Where do you leave your doxie when you're not home?

[bigotis]

Hello Again Everyone!

I'm not even sure what topic this question goes under, but I am curious: Where do you keep your doxie when you're not home? I was a terrible failure at crate training, so I put Otis in the laundry room when we're not home (see: Otis or Houdini? under doxie tales). Other family members are now suggesting that we just leave him out to have the run of the house. He loves to sit on top of the couch and watch out the window. He would have access to the kitchen, living room, and basement. I am not so much worried about what he could destroy, as to what he might get into that may harm him. When I was growing up, both of our doxies had the whole house to them-
selves and there was never any problem. I was just wondering what you think.

Also, yesterday Otis's eye was swollen, we think he may have been stung by a bee. They are terrible this year in good old Minnesota! Poor baby!!

Finally, Otis just had his six month birthday and is weighing in at 10lbs, 7ozs. My big boy!

Take care everyone!

Otis's mommy, A.


<FONT COLOR="#00FFFF" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by bigotis on September 26, 2000 at 09:58 PM</font>

[dutchman]

Right now both my boys are confined to kennels when I'm not home. I was about to move Frank up to the x-pen when I added Tanner to the household. Now I'm waiting for them to be napping and just in general spend more quiet times together before I will consider leaving them in a common free roam area when I leave the house. The little girl Aggie (my mill rescue) used an x-pen with her open door kennel in one corner. That way she could go outside the kennel on the kitchen floor and keep herself clean. I remember one of the three dachshunds we had wen I grew up having the run of the house when we were gone the other two were confined on in a kennel and the other (out first generally in an inside stairwell with a landing and her bed at the top and doors closing off both the top and bottom of the stairs. Both my current boys have escaped from their kennels on days when I got careless about double checking the doors and other than some shredded paper no real damage have ever been noticed.

Tom

[Oscar's Mom]

I keep Oscar in our bathroom (he's 18 months), I'm soon going to upgrade him the hallway also. I think 6 months might still be too young to have free run of the house. He would no reason to hold his 'business' while you were out because there would be plenty of space for him to go. Also, if he's teething, he could decided to chew on things that you dont want to.

[Jennifer]

I keep mine crated while I am not at home. They have gotten into too much trouble when I have left them out.

Right before Christmas last year, my DH left Oscar (12 year old blind doxie) out in the house while he ran to the floor. Well, I had made all of these really nice bags for people for Christmas with handmade cards that I had spent hours making. DH didn't know that I had put a Godiva chocolate bar in each one. Or he wouldn't have left Oscar out. Well, when he came home all of the bags were shredding (including the cards) and Oscar had eaten 7 chocolate bars. I was so scared for Oscar but he eneded up being fine. Luckily the bars had rasberry filling so there was alot less chocolate than if it had been solid.

Another time, Oscar broke into the cabinet that had the doggie treats and knocked over a bottle of cleaner that was in the same cabinet. Luckily, the cap was on tight, but if it hadn't been, he could have drank the cleaner.

I left my border collie inside when I was living in an apartment (living in apt with a border collie was a huge mistake) and I thought I had shut the bathroom door tight, but I guess I hadn't cuz when I came home, he was happily chewing on my razor. Luckily he was OK, but I was so scared that something could have happened. That was the last time he was left uncrated when I am gone.

If you are going to let them have the run, you have to be super careful that everything that could hurt them is out of reach. I know that Oscar can break into cabinets so you may want to put babylocks on the cabinets. We made our best effort to make sure they had a safe enviroment and either one of those incidents could have been deadly.

[Mark]

Hi A,

We crate Top Spin, but the 2 Dachsies have the run of the house while we're gone. They don't fuss if crated, but there has been no need to do so.

Mark

<FONT COLOR="#00FFFF" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by Mark on September 26, 2000 at 03:27 PM</font>

[Mrs.F]

Penny and Maggie stay in a pen in the kitchen. I did try leaving Penny with free run of the house a few times right after she turned 15 months old. (The pen takes up a lot of room in the kitchen and I was getting sick of it!) Anyway, she didn't cause any damage, but did have "accidents" by the kitchen door. (Doesn't happen in the pen.) Also, right around the same time she chewed a hole in my couch cushions trying to retrieve a Nylabone that had slipped between the 2 cushions. My teenage son was home with her at the time but didn't notice. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/frown.gif Anyway, I figured if that could happen while someone was HOME with her, who knows what could happen when she was home alone. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/eek.gif I've penned her (and now Maggie) ever since. They don't seem to mind and I've almost forgotten what the kitchen looks like with a table and chairs in it.....

