Frida the Lady Basset

Is it ok for me to leave my 11 month old Basset alone for 5 to 6 hours few times a month? Also, I really dont want to put her in a crate while I am away. Is it ok if I leave her free inside the house when I am not there?

dreamons

Sure it's OK to leave her to roam the house as long as you don't care about the mess and damage from doing so. I don't crate mine but they are confined to one room with a doggie door while we are gone. Even then you need to make sure they can't get at the things they shouldn't. We now build a barrier around the California king bed after coming home to find three sets of sheets destroyed. Good luck

Frida the Lady Basset

Yeah we thought about that a lot... but considering the height of our bed I dont think sheets are gonna be an issue. What we are scared about if its starts chewing the extension cords or sort of succeeds in sliding through our wardrobe... Then it would be textile massacre :P

Thank you so much for your advice. My main concern was if she would get lonely. Wouldnt want that in a million years!

Wworm

Hi Frida,

I just turned 11 months too. My people leave me for 5-6 hours at a time on Mon, Wed, Thurs, and on weekends, and I am fine in my crate. i never soiled my crate before. I don't mind it, i just sleep.

My person says she thinks there'd a been a lot more destruction if I was left inside the house for that long. 11 months is better because we don't teethe as much. but i still do like to chew things at my age.

hmmm... I think i'll refer you to another thread, and you can see all the things a basset (or any dog) can chew up. I think you can do it if you can puppyproof well, prob best to confine to 1 or 2 rooms, and if you don't mind it if for some reason your basset chewed stuff up whatever's in the room. My person's last dog was kept in kitchen w/doggy door to outside, and chewed the wood around the cabinets, for example.

ok, findin' the thread for ya... Ohhh... Gerald

--Worm

Frida the Lady Basset

Oooh thank you, thank you so much!!

MollyMcFrecklesMom

I leave my 2 uncrated for that long sometimes. They aren't destructive, otherwise it would be a different story. Depends on the dog, I'd say.

Mikey T

Seperation anxiety is an issue with the breed, it is one reasoan you find many of have multiple dogs, for most but not all this is enough to prevent the problem., See the orginal post you made I have a link on speration anxiety on there and steps to take to prevent a problem.

As far as to whether the dog shouls have free roam of the house crate confined or room confined is dependant on the dog. IMHO it is best to asssume the worst and provide the most stringent confinement until the dog has earned more freedom.

Also there seem to be the assumption by most that a dog is more likely to be more destructive the longer you are gone but this is not true. with seperation anxiety and most destructive behaviors they occur early in the process so if you can leave for an hour without a problem tow thre or six is not likely to be a problem

Practicing mini seperation before you go etc will give you a good idea how trust worth the dog is when left alone

Kirska

The nice thing about dogs vs children is you can leave them alone for long lengths of time :P

Ours are not puppies (far from it), but there are some days where they are left alone from 8 am to 8 pm. M-F they are alone from 9 am to 5 pm. They are also left in a room with a dog door to the outside and with a big bowl of water.

__________________
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

mhvonalmen8908

Mine are rarely left alone because I don't work right now. So they're out most of the time except at night when they sleep in their crates. But they would be fine in their crates for the duration of a work day. My husband and I have recently discovered that they can be left out loose while we're gone as long as we aren't gone long and we put shoes, papers, remotes, etc up where they can't reach them. I just crate them for my own peace of mind. I think they just sleep while they're in their crates anyway.

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Megan & Chris
-Mom & Dad to Doppler (2 year old Basset/Redbone/Golden mix) and Virga (1 year old Basset)

WatsonBoy

We leave Watson in his kennel for 5-6 hours several times a week. He is 18 months now, but he was fine at 11 months when we got him, too. He doesn't seem to have any problems with it. He just sleeps, as far as I know. He has a nylabone and a chew in there with him and most times we have to drag him out when we get home. Watson doesn't have any problems with separation anxiety or anything, so that might help.

This weekend, though, we decided to give Watty free reign of the house for the first time while we ran errands. We always have a baby gate up to prevent him from going upstairs, but we also made sure to close the pantry, close the laundry room door, and put anything up that he may have gotten into. We were gone for about 7 hours, and we were certain that we were going to come home to a mess... but he did great! He was excited when we got home and definitely needed to go potty, but other than that, he was great. He didn't even get on the furniture! They grow up so fast...

So I say, go for it. Of course, you know your dog better than anyone... but I don't see anything wrong with leaving her alone for that long. Just be smart about it... pick up or close the doors to anything that she could get into. You could also consider blockading her in one room. Still giving her room to roam, but limiting access to the whole house.