Dog Question....

The Juggler

greetings from the jeagler...

i have a dog question for you dog pearl jammers out there. my dog is about 2.5 years old now. we normally kept her in her crate while at work. well, i have been out of work for 3 months now so its been forever since she's been in her crate. im going back on monday. so we plan on leaving her out as she has, for the most part, grown out of her cute little chew the sofa/table/bookshelf/chair/windowsill phase...lol...and i stress the "for the most part phase" part.

anywho....my question sis how long do your dog's usually chill by themselves during the day while you are at work. with my new job i will have to leave by 7-ish. my girlfriend gets home before me at around 5. so that is 12 hours that she will be alone. we're gonna try to see if someone can come in and let her out around 1 or 2-ish. we used to bring her to a doggy daycare a couple times a week, but those places are so damn expensive and im not making as much as before so we cant really afford that.

so i was just wondering what other people do with their dogs during the day and if you have any advice.

SENROCK

thats a long time to be in a crate and a long time to be alone! But, if you let your doggie roam around the house, leave a radio on. Seriously. If a doggie is alone for a long time, music and voices help so they dont feel alone. Laugh if you want but its true. Make sure you give her lots of love and attention when you get home!!!

eyedclaar

I think your dog spends more time in a crate than my gimp does...

Riverrunner

We have always left our dogs free to roam the house during the day while we are at work. We used to pay a neighbor lady (not much - very cheap - she offered to do it for nothing) to come over around lunch time and let them out to do their business. However, with the dogs we have now (Andy was the one that couldn't "hold it" all day and he died of Cushings disease in 2003), we leave them there. My husband works shift work so there are only a few days out of 28 where they are alone for about 9 hours. They sleep all day anyway except when they bark at the mail carrier.

I don't think I could leave a dog in a crate for a long period of time on a regular basis. I know people do it, the experts recommend it, and it doesn't seem to do them any harm, but I guess I just emphathize to much. I can't imagine being confined to such a small space for so many hours.

Phantom Pain

Thats a long time without going out to pee

We have 2 dogs we crate the younger (she'll be 1yr soon) and I usually head home fo lunch to let them both out

Are other dog will be 2yr he is not crated..I dont generally leave him for more than 8hrs at a time

He doesnt chew anything..but just for the bathroom aspect

If you can have someone let your dog out that would be your best bet I think


P.S. Dont ask Dunk what to do

Riverrunner

Phantom Pain wrote:

P.S. Dont ask Dunk what to do

Phantom Pain

SENROCK! wrote:

thats a long time to be in a crate and a long time to be alone! But, if you let your doggie roam around the house, leave a radio on. Seriously. If a doggie is alone for a long time, music and voices help so they dont feel alone. Laugh if you want but its true. Make sure you give her lots of love and attention when you get home!!!

Bailey has the TV on when we're at work

My wife leaves TLC on...poor dog has seen every episode of "What not to Wear"

:(

Rygar

Phantom Pain wrote:

Bailey has the TV on when we're at work

My wife leaves TLC on...poor dog has seen every episode of "What not to Wear"

:(

Ouch!
Better off in the crate!

SENROCK

Phantom Pain wrote:

Bailey has the TV on when we're at work

My wife leaves TLC on...poor dog has seen every episode of "What not to Wear"

:(

HAHAHAHAHAHA
my first suggestion was to leave animal planet on. Instead i went with the radio cuz i love music and so did Surfer! Bailey is awesome!!!! We need more pics in the doggie thread of both your kids!!!!

Phantom Pain

Rygar wrote:

Ouch!
Better off in the crate!

Funny thing is...he has been begging for a new studded collar

decides2dream

2.5 years old is plenty old enough to be left alone, uncrated. we have 2 dogs, ages 5 and 8 and they are left alone for 11 hours a day, M-F. it is unfortunate, but with our commute, it just is what it is. we do not allow them in the LR or our bedroom while we aren't home, but they have the rest of the house to roam and each has their own comfy bed. we do not have anyone come in to walk them either. it IS a long time, no doubt....but it's the best we can do and overall they seem happy. luckily, they have each other, and the cat , for company, plenty of toys and the comfy beds. they most definitely are thrilled when we get home though. it's tough, but doable. as a few suggested, leave a radio on...have someone come over once a day if you can.....and be sure to leave plenty of distractions - toys, comfy bed, fresh water....and love em up when you get home!

the wolf

have two black labs. im pretty sure they sleep all day, aside from barking at the mail lady like stated above. lol.

they are alone free to roam with the radio on like SEN said.

there have been times they are alone for up to 10 hours ! every now and then the boy dog has an accident in the house. but for the most part they are good with being left alone. actually, i think the girl dog likes having us gone for part of the day

get the pup a big bone to chew on , that will keep him occupied . lol

appliedlesson

mine is on her own for approximately 8-9 hours - horrible I know. she has two cats to keep her company during the day, and when I get home - I make sure to take her out to play with other dogs for an hour or more. She's just over 2 years old.

blackredyellow

Our dog is 3, and she is on her own. She was always in a crate, but my wife was off work for maternity leave for the first few months of this year, and after that we never went back to the crate.

