Crated While We're At Work During The Day

[Guest GreytMom15]

Tomorrow will be the first time Punzie will be in her crate for the day while my husband and I are at work. We leave just after 7:00am and then my husband gets home at about 4:30 and I'm home by 5:00. She is very well adjusted to her crate and shows zero signs of stress and anxiety. Granted, she's only been in her crate maybe two hours at a time since we adopted her last week. While she was still with our adoption organization, she was crated no more than four hours. (They're retired and have multiple special-needs greyhounds to care for so they're never gone for more than four hours at a time.) Our adoption organization gave us a neat CD of instrumental music designed to calm dogs. It sure does relax me! Aside from that and a Kong or Nylabone, what else to you give or do for your greys that need to be crated during a typical workday? My main concern is going potty in her crate then having to wait until we get home to clean her up. I work about a half hour from home so it's not exactly convenient for me to go home on lunch, however I'm more than willing to do it if need be of course. Thanks in advance for help and suggestions!

[Guest normaandburrell]

My greys have been able to go 10 hours without an accident from the very first day I got them. I think you are as well prepared as you can be.

[turbotaina]

You may want to get a dog walker for a few weeks, if at all possible, to build her up to that length of time, though yes, most healthy dogs can do it.

 

Good luck!

Edited October 27, 2014 by turbotaina

[Aidansmom]

I think Aidan could hold it all day if he had to not that I would ever want that to happen.

 

One day when I had to work open to close I thought my husband would be home at his normal time around 4pm (we both went to work that morning at 8am) and he thought I was off early that day (12 pm) so went out to have dinner with friends before coming home. I didnt get home till around 9pm and Aidan didn't even seem phased. When I finally let him outside he took his sweet time to even use the bathroom.

[marion]

9 hours in a crate...in my opinión, that's far too long. I have been a member of GT for many years and I have a look here from time to time.

Unfortunatly it seems that the long-term crating is still done. Why don't you walk your Grey before going to work and then leave him free roam

in the house? He surely will choose a comfortable place of his choice to sleep for some hours. He will get up after a while, change maybe his

position, drink a bit and lay down at another place. To be confined to a tiny box for so many hours...that must be very hard for the dog.

Give your hound the choice to behave well, leaving him free roam...

[buddibear]

I would remove a martingale collar ,baby proof the house, protect low windows and let her roam. She has already been in a home, I suspect they would know if she was destructive. When I do home visits and find a dog will be crated alone 8-10 hours daily, I suggest they get a cat.

[Guest GreytMom15]

Thank you all for your thoughts. Eventually, we DO want to let her roam as she pleases. However, right now we still have a 1 1/2 year old goldendoodle that still needs to be crated for a bit. (When he was a small puppy he chewed/destroyed some drywall among other things!) I feel like maybe if he's still crated while Punzie is not, he may get stressed. They are both wonderful, behavior-wise, in their crates. We do have some baby gates so if it's a problem for her to be in the crate too long we can experiment with those. Oh yes, and we do have a 7 year old cat that Punzie gets along with beautifully! Trial and error for now and will adjust as need be. Hopefully before too long both dogs can roam free! Thanks again! Hope my newbie questions aren't/won't be bothersome!

[Guest sireltonsmom]

Newbie questions welcome!

[Burpdog]

I would never leave food with an unsupervised dog. I think going from crating 2 hrs to 9 hrs in one day is too much to ask.

[45MPHK9]

9 hours in a crate...in my opinión, that's far too long. I have been a member of GT for many years and I have a look here from time to time.

Unfortunately it seems that the long-term crating is still done.

I agree. The thought of a dog locked inside a cage for nine hours makes me sad. Sorry.

[Guest jetska]

If you absolutely must then he will probably be OK but I second the dog walker suggestion to break it up and make it say 4 +3.5hrs ... I have crated fosters inside for 8 hours during the day, but only ever dogs that came straight off the track who were used to being kept in crates. They were all good but I have the opposite situation in that the resident dogs are free roaming inside so I transitioned to that as soon as I could. It was mainly for the cat's sake (I had them shut away in their room also, just to be safe). Be prepared for some hyperactivity when released if left in a crate all day....

