Dog Owners... Come on in!

beach17blonde · October 2009

Here is a question for all of the working dog owners out there. What do you do with your fur-babies when you work?

Our yorkie, Dyson, goes to my moms house during the day to be watched along with her cocker spanial and yorkie. But because Bissel, our Great Dane/Boxer, is to big for my mom to watch, we usually crate him during the day. I work full-time 8-5pm and DH was working part-time with a few classes in the evenings, so Bissell was only crated for 2-3 hours a day. Now, DH is starting a new job next week which has the same full-time hours as me and I'm concerned with having him crated for 8 hours a day. (I live 2 miles from work so on my lunch breaks I will be able to to go home and take him out). But I have been looking into Doggie Daycare and thinking about experiment with leaving him to roam free. He likes to destroy things when he is left alone so that worries me a bit.

So what do the rest of you do? Doggie Day Care? Crating? Letting them roam free?

Any tips for letting a bored distructive dog loose in the house all alone for 4 hours at a time? Stick out tongue

MrsMommyQ · October 2009

We gate our dog in the kitchen. To keep her busy we give her the kong toy with treats stuffed inside. Some days she is in there 8 hours, or depending on our schedules, some days its only 4 hours.

ilovetolaugh · October 2009

We put both of our puggles in a crate, together during the day. I only work about 5 hours a day, so they arent in there long. We didnt used to crate them but one of them has seizures and the vet told us it was better for her to have a constant place to go when we are gone...so, thats why we put them in a crate....

when they were running free all day though, they had lots of toys to play with and I always left animal planet on (i know, so dumb...but maybe they watched it!)

gymnst1013 · October 2009

No dogs for me but my parents have always let their dogs roam the house while they were at work.

emsrdh03 · October 2009

We crated both our dogs until we moved. Now my parents temporarily have one of our pups, the other goes to work with DH. Once we get a house...both dogs will be crated again most days.

Blasianlove · October 2009

I have tried letting Daisy roam free, doesn't work out so hot for longer hours. Good for a couple hours only.

I crate Daisy during the work day. M lets her out to pee before I wake up. Then I place her in the crate after I get ready for the day. Around 6:45am. I come home for lunch 98% of the time and let her out around 11:30am until I leave to head home. I crate her again and get back home around 4:30 to 5pm and let her out again.

M and I are debating on finding another dog to be her buddy, but we don't want to take on another right now.

Blasianlove · October 2009

ilovetolaugh:

We put both of our puggles in a crate, together during the day. I only work about 5 hours a day, so they arent in there long. We didnt used to crate them but one of them has seizures and the vet told us it was better for her to have a constant place to go when we are gone...so, thats why we put them in a crate....

when they were running free all day though, they had lots of toys to play with and I always left animal planet on (i know, so dumb...but maybe they watched it!)

I do that too! Only when we are gone a couple hours.

Bridetobe3/07 · October 2009

We have 2 German Shepherds and we let them roam the kitchen is blocked off and all the rooms have the doors shut. We used to crate them but they are really good dogs.(90%)

k8edge · October 2009

I have 2 chihuahuas -- We crate them during the day. Work isn't too far from home so if I can, I go home for lunch and usually let them out for a bit. They are both puppies, so the crate training has been interesting - but they are getting really good about not going in the crate or house.

We had a boxer who was allowed to roam the house during the day. We had a gate up so really she could only go in the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Not the hallway or bedrooms. Maybe start by gating off the kitchen and working your way to larger areas?

scherpha · October 2009

Our dog roams free in our house, but she is not distructive.

Maybe you could blockade her in a room, like the kitchen. So there is little she can distroy (especially the floor if a bathroom break is needed) and can still move around a little. GL!

kateisgreat · October 2009

I crate my both my dogs when I'm gone. I only really need to crate the little one because she destroys things when she is alone, but I don't think it's fair to put her up and let her brother roam. They are alone from around 9:30- 6:30 two days a week, I work from home the rest of the time.

caprocornia · October 2009

We gate our dog in the kitchen. She used to be in the crate, but she hates it, so now we give her the kitchen, and make sure to put a bone for her to chew on in there too.

nomadicprincess · October 2009

When I worked full-time, I left my dog in the house alone to roam free (she is a 22-pound Cockapoo). It didn't start that way though. Originally I crate trained her, then blocked off a small area, until finally she got full roaming privileges. She doesn't tear things up. She sleeps all day.

Oh, I also trained her by doing it in time spurts (first 30 mintues, then an hour, then 2, etc)

mollyskywalker · October 2009

Our dog roams free...we do keep doors closed and put the garbage behind a closed door, but he's fine...he's out of the chewing phase. I'd love to have a video camera set up to see what he does during the day, but I'm pretty sure he just sleeps and does some people-watching in the window.

beach17blonde · October 2009

k8edge:

I have 2 chihuahuas -- We crate them during the day. Work isn't too far from home so if I can, I go home for lunch and usually let them out for a bit. They are both puppies, so the crate training has been interesting - but they are getting really good about not going in the crate or house.

