Where to keep dogs while at work?

Looking on some ideas where to keep my 2 dogs while we are at work.

My wife used to stay home with them, but recently started working again.

They are both puggles and the problem is 1 is highly allergic to bees. My wife came home last night to find her eye very swollen, purple, and red. She was also breaking out into hives. This necessitated her 3rd trip to the vet for a bee sting.

It seems mean to cage the dogs all day.....

What is a good way to potty train the dogs to be inside all day? Starting to be afraid to let them roam around in the backyard while we are not home.

What are my options here?

Thanks for helping!

 

DoggyHotel. PetsMart was on the news recently about them taking dogs in for "day care", You can find a dogsitter. Why not buy like a baby gate thing where you can block some areas of the house off, and you can leave them inside.

 

That's what I do. I keep the dogs in the kitchen, so any mess isn't exactly difficult to clean up after just sitting there.

 

We have two Boxers that stay home all day by themselves while my wife and I work. The whole reason we got two dogs was so they could keep each other company during the day. For us and the dogs it has worked out great. We installed a doggy door at the back door that leads to the dog run and a removeable baby gate at the kitchen doorway from the utility room where the back door (doggy door) is located. This way they can go in and out of the house as they please, yet we limit their access to the entire house. We keep their food and drink in the utility room which keeps the insects and other animals out. The dogs can go there for refuge as well. This setup also accelerated the potty training issue when they were puppies. It has worked for us even though our female is little over sensitive to issues such as your dog. It also required a little bit of training for our dogs to realize there was a doggy door as well as how to pass thru it. Hope this helps.

 

Great advice.

 

Thanks..

Right now, we limit their access to the downstairs of the house since it is just tile.

Do you let the dogs go anywhere in the backyard? Do you think I should limit my dogs to just a part of the backyard, or just strictly keep them inside while we are gone? I guess I'm not crazy about them going potty, etc in the house.

Has anyone built anything to keep dogs in a specific area of the backyard? Our dogs are pretty curious, so they kind of check all over the grass for anything interesting. I'm thinking if they were just limited to a specific spot, the chance of getting stung might be reduced, but of course if I let them in the backyard at all, there is always the chance.

If I kept them in the house all day, is there something I could buy where that they could do their business on?

First time owner here, so thanks for the suggestions.

 

We have thought about doggy day care.... The cost just adds up fast for 2 dogs.

Dogsitter might be ok.... Not crazy about the thought of someone in my house while I'm gone. Maybe I just need to get over that.

 

my dog loves the kennel he has. He even goes in it to sleep sometimes. He used to chew everything up when I left the house. Now he just chills until I get home.

 

Well, you can drop them off at the dog sitters house. I don't know anything about dogs, but I'm sure they will feel sad, I say take them to work.

 

You have a few options. Being reactive to bees can be scary, and I don't know if being in California you have bee seasons, or if it's a constant concern. If it's seasonal, consider a doggy door so they can go outdoors to eliminate and come back in. Contrary to what a lot of people have been told, it isn't good for dogs to be outdoors for extended periods--they're vulnerable to the elements just like us. The sun will overheat them very quickly, and they're also susceptible to sunburn as well as heat stroke. I run a dog daycare, but I know it can be expensive, especially with multiple dogs. It's also not healthy to crate a dog for more than 3-4 hours. Do you have dog walkers in your area? If so, it's a much more affordable option to daycare. There are also a number of synthetic indoor potties you can consider. Your advantage is that your dogs are on the smaller end of the scale and that they're part Pug, which means they're very smart and trainable. PM me if you're interested and I can send you the links to some products.

 

Our Boxers are allowed only in certain parts of the house even when we are home. They are also only allowed in a certain part of the yard as well. We chain link fenced a certain portion of our yard that I referred to as the "Dog run." Dogs have more of a tendancy to run away when given the full roam of your yard. Plus you won't be able to contain the mess and destruction that the dogs make. They crap and pee in one small section of their run. Dogs really don't want to go to the bathroom where they live. Some people house break a dog by the crate method which a few here talked about. The dog house trains itself because it doesn't want to go to the bathroom in the crate, it's home and bed. I didn't have the heart to crate our dogs, so I spent some money on fencing in a dog run, installed a doggy door and purchasing a baby room divider gate. The setup has worked very well for us and the dogs. I've had this setup since our Boxers were 7 weeks old and they are now 4 years old.

 

I leave my Maltese in the house. She has a ramp to get in and out of the bed and usually sleeps there most of the day. She has a pad to use to potty. She has "accidents" whether I'm home or not. If I feel I'm going to be gone a long time I'll call a family member to come check on her. You could always get a pet sitter to come by in the middle of the day if you are concerned about them being alone so long.

I originally started with some puppy training pads called Weewee pads that I bought at the pet store, but it's much cheaper to just buy the large bed pads for people that piss the bed at Walgreens and it's pretty much the same thing. You can also buy the smaller size in bulk at Sam's.

 

My next door neighbor use to keep his two big dogs loose in his house during the day. One day one of the dogs got into the bathroom and the door closed behind it. So the dog dug thru the wall to get out then ran around the house tearing down every thing in the walls in the house. They tore up the furniture and finally busted out the front window to the house and went for a stroll. When I looked in the window it looked like a drug deal gone bad, the house was wrecked. The two puppies were located 2 miles down the road tearing up garbage bags. Needless to say one of the dogs was sent to a farm in the country!

 

I have a 95lbs Weimaraner and he has been crate trained since a baby. Much like the O/P he was at home with my fiancee or with me while a pup but now is at home alone all day. We don't restrict him to any part of the house nor has he ever damaged anything. A well exercised dog is the key....tired dogs are happy, healthy well behaved dogs. Exercise your dogs prior to going to work, make sure they go to the bathroom as well. Theres no reason an adult dog can't last 8 hrs without peeing/crapping in the house is he's gone in the morning and not destroying things is he's been properly trained/socialized. Problem is most owners treat their dogs like a person...they need to be treated/loved as dogs. Crate training is by no means cruel...it gives you dogs a safe place to go when they need it and helps alot with house training.

Theres plenty of very informative books/how to's out there on this subject.

My $.02

 

We have two large Akitas - We ahve always crate trained all of our dogs, Once crate trained we strict them to certain areas of the house at certain times, while we eat they go to another room and do not bother us (they eat at this time as well just in a different room) when everyone has finished (them included this is how they know its their time to eat) then its open house again. but everyone used to leave to go to work or school so we'd get up, let the dogs out to do their thing and then bring them back in, - if you have different schedules lets say you leave 2 hrs earlier than the wife she can repeat this again but this time give the dogs a little walk or something. bring them back inside into their crate - the first few times they may have accidents but eventually they will get used to that time frame. When they do you can block off a section for them to stay inside the house while your gone and see how it goes. My dogs go out once before work and then are allowed to relax on the first floor until we come back from work. When we do the first thing to be done is they go out and get a little attention.

 

Fence in the back yard.

 

Allergic to bees. Crate training can be great except that adult dogs don't always go for it as readily as a dog that's been doing it since puppyhood. Consider also dedicating a room or area of the house you can dedicate to pen them into. You can dog-proof it and since they're Puggles, while they can be energetic they're usually easy to contain.

 

I don't think my dog could last 8 hours without a potty if her life depended on it. Maltese are notorious for being terrible to housebreak. But she's 7 pounds, so it's not a huge big deal like if I had a Doberman crapping all over. And her idea of tearing things up is pulling the toilet off the roll out of the bathroom or trying to dig holes in my bed sheets.