[Guest GreytMom15]

I see all of these points. I'd much rather have the dogs roam free and we hope it won't be long before we can. I think I'll come home on my lunch to see how she is and to let them both out. Again, our goldendoodle does wonderfully in his crate for a full day and is very content; no stress. If I have any inkling that Punzie is stressed in any way, shape or form we will find a way to section off part of our home for them both. There is no food left in either crate while we're away. Kong or Nylabone only. Thank you all again and I'll be sure to follow up here with how tomorrow goes.

[Guest jetska]

It does depend on what they are used to I found Mouse did a bit of 'singing' in the afternoons and was like a superbounce ball when I got home. She was only crated for full work days for maybe 2 weeks and as soon as she was free range she settled a bit. I can tell they all do zoomies around the lounge when I am not home from the tracks in the carpet ha ha

[Guest GreytMom15]

Update: I went home on my lunch hour to let both dogs out to potty and stretch their legs. Punzie was very excited and peed within a few minutes of being outside. It had been a little over 12 hours since she went the night before! That is some serious bladder control! I think I will continue to go home at lunchtime for awhile and maybe every other day or so make it a half hour or so later to kind of build her up to a full day just until they both can be left out to roam the house. Again, if this becomes a problem then we will utilize our baby gates. I am a little curious about your dog walker suggestions. How exactly does this work? Obviously they would have to have access to our home, a key to get in and our security code? That makes me uncomfortable. Trusted business or not, I'm just not real crazy about having a stranger go into my house and walk my dogs. Forgive me for sounding silly, but am I misunderstanding how this works? Thanks!

[GeorgeofNE]

My dog is alone from 7 AM until about 4:20 PM Monday - Friday. He is 3, and I got him in August. I have two cats, and one Greyhound. I crated him for about 2 days, and decided he'd been in a crate long enough (9 months in the adoption kennel, plus his short time at the track). He hasn't had a single accident, chewed on anything. I have cameras and spy on him via my smart phone, and 99% of the time when I look in on him, he's sound asleep!

 

Yes, a dog walker gets a key to your house, etc. I have never known anyone who hired a dog walker who had a problem with theft or anything like that. They'd never get another client if they did stuff like that. If you find one who is insured/bonded, and call clients for recommendations, it's fine. But you really don't need one. Any healthy dog can hold it 10 hours at least. Don't listen to the "that's too long to be alone" crowd. Thousands of dogs are alone all day Mon-Fri. Just make sure your dogs get plenty of exercise before you leave them, and in all probability, they'll sleep the day away.

Edited October 28, 2014 by GeorgeofNE

[Guest jetska]

My dog is alone from 7 AM until about 4:20 PM Monday - Friday. He is 3, and I got him in August. I have two cats, and one Greyhound. I crated him for about 2 days, and decided he'd been in a crate long enough (9 months in the adoption kennel, plus his short time at the track). He hasn't had a single accident, chewed on anything. I have cameras and spy on him via my smart phone, and 99% of the time when I look in on him, he's sound asleep!

 

Yes, a dog walker gets a key to your house, etc. I have never known anyone who hired a dog walker who had a problem with theft or anything like that. They'd never get another client if they did stuff like that. If you find one who is insured/bonded, and call clients for recommendations, it's fine. But you really don't need one. Any healthy dog can hold it 10 hours at least. Don't listen to the "that's too long to be alone" crowd. Thousands of dogs are alone all day Mon-Fri. Just make sure your dogs get plenty of exercise before you leave them, and in all probability, they'll sleep the day away.

 

My young 'un doesn't sleep as much as a normal hound. She is always wandering around, gets the others to play sometimes, and sits to look out the window. Crating her for the whole day was a whole different thing to just leaving her alone in the house all day. If she had to be crated I'd make sure someone took her out in the middle of the day just for her own sanity. As it is now she gets to go to daycare one day a week. We might only do that for another year.

[Brandiandwe]

I find it odd that Punzie didn't pee in the morning... I don't have a problem with crating per se (although we don't do it, which I think is cultural/ Australian thing) but even when I was leaving for work at 6.45 am I was walking my two for a good hour, and briskly, to empty them out and tire them out. Yes, this meant early mornings, but I'd be doing that then crating. Are you walking in the morning?

[marion]

I agree that the crating thing might be cultural as in Germany it isn't done either. I think it is VERY important to give the dog a long walk

before going to work, as Brandiantwe says, so that the hound can empty out and exercise himself. After good exercise and without potty needs, the Grey will go to sleep

at a place of his choice in the house. It cannot be expected from any dog, to sleep all night and then be forced to sleep again for long hours

imprisoned in a tiny box. Left free roam, the Greys can walk around, change places and positions and it's a different story.

