Willow is 7 months old now and STILL not completely housebroken. She does wonderful as long as we're keeping an eye on her, and we take her out every 30 minutes. But if we wait even 10 minutes longer, she's going in the house! That being said, she is crated during the day while we are at work. She has separation anxiety (even when I walk into the other room, if she can't see me), but that too is getting better. What's helped in the crate the most is the KONG toys, they seem to occupy her mind. At night, we have her "barricaded" in the corner of our bedroom, and she can see us while we sleep. I've tried leaving her in that corner when we're gone during the day, but she just seems more comfortable in the crate (with the TV on, of course).
home alone?
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.
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.
