Dog Question

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I've had dogs for years. I grew up with dogs and I've had a dog in my home most of my adult life. I don't think I could ever happily live without one.

But in looking for a new puppy, I'm confronted with an issue I've never faced before. And frankly, it really bothers me and so I've come to ask those of you who have probably got experience with it because I know there are plenty of pet owners who work and their furbabies do very well with it.

So far in my job hunts..........it's looking like I'd probably (if someone ever contacts me) be working at least 10 hr days 5 days a week. I'm not going to object because the pay would be pretty darn good.

I try to look at this from a puppy's point of view. It's going to be in the crate all night of course. Would be taken out to potty, for some morning lovin, maybe a bit of playing if I got up early enough. Then back into the crate for those 10 hrs plus travel time which would be maybe 20 mins. Then of course back out of the crate for potty time, some play time in the yard, some training, more play time yadda yadda.........but it would be going back into the crate at night.

Now I realize dogs obviously adjust to this. Because I highly doubt people allow their new puppies to run amok in their houses all day while they're working. But I'm having a hard time shedding the thought that it is somewhat mean to the pup. And I realize that stems from the fact that all these years I've always been at home all day and pup was never subjected to the crate that way except on rare occasion, like a all day trip or something.

And I do have one advantage while Travis is still at home and that is he can remove the new baby from the crate for potty and some play time while I'm not here. So as long as he would remember to do that, I guess it really wouldn't be the entire 10 hrs or so.

Yes, I had to do this with Betsy when I went to school, but that was not anywhere near 10 hrs.......and by the time I was dong clinicals that were 12 hrs, husband was home with her.

I don't have so much an issue with this with grown dogs. (not thrilled with it, but I think you know what I mean) But puppies.......I guess maybe there too much like babies to me or something. lol

I'm questioning this because I stumbled (literally) across a litter of pups who's mother could very well be Molly's clone. I'd like to go meet the mom and babies today. I have the phone number and it's only 15 mins away. Pups seem to be the right age and in a really good environment ect. Mom is obviously well cared for. (they just need to spay her for pete's sake)

But it's that long day after all night in a crate that makes me hesitate. Or heck.......doesn't seem to matter which shift I'd ask for, I can't seem to get around those long hours in the crate thing.

So how do your new babies do with it? Does it make training harder? Are there some ways to make it easier on them?
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
I think I would look at an older dog from the pound who would be ok slouching around the house. Puppies of any type need to get out and run around, and they need to have continuous basic training. I don't think it's fair to get a dog then lock it up all but 4 hours a day, especially a puppy. I would hate it, and they hate it too.

For us, it's been better when I was able to have a "dog room" that had an old sofa in it that looked out the window. It's also been a godsend that we have two dogs that love each other to bits and both know their place in their pack. They play with each other and keep each other company. We also had an arrangement with a trusted neighbor kid who took the dogs out when I worked. I left a dollar per dog on the table in the entry way. If Sam came and walked the dogs, he got the money. More often than not the dollars were gone when I came home.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Puppies cannot go all day without being taken out for potty time. It takes about a year until they can really hold it for that long. So... the youngest I've started with was about 6 months.

ONCE they are fully potty trained, you can use a much larger crate/kennel. We have the largest you can get. We "could" put both of ours in one, AND have room for a third dog in there. (Trust me. One of the kids will go in there with both dogs, just for the fun of it, and read books by the hour...) Both have a smaller "bedroom" crate for night (it's all that fits in the kids' rooms!), but during the day, they have room to stretch out, move around, maybe play with a safe toy or two in there. We had to leave our first dog for up to 8 hours at a time, and never had a problem. She got LOTS of exercise and attention both morning and night. And it didn't matter what day of the week or time of day - if I picked up my purse, she headed for the day kennel, and flopped down waiting for me to close the door. I read a quote somewhere that said that dogs naturally sleep 18-20 hours a day... if we're not around, they'd just be sleeping anyway.

But a pup... at 4 months, can't be expected to go more than 4 hours without being taken outside (at least during the day... I don't know the night rules). Ours at 6 months, as rescue-dogs, had to be brought up to speed, and could then handle 6 hours. Even now... one of them can go 8-9 if necessary, but the other one has maxed out at about 6... or at least, that's the longest we've tried lately.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Lisa,

Bubbles was crate-trained because husband and bio and the kids lived in an apartment. Bio did NOT walk the dog. husband did - all over the place - and while Bubbles is super friendly, he is still leash trained. husband was gone up to 12 hours a day. Then he was TDY for the weekend when bio left and as best we can figure Bubbles "held it" for almost 3 days and was none the worse for wear - except he now HATES to be crated.