[Guest GreytMom15]

_{Again, I'd like to reiterate that our other dog still needs to be crated because if he is left alone he still tends to chew things. We don't feel it is fair to have him crated but not our new family member. We do hope that the crating situation for both will be very temporary. I understand and certainly respect some of your opinions of not liking having to crate any dog. I don't feel as if our dogs are imprisoned in a tiny box though. They are in a warm home, with food, toys, amenities and TONS of love! Our grey came from a rescue organization that has at least 12-14 dogs at any given time and are used to being crated when they needed to be. Also, I believe her last race was in this past spring sometime, so it's not as if she's been used to not being crated for a long time and now expected to be in one again. Again, hoping this is a very temporary arrangement. However, I can assure you that both of our dogs are very loved and very well taken care of. They're getting lots of exercise and attention. I know there are many opinions, pro and con, about crating as there are for just about any aspect of pet ownership. Hopefully, my choice to crate for the time being won't be taken for anything other than what I believe is the right thing to do. We love our dogs and hope we have many happy years with them both. Thank you again.}

[Guest jetska]

I find it odd that Punzie didn't pee in the morning... I don't have a problem with crating per se (although we don't do it, which I think is cultural/ Australian thing) but even when I was leaving for work at 6.45 am I was walking my two for a good hour, and briskly, to empty them out and tire them out. Yes, this meant early mornings, but I'd be doing that then crating. Are you walking in the morning?

 

So true that people don't crate in Australia, it was always part of my management of foster dogs though and I often got strange looks when mentioning it as an option for others! I think in Australia though most people have the option to leave the dog in a fenced yard outside where there's nothing they can eat/damage and are away from the household cats.

 

GreytMom don't take it personally, everyone has their opinions.

[Guest GreytMom15]

So true that people don't crate in Australia, it was always part of my management of foster dogs though and I often got strange looks when mentioning it as an option for others! I think in Australia though most people have the option to leave the dog in a fenced yard outside where there's nothing they can eat/damage and are away from the household cats.

 

GreytMom don't take it personally, everyone has their opinions.

Oh no problem! I completely understand the concern. Still being a newbie here, I just didn't want to offend anyone with a different opinion than my own. This is my first time obviously with this forum but I am very familiar with how they work. Different topic but the same courtesies. In the few threads I've started, everyone has been very helpful, kind and respectful. Differing opinions included. Edited October 30, 2014 by GreytMom15

[Brandiandwe]

We don't crate but also leave our hounds inside - paralysis ticks, snakes and spiders as well as the heat..... But they just aren't widely used. We have one we use in thunderstorms or when we have an extra hound staying but, yeah, they just aren't around. So when I say we have one, or we use one, I get some very very strange looks.

[Guest Lygracilux]

A healthy dog can be left alone a very long time without having an accident. As GeorgeofNE said "Thousands of dogs are alone all day Mon-Fri."

However in my opinion, having a dog crated y'know 8-10hrs all day without a break isnt fair to them. So as soon as your other pup can be un-crated, I would let them free roam.

Fusion hated the crate the second we put him in it. So at first we just used a baby gate and a muzzle (because of the kitties). Now we dont use a baby gate or a muzzle, because we trust him.

He hasn't had one accident in the house. And though my mother who has been staying with us is always home to let him out, he never asks to go out during the day. She physically has to wake him up at about 3pm to take him out with her dog. We let him out at about 7:45am and I dont get home until 5:30pm, and Im sure if needed he wouldnt need to go out, and would be content sleeping all day until we got home.

Then its a long walk, huge poo's and LOTS of zoomies.

A tired dog is a happy dog.

[a_daerr]

Just a thought... could both dogs possibly wear basket muzzles during the day? If you removed the chewing issue from the conversation, the crate might not be as necessary. If your new dog isn't 100% housebroken, though, then I'd say stick to the crate for awhile. Just make sure they get a long, tiring walk in the morning.

[Guest GreytMom15]

Yes both dogs are housetrained. Punzie only had one accident inside and it was because I didn't let her out as soon as I got home one day. MY fault! I like the idea of the basket muzzles on both but Biscuit (goldendoodle) has never worn any type of muzzle and I'm afraid it would scare him or he'd just figure out how to get it off. Hmmm, but now my gears are turning for more ideas. Keep them coming! I really appreciate them all!