We had a boxer who was allowed to roam the house during the day. We had a gate up so really she could only go in the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Not the hallway or bedrooms. Maybe start by gating off the kitchen and working your way to larger areas?

I just thought about trying this earlier today. When we leave him to roam free he always grabs stuff from our bedroom like my shoes and clothes, and brings them out into the living room. There has only be one casuality which was a shoe lace in the few weeks we have done this. But I he has been known to destory large dog beds in .6 seconds. It's funny because it never dawned on me to actually shut the bedrooms doors, lol.

2006july15bride · October 2009

Houston is still crated. At 10 months old he's still a chewer and has a penchant for wires. For his own safety (and everyone eleses) he gets crated.

orange1414 · October 2009

We have a dog walker who comes for a half hour every day around noon. We also limit the number of rooms they have access to (just the kitchen and the den) so if they do get distructive, the damage is contained.

IlOVEbOpRINCE · October 2009

2 of our dogs are put in crates for the day and one roams free. We tried to let them all roam the house but the two of them always found trouble. We just make sure to run them harder whenever they are crated for more than 6 hours.

Mr. & Mrs. Woodtick · October 2009

scherpha:

Our dog roams free in our house, but she is not distructive.

Maybe you could blockade her in a room, like the kitchen. So there is little she can distroy (especially the floor if a bathroom break is needed) and can still move around a little. GL!

We let Snickers roam free also and I work some really long hours. We have been lucky enough to not have had him have an accident. I have thought about doggie day care but it is sooo expensive.

wannabealewis · October 2009

Ours r crated during the day. They can't even be home alone loose for an hour without peeing in the house. But the hold it all day in their kennels.

jillmatheny · October 2009

Mason is 125 lbs and roams free in the house all day, except I close the bedroom door, or he'll sleep on the bed all day! I have a sheet over the big chair that he sleeps on, and put giant tupperware lids on the sofa cushions to keep him off. He was crated for the first 6 months, and after that I had to get a trash can with a step mechanism to keep him out of it during the day as there would be trash all over the kitchen and the bathroom!

shortms6 · October 2009

I let my two roam free but they are older. I used to have to crate them when they were younger. I do leave the TV turned on to Animal Planet all day and I think the noise and occasional dog barks distract them and keep them occupied. Mine just like to lay on our bed and look out the window all day.

hainesherway · October 2009

I have a chocolate lab that will be turning 8 next week. I crated her until she was about 2 during the day, but since then I've let her roam free. I also leave the radio on all day so there's background noise. Occaisionally, she will chew up something stupid (like a kleenex), but most of the time she's good.

mdluv21 · October 2009

Our choc. lab has a collar sensored dog door so he can go in and out as he pleases. He goes to doggy daycare on Mon and Fri. and to my MIL on Wed. (she loves him to death.) On Tuesday and Thursday he is pretty worn out from his other activities and we just take him for a long walk when we get home. He is only 18 months and he hasn't destroyed anything since we set up this schedule.

Good luck to you with your furbaby!

ASUBride · October 2009

We have a 4-year old mini schnauzer and she roams free during the day, but we also close all the doors and have a lid on our kitchen trash can. If we forget to close doors, she'll get in bathroom trash cans and drag our shoes out in the yard (she has a doggie door).

We've videotaped her before to see what she does all day - here's her routine:

Wander around and find treats we left her in the morning,
Go outside and sunbathe for hours,
Come inside, eat breakfast,
Play with a few toys and zoom outside with them,
Come back in and sleep on the couch until we get home.

Sounds like a great day, huh?

lemonlips · October 2009

my pup is restricted to the kitchen when she is home alone. Her food and water bowls are in there, along with her crate and another bed. Usually when we come home we find her knocked out in her bed or crate. When we know we'll be gone more than 8-9 hours though, we will either have my mom come by to take her out and feed her, or one one of will come home at lunch to do it.

as for the destructive behavior, you must teach your pup what is and isn't acceptable. Have you taken him to puppy classes?

Mrs. Mo · October 2009

We got one of those exercise pens like this and put it in the kitchen. It's big enough for our beagle mix to move around, have a bed & his food in, but can't get into trouble ! We have a smaller one for the Chi (we like to keep them separate as the Chi steals the beagles food & bed). If you are looking for something or your bigger dog, you could always get 2 of these (if your kitchen or whatever room you use is big enough)

ETA: we keep them in their pens for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I also stick a puppy pad in there in case they have to go....most days they don't even use it. Our beagle mix was allowed to roam when we first got him. That is, until he started to take apart the cushions on the sofa!

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