does our puppy need day care? (terrier, clean, cleaning, best)

[jobseeker2013]

My wife and I are gone 10 hours a day so we keep our amstaff terrier mix in a crate in the meantime. She is a high energy pup and is always excited about things. She gets regular excercise and she even goes with us on jogs. Is that enough or does she need day care. The problem is it is expensive. Is it a necessity?

[arjo]

Just to be clear: Are you saying that she's in there for 10 hours straight with no breaks? If that's the case, then yes, you probably do need daycare if she cannot be trusted to roam the house or a specified area.

[scgali]

I think daycare is always best especially for an only dog who is alone all day. Dogs (most) are social pack animals and want company too. And yes, 10 hours straight is way too long to crate the poor thing everyday.
I don't know the daily rates where you live but they usually have packages and monthly rates that are cheaper. If it is still too much maybe try a dog walker for an hour in the middle of the day. We did both with our dogs. 3 days a week at daycare and 2 days of 1 hour dog walking in midday. If it was hot or raining, the walker would simply hang out and play with dogs. Just something to break up the monotony.

[TheKiwi]

10 hours is a LONG time to be in a crate all day. We don't leave my dog for anymore than 5-6 hours at most, and we try not to even do that, but keep it to 3-4 most of the time. Dogs are social creatures and shouldn't be left alone so long or they can get depressed and it can also manifest into other issues with them acting out. Not to mention it's not good for them physically to be confined to a small space for so long! They need to be able to move around. Just think if you were confined to an airplane seat for 10 hours without being able to use the bathroom. That's how they feel.

I'd do one of these options:

A) Drop them off at doggie daycare when you have to leave for more than 5 hours at a time.

B) Get a dog walker to come 2 times a day ideally, but once at the minimum. Make sure you also take the dog for a walk before you leave for work for the day and also when you get home.

C) If you can't do either (or can only afford to do doggie daycare or a dog walker a few days a week and not every day), at least let the dog have a bigger space to roam while at home. You can get child gates and put them up in doorways to prevent the dog from getting into rooms you don't want them in. We let our dog roam free in the kitchen, living room, laundry room, and bathroom at one side of our house and prevent the dog from going into the carpeted rooms. Then we don't have to worry about cleaning up a little mess if the dog has an accident while we're gone.