Where does your dog stay when you're not home or asleep? - Page 2

[DoomaYula]

My dogs stay in their crates if I'm going to be gone longer than a few minutes. My shep mix loves her crate, it's her safe place. She will hang out with the door open all day long, and if she gets stressed or anything, she runs for it. My other dog tolerates it, but he'd prefer to sleep on the couch or under the baby's crib. I trust them both, and sometimes if my dh has to work late or is out of town I'll leave them both out at night.

[kblackstone444]

Both my dogs were crated at night until they were completely housetrained. We got them at 4 and 5 months old. The 4 month old (Princess) had to be completely housetrained by us, so she was crated until she was a little over a year old. The 5 month old (Tara) was already almost completely housetrained, so she was "free" at night by the time she was 6 1/2-7 months old. Once out of the crate, they are free to roam the house at night, but they stay in our (me and my Hubby's) bedroom. They're welcome at the foot of the bed, as long as they behave- Tara sleeps at the bottom, Princess prefers either her own bed in our bedroom, or the hallway just outside our door. Neither of them ever want to roam the house if we're sleeping, though sometimes one or the other will go in and check on the kids in their rooms and then come right back.

My dog, Princess, was crated while I was a work until she was two years old. She was a very nervous puppy and the excitement of us coming home would make her pee on the floor, unless she was crated. She's four now and we only crate her if someone she's not sure about is coming into our home.

My dog, Tara, will be two next week. She's still crated when nobody is home, unless it will only be a couple of minutes, because she either gets bored or nervous and then starts chewing things. She prefers my kids toys and my Hubby's shoes. It never happens when we're home, though.

Because of our schedules, neither dog is ever crates more than 4, maybe 5 hours at a time.

Funny little stories- my Princess prefers to sit ON TOP of her crate, on a pillow and my Tara prefers to lay in Princess' crate, which is perfect for a 20 pound dog, but not so perfect for a long legged 40 pound dog like Tara. That's where they spend alot of their rest time, if left to their own devices. I've got funny dogs. And both dogs will follow me around all day long, when I'm home. Talk about attached "parenting"!

[rhiOrion]

When we first got our (adult) dog she stayed in the crate at night, but she had the run of the apartment during the day, because my husband was home working on his thesis.

When my husband got a job, and we moved, we didn't feel right leaving her in there all day and all night, because she's be spending most of her time in the crate. The new house has a kitchen/dining room that has a door, so we shut her in there during the day. She has access to her crate, with a big bed in it, so she curls up in the crate when she wants, but she can get out and stretch her legs, and drink water, too.

For a while we did this at night as well, but now that we've had her longer and she has gained our trust, we do let her stay out at night, mostly because she just curls up on the end of the bed and sleeps, anyhow.

I think that for an adult dog the best option is to block off a room for the doggy during the day, and giving her a little corner in that room with a bed to call her own, especially if she's reasonably trust worthy. If you doggy-proof the room as much as possible, then her scale of destruction is limited. If your dog likes to play, leave out some safe toys, too.

But we all make do with what we have, and a dog in a crate is still happier than a dog on the streets!

[HRC121799]

When we first got our dog (rescue), we crated her, because her previous family had crated her when they were gone. We have had her sleep in a dog bed in our bedroom from day one at night.

We stopped using the crate after about six months and now when we leave the house we use a baby gate to gate her in the office with her dog bed and toys. For awhile we tried just letting her have free reign of the house when we were gone, but she got into mischief, even if we thought we left nothing out for her to get into. So, at night she's in our bedroom on her dog bed and during the day if we leave she is in the office with her dog bed and toys. We still have the crate, unassembled in the garage in case we need to use it.

[oneKnight]

My dog stays in her crate if we are leaving or sleeping.

She is trustworthy in the house, but we started crating with her as a puppy and we have just stuck with the tradtion.
During the daytime it's optional whether or not we crate her, but really she expects to go in there, and sometimes goes in herself when we start getting ready. She's a lazy dog who would sleep anyway, and she has a crock attached to the side of her crate for water, so I really think she's happy in there.
I like the idea of her having to wait for us to let her out when we get home. Some people just ignore their dogs for a bit when they get home. It's a pack leader thing.

She choses to sleep in her crate at night when she wants to "deep sleep" so I know she's most comfortable in it. I usually feed her in there at bedtime, she eats the best in the crate I think because of less distractions.