What Do You Do With Your Dogs When You Go Out?

[Guest hankodie]

Hey DOL, just curious to hear on what people do when they leave their dogs at home (either for the day or just a few hours).

Do they stay outside during the day? inside/outside access? Pens or crates? Do you separate them or do they run together? Has anyone used a service where you pay someone to let the dogs out? (No pun intended :laugh: )

My 2 year old and 4 month old are currently inside during the day, in their crates if I'm only gone a short while (I work from home usually so it's only a maximum of 2 hours) or if I'm away for longer I try to get my MIL to let them out. This sort of works, but when I can't get anyone to come by to let them out then I often have to change around or cancel plans. I love my dogs more than anything but just wondering if there was a more practical way of going about it!

What do you do with your dogs when you leave the house? Please share!

[YvonneM]

My 6 month old Maltese has the run of the house and yard 24/7 (well almost - he is in his crate at night) . We have a doggy door out into the yard and he helps himself in and out - but mostly spends his time indoors. Tthis has made toilet training much easier because he knows to go outside and doesn't t need to wait for someone to let him out. We're still working on night times though - I think he wakes up, is still sleepy, wanders to the carpet which feels like grass and pees there - which is why he is still crated at night time.

[W Sibs]

We have a doggie door and the dogs have access in and out of the hosue 24/7. They get free rein of the house as soon as they are toilet trained :)

Edited September 19, 2013 by W Sibs

[coogie]

Ours are free range,in the house and back yard, I don't give them access to the front unless we are home and one of us is out there with them. We are busy teaching Issy some additional fence manners, and despite repeated attempts at sabotage by multiple free ranging neigbourhood cats we are finally getting somewhere so don't want her unsupervised out there.

They spend a lot of the day on the back deck and in the yard by choice, but can get in whenever they want to. It would not be practical for us to crate for the length of time we are out some days, I like them to have access to inside case of storms , but also like them to be able to get out of the house as well. Lots of people would not be comfortable leaving the door open and tell us we are mad but it works for us so far. We are fortunate (in some ways) to have "interested" neighbours who are home all day. LOL.

The worst thing I have come home to is muddy paw prints which I can easily deal with. Although they did eat a spy hole in the blind when we accidentally went out and shut them in with the blind down once.

[mixeduppup]

Outside, we lock the maremma in his pen if we're gone past evening as he gets a bit barky at night. The rest just hang out in the backyard.

[Rebanne]

Usually outside in the yard. Often separated now that Fern is older and doesn't know that rough housing hurts her! Or they are together in a smaller part of the yard so not as much playing can be done. I can divide the yard into several different sizes/areas, depending on length of time away and how many dogs and their ages ( and health requirements. ) Not often left inside for hours at a time. Sometimes the back door is left open so they can access the kitchen area, the door to the rest of the house is locked.

[JackC]

My boy owns outside when we are out, he has a covered 3m square alfresco with a large dog kennel outdoor sun bed and 2m long outdoor fully wooden table for shelter, water pool in the yard will be added soon, its a small yard but just enough for him to do zoomies back and forth, round and round all day, he has an abundance of toys and objects to keep him amused, a large heavy water bowl in place and a few large bones on a regular basis to chew on, we have a radio playing by the sliding door so he has some noise interaction for sleeping

As he is young we do not leave him out there after dark, only from early morning till after work, my partner works shifts so if no-one will be home within 8 hours of leaving him one of will head back on our lunch break to feed and check on him, when he hits 6 months we will be stopping this check and feeding and moving to two meals a day and if my partner is on a double he will be out there from 7am till 5:30pm, but that will probably only be twice a week sometimes 3 times.

It took him about a week to adjust to amusing himself out there and he seems to have settled well over the last month

When we are home we have a modernpetdoor sliding door insert in our back sliding door, it is the best thing ever, great to let him go out when ever he wants at night when we are home to do his business or play and then can come inside when he wants to rest or cuddle or just roam around

[Dame Aussie]

Outside, we lock the maremma in his pen if we're gone past evening as he gets a bit barky at night. The rest just hang out in the backyard.

Same here.

[Guest hankodie]

We have a doggie door and the dogs have access in and out of the hosue 24/7. They get free rein of the house as soon as they are toilet trained :)

This would be my ideal solution but I'd be a little worried about nuisance barking! Are your doggies very quiet and well behaved when outside on their own?

I trust that Hank the pup would just wander around & chase butterflies but Odie tends to go into full "guard dog mode" when outside which we are working on but I have to be around to tell her to snap out of it.

Also I'm worried about someone coming along and stealing them but my SO tells me that's highly unlikely I think I'm the one who has separation anxiety here

Edited September 19, 2013 by hankodie

[Odin-Genie]

My dogs use to have full access inside and outside through the dog door, but now that my Elkhound is not allowed out in the sun (due to health issues) they are both inside the house during the day.

