leaving dogs home alone

[tucker]

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Hi, I'm a new member that stumbled upon this wonderful site.

I searched the site for people who leave their dogs uncrated...but to no avail.

I have two whippets. One that I got from whippet rescue as a puppy...apparently his mother got loose with her son while in heat. The other was rescued from 2 old ladies in an upstairs apartment. The 2nd one is a 5yr. old female.

I keep my dogs home alone everyday and they behave perfectly un-crated. They have a doggy door and can go out as they deem neccessary in their fenced in yard. I was wondering if anybody else leaves their dogs un-crated while not at home? ....thank you....Mike

 

[Mark Roberts]

Hi Tucker

our first whippet bitch was left alone un crated? till the day we came home to find our new 2 week old couch shredded :angry:

after that we bought a crate and all our dogs are crated up when we go out as that way you know the dog and you're house if safe while you're out.

 

[Vicky]

Ours have run of the kitchen & hall way and most of the time are fine but when they do have an "accident" they really do, a friend of ours has just got a doggy door for his whippet who has adapted really well, i'd like one but i'm not sure our dogs are clever enough to go through - or maybe they don't have enough time, what with emptying the bins & shredding kitchen roll :0

 

[tanyia]

Our big old dog had the run of the house day and night along with his good friend our staffy bitch. We could go out racing and be away all day. Go home to a clean house, both dogs stood at the back door with there legs crossed. He never did any damage in the house either. He never raced as he broke

his leg as a pup. Our old whippet bitch Double I mpact can be left alone now she is to old to race. But I cant trust the younger ones thay seem to gang up to see what thay can get up to while there is no one to stop them. But thay are all very clean. Except one of our 5 month old pups. She is very naughty 24-7. But the pups go out with us most of the time anyway

 

[JoJess]

Hi, i can leave my whippets at home while i go to work but, i have to close the hall door else i have no post when i come home, its all in bits :angry: ??? :b

 

[chelynnah]

Ours stay home uncrated now, but each was crated for the first 18 months or so - well past the chewing stage. Then we allowed them uncrated over short periods, progressively longer until they proved they could be trusted.

Each can still be crated if necessary. We pulled out a crate this week and put it up because we were doing inside/outside stuff and they needed to be safe. Turned out the timing was good because Savvy just started her season unexpectedly and we crate her during her season when we're out (to save staining the furniture LOL). She went straight in, didn't even blink when we closed the door even though she's been loose for months, and was happily curled up in it sleeping when we came home.

I think it's a good idea to be able to crate your dog because you never know what kind of circumstances you might have to deal with in the future and it could save your life/their life/your friends-family's furniture etc. But my ideal when crating is that it is a means toward the end, which is to eventually be able to have them loose.

Wendy

 

[tucker]

Thank you for your responses. When we first got our male puppy(which by the way is an Alpha) we crated him . He was 6 months old when we got our female 4yr old rescue. She was used to being left unattended. When we left her alone , our male got extremely jealous of her having the run of the place. Tucker, our male, who usually was fine in the crate, decided to go to the bathroom everyday and roll in it...much to our delight when we returned home. We decided to let him out on small trial runs when we went to dinner and the store. It seemed to work out well, and from there kept him free of the crate even for long periods. It's been 1 1/2yrs with no problems, other than the occasion tissue taken from the garbage. Occasionally have a chewed up magazine. He did chew a little bit of the staircase...but after a a scolding he has been an angel.. The female...Pari, never gives us any problems.

The doggy door was the perfect solution. It allows them to go out and sun themselves(we live in south Florida) and do their business. Thank you again for your insights....Mike

 

[jadecat]

Our dogs are kept in the kitchen/hallway. They have a doggy door and as long as there are no chairs around they do fine. (One of our dogs climbs onto the chairs and then onto the counters.)

 

[Judy]

We've never crated any of our dogs at home. When we go out, they have the kitchen and hallway. Their beds are built in under the stairs and the kneehole of a big old shop counter we use to store stuff in. It's pretty much "dog" proof so they have never done much damage - except to the post if we are out when the postman comes! That's only when one of them has been a puppy though.

 

[aslan]

I crate mine when necessary but most of the time I leave them loose with the run of the house when I'm not home - at the moment I have three adults and one pup. The pup goes out into the kennel during the day and into a pen in the house to sleep at night. My three adult dogs sleep on my bed or the couch for most of the day and generally speaking I don't have any trouble - but just when you least expect it, they can surprise you.

