Working with dogs

[greyshadows]

How does anyone out there work while owning your dogs? I have been a stay at home mom for several years and during that time we acquired our two dogs. Now my kids are old enough for me to work again but I can't imagine crating my dogs all day! They really feel like my kids! We are pretty active all day and take long walks in the nice weather. I would feel horrible leaving them. Suggestions? Advice?

[Maxy24]

Do you have to crate them? If they are housebroken and don't destroy things then you can leave them loose. My dog is left alone for 7 hours a day (for work) plus a little more if my parents go out at night to ship or eat out. He stays loose, likely lays around, chases the cats a bit, chews on his bully stick or antler, but mostly he sleeps in the sun. It's no different than when we're home and not doing anything on the weekends, he just lays. Just make sure you schedule time to give them their exercise, play with them, train them, and don't forget to snuggle when you're home. The only time I see it become an issue is when people come home, are tired, and decide they'd rather rest than get their dogs out. Then it's dark and too late to go outside and the dogs miss out on any exercise. Just remember that when your day is ending, theirs is just beginning.

[Mondo]

After the first few years I let mine run loose during the day. They sleep most of the time when we are gone. As puppies, and into young adulthoold there was a large bathroom they were left in during the day with beds, water and in those days I could still free feed. The last 6 or 7 years they roam free. There have been occasional clean ups .. par for the course I guess. Knock on wood, things have been good the past year or so.

[Cliffdog]

I don't have a job but I spend most of my days out of my home job hunting or doing "freelance" type work so I know where you're coming from. I got the largest crate possible but I still HATED crating Bonnie when she was young, but back then she was a bigtime chewer so I couldn't leave her roaming the house. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with crating but I always felt bad doing it for anything other than sleepytime. Now I leave her outside during the day. She can jump clear over the fence now so I installed a tether, made sure there was nothing she could get hung on or tangled around, put swivels on the anchor end and the collar end, made sure she had a big bucket of clean water and a doghouse to get out of the rain, and the rest is history. Outside there's a lot more space than a crate, fresh air and sunshine, birds to watch, sticks to chew, etc etc etc. Now even when I'm home she hates spending time indoors during the daytime unless it's cold, and when it IS cold, she's over her chewing problem so she gets to sleep in the nice warm bed :)

Abbey on the other hand prefers indoors so she just hangs out free in the house during the day, like Maxy24 said. I really wouldn't crate a dog unless I had to, but all in all, crating isn't that bad as long as you show your dog lots of love and they get plenty of exercise when you get home!

[xellil]

My husband has stayed home the past 6 years or so but now we will both probably work - my dogs don't get crated, and if we do both work our hours probably won't be exactly the same so hopefully the dogs won't be alone more than a few hours.

I do know they are used to going in and out a million times a day. Neither one of them has ever been asked to wait for anything close to 8 hours to pee.

And yes, what Maxy says about working is true. In indiana, when I would get home in the afternoon it would normally be dark or almost dark, freaking cold, and I'd been up since 4:30 am. My husband would take Rebel out a little during the day but he doesn't do his long walks. So that's when dog class came in handy, or if it was halfway decent we'd go play in the yard for awhile - and on the weekends, I'd do my best to make up for it.

[twoisplenty]

We live out in the country and have a good sized fully fenced backyard (100ft x 200ft). In our back yard we have a sheltered area, plus an automated watering dish so the water is always cold and always fresh. As a back up we also put out a pail of water just in case the other system isnt working properly. Now, if its calling for rain or a heat wave is going through, our dogs lounge inside while we are gone. During the winter months they obviously stay inside. One is crated and 3 free range.

[Makovach]

I know how you feel! I hate my dogs being crated. And after living with my uncle, and when im gone they stick Tucker in the crate even tho they are all home, I'm even more against it. I know when we move they will have to be crated to start when no one is home (Annie is a destructer when she is in a enw place and Tucker is still a puppy and not trusted yet.) So my boyfirend bought them both VERY oversized crates. They fit dog bed in the back half, their bucket of water hangs perfectly in the front, they get interactive toys (A-Maze-Zing balls, Kongs, squeeze bouncers, tug-a-jug ect) while they will be in the kennel. And they will get lots of attention and exercise when we get home. My dogs love their crates and they are up in my room with open doors so they can go in and out as they please. Annie prefers her cage to be covered with a blanket to make it more den like. They don't mind being locked in, but i dont prefer it!

[GoingPostal]

We both work, but part time and until last week, opposite shifts so the dogs were only really crated in the summer for 4-5 hours total with a break when we worked 2nd jobs or if we are gone shopping or whatever. Now it depends on our schedules but anywhere from not at all to 2 hours is normal, they are never really crated more than 6 hours at a time max like if we are out of town then we have a buddy come over and take them out, he knows he can hang out and use the tv, computer, laundry, etc so they don't get locked up for long. I don't really agree with crated long hours on a regular basis but I would never leave my dogs loose together unsupervised either, if we were working a lot I would probably buy kennels for the basement. The oldest dog has the run of the downstairs but the younger two are chewers, especially the new girl who does her best at finding trouble even in the crate. So far she's pulled my bedding through and ate it, she'll eat, shred and pee on anything you leave in there so it has to be bare, but then she figured out she could kick the pan out and pee on the carpet so I had to ziptie it in, we left her in my gated off kitchen for short periods a couple times, she made her way into the garbage once, into some stuffed magnets another, she's a mess maker for sure, my male can leap over anything so gating him off isn't really an option but he really likes his crate too.

[Mondo]

Gating ... yes, we gated the boys in the bathroom. Tuffy jumped a single baby gate. So we doubled them up. Came home to have him greet me at the door. He chewed a hole in the baby gate. It was just the perfect shape for him to just get through. Toby never had any escape designs.