Puppy confinement during workday

[beccahaque]

hi everyone,

at the moment, we put bella in her crate whenever we leave the house (for work, outings, etc.) and she has done very well with this. the longest she has ever been in her crate was one time for about 7 hours (she is 6.5 months old). i am about to start a new full-time job next monday, and my hours are going to be from 8am-5pm. my job will be about 10 minutes from our house, so i could come home in the middle of the day for lunch to let her out/take her on a walk for about 20/30 minutes, but my question is this -- do we keep crating her while we're at work, or should we set up a small room w/ toys, bed, water for her (i.e. section off the kitchen, or put her in our big bathroom)?? i really hate the idea of her being in her crate for 8ish hours every single day, but i'm worried about how she'll do in the bathroom (will she have accidents, will she chew the cabinets, etc.). she is doing very well with housetraining, maybe 1 accident a week, and hasn't been destructive with our stuff since we've gotten her.

thanks for any advice/tips you can offer! i know any transition we decide on should be done gradually, but my main question is about the mode of confinement.

becca (and bella!)

 

[Nitromethane]

I've found that Nitro seems to be happy in his crate. I feel like he probably naps most of the day anyways. He goes in his crate in the morning with a Kong full of frozen peanut butter and he does very well until we get home to let him out. It's good peace of mine for me too, knowing that my stuff isn't ruined AND he is safe. As long as the crate is never used for punishment, it'll always be their happy place!

 

[RockyCody]

If bella is comfortable in her crate then there is no need to change anything. Rocky is crated from 7-6 essentially with a 30 minute break in there when my hubby or I come home for lunch. He does just fine. I also leave him a stuffed kong in the morning and its gone by the time we get home.

I have actually watched him in his crate from my phone at work using my webcam. Like nitro said - they probably sleep all day. Rocky literally eats the kong then kidney beans up for the day until we are home. That is it. I've never heard him whine, bark, or anything on the videos.

Also - I think Rocky likes his crate too - he knows he gets a good treat and when I grab the kong in the morning he usually sprints into his crate without me even having to say anything.

Either way - Bella will get into a routine. I agree with nitro - I like knowing he is safe and not getting into anything that could hurt him. It is also nice knowing that he isn't ruining any of our stuff.

Don't feel guilty. I started training rocky to sleep on a bed at night because i felt bad he was in his crate all day and night. For some reason the sleeping on his bed in our room thing makes me feel a bit better - that and the fact that I have watched him several times and he simply sleeps. That is not punishment to them at all if they like the crate and and comfortable in it.

Let us know what you decide!

 

[nalabear]

We kept Nala in her crate when we left until she was a year old. We did try the room thing when she was about 6-7 months old then again at 9-10 months old and she ate a hole in the mattress both times. I think it was because she needed to go potty but no one was home and she got fustrated and had to pee on the floor. When she was in her crate she would sleep so no issues with having to pee.

We tried again after she was a year and she did great. She just curled up on our bed and would sleep the whole time we were gone. I think the sleeping while we were away became a habit so she continued it once she was allowed out of her crate. But it took a year :D

I agree with everyone else. If she is comfortable in her crate then she will be fine. As she gets older you can do trial runs of her being out of her crate alone say while you run to the store real quick or something like that and then if she does good with that slowly increase the amount of time away. But to be honest I really would wait until she was older.

 

[Madea]

@Rocky what kind of phone do you have that you can get the Web Cam on it. I would love to have something like that on my phone to watch Tyson and Lennox during the day

 

[RockyCody]

@Rocky what kind of phone do you have that you can get the Web Cam on it. I would love to have something like that on my phone to watch Tyson and Lennox during the day

I use a website named ustream.tv and I think you need like a droid phone (I have the HTC incredible) or an iphone can stream it too. you d/l the app called ustream beta viewer and then you can watch through your webcam that you have on at home. So you'd have to set up a computer that would be capable of having an active webcam all day. My macbook does this without a problem.

 

[whiskers]

She should be fine so long as she's getting ample exercise when you are home. BUT, if it were me, I would see how she does being gated in the kitchen. You can test it out first by just going for a short errand to see how she does... I definitely wouldn't leave her in there for 8 hours the first time you decide to try it! I'm just not used to having to crate my dogs ALL day (mom works at home, and I'm a student so I'm home rather frequently), and so I look for ways to avoid it, but again she'll be fine if she gets proper exercise.

 

[Stub]

I do dog walking for my living, and most people who hire me are gone 8 - 12 hours. Some of the dogs are crated that whole time. I have one customer who is a nurse who works 12-hr shifts, her dog is crated always and he is 6 years old. (Granted, that particular crate is big enough for 2 of him) I take the dogs for a 30-minute walk and back in the crate they go. I have been doing this for almost 3 years and have never seen an adverse reaction to a dog being crated long hours, esp. with getting a break. I HAVE seen trouble start when a young dog is given the run of the house too soon though. My one customer has a year-old lab that she decided to let out while she was gone. The first week or so went great and we thought the dog would be OK, but then she started eating rugs and that was dangerous so back in the crate she went. Now, a couple months later she is uncrated from the time the owner goes to work until I get there for her walk, and then crated when I leave. If you or your husband can come home for lunch and a walk you might try easing her into it like that if you don't want to leave her all day crated. My own 4-month puppy hated his crate and chewed his paws from the start, so I baby gate him in the bathroom with bed and blankets and food-stuffed toys (all of which he had in the crate too, he just hated it with a passion!) and he is much happier there. However teething has just started so we'll see if he decides to chew cabinets!