Leaving Dog at home

[scsarah]

Hi! I'm new to GBCN, but have been a lurker for a while, and would love some input from you all on a situation with my dog.

Keiko (the dog) is about 3 1/2 years old, a black lab mutt. Up until now, my husband has been able to take her in to his office every day. But starting within the next month or so, his office is moving, and he won't be able to take her in with him anymore.

We're trying to figure out how to transition her to this new situation. She's usually crated when we're not at home, but I'm not sure how well that will work now, as we're usually gone 10 hours (or more).

We've tried leaving her out of her crate when we run quick errands (about an hour) but no longer. That's gone well so far, but I'm not sure how it will go for a full day. She'd only have access to our living spaces (we'd close the doors to our bathrooms, so she couldn't get at trash, etc.), but we're in a two story condo, and there's no yard/outside she could get to.

Has anybody else had to make this transition? What were some of the things that worked, or that you'd suggest?

I'm sure there's more info I'm forgetting to mention, but I don't want to make this a novel. Thanks in advance!

[straymo]

What is the longest he has been crated at this point? If you've got a few weeks, you can begin work on leaving him longer and longer. You say 10 hours or more? How much more? 10 hours is at the very far end of how long I'll leave my dogs.

You could also look at doggie daycare on longer day and or a dog walker.

If he has always been okay uncrate, I'd just make sure the house is dog proofed leave him out.

Not sure I understand your comment about living in a condo and not having access to a yard. While you're gone, he should never have access to the outside anyway so that's no big deal. As long as he has pottied and exercised, all should be fine.

[caz1221]

When we transitioned my dogs out of their crates, we started by leaving them for short periods of time and gradually left them longer and longer. They are baby-gated into one room of the house, and so far, it has worked very well. We have a dog walker come every afternoon to take them on a walk so they don't have to be alone (and hold it) for more 5-6 hours. The maximum time I would leave them would probably be 8 hours. I know they can hold it for at least 10 hours, but I don't like making them do that. Can you get a dog walker or (as PP suggested) enroll her in day care?

[ahsweetlee]

Have you tried doggy day camp? With my two dogs we did full day day camp every few days. If they spent the whole day there , they were zonked for the next few days. That made it easier to leave them alone. We also baby gate off our kitchen and leave them in there. Its the one place they can't destroy. If you can't do camp, maybe go to the dog park before work to get the pup nice and tired.

[sillystraw]

I was in your situation and we just thought 10 hours 5 days a week was too much. (she can hold her pee just fine, but she gets restless) My husband was able to come home for lunch most days and we also did about 1 day a week at a doggie daycare. We have since moved so DH can't come home for lunch anymore so we leave her in a bedroom during the day. (She cannot be trusted with the run of the house... hopefully someday but considering she is 4 yrs old now I'm not sure!). It's not ideal, but it is much better than a little crate. Maybe you could try something like that? Though if your dog has been good for little errands I would first try more and more time leaving him because he may end up being fine loose in the house. Just make sure to give him a frozen kong or something to keep him a little busy while you're gone. Oh, I also make sure to give my dog a 30 minute walk or run every morning so she is a little tuckered out.

[scsarah]

Thanks all. I'm glad to know that others have made, and survived, the transition.

I think my biggest issue is that she's going to be going from seeing DH all day, all the time, and getting to interact with people in his office, to being home by herself all the time. Unfortunately, we're about 40 minutes (with traffic, and we're in Los Angeles, so there's always traffic) away from where DH's office is moving - so no option to go home during the middle of the day to let her out.

Also, the whole reason we felt okay getting her was because she could go in to work with him. Both of us don't think that keeping a dog in a crate for sleeping (8 hours) and during the day (for 10 hours) makes a lot of sense. So I feel like we're letting her down by having to do this. I'm sure she'll be fine though.

We do take her to doggy day care, and had thought about doing that one day a week, but doing it all five gets pricey FAST.

I guess we'll try leaving her out for longer periods now to see how it goes. She has an antler and a plastic bone that she chews on sometimes, so we'll leave those accessible. Sadly, she will tear a Kong apart in a day, so I don't think we'll be able to do that - but I'm jealous of those that can!

Thanks for all the advice!

[dexteroni]

Quincy goes to day care twice a week. It's just the right amount to help run off his energy and give him more social interaction than he would get during the day otherwise. He's more tired on the other days, which helps when he has to be alone on those days. If I were you I would do Monday and maybe Wednesday or Thursday.

[caz1221]

Walkers are usually cheaper than day care, so you could do daycare 2x per week and have a walker come the other 3 days. That way she will get some exercise and interaction on the non-day care days and have a chance to relieve herself.