Where does your dog stay when you're not home or asleep?

[Momily]

We had a wonderful lab growing up. When he was a puppy and not housebroken we kept him penned up in the family room (which had no soft furniture, and no carpet) when we weren't home, but once he was older he had the run of the house, whether we were home or not. One piece of logic in my looking for an older dog is that I feel like crating a dog all day when I'm at work (even with a dog walker or every other day doggie daycare) would be really mean. I figured that an older, already housebroken dog could just run loose.

I've recently talked to two breeders. One initially told me the dog would need to be crated all the time. I expressed concern and she said that I could get an "ex pen" and put it in my basement (which has tile floors).

The other breeder said she just pens them in the kitchen, and that when they're a little older she lets them have the run of the house -- that seemed more kind to me.

Anyway, what do your dogs do when you're gone -- ex pen? run of the house? crate?

Also, what exactly do I have to worry about the dog doing when I'm gone. Our house has a dining room and thus far no dining room furniture -- could I put a gate across the door to the dining room and let a young dog (already housebroken) have the run of the kitchen and dining room. With no carpet, lots of fun toys, and only old furniture (maybe go to good will and get something super cheap) what damage could a young dog do -- would they chew on woodwork? It's a rental house?

Also, I'd really like the dog to sleep in DS's room. I want the dog to bond to both of us, not just me, and I know that realistically I'll be doing most of the care, but I read that if the child does most of the feeding, plays with the dog a lot, and they sleep in the same room that's a good start to bonding. Ca I move a crate around -- e.g. put it in the dining room in the day, carry it upstairs at night? Can I get 2 crates? Could I just get a dog bed and put it in DS's room?

Thanks!

[Sol_y_Paz]

My dogs stay on the couch or my bed and have since one year of age. They have full run of the home. BUT as puppies we did use a crate for their safety at times. We don't want them to eat something that could kill them. I have seen pets, especially puppies, die from eating things they shouldn't. Ask your vet, it isn't unheard of by any means.

It is natural puppy behavior to chew and they can harm their teeth and gums with this behavior, like getting a splinter in their mouth and so on, and they can ruin your home while harming themselves and setting themselves up for bad habits. Which is better, coming home to puppy happily curled up in the crate taking a nap excited to play with puppy or coming home to a destroyed home and upset at puppy. Crate training also aids in housebreaking. An ex-pen or other small area can also do the same thing.
In a vet's office or the groomer, where do you think the dogs stay? In a crate. Dogs that aren't used to crates or being confined freak out and have a really rough time at these places.

My dogs know crates and are used to them, but we don't abuse the crates or use them for long (only a couple to a few months) and someone comes home at lunch for a long while and we stack our schedules or bring dogs to work so they don't have to stay alone for long. A crate in a like a comfy den for most dogs, "their" place.
Here is more about it:
http://wisedogblog.com/blog1.php/200...e-training-101

[SevenVeils]

We're only gone for a couple of hours here and there, but my dog is in his crate during those times (when he isn't with us in the car).

At night, he roams the house at will and has since he was about 4 months old. He has never done any damage during that time.

My last dog (and all dogs prior to that) didn't need to be crated, he never damaged so much as the ear of a stuffed animal when we were gone, at any age. When he got bored he would do things like rearrange all of the shoes in the house (he would put ONE of each pair, all in a line on someone's bed), or line up all of the kids' stuffed animals on my bed. It looked like a human had done it, they were all oriented perfectly and so forth.

Both of these dogs were gotten as baby puppies.

Some dogs will do a lot of damage, eating into drywall, destroying furniture... it depends on the dog.

[Momily]

I know a dog will benefit from a crate, and knowing how to feel safe and comfy there -- but to me short breaks in a crate, maybe even sleeping in a crate at night, is different from spending the whole day in a crate when I'm at work.

I'm not getting a puppy for precisely the reasons you state -- I can't come home midday reliably, at least not for more than a few weeks, I can't bring a puppy to work.

An ex pen full of toys and a bowl of water I'm fine with short term, but in the long term it just seems like a dog would enjoy running around, looking out the window, playing with toys.

[mistymama]

Well ours is still a puppy, so he stays in his crate overnight and when I'm at work. Of course, that is only a few hours in the morning, then he has run of the house while I'm home the rest of the day. If I go run any errands, back into his crate. When he gets tired at night, he puts himself to bed in there.

