Leaving Dog Outside During Day

[Pam]

I would never leave a dog outside either. There was a dog not far from me some years back that was stolen right out of its yard. The poor owner keeps running an ad in the paper periodically asking for the person who took her to return her and it's been about five years now. Though my dogs enjoy the yard tremendously they prefer to spend their days lounging on the sofa anyway.

[NWS_Haven]

I won't leave mine out if I'm going to be gone more than a 1/2 hour for most of the reasons everyone else gave and one more I didn't see. I don't want them barking and disturbing the neighbor's. Right now the neighbors are great and I have 4 large dogs, 2 GSD's, a Rottie and a Pit mix. Them barking all day is the last thing I want. I don't need to see Animal Control in my driveway saying the neighbor's are reporting neglected, barking dogs.

[wolf_Q]

Yes, and I'd just like to add that it all depends on the situation/dog. My dog doesn't bark at people, he's very quiet. Also, my dog run cannot be seen from the road at all.

[Triciaanne]

Gosh--thanks so much everybody! I really appreciate all of your thoughtful input.

I will post pictures of Ezzie and Zoey as soon as I figure out how to do it!

Have a Happy Doggie Day!!

[Tonya]

I leave my two big dogs outside when I am gone. They don't have a problem with it at all. They play all day long. I leave different toys out each day so that they don't get bored. We have a 15ft trampoline out back that they jump on too, its funny. My little pom stays in the house, he can only play with the big dogs when I am around. I confine him to the kitchen while I am work. The cats play games of chase with him, so I am sure he's entertained too.

[mruffruff]

I have 4 dogs and leave them all day, every day of the week. But I also have a wonderful little thing called a doggy door. I have my kitchen/hallway gated in the house so they don't have complete run of the house. The yard is divided in half, and they can't escape or damage anything in their half.

Now that they are older, I can leave for short periods and let them have run of the house.

I'd probably wait until the're 4 months old to leave them in the yard, even with all the proper precautions. Puppies have an uncanny knack of finding stuf to get into.

Mary

[Byakko's Mom]

I have never left mine out all day so I don't know how well it would work.I am to paranoid about stuff happening.I can say I have always had dogs/puppies and about a month ago our then 7 month old lab mix just going out to play no more than 1/2 hour without being checked on or supervised he ate some sticks that caused blood in his stools enough to last a few days and make me worry ( and I don't panic easily about something when they are sick,I take precautions before) enough to go to the vet and 5 days of meds and he was fine but I worry if it had been all day unsupervised what he would do.He just goes out to go to the bathroom and play with the other puppies for a while and someone is almost always with them unless we are coming in for a drink or something quickly.There is also digging and I know if unsupervised digging out could someday happen, or a board pulled off the fence, even though it is 6 ft, wood,I check it every day,plus things can be thrown over the fence.,some people,sometimes who you least expect ,or kids can toss things over and can cause problems from mild to serious and my friends dogs did get their teeth caught in the collar of the other dog and blood was everywhere.It was terrifying.I can't imagine what would have happened if no one was there.I guess teeth would have been lost,or worse the other dog would have strangled.It is a hard decision to make and a scary one too.Good luck.I am lucky,I am home mostly and with our schedules someone is almost always here.
Laurie

[MissCinnamon'sMom]

We have a 3 year old Pointer Lab mix, her name is Cinnamon. She stays outside during the day. We live in Colorado and have pretty mild weather. She has her choice of three houses in our yard. She has her wood doghouse with a blanket, a crate outside, and a cozy crate in our garage that she has access to through a doggie door. We tried to crate train her when we adoped her and she had problems with it. We tried putting her in her crate while we were at home and all she did was cry and whine. We then tried to put her in it when we left for an hour, well that result was not pretty, she broke out, and ate all our chinese food that was too warm to refridgerate. I think that was our fault, she smelled it and couldn't resist. We do bring her in when we are home. She is only alone for about 6 hours. We have a huge backyard with lots of fun stuff. Her favorite thing to do is sleep on the trampoline! She also has a lab friend next door that she loves to rub noses with under the fence. We have never had a problem with her barking, in fact, our neighbor didn't know we had a dog until he looked over the fence one day.

[bnormal]

Sounds like you've gotten great advice here!

[Triciaanne]

Thanks for all of your input. I really appreciate it!

[Zero]

i leave buck outside for most of the day :-|

[Kfamr]

Even though both of mine LOVE to bask in the sun, no matter how hot they get, they could si tout there for hours, I'd never let them stay out there. I'm too petrified, although someone could NEVER steal Simba.. of maybe someone throwing stuff too them or teasing them enough to break the fence or just ANYTHING. I think it's cruel to leave a pet outside.

[slleipnir]

Mine bark so I can't really leave them out, but I think in the summer it would just be to hot and not fair to leave them all day..

[wolf_Q]

Originally posted by Kfamr
Even though both of mine LOVE to bask in the sun, no matter how hot they get, they could si tout there for hours, I'd never let them stay out there. I'm too petrified, although someone could NEVER steal Simba.. of maybe someone throwing stuff too them or teasing them enough to break the fence or just ANYTHING. I think it's cruel to leave a pet outside.

Do you think I'm cruel for leaving Nebo in a dog run while I'm at work? It's covered/shaded, he has an igloo, food/water, toys.....I *always* keep it locked...It's either that, or he stays in a crate all day, which I think would be more cruel. (It's not my fault my parents won't let the dogs roam the house while nobody's home)

Originally posted by slleipnir
Mine bark so I can't really leave them out, but I think in the summer it would just be to hot and not fair to leave them all day..

Nebo doesn't bark at people, and honestly, it's usually hotter in my house then it is outside, lol. We don't have central air...just a stupid swamp cooler, and we don't like leaving it on when we're not home.

[AngelZoo]

Personally, and I don't care where you live, city or country.

There are too many risks on leaving a dog outdoors fenced or chained up while you are not there to supervise, specially for long periods of time.

They could escape, hang themselves, hurt themselves, people could posion them, steal them for labs or breeding/selling, or use them for target practice... if you will.

Letting them free roam indoors, or even confined to one room is the best option in my mind, hoping that your pups can be trusted indoors with out destroying the place.

Even then you can crate them while you are away, and get a neighbor/friend, or higher a pet sitter to come out and take care of them for a while each day, so they can still get their excersize and attention.
I am a former pet sitter and I can say that it really can work wonders for the dog, and their owners.