LottesMama

I am having a hard time deciding what is best for Charlotte when she has to be left alone. When we first got her my husband was home all day while I worked so she was never left alone for more than a couple of hours while we ran errands. Now that she is a little older, she's almost 10months, we have left her alone (crated) for up to about 5 hours.
Our work situations have changed quite a bit since moving to the DC area. My husband is at work from about 730am til 7pm and I have been working 6 hour shifts 4 times a week. I didn't want to leave her in a crate from 6+ hours so she has been going to half days of doggie day care which costs us $22 a day. Well money is super tight for us so I am going to have to start putting in more time at work but I can't afford more daycare for her. Im at my wits end trying to figure out what to do with Charlotte.
What do you all do with your animals when you are out of the house all day? My coworkers think I am crazy spending that kind of money on my dog but I can't stand the thought of her being in a cage for that many hours of the day, it seems so cruel to me.
Do you think she will be ok being crated for 6-7 hours while I am away if we hire a mid-day dog walker? She doesn't have any issues going into her crate, she is super good about that. She also doesn't seem to have any seperation anxiety. She has never been distructive or anything while we were away. I just keep thinking every extra hour I put in is another hour she has to put in too. Maybe I am the one with seperation anxiety haha.

Mikey T

why use a crate? if she can be trusted while you are away there is no reason to limit her mobility. If desired you could as well confine her to an area or rooms that have a flloring surface that would be easy to clean if an accident were to occur as well. That said how any individual dog is going to do when alone is purely that individual dog and no real generalizations are accurate. There are dogs that are more comfortable spending alone time in a crate rathen than have acesses to a larger area and others that are just the opposite. You no your dog better than anyone else your intuition is going to be better than any advice someone that never met your dog can give,.

The one thing you can do if torn is use a video camera to record the dog will you are away. you can see if she does better with more space or less; whether or not she does have any anxiety etc.

mhvonalmen8908

I don't work right now but both our dogs are crated at night and when we leave to run errands. Doppler we used to leave loose sometimes but we've recently discovered he needs to be put up (to the detriment of two remotes and a little area rug). But they're only crated for about 8 hours maybe more if we take a day trip somewhere. They don't mind it. Doppler loves his crate and Virga is starting to like hers too. We just have to rush her out the door when get home so she can pee.

LY909

My Porter has free roam of my two-bedroom apartment when I am at work or away from home. I leave at 7am and gets home around 6pm (Mon-Fri) and he is completely fine by himself. He wasn't housebroken when I adopted him but he is now, it took a few months but it was all worth it. I leave him chew toys with special treats inside (he only gets these when I'm out) so he is entertained for a while and the rest of the time he just sleeps until i get home. I am not sure if your puppy is housebroken but you can try it and see if she is fine without be crated.

SophieB

Aww poor Charlotte! It's good that you're talking and realise it's not right!!!

In my opinion it is wrong to cage a pet dog for such a long time... in fact I would never cage a Basset of mine at all and have always allowed all of our dogs free run of the house (just downstairs as stairs are not a good idea for Bassets) and they are left in the kitchen if we're out for the evening or when I work three hours, twice a week and I always leave the radio on for them when we're out! My elderly neighbour has a key to my house and she sometimes lets them out or goes and sits with them as they're company for her and she knows she can do that at her own free will.

It must be so boring for poor Charlotte to be left alone all day as dogs need stimulation... and through boredom, could get destructive, and who could blame them? Could you get an older Basset to keep Chalotte company?

Have you got a neighbour who could help look after Charlotte when you're away for so long? Can you imagine being left in a cage for several hours yourself? Surely you'd want to get up and walk around to stretch your legs or go and investigate a noise outside etc.

Or could you take Charlotte to work with you? Is she the sort of hound who would sit under your desk for a few hours and would have company. Maybe she could stay in the car and you let her out every now and again at work.

I'll go and read the other replies now as I haven't looked at them!

LottesMama

Don't feel too bad for her yet. As it stands now I'm paying $88 a week for her to spend her time romping in doggie daycare while I am at work.