[Penny's Aunt]

Leaving a 6-mo pup with the run of the house is kind of asking for trouble. Even if he's housebroken, dogs (esp pups) think the whole world is just a collection of chew toys. Some of the simple things that can harm him: string (if swallowed, it can string through his intestines, & the motion of the intestines tightens it, & it cuts through the intestines, causing life-threatening peritonitis); a wad of food-scented aluminum foil in a ball (great for causing intestinal blockages that require surgery); cleaners & poisons that taste good, like that bottle of coolant/antifreeze that you forgot to put back in the garage; wood splinters; fishhooks with the smell of bait still on them; stuffed animal stuffing (another cause of intestinal blockages); matches, Q-tips, nail polish, light bulbs, liquid soap (a real killer for pups), nice-tasting glass jars.

ETC.

Even crated or tethered, you need to be careful about leaving things within their reach. Even if it doesn't LOOK within their reach. My pup has a reach of approximately 10 feet on a 2.5' tether. (Don't ask. I don't know!)

[twix0699]

I always crate Twix when I am not home. She gets into trouble even when I am home--see "dining room table centerpiece" under dachsie tales. I can't even begin to imagine what the place would look like if I left her out while I was gone. Besides that she still has accidents and I think she wouldn't even try to hold it if she had free run. Are you thinking about letting Otis out because he throws a fit in the laundry room? Or because you feel bad about leaving him in there? I really had a hard time crating Twix but she doesn't seem to mind, although she NEVER goes in there when I am home. Twix is such a high energy dog that it blows my mind just thinking about leaving her out.<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm24.gif" border=0> She is constantly into things!

Teresa and Twix

[OneCoolPup]

I remember whenever I would leave my first dachshund home alone with free run of the house, we'd come home to a disaster. Every dog I ever had has been garbage fanatics... and we'd find garbage from one end of the house to the other. Another thing he did was chew a hole in my chair , and there was that brown foam like stuffing all over my house (my chair will never be the same).. and that could have been disasterous if he ate any of it. I think every dog is different though... when i was growing up we had a border collie mix puppy and she has free run of the house. She had accidents on the carpet but that's all. My mother never has had any problems after that. Now that's she's a grown dog she'll wait to go potty until someone comes home and lets her out. I hope someday I'll be that lucky!

[Baileys Mom]

I leave my 6 month old mini in the dining room in a pen with her crate (door is always off) toys,water and a small treat in her bowl whenever we leave. I also have the radio on, something I've done for years for the other critters in the home. She doesn't seem to mind as long as we don't confine her until we're ready to walk out the door. No crying, barking or howling. I have on a few occasions left her free run of the house for just a few moments when running an errand to the neighbors and she's not at all comfortable with that. She'll howl and cry at the door. She doesn't chew on things, but does love to steal and hide everything she can possibly drag under my bed. I can only imagine what I'd come home to if she had the run of the house! LOL The pen is folded up when we get home but the crate is left out for her all the time. I'm really happy with this arrangement. She's confined but has room to play. Whatever you decide to do,I've found dogs adjust and are happiest when there's a routinethey can depend one.

[LisaH]

We give Annie the run of the first floor. (She'd have the run of the second floor too, but she can't go DOWN stairs, so we block them off.) When she was a little puppy we kept her gated in the pantry; then when she was older we kept her in the kitchen. Once she was about 1 1/2 I graduated her to having the whole first floor. She's very quiet, though, and doesn't tend to get into garbage or chew anything except paper (she once grabbed the car insurance bill off the coffee table and shredded it, but I think that was a political statement. <IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm42.gif" border=0>) I think it really depends on the individual dog.

[Dachsiedawgs]

Our dogs have an outdoor kennel 10 x 20 in a shady area, with a little sunshine, nice doghouse, clean cedar shavings, a little grassy area in the back for their "potty" business, and even a piece of plywood for a floor, a wooden dox box with a blanket it in for their bed, a view of the world - that's where they are supposed to stay on nice days. Where do they actually stay? Either in the kitchen in their X-pen, or on our screen porch and deck. They are definitely creatures of routine. I used to feel guilty about leaving them in the X-pen all day, but to tell you the truth, I think they prefer that to even staying out on the porch with plenty of room! When it's time for me to leave the house, they go right in their pen and lay down without a fuss. It also helps if we travel and take them with us. They'll stay in the hotel room in their X-pen, without barking/howling because they're used to it.

[wireweiners]

Whopper and Button, the (almost) 10 month old babies are crated in the dog room. Pippin and Rita are confined to the dog room by a baby gate. Wheeler is either in my bedroom, the living room or utility room depending on where he is hiding and whether or not I have time to find him and dig him out to put him in the utility room. Katie has the rest of the house or the utility room depending on where Wheeler is. I don't let Pippin and Wheeler run together when I am gone as Pippin tends to bully Wheeler and Wheeler tends to pick on Rita. I keep Katie separate from the dachsunds because if a fight were to break out, she could do mortal damage to the dachsies.