What do your dogs do when you are at work during the day?

Comments

• JessicaRabbit

  March 2010 edited November -1

  My work schedule varies from week to week and differs from Jay's enough that like today for instance he leaves for work at 8, and my first meeting isn't until 12, so I will simply crate the girls for the few hours I am gone. Tomorrow my first meeting is at 10 but an hour and a half from home and my last meeting ends at 6 so I hire someone to come play with them for a couple hours in the middle of the day. My dogs are always crated. With cats, and their rough housing, and having lost one dog to a tragically avoidable accident, I will likely crate til the end of my life...
  However I should say I use play pens fastened to flooring as crates. So they are 4x4 each with kuranda beds and tons of toys. They are a little more like studio apartments than crates.
• TheWalrus

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Haru used to have the run of the house, and that was when I was working 10 hours a day 5 days a week. I went back to freelancing just before Baron arrived, and since both will yowl bloody murder if the other one is out they are both crated when I'm not around. Haru has adjusted to the change, I just make sure they get a good walk in the morn and at night. Other than that they sleep in their crates for around 9 hours of the day. Of course a couple days of the week we head out to the mountains to burn off steam. That being said I'm working on building an outdoor play area for them so they can hang out there during the day instead of being crated.
  
  Of course the present situation is possibly not quite optimal, but I haven't noticed any negative changes in behavior due to it. When Haru was not crated she just slept on the bed all day anyway till I got back, so not much different from being crated.
• ShikokuSpirit

  March 2010 edited November -1

  At the moment, my dogs are either secured outside in the yard or in crates during work hours.
• sailfloe

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Violet has run of our bedroom while Janie and I are work, although we try to occasionally pop home for lunch and take her out (since we both walk to work). Eventually that'll probably expand to run of the house, but it'll probably wait until she's older.
  
  What's cute is that she's probably sleeping while we're gone, but as soon as she hears us get home, she gets up and starts playing with her toys so that she can pretend to be busy when we open the door to the bedroom.
• amesylph

  March 2010 edited March 2010

  Ki is crated when he's home alone and happily so. I've tested short runs of him with more space since he's settle down a lot as he's gotten older but he *will* scratch at doors and rip couches *sigh* when left alone out of his crate. His anxiety just takes over when he can't reach you but it melts away in his little den and he will settle down comfortably. When he's expecting crate time he will get his bone and wait in his crate for you to close the door. He's basically comfortable in there for as long as he would be comfortable inside with someone around...as long as his bladder can hold out. He gets longish walks pre and post crate as well so he's not going in full of energy.
  
  Crate training did take quite a bit of work and patience but it's his happy place now.
• shibamistress

  March 2010 edited November -1

  I usually have one Shiba upstairs and one downstairs, separated with baby gates on the stairs (one at the top, one at the bottom), but I do sometimes leave Toby in the crate and Bel out, or the other way around (and this is how it is when I'm at home too, since they have to be separated). they do fine, and as others have noted, mine are sleeping when I'm not here anyway, so it's pretty much the same either in the crate or out. Once a dog is used to it, I think they are fine in crate.
  
  That said, just last night my husband and I were talking about what the dogs do when we are not here. I know one that thing that happens pretty much as soon as we leave: Toby goes in the kitchen and jumps up to see if he can find anything of interest on the counters. I know he does this right away, because occasionally I've forgotten something and come right back, and yep, there he is in the kitchen. And if I stupidly left anything in his reach, he's already got it! (goodbye loaf of bread, or muffins, or whatever!)
• tjbart17

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Thanks everyone for your posts. I'm trying to figure out the kid's schedule if (or when) I decide to make Maymay's adoption final. I just feel bad that I can't keep them both in doggy daycare 3 days a week. That's Koda's schedule now. Maymay does love her crate, but Koda hates being in it. I would be afraid that he would hurt himself trying to get out while I'm not there. Shigeru your pic scared me. I could see Koda doing that. Maymay would just be happy that she was in a warm safe spot.
• shishiinu

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Wow every one mostly keep their NK in doors. All my dogs are outdoors, with the exception of Riki because of his age. But Taro Hana and Sammi are all out side and they have the run of the yard.
  
  My work scheduel keeps me gone most of the day and so the only time I get to walk the dogs and interact with them is at night and on the weekends. For me I'm not too cool with completely sharing living spaces with animals expecially when my son was a little baby. Although Taro was in the house one day, all day and he did'nt thrash the house too bad. He just tore up my son's sponge bob toys and ate all the doggie treats.
  
  I only use the crate when they are small puppies, other then that I feel guilty for leaving them in a crate all day. Taro was in a crate until just recently so that he can get used to being out side with the other dogs.
  
