in the plans. It comes off the market on November 14th for the winter. So, we only have about 2 more months of it. Whether the house sells between now and then or we de-list it, I'm very much looking forward to the break.

LadyXaverian

Thank you for the suggestions, everyone!

We do have a note on our listing due to having a young child and 3 dogs that showings need to be booked a day in advance. Not necessarily 24 hours, but a day ahead. We have gotten a few calls for same day showings, which we did accommodate because we really can't afford to turn any down, but having that day's notice definitely could make it easier to take them to some kind of doggy day care. I didn't even think of that and definitely need to look into it.

You're right that the crate isn't a great solution, and I definitely don't want them barking at clients. DH just had a bad day today after taking 3 hours of flex time only for it to be wasted and was ranting about just letting them stay in the yard.

So, doggy day care. Look into it. Thank you!

SuperTreesa

Hire a dog walker for those days/times. They would have a key and could just come and get the dogs for a set amount of time. We have a ton of them in our area.

Rogue Lily

My sympathies. Showing a house is the worrrrrst. We took our house off the market after 3 months, I couldn't even cope.

LadyXaverian

Rogue Lily said:

My sympathies. Showing a house is the worrrrrst. We took our house off the market after 3 months, I couldn't even cope.

If we didn't have a 2nd kid on the way, no extra bedroom, and only 960 total square feet, I think we would have taken it down already. 

I'm pretty sure it's going to come to that anyway in November, but we're trying to hang in there until then. 

Rogue Lily

Ugh, I am sorry. Positive thoughts.

fintin

Crate them in your room or even closet. When we were selling we crated our pit at the time in our closet (it's a walk in) and just left the closet door open. That way even if they are barking it's not going to carry like it would if they were in a common area.

NatureLovers

My concern with leaving dogs outside is the potential for a careless person to leave a gate open, or for the dogs to be stolen as bait dogs or to a medical lab. If you can't crate them inside, I think doggie day care is your best option.

LadyXaverian

I want to thank you all again for your responses. I looked into doggy day care, and it is pretty expensive for 3 dogs. Plus, they have to go through a socialization assessment, which costs more $$ etc.. So as we were talking about that, I had a DUH moment and called our vet. They do day boarding at our vet and they can take last minute boardings, if needed. It's really inexpensive (especially compared to the actual boarding/day cares), and the dogs do get some outdoor play time as well. 

Thank you for helping me think through the options. I feel very relieved and kind of dumb that I never thought of it before.

spotco2

Dogs bark. It's their thing.

We have had inside and outside dogs of all sizes over the years. We invested in a 10'x10' chain link kennel with 6' tall sides and a gate. I bought it used and it was inexpensive. It's large enough to fit a couple of medium size dogs for the day while you are at work. Put them a dog house out there in case it rains and a large bowl of water.

If you have a digger, buy some extra fence and lay it on the ground under the sides of the kennel and tie it to the sides. The dog will stand on the fence on the ground and can not dig under if it is secured well to the sides.

The plus is you can use it in the garage or basement if weather is bad, move it around into the shade and take it with you when you move.

I would never put a dog in a crate outside in the yard for that long. Bark collars don't work very well unless you spend a lot of time working with the dog and training them with the collar.