I work in a pharmacy there is no way I can take her to work. And we are currently renting a townhouse that is carpeted in every room besides the tiny kitchen which isn't a good place for Charlotte to hang out. We definetly can't get another dog, it feels like a zoo around here already with 2 cats and a basset. Not to mention the extra expense of getting and maintaining a second dog.

It's just that if I start working more I can't afford to spend more on her care. The only option I can think of would be to work 6 hour shifts five times a week and pay for a mid day walker. I don't know how she would handle being left free roam of the house because she has always been crated when we can't supervise her. I am thinking of maybe getting her one of those circular exercise pens to set up in the living room to give her extra space to play while I am gone.
I was just curious as to how other people who are working full time handle this.

bklantz

Me and my boyfriend both work full time and Ringo we let him have free roam while we are gone but Ella can't be trusted (she would pee/destroy things and this has been tested) so she is in her kennel at night and while we are both at work.

Ella goes in her kennel from about 10:30pm - 5:30am and she sleeps the whole time. Then when I get up for work I take her out and then she gets to sleep in the bed with my boyfriend until he wakes up. Then when he leaves for work around 10:15am she goes in her kennel until I am home at 4.

So Ella is in her kennel for roughly 7 hours, then out for 4-5 hrs, then back in for 7 hours.

I hate having to leave her in there but she really can't be trusted, last time we tried to trust her while we were gone she somehow chewed up an entire kitchen tile into bits an pieces, and we rent so we really can't have her destroy our place. We also can't afford to have her at a doggy day care either so the kennel is really our only option.

If your pup is trustworthy i would definitely leave her out or have her pinned in the kitchen or something.

MollyMcFrecklesMom

Molly has free run of the downstairs all the time. I started by just limiting her to one room, but as I've learned to trust her, she's gained more freedom. The basement and the upstairs are off limits to her. She can get into far too much trouble in those places. She tends to sleep or play quietly when she's alone and doesn't usually have accidents. I make sure that she isn't left alone too long in order to prevent such accidents (she can only hold it for so long, then it's not her fault if she has an accident...it's mine). It all depends on your dog...how trustworthy they are. Molly isn't destructive, thankfully. Never has been.

jaleely

i tried the crate thing wit bowser at first, ( i only worked 5 hour shifts) and that did not go over well. We rent a two story town house, with carpet everywhere...we have a 5x8 or so "back yard" that is concrete. We put in a little wooden box with wood chips in it for pottytime, and i got one of those sliding glass door doggy doors. It just lifts in and out and is pushed tight and flush by the sliding glass door.
ANyway, bowser and daisy get free run of the downstairs with the doggy door, and now they do wonderfully. We only crate them at night when we're all in our den asleep *lol*
I think you may find that the more you leave her by herself in a crate the more anxious and upset she will get over time. Sometimes you can't help it and you need to crate the dog, but it should be used sparingly...not every day for hours. The dog will just eventually go crazy crying, howling, tearing up their bed, chewing the crate which could damange it or damage their mouths or paws. Not to mention after a while i do know dogs that have started going to the bathroom in their crates when they are caged for too long. AND it had nothing to do with actually really needing to go to the bathroom, it was just being upset.
anyway, it took some time and a lot of "oops, should have puppy-proofed that" lessons, but now everything is calm and happy with being downstairs and having a doggy door!

Kirska

We don't own a crate and haven't had the need to use one yet. Both of the dogs roam free in the house, but before we leave we shut all the doors to bedrooms, office, bathrooms, etc so they really are only in the living room, dining room and kitchen. We have a dog door to the backyard.

You'll learn quickly what she'll want to get into and figure out how to puppy proof it. Anabelle digs through the trash sometimes so we either empty it or prop a chair over it so she can't get to it. For a puppy leave out plenty of toys, though obviously none she could hurt herself with.

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Mom to Anabelle and Lila, rescued ladies and Harley, Corgi/Beagle/Basset/?? mutt

"Saving just one dog won't change the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog." - Richard C. Call