Honestly, I think I could start letting him have run of the house now. He's just not much of a chewer & is potty trained. But he likes his crate, so we'll keep things like this for now.

If I had an older dog, I'd give him run of the house once I knew I could trust him. At first I might limit him to one smaller area (like the kitchen with a bed and toys laid out for him).

I agree that crating all day long (even with a walk break) seems like way too much time in there. Esp if the dog is crated again over night. I think crating works so well for us because Beanie is only crated for short periods of time.

[Irishmommy]

Not sure what an ex pen is, but ours are crated when we're out, and at night. The younger one is a rescue that we can't break of the habit of peeing on anything soft (carpet/rug/towel lying around), so we can't trust her. The older one we could trust toileting wise, but we have a huge picture window in the living room and she will bark and annoy everyone. So I crate them both, though the older one could sleep in one of the kids rooms if the kids asked.

[Ola_]

I think a lot of people have the "crate is cruel" misconception. It really isn't provided the dog is not there for say for an excessive length of time, and gets plenty of exercise and attention before/after. Certainly if there is doubt about the dog hurting themselves by chewing something I would crate till you feel they will be ok.

Honestly, one of my dogs does a lot of "alert" barking. When she was crated in our bedroom she would nap all day (I also gave her a couple of food-stuffed puzzle toys). When we let her loose she would look out the windows and sit by the door and bark at everything. Not only was this disturbing the neighbours, she was also getting herself all worked up every few minutes. I can honestly say that when we came home in both situations, she was much happier and more mellow if she was crated.

If you have an anxious or mouthy dog it can be difficult to find a good setup, and it really depends on the dog. We have some chewed-up door frames that were the result of stress and moving to a new house. Oops! One thing to keep in mind is that dogs often do better if crated/confined in a familiar room that you spend lots of time in that smells like you, rather than a separate room. So a bedroom or living room would be better than a basement or an unused room.

Both of mine have the run of the house now, but they didn't when young or when we adopted our older guy. For the pup (we got her around 6-8 months) she was probably crated till she was 2 and confined in our bedroom for another 2 years. For the older guy (we got him at 5 years old) we crated him for a year or so and then confined in our room again for a couple of years.

[Miasmamma]

My dogs are crated when we are gone and until they are housebroken at night. Now, they sleep with us at night. I know that a lot of people think their dogs will play and whatever when you are gone, but honestly, they sleep. Crates aren't cruel, they are a den. I know that my dogs would be fine left out, but they LOVE their crates. They spend a lot of time there even when we are home. And yes, dogs can eat woodwork, window treatments, counters etc. Crating saves you the worry and the dog the temptation. How long are you gone during the day? My dogs have gone up to 12 hours with no ill effects other than being a little crazy. But that's what a kong on a rope and backyard are for here!

[canuckgal]

I am reading this thread with interest and wondering the same thing, like how much crate time is too much time. I have a dog who is not housebroken. (11 week Boston Terrier)....she knows now where her spot is in the yard, and runs to it, but doesn't let us know yet that she has to "go" outside. Basically, she seems to sleep in there for about 2-2 1/2hrs at a time in the day, and is out for 45 min max at a time in the kitchen where I can watch her and the kids, and any longer than that she seems to have an accident, especially if she has been playing hard. Then it is a drink of water and back in the crate, she chews toys for a bit and goes to sleep. She is crated all night in our bedroom and can hold it for 6-8hrs.

What I am wondering is how you know that you can let them out longer. (when you are home?) Like when they are having no more accidents, and then they can run free in the house and go in and out at will? Does it depend on how destructive they seem in general (so far she leaves our things alone and gravitates to her toys). I just know so many people who crate their 4, 5, or even 6 year old dogs through a work day, and overnight, not sure if it is needed or not or just their habit. I just can't picture a day when I can just let her out and be gone for 4-5 hours, LOL!

[tinyblackdot]

Our dogs stay outside , and if its raining or cold/hot they stay in their crates.

They also sleep in their crates (unless its raining, and then they sleep in the bed with us LOL!)

[ShadowMoon]

Our dog stays in a very large crate if no one is home. I have tried several times to keep her out but she will chew things if we''re away. At night she is either on our bed, in her bed, or in her designated chair.