Last week every day when I came home from work - something had been destroyed. On two separate occasions they ... (well I think it was one in particular - but I have no solid evidence) ... got into the rubbish and spread it all over the floor. :0 On another two days my little bag with all my hair accesories in it (clips, bobby pins, scrunchies etc) was stolen from on top of my duchess and clips were chewed and crunched beyond recogniton. On the fifth day, a brand new brooch in the form of a black bear waving an American flag (a gift from America, arrived in the post the previous day) had his ears chewed off and his flag broken in half! :angry:

 

[dessie]

And you should see my kitchen floor ...............

 

[dessie]

Today they enjoyed a tube of Aloe Vera gel

 

[Karen]

Lana, Your lot obviously think you are too tidy around the house, spend to much money on self grooming products and should have a kangaroo with a flag. .

Dessie, your floor, hav'nt a clue apart from one of my dogs chewed right through the back and bottom of the sofa when I was out because I had lost some peanuts down there the night before. Perhaps there was a spill on the last floor. ???

We crate when they are young and normally in the winter wean them in loose with the adults. Winter? Well they tend to want to snuggle up a bit more so are less active

 

[Debra]

Hi Guys,

My dogs are normally loose in the house if we are there, but if we are out then they have a room down one end of the house that has both show trolleys in and i have a big/highish puppy pen that i have opened up and it goes from one side of the room to the other. If the younger dogs are out in the pen outside then that is a different story. I have a little bitch called Maggie that is the devil re-incarnatated(spelling?). I would only trust her as far as i could see her, my other half says she has attitude. If you tell her off she talks back at you. Her brother is just plain old Goofy, and usually gets caught with whatever she has distroyed. As for Dessie's floor we have tiles everywhere(except the Bedrooms) so at least we don't have that to contend with. As for the whippets sleeping with us, my other half drew the line when i got the second one, he said two whippets in bed with us was too much, and still the hubby wouldn't leave(ha ha only joking) so the whippets have their own room now

Debra

 

[Lydia]

Hi Debra, does your bloke realise how good you are to him? We have 6 whippies and a Manchester Terrier in our bed, wouldn't be with out them!

John did mention after the 3rd whippy, that we were getting a bit cramped, so I told him that the garden shed, was available for him to use any time.

He's never mentioned it again, husbands, boyfriends etc. are replaceable, your dogs are not!

Lyd

 

[chelynnah]

Thank GOD I'm not the only crazy person with the dogs in bed with me. Was just reading similar in another post. I'm originally from Canada - dogs in beds over in North America is pretty much the norm. When I moved over here and someone asked where my dog slept and I told them in bed they looked at me like I lost my mind!! Even on most UK boards the dogs are NOT in human beds! I'm glad to see that whippets are an acceptable exception to the rule LOL.

Wendy

 

[Jill]

it's not so bad sharing a double bed with a whippet once the other half has got up and gone to work, but i often find myself clinging to a sliver of mattress at the edge of the bed, with a pair of very sharp whippet paws poking me in the neck/chest/gut/nether regions. i may receive some flack for saying it, but there are times when i'd like my whippet to turn into a dachshund at night.

peter

 

[Debra]

Hi Guys,

When i was living in England before mum remarried we used to have a rescued greyhound racer and my first whippet Misty , well being a young kid(still a young kid at heart) :b only had a single bed but had both dogs in bed with me. Unfortunately the whippet left me and moved in with mum as she had a bigger bed and that's where she stayed, even then the new boyfriend had to except Misty being in the bed. As for the husband, he's decided that he's going to be a policeman . He gave up his job a few months ago(getting in the way of his study's) and every day i get home he say's "i'm so lucky to have a guy like him''. Well he's the lucky one,who else would put up with all the bad moods and stress attacks but in September he goes to the police academy for 14 weeks(party time ), Me and the dogs will have a ball, the house will stay tidy even with five dogs.

Debra

 

[fallenangel]

7 of mine are left uncrated with a dog door to go out when needed but the youngest is just starting to be left for 10 mins without being in her creat i am not so much worred about her making a mess but tormenting the other dogs or having an accident she is allways doing somthing but hopfully she will grow out out of in time

 

[hellybobs]

Inca was crated until she was a year old and will still get in it and go to sleep now she'a almost 3.

Dippy is crated during the day whilst we're out...cos she chewed the kitchen the last time we left he out

We've started leaving the crate door open on a night now and most of the time she sleeps in it but sometimes she's curled up with Inca when we get up :wub: