View Full Version : What do your doxies or other pups do during the day?
BethMH
01-24-2006, 12:15 AM
I am curious...what does everyone do with their puppers during the day?
When we first got Rueben at 5 mos. old, he was crate trained, so I left him in his crate whenever we were gone. Most times I am only gone for several hours at a time. Rarely am I gone all day, but occasionally I am. At some point, we started leaving him out with Patches when we would be gone only a short while. It seemed he would usually stay in the den on one of the couches or chairs. Over time, we stopped using the crate altogether.
Patches is house trained. She won't potty inside unless she gets sick or we have just been gone so darn long that there's no way she could have held it.
Rueben, however, started peeing and pooping again on the carpet. He does not do it all of the time, but he does do it. I'm fed up with it, but I'm struggling with the idea of putting him back in his crate. I'm afraid to put him in my kitchen. Although I have a very large and long kitchen, I have 3 sets of swing doors that lead into various parts of the house from the kitchen. They are not easy to push open. Rueben would not be able to push open. However, they are made of wood and I could see him trying to dig his way out. I cannot afford to have him even touch the wood on those doors. It would be dead dog walkin' as far as my husband was concerned at that point.
We are working on replacing carpet with tile, but we have a lot of carpet to replace and are doing some of the work ourselves. Not a fast process considering our schedules.
Just curious as to what others do and whether going back to the crate is something I should consider. If so, would it be traumatic?
Thanks!
Beth :confused:
Courtney
01-24-2006, 12:24 AM
The crate is your FRIEND! It is the best housetraining aid ever! I would definitely start using it again. Dogs are den animals and many like having a safe place of their own to go.
jenfer
01-24-2006, 01:51 AM
Gi has the living room and access to her crate. I believe she naps in there most of the time. I agree w/Courtney that the crate is your friend.
Fluffy
01-24-2006, 02:42 AM
I'm with Courtney and Jen on this one!! Use the crate!! I let my two roam free during the longer hours at Christmas time (stupid retail)...BIG MISTAKE!! My carpets are RUINED. As soon as the hours went back to normal, back to the crates they went. I feel badly about leaving them in there but they cannot be trusted otherwise. We have completely returned to Housbreaking 101, so I feel your pain!!
Loren
01-24-2006, 07:46 AM
Chief has an x-pen...2 beds, toys, kong, blankies, water bowl. It's his next favorite thing besides being with us in OUR bed.
Nancy
01-24-2006, 08:21 AM
I leave Molly in the crate while I am at work. I do go home at lunch though, just to spend some time with her and so she can relieve herself.
IF she poops and pee's at lunch, I will not put her back in her crate when I go back to work.
Pippit stays in my bedroom. He has his bed there and water and Kong. He pretty much sleeps all day~but finds the time to empty his Kong. He goes to Daycare once a week and my parents "pupsit" him one day a week, too.
Laurie' s Dachshunds
01-25-2006, 11:15 AM
I also agree, crate is the best way to go. Mine are crated too. My puppies are baby gated in my kitchen. Is baby-gating in the bathroom an option?
(If you need to go out all day) I have a cousin that puts his dog in the bathroom b/c all the floors in thr reast of his house is carpet.
Helen
01-25-2006, 11:21 AM
Charlie is baby-gated in the kitchen and some of the hall. He has his crate, some toys (he doesn't touch them), his pee pad and newspaper. He definitely sleeps all day. :sleep004:
If we're going to be out for an hour or so, sometimes we'll leave him in his crate.
Michelle
01-25-2006, 11:48 AM
Heidi and Princess are in their crate all day when we are gone. sometimes it can be a full 8 hours if my hubby leaves for work at 9:30am. Sometimes they will be in their crate from 12:30pm to 5pm when I get home if hubby works the afternoon shift. Somedays when he has his 2 off days and is home during the week then they are out and about in the house all day long with him.
The crate is the best thing!!, They never soil the crate unless they are sick and have the poopies which Princess did a few weeks ago.. I also NEVER have to worry about them destroying anything in the house, except the time my husband left them upstairs unsupervised for 2 hours while he was studying in the basement and they tore up my huge box of brand new kleenex in the living room!!!!!
The also sleep in their crate at night, they have lots of fleece blankets in there, and a nice cheap sleeping bag I got for $1.49 at the thrift store,,
We used to gate Tasha in the living room, but she decided the bathroom was her safe place in case of thunderstorms (we have issues there) and so last summer she was having major panting, whining, SA stress issues when we left so we stopped gating her. Now she has the run of the living room, kitchen (child proof latches on the cupboards) and bathroom. The bedroom and WC doors stay shut. She is a bit louder if she barks at people in the hall, we sometimes hear her down to the second floor when we're coming home (we're on the 5th) but mostly she's quiet and sleeps all day on the couch.
So how about an x-pen in your kitchen if you would rather not crate?
lotsadox
01-25-2006, 11:59 AM
Crating is the way to go. Miller started peeing in the house when I was gone so I started crating him again. After about 2 weeks of crating I decided to let him out and he's been good ever since (except when I rains of course. He is a dachsie!) :rotfl:
Mine are in two separate bathrooms (because Pogo doesn't really like Pixel) - Both are in open crates and Pixel has a baby gate against his door and Pogo is behind a closed door.
