During the day, I...

[BlueLeaf18]

Just wanted to know what everyone here does with their dog during the day as it seems like there are alot of different opinions on the issue.

[Tailer'sFolks]

Tailer is always with me...all but 2 days (while Daddy-O was getting a new knee) since 12/24/05 when we got him.

The 2 days he spent at Doggy Day Care with the Local Dog Catcher & his pack of 15+ dogs! Tailer was wiped out when I picked him up both days!

[Hailie's Mom]

Great idea for a poll, i was interested in this as well. I take Hailie to work with me, but she stays in a play pen while I work. I take her out at lunch and play with her and walk her for 30 minutes to an hour. I still feel guilty about leaving her in the pen (it seems all she does in there is sleep, and who can blame her. I do leave lots of chew toys in there for her though, but I don't think she uses them) I really want to let her out and have her be by my side while I work, but I don't think she will be that well behaved, and will probably run around the office and disturb everyone else. Soooo- until I find another solution, I just try to let her exercise and have fun during morning before work, lunch time, and after I get home.

[Brandy and Charlie's Mom]

I'm fortunate to work from home now. When we had Reyna, we crated her during the day and hired a pet sitter to take her for a mid-day walk.

When she got older, we kept she and Charlie in a very large dog-proof laundry room area where they had plenty of space to sleep and play, plus a window to look out on the world while we were working.

Because we always give treats before we leave (and ignore when we get home), our dogs have always willingly gone to their designated place and practically rushed us out the door!

[BlueLeaf18]

Wow, I really misspelled alot of things in that poll didn't I? Oh well. I should've added comes to work with me or something along those lines too, I knew I was probabaly missing one major one.

As for me, I work from home right now but in another 2 months I won't be. Gryffyn will be only 6 months then. I still have to figure out what I'm gonna do. I will likely just have him in the big bathroom downstairs with his crate open and acess to water, but I will be working about 7 hours and I doubt he wil be able to last that long at 6 months, so I may have to come home at lunch for awhile. That's part of the reason I made this poll, to figure out what everyone else does and what is the best way.

[Kharas]

Max goes to the office with me and hangs out under my desk. If I am out on a jobsite then he will meander up to the secretary's desk and plop down on her feet until I get back.

[wwp]

Coba's kennel is our 22x24 garage, lots of nice cold concrete for him to lay on when the house ges way to hot during the summer. he perfers the floor over the bedding,

[LexusMarie]

My baby girl (and older brother Beagle) get to stay home when I'm at work, and although she will get into mischief every now and then, she typically does great! Those material things can be fixed or replaced but Lexus cannot!

I work 9 hours a day so when Lexus was a puppy, I knew I had to give her more freedom than most dogs since I am away for a good chunk of the day. The first thing I did was install a doggy door in my wall--not an easy task for a single female who had just purchased a house and had limited tools to work with--and two days later it was up and running and Lexus quickly learned how fun it was to go in and out at her own convenience. banana I also have a fairly good size back yard (well-secured) with plenty of dirt to play in and lots of shade to relax in, so between the comfort of the couches inside and the doggy sand-box outside, Lexus has the luxury of being both dog & human while I'm away! There have been situations where I have had to leave her inside all day (fence being worked on) and when I've had to leave her outside all day and she does excellent in both situations.

I would love to be able to take Lexus with me every where I go, but unfortunately that is just not possible. She gets plenty of exercise each day between her own play time while I'm away and the playtime we have together, and I always make sure she has plenty of toys and chews as well. I think she does just fine during all this alone time.

[faerieprncs]

Goes to work with Daddy.

[sammydog]

Depends on the weather. If its cold or rainy outside the boys stay in the house and have free run. If its a nice day they have a dog run in the back yard that they stay in. I also come home at lunch to play.

[Giovanna]

If we're both working at the same time (which is rare), Ginger stays out in the yard, which is huge and fenced in. She has her dog house on a large cement pad in the shade. She just can't be trusted in the house when unsupervised, I am sure we would come home to tore up walls, furnitures, doors, etc... And by the way, she'd rather be out in the yard than in our living room where it is totally boring, unless she can chew up some of our stuff :mad:

[konabear]

Wow...I envy all you people who get to take doggies to work. I WISH we would move our office to our building. There is a park, walking trails and small lake across the street there...and GR would come to work with me everyday. But alas....she stays home and barks at the construction workers building houses across the street (I was told by my neighbor she does this!) Old house she was crated because she dug hole in carpet, tore up paper, chewed on shoelaces. New house, she has free reign w/ no accidents. Maybe she knows we own this one as opposed to rented the other! We manage to sneak in sometimes and find her snoozing in her crate.