Our dog shits on the floor occasionally, but that is more out of spite than anything.

The Juggler

just to clarify: we are not going to crate her anymore. when we did, it was for about 7 hrs which is still long i guess. but we plan on leaving her out. i guess we are going to try to find someone to let her out. we used to use this lady up the street but she was arrested for stealing our other neighbor's mail! yea, we're gonna find someone else.

i like the idea of leaving the radio on though. i remember my grandmom used to dot that for her dog.

norm

well norm is with me all the time...i'm lucky....however when i do have to leave him alone he has free roam of the house....i think he just sleeps on his bed

Dissidentman

The question is, WWMVD?


what would Michael Vick do?

smg9779

My girlfriend and I leave our dog Dodger home for 8-10 hours a day. We used to crate him and come home every lunch to let him out to pee. But now he is old enough to hold it for up to twelve hours pretty comfortably (we strive very hard to keep it under 10 hours). The key for our dog is giving him something to do. Luckily Dodger is VERY food motivated so we stuff 3-4 kongs every morning and leave them with him. Every time we come home he is asleep on our bed and as far as we know he doesn't bark.

My take home message: give your dog something to do while you are gone.

haffajappa

its sad to say my dog will sometimes stay at home by herself anywhere from an hour to 7 hours depending on what classes i have and if i'm working that day.

but we've never ever kept her in a crate or kennel... no offense to anyone but i actually find that abusive especially if its a big dog.
i've got an 80lb husky/shepherd/collie though so maybe thats the difference.

anyways, she's never been a chewer and she's quite well 'potty trained'. of course there are accidents rarely but we dont get mad at her because we already feel guilty enough having her stay home that long.

she sheds like a bitch though!

anywyas, i'd say leave the dog out. at least its worth a try

haffajappa

Phantom Pain wrote:

Bailey has the TV on when we're at work

My wife leaves TLC on...poor dog has seen every episode of "What not to Wear"

:(

you must have the most fashionable canine in town

eyedclaar

doin'the-evolution wrote:

you must have the most fashionable canine in town

It's when the dog refuses to be seen out in public with the owner that things have gone too far.

haffajappa

eyedclaar wrote:

It's when the dog refuses to be seen out in public with the owner that things have gone too far.

hahah... i wonder what it'd say about my dog and i... i usually go for walks in like the most comfortable and unmatching clothes... and her collar doesnt match her leash! fashion disaster

PJaddicted

Petey is almost 2, he has not seen the inside of his crate since he was 7 months old. But I only work 2 days a week, and my kids are home most days by 2pm. So he isn't home alone very long. So far....he has done nothing but sleep.

I'd have someone come in and let your dog out, and maybe play with him for a bit. When you get home a long walk and a play session are a really good idea, just to get out all the excess energy. A tired dog is a good dog.

oxc

Phantom Pain

doin'the-evolution wrote:

you must have the most fashionable canine in town

He still wears white after labor day

haffajappa

Phantom Pain wrote:

He still wears white after labor day

fashion faux pas!!!!

haffajappa

blackredyellow wrote:

Our dog is 3, and she is on her own. She was always in a crate, but my wife was off work for maternity leave for the first few months of this year, and after that we never went back to the crate.

Our dog shits on the floor occasionally, but that is more out of spite than anything.

omg ! my dog sometimes does things out of spite too!
hahaha...

Wobbie

smg9779 wrote:

My girlfriend and I leave our dog Dodger home for 8-10 hours a day.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! You live in SF and your dog is named Dodger? WTF??

From a bladder standpoint, we tried to never leave Shelby for more than 9 hours, max. My wife used to say Shelby would explode before she would disappoint us (by peeing in the house). RIP, girl. :(

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll56/ddgrh8r/IMG_1293.jpg

SENROCK

dissidentman wrote:

The question is, WWMVD?


what would Michael Vick do?

:eek:

The Juggler

doin'the-evolution wrote:

i
but we've never ever kept her in a crate or kennel... no offense to anyone but i actually find that abusive especially if its a big dog.
quote]

huh? its not abusive to crate your dog. and, sorry, i do take offense when someone basically accuses me of abusing my dog. it is actually an effective way to train them. if i never had a chewing problem with my dog, like your situation, then i probably would not have crated her nearly as much as i did. i just didnt want my whole house to be eaten. you may have thought differently if you had those problems with your husky.

that said, as i stated in the original post, i am not crating her anymore though. i am just trying to find out what other people do with their dogs all day while they're at work. thanks for your input though.

The Juggler

doin'the-evolution wrote:

omg ! my dog sometimes does things out of spite too!
hahaha...

lol...my dog gets pissed whenever we are on the phone. she starts whinning because we're not paying attention to her. then she starts with that ear pearcing, high pitched, bark of hers. its kind of funny...but extremely annoying too!

aNiMaL

I leave my 1 1/2 year old black lab, Gravy at home in the house with the cat for 9 to 11 hours per work day. She has never had a single accident in the house at all. She sure is super excited to see me when i walk in the door and the first thing she wants to do is go outside!