I just want to give you something else to think about with the crate. There is a chance (knocking on wood that it doesn't happen) of a back injury with all dachshunds. Do you want to be trying to crate train at the time when they need to rest? I have always used the crate for that reason, I want them to know it is their home and a safe place for them. 2) Pogo is a chewer, and I worry about in other areas of the house there are electrical plugs etc. If they are in their crate (without a collar on & I always leave water), they are safe.
Courtney is right, the crate is your friend, and the best way to get potty training back on track!
Good Luck! Let us know what happens.
Mama S.
01-25-2006, 12:43 PM
Jadaa, Aurora, Sam, Hershey,& Shadow are all crated if we are gone for longer than a moment or two ie checking the mail. Stinker, Pete, Oscar have the run of the house. I am now looking for belly bands as his grumpiness was cold busted hiking his leg on my couch - I'd suspected but never caught anyone - if I had extra crates - his big ole lard butt would be crated also.
Once I replace the carpet in my living room - I'll be investing in a crate for him as well. The other two are so old that I don't know if they would take to a crate.
SAndi
When we first got Bailey when he was a little pup, we crated him all day. We have a dog walker and she would come 2x a day for an hour at a time. We never had an issue with him pottying in his crate. When he got to be about 6 months old we cut the dog walker back to 1x a day, still in the crate. At this point, when we went out for just a few hours, we would leave him uncrated, but gated in the upstairs, with the tv on. When we first brought Reese home, we crated them both, seperately for a few weeks, with the dogwalker coming 1x a day. About a month after having Reese with us, we decided to test out being uncrated during the day. We had a few issues with Bailey peeing on the living room rug, so we now gate them in the kitchen area. It's a sizable area. I also put down a pee pad. For quite a few months no one used it and it was a mad dash to the yard when someone got home. Now, Bailey, uses it every so often. We leave the radio on for them, so there is noise. I leave some industructable toys in with them, along with their beds, water and frozen kongs. We are gradually going to start letting them have the upstairs during the day while we are at work. See how it goes.
We still have our dogwalker, and she is wonderful. We only have her come 1x a week, on Thursdays, and then on Tuesdays the boys are off to daycare.
Oh, another thing about the crate. We still have our crates open and available to the pups. Both of them will go in them on their own to snooze every now and then. All I have to say to Bailey is, go in your house, and he gets right in there! We have a waterbottle set up in each one. Although I am not sure that Reese really knows how to use it. I agree that it's always good to have them used to a crate, just in case of a what if. And for the vets etc.
Alex's Mom
01-25-2006, 02:59 PM
When I got my old girl, Maxe, I'd never heard of crate training (it was over 20 years ago), but I would leave her in the kitchen with paper down and the door to my bedroom (it was off the kitchen) open so she could sleep on the bed... which is pretty much what she did! When I got Alex, I tried crate training her, but it was definitely a "no way! mom" experience. Even though I did all the steps...toys, feeding her in there, leaving it open during the day etc....she wanted nothing to do with it...would chew at the door until she bled, and try to dig until her paws bled. I felt AWFUL:( She's always suffered really badly from SA, so perhaps that was the basis of it. When Maxe was alive, I'd just shut the two of them up in my bedroom, and it seemed to be OK. Lots of peed on rugs, however!! AFter Maxe died, Alex was a real problem, because I couldn't crate her, and she started trying to chew her way out of the bedroom. Let's just say that I dreaded having to leave the house..... The last 3 years we've moved around a lot because I'm going to school, which hasn't helped her SA any!! Her week in hospital after her cancer surgery ramped things up considerably too! I've been fortunate however in that I mostly work from home. We've settled into a routine where if I can take her with me (although it's a bit of a problem in winter...) I will, and she just stays in the car with me keeping an eye on her. However, when I absolutely HAVE to leave her at home, she's confined to the kitchen/living room. She's settling down and is OK for about 4 hours...then she starts HOWLING!!! Good thing I love her.....
BethMH
01-25-2006, 04:45 PM
I really appreciate everyone's responses on this. I probably never should have stopped using his crate. I think I am going to start using it again. The point about the potential back problem and being forced to stay in a crate to rest hit home with me. Rueben is overweight and we have stairs. He also jumps onto and off of the furniture. I try to prevent that as much as possible. He sleeps in the big bed, but stays there all night. In the mornings, we are usually able to put him down to prevent him jumping. The last thing I want or need is Rueben having back surgery. Wish us luck on Rueben accepting his crate again! :)
Loren
01-26-2006, 08:14 AM
The last thing I want or need is Rueben having back surgery. Wish us luck on Rueben accepting his crate again! :)
Try to make it a HAPPY place for Reuben... Give him special treats, maybe a frozen kong and a nice bed of his. If you are able to start crate training in intervals rather than a whole day to start, that would be beneficial. If you start with a whole day to begin with it might cause separation anxiety. Good luck!
Alex's Mom
01-26-2006, 10:28 AM
The whole back issue is an excellent point! I forgot to mention in my post above that Maxe started with IVDD when she was 6, and of course had to be crated when she was having an attack. Because she'd never been in a crate before, she HATED it! Especially once the drugs kicked in and she was feeling better. It was almost more stressful than the actual disease...ok, not really, but you get the point! So if you can crate, you probably should, just in case! Good luck!
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.2 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.