[Dogrunner]

I have dog doors so the dogs have the run of the house, screened porch and back yard (fenced). Since I have 2 teenagers, it works great! If I have to stop somewhere on the way home, no one is waiting with their legs crossed and eyes floating :dogbark

[CaynCher]

My two Goldens are with me during the day either in the house, screened room, or together outside for exercise. They have free run of the house even when my husband & I are out, since they are adult Goldens (ages 14yrs. & 3 yrs).
When they were pups, we used a crate until they were potty trained & were considered trustworthy in our house.

:dogbark :reddogx

[Abby'sMom]

I am a pet sitter, so while I am out visiting other people's pets, my Abby and Cody are home. Cody has free reign of the house - which for him consists of sleeping under the kitchen table. Abby is crated when no one else is home, but now that my kids are on summer recess from school, she will be out of the crate full time and loving it! When I am working, it is only part time so she is never in her crate all day - somehow that wouldn't make sense for me to be out visiting other people's pets and her locked in a crate all day! :doggface

[roadie]

My husband & I both work during the day. I leave home at 6:00 a.m (YAWN!) and he doesn't leave until 9:30. I'm home by 4:00. Skooter has been staying in her crate (which she loves!) in the laundry room and a neighbor boy comes down to feed her lunch @ 12:00 & he visits one more time around 2:30. Sure wish I could take her to the office w/me (better yet, wish I worked from home!). She's by herself maybe 2 hrs at a time. I think she's getting used to it now. She turns 10 weeks old tomorrow....

[Cettie]

The pen my crew occupies is 30 by 30 with two dog houses. My husband sheltered half of it with wood so there is lots of shade and they lie snoring happily. In the evenings they know they can let their hair down and run amok with their people, invariably leading me to the car while barking "it's time for a ride". They really seem to like their enclosure though and are ready to go back in at bed time.

[Dragon Roll]

I'm a stay at home mom/artist so I am with Shen all the time as are my non-school age kids. He is 5 months old and not 100% house-trained so he stays in our kitchen (which is actually very large). The kitchen is adjacent to our main living area so he can always see us.

My question is...when do you think he can have more freedom? Is there a "best time?" I have 4 children and my youngest are 27 months and 3.5 years old so some of my concern is monitoring the children with the pup. My secondary concern is him chewing on the childrens' toys, and lastly, of course, is peeing on the carpets.

I spend lots and lots of time with him, but, there are many moments when he is sleeping or sitting in the kitchen by himself. It makes me so sad, even if he can see us. And, at night, he retires himself to the crate and sleeps alone throughout the night.

Opinions??

[lhuemmer]

I no longer crate Orla as I have a great baby gate for the kitchen and the floor is tile. No accidents for several weeks now so I will say she is housebroken. She rings the bell to go out and scratches the door to come in from the dog pen.
When Home in the daytime I spend 80% of my time in the kitchen. I have started to make her go into the pen even if she does not signal and then allow her to follow me if I go elsewhere but I always make sure I can see what she is doing. Shoes, furniture, and electrical wires are all too attractive to a puppy. When I bring her up to the bedroom because I want to relax and read I close the door so she canno roam and give her a special chew bone so she is not overexcited at the thought of being in a "new" area.

[reddmann]

Callie stays outside now. I had to build her a 25 by 20 pen. Half of the pen is our old carport so she has plenty of shelter and a dog house. We keep toys for her and take her out to play fetch and just be with us very frequently everyday. When it's cold at night, we bring her inside and she sleeps in her crate. She does great and actually seems to like her pen, but she's ready to come out and play with us when it's time. She started out as an inside dog at 8 weeks old, and did just fine with crate training. But she constantly chewed on everything including the furniture. After a while, with the very long hours I work (sometimes 16 hours a day), and the constant chewing, it took a toll on my wife, which is why I built the pen. I'm gonna fence the whole yard in soon.