Rainbow - my Samoyed - was never crate trained. I got her when we lived in west Texas, so she was outside all day. She had shade - a porch and doghouse - and plenty of water. 9-10 hours a day. When we moved to Ohio, she became an indoor/outdoor dog - the first winter Dad built an insulated box inside her doghouse, but after that she was inside at night and during the winter when I was at school. As soon as I got home she got let out. Again - 7-8 hours. But by that point she was potty trained.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I had to keep my dogs on a schedule pretty much like that when I was working but mine were grown dogs then, not puppies. And on top of that, mine don't all get along with each other and had to take turns being out of the crates. I didn't like it but there was really no other choice. I worked full time and had almost an hours drive each way so there was no way I could come home during the day to let them out.

Have you thought about getting an X-pen to put the puppy in during the day? That's the little flexible play yard fence things you can put up inside and line with newspapers. They're not as confining as a crate would be and you can put a little bed in there for it to sleep on and some toys to play with. It would be really hard to potty train a small puppy though if you have to confine them all day unless there was someone there to take it outside every couple of hours or so. An adult dog can usually hold it that long, a small puppy can't.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Well..........hmm.

I've been thinking about this all day. Because I'm very interested in the pups, so much so I'm going to go meet the mom and family this evening.

easy child took one of precious' pups at 6wks and crate trained her. She and sister in law both worked. She also went to school. And Cleo did fine. One or two accidents at first......so easy child just used a larger crate and put a puppy pad in there in case she couldn't hold it. But I'm fairly certain by 3 mos there were no more accidents in the crate. And she didn't seem to mind. Where I think easy child over did was she'd put her into the crate when she studied too..........and to me that was way too much. And that is why she re-homed her to a family where the mom was home all day.......according to the new family, cleo has never had an issue with her crate and she was well over a year old when rehomed.

The crate I currently have is utterly enormous. Seriously. I think it must be for like a great dane or that size. I picked up the wrong one by accident. So if that was "day" crate, puppy would be able to play ect and I could have papers at one end just in case it just couldn't hold it. I already know I'll have to find a much smaller crate for bedtime.

And I do have one bonus. Travis won't be moving anytime in the very near future. It will be months before his disability is complete, and even then we may have to do the process again. So he will be here to potty and exercise and play with it while I'm working. I just talked to him about it and he doesn't have a problem with it. And to his credit, he did this for me with Sadie when she was here too. And does it for Molly because now sometimes she can't hold it the whole time I'm gone either.

So I guess the puppy really won't be alone for all those hours unless Travis chooses to move out, but even then that wouldn't be soon. Which makes me feel better. Also I feel better having discussed him helping with the potty/playing thing because I think it only fair he feel he can say no.

I just really did not like having a small baby in a crate lord knows how many hours per day.

I go meet the mommy and babies here in about an hour. Owner goes on and on about the mom the way I do about Molly, seems they have very similar personalities. I asked if she knew anything about the dad.......and well this lady is from one of those small towns where you blink and you're through it, literally.........and she said she's pretty certain it's the st. bernard/rottie mix that tends to get out of his yard and go visiting. She said he's a sweetheart.

Not counting my chickens too early though.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Oh, one other thing, Lisa... Bubbles hasn't had an accident in the house since he ate some bad food from the garbage about 4 years ago. And that's it...
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I've always heard that the crate for a puppy should purposely be a small one, big enough for sleeping and that's all. Their natural inclination is to not potty where they sleep. You don't want them to have enough room to potty on one end of the crate and sleep on the other end, or they will decide that it's OK to potty in the crate. They also make crates that can be partitioned off so that you can use a smaller section for when it's a puppy, then move the partition to give them more room as they grow.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I heard the same donna. And I've always trained mine using that principal. It won't matter much as long as Travis is here. I can use the small crate during the day because he'll be letting the pup out a couple of times before I get home. If pup doesn't grow into the super size one I have........I'll just use it for Rowdy when he comes in during really bad winter weather.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
I've always heard that the crate for a puppy should purposely be a small one, big enough for sleeping and that's all. Their natural inclination is to not potty where they sleep
Key word is "puppy".
Once they are fully trained and "know better", THEN they can have the liberty of a day-crate.
 
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