If you work during the day, where does your dog stay? (border collie, clean) - Dogs - - City-Data Forum

NODAK1979 · 06-07-2010, 12:50 PM

This has been an issue of contention on another message board, so I thought I'd ask here. There are certain people who will say that crating during the day is a terrible thing to do....but I've found a lot of those people also are home most of the time and so they don't really have to deal with longer stints away from home.

Here's our background:

My wife and I both work during the days. She leaves around 6AM and returns around 6PM. I leave around 7:30AM and return around 6PM as well. We keep our small dog in a pen while we are away. He has never really taken to potty training all that well, but even if he did, the 12 hours that we are gone is far too long for him to hold it anyway. Little dogs, small bladders.

The pen is somewhat spacious. 3 feet by 5 feet I'd say. More than enough for a small dog like him. We did a crate when he was younger but we think the pen is better. We just put down a pee pad for him...he's pretty good about using it.

So what do you do, if you are among the millions of people who are not home for a good chunk of the day?

jeffreydavidson320 · 06-07-2010, 12:57 PM

We've got an American Bulldog/Chinese Shar Pei mix that we just adopted a month ago. My wife and I both are gone most of the day. I do work close enough to home though, that I have just enough time to get home at lunch, take her on a quick walk and tummy rub, check her water, eat something myself quickly, and get back to work in my hour off. She seems to handle anything under five hours alone pretty well. We just let her roam about inside the house - she's so well house broken. The only thing that's ever out of place is her foodbowl if we start pushing that five hour mark.

Our neighbor does not quite live so close, so she hires a dog-walker that I see everyday walking her border collie over lunch. It seems to work well for both of us.

Racelady88 · 06-07-2010, 01:08 PM

Shadow spends her days on the couch mostly.

When I worked full time I left at 5:30 in the morning and got home at 5:30 in the evening. I would fly home on my lunch hour to let her out, give her a guilt treat, and fly back to the office.

I am one of the people who does not believe in crating. If I was going to be gone more than 6 hours without being able to get home I would have a neighbor let her out or hire a service to do it if I did not have a neighbor that I trusted with the key to my house.

flkingfan · 06-07-2010, 01:09 PM

We're gone for at least 9 1/2 hrs a day for work. I keep my boy in my bedroom, as my cats get the rest of the house. He can definitely hold his bathroom habits (knock on wood). I hate, hate, hate being gone that long, but unfortunately we both have to work.

latetotheparty · 06-07-2010, 01:36 PM

i have always been gone 9-10 hours a day.... i crated bailey for about the 1st month i had her, but she hated it so much, i spent a weekend testing her loose in the house by herself, and she was just fine..... i have been fortunate with her as she is VERY fastidious about her potty habits.... she has had a couple of accidents in the house, one my fault and the other time, she was ill .... and i thought she was going to DIE from shame as she kept me company while i cleaned up ..... she could not even look me in the face.....

i now leave the door to my back yard open enough for bailey and dave to get to the yard if they need to during the day..... bailey was always very good about making it all day.... and dave has been too on the rare days that they are confined indoors....

both have the run of the house when i am gone......

skeet09 · 06-07-2010, 02:10 PM

Hubby works 7am-4pm and I do 8am-5pm and we are lucky enough that my parents live close by that we drop him off on the way to work and pick him up on the way back. We're buying a house and our criteria was to look close by so we can continue with the schedule.

s0nginmyheart · 06-07-2010, 02:11 PM

I crate my little pup because if I don't, I am expecting some kind of trouble - whether it be something shredded or torn, or the door scratched and chewed up on. SO, after learning MY lesson, the crate is the only way I can trust him. Even then, sometimes he is able to get out (paws at the latch until it opens). However, I am able to go home for lunch so he is in there about 3-4 hours at a time before and after my lunch.

Rottnboys · 06-07-2010, 02:19 PM

We are gone from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm each day - our dogs (6 adults) are at different places in their trustworthiness for 'access' while we are gone. ALL started out in a crate.....and earned their additional access a little at a time.

Two of them stay in our master bedroom, with access to that room, but not the closet or bathroom.

Two of them stay in our front living area, which is gated off from the rest of the house.

The remaining two stay in our office, with one on her big dog bed, the other crated in a 48" wire crate.

The only dog crated is a bit of a mischief maker

and she is crated for her safety, which also benefits our belongings.

The dogs who are not crated, if given more access (as in whole house), have been known to chew up paper 'just because', or knock pillows off sofa's, etc....with a bit more restricted access, they sleep and await our return so they are well rested and READY when we get home

We also have a couple of strong willed males who cannot be together at all - much less in our absence.

Niftybergin · 06-07-2010, 02:23 PM

My dog is 8.5 years old. I leave the house at 8:30 a.m. and walk in the door usually around 6:00 p.m....sometimes a little thereafter. Bandit is "in the house" while I'm gone. He is not crated, but his crate is one of his favorite places to hang out, so yeah...he spends a lot of the day in there. He knows our schedule, and during the day, he doesn't drink much water. When I get home, he goes out to potty first thing, and then he drinks a lot during the evening and night, while I'm available to take him out. Which I do numerous, numerous times.

Everyone I work with knows that I am out the door no later than 5:30 because I have a dog at home. I'll work overtime on the weekends, but I won't work it during the week.

Bandit is happy, healthy, and well-adjusted. This is our routine, and has been our routine all his life, since he was a puppy.

There are rare occasions when I need to LOCK him in his crate during the day. Mostly this is just if the maintenance people need to come in while I'm gone. Bandit doesn't seem to mind. (He acts no differently during a "crate" day than during a "non-crate" day.) But like I said, he LIKES his crate. Honestly, it's his favorite place to hang out and he goes in there all to time to just chill.

freesiia · 06-07-2010, 02:23 PM

I have three pit bulls, all three are house trained but I always worry.... what if something sets one of them off on the other one? And then its a massive fight.... so I rotate. One can always be out of the crate while I'm away. The other two are in crates waiting for me to come home.

Now when I'm home all three are out doing their thing. And I go to check what they're doing and one or two will be hanging out in their crates chewing a toy or taking a nap. I look at it like its their bedroom, its their safe zone.