[slimkins]

Our dog is 2 1/2 now and she stays blocked in the living room and kitchen. Our living room is crazy dog proofed and the kitchen is the same. The other rooms aren't so she is kept out of them during the day.
At night, she sleeps on her bed on the floor by our bed. Thanks to my sucker of a husband she has been averaging about 2 nights a week in our bed. This really makes her day. Did I mention she sleeps in a sweater... haha. She is a boxer and does have very short hair. She would sleep fully covered up (head and all) if you let her, too.
When she was a pup she was in her crate during the day. She really didn't mind it. She would go in it on her own when she saw that we were almost ready to leave for work. We never used her crate for punishment so she never saw it as a bad place. Slowly, around a year and a half we started letting her stay out of the crate (kitchen and living room) for a couple of hours at a time. This transition really seemed to work for us, but we never rushed it.

[Dar]

Run of the house. She's usually sleeping on the floor near the cat, who she pretends is a sheep to be guarded. The cat sleeps, too...

[CarrieMF]

Our dogs are outside. We have a fenced in yard & they have full range of it.

If it's raining or too cold for them to be outside they come inside. We put the baby gate up between the porch & kitchen so they can't get past(though if there's a sharp enough crack of thunder they go past & get onto my bed). They have the entire basement they can go into.

We joke that they have a 1242sq ft dog "crate".lol

When we move to an acreage later this year we'll be getting a larger dog run for them to go into when we're gone as acreages are not fenced in & they've always been fenced in.

[Shera971]

We have a rescue adult Husky mix. When we first got him, we gated him in the kitchen with a wooden half door. After about 3 days when coming home from work I found him happily laying down in the living room. He had eaten through the door to escape. After that we let him have the run of the house and he has pretty much left everything alone. Except for the time that I left a bag of dirty diapers by the back door by mistake that is. Ripped up poopy diapers all over my house.....bleh.

[gingerstar]

Originally Posted by Shera971

We have a rescue adult Husky mix. When we first got him, we gated him in the kitchen with a wooden half door. After about 3 days when coming home from work I found him happily laying down in the living room. He had eaten through the door to escape. After that we let him have the run of the house and he has pretty much left everything alone. Except for the time that I left a bag of dirty diapers by the back door by mistake that is. Ripped up poopy diapers all over my house.....bleh.

How awful for you! Oh, my....

Our pup will be a year this month, and cannot be trusted loose in the house yet. She loves her crate, though. So yes, she is crated at night, and when we are not home, which since I'm not working is not all that often or long, really.
I do have hopes that once she is older and less prone to chew on things that she can sleep with my girls (my 8 yo is her fave person) and be loose in the house, like the dogs I grew up with.

[onlyzombiecat]

Our dogs are about 3 and 9 years old.
When we are home the dogs have the run of the house except during feeding time which is confined to the kitchen.

If we are going to be gone less than 4 hours the dogs have the run of the house.

If we are going to be gone longer I gate them in the kitchen. They've never damaged anything while we were gone after the youngest stopped being a puppy. I have seen real damage on woodwork from some big dogs though so it is possible.

If we are going to be gone 8 hours or more I would probably take them with us or get a pet sitter.

The dogs sleep in my room on the floor or my bed when I sleep.
When we first got a dog I tried letting the dog sleep in with dd but it did not work. Dd would stay awake to play or talk to the dog. The dog was a puppy and would eat dd's toys. They really did not need the unsupervised time.
Now he really only sleeps with dd if she is sick or dozing on the sofa.

When I was growing up our dog was either outside or in the basement. We spent a lot of time together still.

[battymama]

Our dog has the run of the back room of our house,which has tile floors, when we are home he has the run of all the house except the front room unless we are in there- he has a nasty habit of weeing on the couch. At night he sleeps by the door in our bedroom.

[boringscreenname]

When we're sleeping the dog sleeps in our bedroom with us, on an old blanket on the floor. We sleep with our bedroom door closed, and we used to let her just roam the house while we slept. Then inevitably she'd come whining at the door in the middle of the night and woke us up, so she just sleeps in the bedroom when we sleep now.

When we're gone, we put her in our bedroom with the door closed. We used to let her have free roam of the house while we were gone, but then one day she completely destroyed the blinds in our living room. We're usually gone for very short periods to run errands and at most an hour or two.

If we're going to be gone for an extended length of time, then we just pull the blinds up and let her have free roam of the house.

[Sol_y_Paz]

Originally Posted by tinyblackdot

Our dogs stay outside

You might enjoy this article
http://wisedogblog.com/blog1.php/200...g-dogs-outside