  My other reason for keeping my dogs out side is getting them used to cold weather (cold weather in socal?). Especially Hana because she is a duck dog. I have taken her out duck hunting at times up north where the temp was 15 degrees with ice all over her coat. Down side is I end up washing them more then if they were indoors and I have to pick up dog crap all the time.
• asia

  March 2010 edited November -1

  I have often wondered about crating or leaving the dog to roam. Having grown up with LGD, the idea of crating was a bit hard to swallow at first. I felt like I was perhaps being mean by keeping them penned up. However, this makes me feel a bit better about my plans to crate my pup (when I get one). The fact that they may actually be safer in the crate was not something I had thought about at first either...
• ShikokuSpirit

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Yeah...I've had my share of troubles leaving my dogs outside unsupervised in the yard not completely secure, other then by a 6 foot wall.
  
  
  Lynx got bored of being in yard one night and decided to jump the wall, luckually nobody was living in the house behind us at the time. I'm assuming she had some trouble climbing the wall because she had some punctures on the bottom of her hind feet (which I just cleaned and bandaged). I'm not sure how long she was out running the neighborhood but by the time I discovered her disappearance the police were already out looking for her, they got a report of a loose brown, "German Shepherd Dog". Thank goodness she didn't cause any trouble but it was quite a scare! My boyfriend, at the time, found her, called to her and took her home. The police man I spoke to I told him that "Yes, the loose brown Shepherd is mine and we found her, thanks!" She was found only a few streets over, so she was still very close to home.
  
  
  Kotomi started acting like a cat and would jump on top of the 6 foot wall to walk on it or just sit there to watch our new neighbors and their dogs move in the house behind us. She did this with cat-like ease! I didn't know at the time though. My neighbor said that every morning Kotomi would jump the wall to play with his dogs and then when she was done playing she would come home and just jump back over that very wall. She probably did this for a few weeks to a month or so...I don't know...the neighbor made it sound like this was very common and her daily routine. The day I found out she was doing this was the day that for some reason Kotomi couldn't make it back over the wall to come home, she kept trying and trying to no avail. So the neighbor came over to my house so someone could go fetch her and bring her home. At the time Kotomi was a small PUPPY!
  
  
  Shoushuu, I left out in the front yard unsupervised for a couple of minutes. When I checked on him through the livingroom window, I noticed him slip under the broken part of the front gate -sighs-. Instinctively, I grabbed a bag full of doggie treats and ran after him until he came into view and then I stopped and called out to him. Thank goodness we had been practicing our recalls. He came running to me and did nice "front" =]. I ended up turning the whole ordeal into a training session, kept everything positive, fun and a game. We continued training even when we got inside the house for a few minutes longer and I secured him away.
  
  
  
  So yeah, I've had my fair share of what happens when you leave dogs outside unsupervised! LOL.
  
  
  The black German Shepherd female I had prior use to EVEN escape from her kennel run! I remember a couple of times looking out my bedroom window (it was on the 1st floor) and there staring back at me is a black dog! She never left the property, just would stay outside my bedroom window or be waiting at the front or back door.
  
  
  So, I'm very fond of leaving my dogs in crates when I'm gone and nobody is home. I feel more comfortable and at ease. If someone is home though, I will leave them in the backyard or in a kennel run.
  
  
  Quite a story, huh? Not just 1 or 2 dogs but 4 out of the 5 dogs I've personally owned were escape artists! Hah -sighs-.
• WrylyBrindle

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Speaking of Shigeru's photo of Momo and the crate. I have learned how lucky Momo is. I just learned that my cousin lost one of his pitbulls on Saturday to a similar head through the crate destruction scenario -no air travel, he just came home to find him...no one feels worse than Greg about it, it was one of his rescues. He feels horrible that he thought he was doing the safest thing by crate & rotate the dogs, but this crate was not appropriate for this dog, unfortunately this is discovered too late. I dont know all the details, it was the same standard black metal crate we have all seen and used. It was a new crate, less than 2 months old, and Greg has been in pit rescue for years. I guess his other dogs never tried to break a crate, or maybe he had other containment solutions (kennels) for dogs he thought might try to break a crate and he didnt think this dog would. Obviously this dog did not want to be in there very badly and was strong enough to break the metal bars. And obviously most dogs are fine, safe and comfortable in similar crates. For especially strong/bent on escape dogs, what crate is safest? The wire crate hurts such dogs, I imagine a plastic travel type crate is more easily destroyed but perhaps would cause less serious injury to a dog, or is the smoothness of the interior inconducive to biting? If you have a dog that strong and motivated to bust out, are there heavier duty metal in-house crates?
• Heidi

  March 2010 edited November -1

  I think the heaviest duty crates available are the steel ones that the police use for their dogs. At least, I think they're steel... I can't remember where I saw those for sale, but they are extremely expensive.
• tjbart17

  March 2010 edited March 2010

  Chrystal, she scares me because she is just so unfocused. I could see her messing aroung and getting a leg caught or trying to get her head through. She does like her crate, but for 8 hours not sure about that one.
  
