Dog Community

Where to keep my pup while I'm gone?

Posted : 3/3/2006 7:30:57 PM

I have a 15 week old Shepard mix that I adopted two weeks ago and have been crate training him with relative success. I think that it is probably due to the fact that I work from home and have not had to resort to any paper training. However, there will undoubtedly be times when I need to leave him at home alone for more then a few hours and was wondering the best way to do so?

My first option is to leave him in the outside courtyard in the front of my place with his crate opened so he can go in if he wants to. The courtyard is about 25' x 75' and has a 18', solid fence around it.  No other dogs or people have access or can see into it, so I think he may feel secure there. This is also the place that I take him to go to the bathroom. FYI, I live in southern California so it would not be too cold and there is a sheltered area for him to escape the rain if need be. My other option is to put a baby gate on the bathroom or kitchen door with some newspaper on the floor.

My inclination is to put him in the outside courtyard so that he will have access to the area that he normally goes to the bathroom, but I was concerned that this might give him too much unstructured space to roam at such an early age. Would this be overwhelming for him or lead to future behavior problems?    He loves to go play out there now, but he is always supervised.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

Lauri S.

Posted : 3/3/2006 8:29:50 PM

I once tried to leave my dogs outside in my yard while I drove over to the movie place to return a rental. Total time of the trip - about 5 minutes. I worried the ENTIRE time!!

Personally, I would never leave a dog outside when I or someone else wasn't home to watch them. Not unless I lived on 100 acres of land with security fencing all around and a enclosed, covered, padlocked pen for the dogs.

So I vote for inside, with a baby gate.

Lauri

Abby

Posted : 3/3/2006 9:54:21 PM

Jeff, he'd probably be fine for a couple of hours in his crate at his age. Anything longer, you might have a friend, relative, or neighbor come and take him out for potty and play. I'm really lucky to have family close by that love my puppy and are always happy to come and let her out and play with her if I can't make it home at my normal time.

If none of those people are available, you can also try a petsitter or dogwalker service in your area. They will come over and take him out and play with him so he doesn't have to "hold it" for longer than is healthy.

glenmar

Posted : 3/4/2006 10:40:28 AM

I would be very reluctant to leave any dog outside if I or someone else weren't home to keep on eye on things. Way too many things can happen.

Lexi

Posted : 3/4/2006 11:01:15 AM

I vote for inside, as well. If you're only gone for 3 or 4 hours he would be fine in his crate, but you could also baby gate him in the kitchen or bathroom. I put my pup in the bathroom while I'm gone. I did have to get some childproof locks for the cabinet, though.

theresamat

Posted : 3/4/2006 11:04:27 AM

I would leave him in his crate with a Kong. If it's just for a couple of hours he should be fine.

Trish Pranger

Posted : 3/4/2006 8:53:37 PM

I wouldn't leave him outside either. There are just too many things that can go wrong.

Ginger

Posted : 3/4/2006 11:10:05 PM

Yes, I'm with the others on this one--I'd leave your baby indoors, either with a baby gate to keep him in the kitchen/bathroom or in a crate (and either way, with something fun and yummy like a kong stuffed with something good). You just never know what might happen--I've seen a dog in the emergency vet waiting room who had impaled himself *through the throat* on a stick he was playing with in the yard. The owners had NO idea how it happened, just looked outside and the dog had a stick jutting out of his throat. He had to have surgery. Too much random stuff can happen--that's also true indoors, but at least you control that environment.

Incidentally, did you say that your fence is *eighteen* feet high? wow!

Jeffrey Feldman

Posted : 3/5/2006 2:51:07 PM

Sounds like the consensus is to leave him indoors. I'll probably put up a gate on the kitchen door and stick his crate in there. Thanks for the replies.