I would hate to leave my dog in a crate for hours and hours on end. I am lucky to be a homemaker and my dog can be with me most of the time but I would not be opposed to tying a dog out or kenneling if I had to be gone for that length of time. There are more interesting things to see at least than the inside of a crate in a room in the house. Yes, they could get injured outside but the house could catch on fire too and they would burn to death in the crate. There are a million things that "could" happen and we can't prevent them all. I guess we all have different ways of dealing with our animals. We should try to respect each other's views and keep in mind that "Opinions are like ***holes, everyone has one." Now let's all smile and be friends!
My pup just turned 5 mos. But I intend to start this xpen experiment a month from now or so. I do need to tell you that sometimes he holds it for 8 hours overnight if he's too tired. I hope that helps. Tell me what you think...
One of the things for me to be concerned with are the coyotes here in AZ, and I don't know how active they are in Texas though. Coyotes are always looking for small single animals that can't run away. We've had them come around in the early mornings and late nights, so I am always there when I let my 2 dogs out to go potty. I normally walk outside first to have a quick look around, then call them out. During the daylight hours, this isn't a problem.
The only reason why I'm saying this is because a friend's neighbor watched her 2 chihuahuas get eaten in the backyard through her kitchen window.
Now I know they weren't older mature GSDs who could fight back an encounter, but a younger 5 month old may not be a match for a pack of 4-6 coyotes.
Good reading. When we get our pup next month we will have to leave him alone right at the start. My wife works 1 mile from our house so she said she will come home at lunch. I am going to keep her inside of course and in our Breezeway room, kinda a large room in between our kitchen and garage with a concrete floor. Should I still get a crate or just let her be in there?
IMHO, I think it's a good thing for a dog to be used to a crate. Not saying you should leave her in there a lot - I would keep her in the Breezeway room, personally, but I would still get her used to a crate at some point. Probably just a little at a time. You never know if you will have to crate a dog unexpectedly, or if they would have to be kenneled somewhere sometime. Being used to the crate would make these things much less stressful for the dog if you ever had to leave her with someone else, or board her someplace. Just my 2 cents.
Niecy - Methinks you protest too much. Feeling like you need to justify chaining your dog? As far as chaining - I also am strongly against chaining. I wouldn't even leave a grown GSD loose in a fenced yard unattended. A lot of things can happen, and even if the dog has food/water, etc, it's not good for them psychologically. (No, I'm not a dog psychiatrist, but I just have a little common sense.) The main reason I wouldn't leave any dog outdoors unattended, is our family learned this lesson the hard way (and our beloved dog suffered for our ignorance). We had a full grown male GSD (about 115 lbs) who was outdoors all the time when I was a kid. One night he was mauled by 2 dogs (one was our neighbors female GSD, and some other dog we'd never seen before) who managed to get into our yard. He survived, but was very hurt, and my mom had to watch helplessly. She had a gun, but she couldn't shoot the other dogs b/c she more than likely would have shot Reno. So she had to wait til the dogs were done, then rush him to the vet.
So no way in heck would I leave any dog (a pup or adult) alone in a yard. Reno wasn't even tied up, and he still couldn't get away. If he'd been chained, he'd have been dead for sure...just something to think about.
I would never chain/tie a dog and leave them unsupervised, but I see no problem with leaving them in a securely fenced back yard, or in a kennel. Before I moved I had a huge fenced back yard, that I would leave my GSD in while I was at work. At first the yard had an old wood 6 foot wood fence. My neighboors always sat on their porch, and they said that he got out because the wind was blowing really hard and knocked over the fence. They said they watched him come out of the backyard and he sat on the front porch all day until I came home. The only other incident that happend was when the neighbors dog dug under the new chain link fence and I came home to a dead Chow in my backyard. I was worried that he may have bit my dog, but not a scratch on him. One thing I would never do is leave him back there all night! Just during the day when I was at work, or if he wanted to go out while I was home.... I am not a fan of leaving a dog inside a little crate all day, that is just wrong!! I now live where I dont have a fenced yard, so I leave my new puppy(Sarge had to be put down because he got displasia in his spine) in a 12x12 kennel that is underneath my back patio. He has a dogloo and a kiddie pool, along with a few toys that he cant choke on. I also take his collar off when I put him in there, and I lock it so nobody can steal him.
i think its more cruel to leave a dog in a small crate for 8 or so hours than having him go outside in a safe enviroment and haveing space to run and shade to sit in. Sure there are bad variables that could happend but there are bad variables that could happen with him in your house IMO
Re: TOUGH ONE-is it time to leave home alone outsi
Originally Posted By: rizzodmI have the same schedule I am gone for 8 hours a day but I cant come home to exercise my pup. He also sleeps in his crate at night and the rest of the day he is with us.
From the very start Max had to stay alone for eight hours. I stressed the first week more than Max. We did not crate him though, we puppy proofed our garage, left the lights on, left the radio on and had interesting toys kong(with kibble inside)soccer ball(its to big to roll anywhere he cant get to it). Now I hide a few treats around and he has to find them. I also walk him in the morning before work. This has worked very well and he loves going to the garage in the morning. Even on the weekends he wants to do the same routine so we do it and just bring him in after and hour or so. When it starts getting hot outside we are going to get a portabel cooling system and a kiddie pool.
This will be an option for us when our puppy comes home. After he was potty trained would he use the bathroom in the garage, not thinking it was inside the house?
Re: TOUGH ONE-is it time to leave home alone outsi
I don't think there is anything cruel about leaving a puppy in a crate. OF COURSE the puppy needs exercise, training, mental stimulation EVERY DAY, but there is nothing wrong to keep him in a crate where he is safe when nobody can be with him.
Secondly, if you ever travel and cannot take your dog with, you might have to have a friend watch them or board them... what do you think they do at boarding kennels... CRATE THEM. If your dog is not used to crating, this will be very difficult. Same thing if a friend watches your dog, I would NEVER watch a dog that had not been crate trained. Crates are safer than anything else IMO!
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