[W Sibs]

We have a doggie door and the dogs have access in and out of the hosue 24/7. They get free rein of the house as soon as they are toilet trained :)

This would be my ideal solution but I'd be a little worried about nuisance barking! Are your doggies very quiet and well behaved when outside on their own?

I trust that Hank the pup would just wander around & chase butterflies but Odie tends to go into full "guard dog mode" when outside which we are working on but I have to be around to tell her to snap out of it.

Also I'm worried about someone coming along and stealing them but my SO tells me that's highly unlikely I think I'm the one who has separation anxiety here

They will only make noise when there is a reason too. They are happier inside of the house when no one is home though. Saying that, my dogs aren't allow in the front yard if I'n not home to supervise. They have free rein of the house and backyard :)

I'm worried that someone will take Skeeter too.

Edited September 19, 2013 by W Sibs

[Kirislin]

Mine are all adults now and have the run of the house except for the kitchen because they will jump on the benches. When I get my puppy I will probably crate her or if it's for a long time I might take her with me.

If I have to go out all day and it's Summer, depending on the weather, I might even lock them all outside because of puppy. I wouldn't leave her unsupervised for long periods inside my house.

[Nushie]

Jager has access inside and outside via a dog door. We shut off part of the house with a baby gate (usually just the bedrooms) when we arent there so that the cat has her space. He spends most of his time inside generally only goes out to toilet and bark at any birds that dare land on the ground.

[Guest hankodie]

Jager has access inside and outside via a dog door. We shut off part of the house with a baby gate (usually just the bedrooms) when we arent there so that the cat has her space. He spends most of his time inside generally only goes out to toilet and bark at any birds that dare land on the ground.

Just noticed your avatar Nushie, is Jager a pug? May I ask what you do on the really hot summer days - do you continue to give him indoor/outdoor access as usual or keep him inside if it's too warm? Odie is a frenchie so I worry about her overheating & not having the sense to come back inside if she gets too hot.

She also loves to alert the townspeople of any birds that invade our yard :laugh:

[JackC]

We have a doggie door and the dogs have access in and out of the hosue 24/7. They get free rein of the house as soon as they are toilet trained :)

This would be my ideal solution but I'd be a little worried about nuisance barking! Are your doggies very quiet and well behaved when outside on their own?

I trust that Hank the pup would just wander around & chase butterflies but Odie tends to go into full "guard dog mode" when outside which we are working on but I have to be around to tell her to snap out of it.

Also I'm worried about someone coming along and stealing them but my SO tells me that's highly unlikely I think I'm the one who has separation anxiety here

Hankodie I was in the exact same position as you when I first got Koda, I was also really worried as at the time we were in a new developed area in the middle of a busy suburb so lots of people would walk by our fence, back then I sectioned of my yard so Koda could only get access to a small portion of the garden and full access to the covered alfresco, this was to keep him away from the fence that was road side so he didn't get disturbed by any noise or people walking by the fence

I think it took me longer to adjust to the situation than he did

[juice]

The upside to having dogs outside is I come and go as I please without anyone stressing over it.

They are are all laying in the sun atm, one is asleep on the couch in the garage. :)

[Rascalmyshadow]

We gave 5 dogs ranging in age from 11months to 12years, we give them access to loungeroom, kitchen and yard if we are not home. When we are home they are also allowed in our bedroom.

Laundry and kids rooms are off limits.

[Guest hankodie]

I think it took me longer to adjust to the situation than he did

:laugh: :laugh: I'm with you there JackC! I'm starting to leave Hank for longer periods now and when I get home I always rush upstairs feeling slightly panicked but of course he's always just fine (and usually still asleep)

[Leah82]

Ours are outside during the day when we're at work, our yard is about 400sqm with a couple of big trees so they spend their days sniffing and lying around or curled up in the kennel if it's cold and rainy. I also go home at lunch to check on them from time to time.

If we're out for a few hours at night they are in the back area of the house where they sleep and a baby gate stops them from going in the kitchen and lounge room, mostly to keep them off the couch.

They do complain a lot if they're outside and we're inside but are fine as long as they think there is no-one home. I personally think outside is much more interesting and stimulating for them but obviously if you have a dog that likes to react to those simulations then that's not always a good thing :)

Have you considered one of those collars that sprays a citrus scent when the dog barks for Odie when you're not at home to stop him barking?

[Vehs]

My GSD has always gone outside when no one is home, he's had shelter and a kennel.

My Fiance's Maltx has always had access to the laundry and hall through a dog door in the laundry so we used this at our new house.

They are fed bones at the opposite ends of the yard and have usually eaten them before I've had time to lock up the house so we haven't had issues on fighting over food.

The Maltx has his favorite toys inside and we don't keep toys outside - it'll be on his head if drags one of them thru the dog door! LOL

The GSD did successfully get thru the little dog door and broke it in the process during a cold day and we considered getting a big dog door, but he got over it.