  That's terrible what happened. I don't even know what I would do if I came home to one of my kid's hurt or worse dead. My condolensces go out to your cousin.
• JessicaRabbit

  March 2010 edited November -1

  That is one of my worst fears ever.
• montanadoglover

  March 2010 edited November -1

  I likewise do not feel comfortable leaving my dogs unattended outside in the backyard.
  
  I am now quite happily on a part-time work schedule for 5 hours a day Mon-Thurs, Fridays off. I run the dogs in the morning before I go and of course we're off and running to practice or classes or training or just hiking the hills or walking somewhere, in the afternoons. I work about 7 minutes from my house. My current two adult dogs have the run of the downstairs family room, barricaded from the rooms off of that, and from the stairs. So they have plenty of room to move around. They could have access to the whole house but blind Jesse Malinois needs to stay away from the stairs. He can go up but if he forgets where he's at he could fall down the stairs, so we just barricade them.
  
  When the puppy comes, he will be allowed to run off steam in the morning and will be crated for 5 hours in one crate or another, with frozen Kongs, chews, bully sticks, whatever. I've crated dogs in the past for 8 or 9 hours, and I do think they can adjust, as long as they get adequate exercise and individual attention in the evening. And maybe something to chew on inside the crate while you are gone.
  
  I've had dogs that I could leave loose in the house at 6 months, others I wouldn't dream of it for the first 2 years.
  
  Tara, you're in something of a pickle given the amount of time you must be away from the house. What would be ideal in your situation is some sort of outdoor or basement kennel enclosure with a nice cozy dog house, lots of toys. The dogs could move around and sleep the day away, with no worries about house-soiling.
• akurei_ryoko

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Midnight (who's my wild child for more reasons than one) was create trained, ended up crate training my other girl Jubei too. Midnight , if she wasn't attended to, would chew base boards, chew/eat wires (some still plugged into walls 0_0 ), take wallpaper off walls, and basically just chew and destroy and potty indoors. Crating helped ALOT (and bitter apple). If she was in her crate I knew she couldn't get into anything dangerous or die of electrocution, or something terrible like that). Jubei I crate trained her as she was a door darter and would get outside, head straight for the woods and just chace something, wither it be noon or midnight. I typlically work 7-8 hrs a day so midnight is crate for that time, Jubei is great so I dont need to crate her as much anymore (just for feeding as she has serious food aggression issues). But either before or after work (depending on what time I work) I take 'em to the dog park for about 2 hrs or more pretty much everyday.
  
  Now the solid crates are hard reinforce should you need to (i have) The only reiforcement I could get to work was facing the door to the wall.
  The wire crates (my wolfdog always gets outta these) you can use zipties and extra leash clips for leashes that got chewed up, and tieddown cables (work the best)
• tjbart17

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Marion, I wish we had basements in California. That would be ideal! But we don't, and during the summer it can get up to 110 degrees. Kenneling outside would probably not work. A basement would be great though! I really wish I had one.
  
  I'm still figuring it all out. Maymay is with my parents right now during the day. She needs a lot of attention and work on becoming potty trained. She gets the idea of going outside if someone let's her, but she will go anywhere if given the opportunity. My dad is home with her, and I think he rather likes it a lot. She has taken to him a lot, but she's a lover by personality.
  
  I can also get a dog walker to come by, but Koda might growl and scare someone who just walks into our home. He can be a little scary when he wants to be. Which is so odd because he is such a wimp! He's a coddled mama's boy.
  
  My dad being out of commission with his knee will buy me probably 3 more months. Maymay might calm down by then too. She is enjoying her freedom from not being tied up, and is still adjusting so hopefully she calms down a bit. We are also working on basic house manners. She is coming along.
  
  This weekend my parents are taking her to Tahoe with them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it goes well! They wanted her though. I'm wondering if they might ask to keep her. Again, we will see. She is just so easy to love!!!!!
• WrylyBrindle

  March 2010 edited November -1

  Oo- that might be the best of all worlds! Maymay gets a home, Mom and Dad get a dog they love, Koda gets to keep his routine and his mama all to himself, both dogs get together often to play and Tara doesnt have to put 2 dogs in daycare. win win win!
  
  I know how those Mama's boys are.