Do you leave your dogs loose together?

Babyblue5290

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#41
It depends on how long I'm going to be gone or on the day. Some days I'll crate Talon just because I am afraid of him eating something. :rolleyes: Other days they are left alone together. I worry more for my stuff than either dog though lol
 

Katem

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#42
Pig was recently given free roam for probably a month and a half. Then she started stealing things from the counters and generally finding trouble regularly, so she's back to being crated when no one is home. During her reign of freedom, her and Bear were loose together. There's a size difference between them, but they don't really play together much anymore, so I wasn't really worried about them.

Badger stays in an ex-pen while I'm out. He might graduate to being left loose in a room, but will never be put with another dog. I wouldn't trust Bear alone with him since Bear only just about tolerates him when I'm there. Him and Pig get along really well, but he's already 150-160ish? to her 28lbs. Their preferred play style is pretty rough, so they'll always be separated for safety reasons. Plus, I don't even want to think of the trouble the two of them could find together. I wouldn't have a house to come back to. Mischievous little monkeys.
 

ihartgonzo

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#43
Yup, Piper & Sako stay out together. Barrett is still crated because he's a pup.

I know.. I'm an irresponsible Pit Bull owner according to some but.. whatever.
Umm... I'd say that is a GREAT thing, that you can trust your dogs! :)

Mine have always been alone, since Fozzie earned free roam of the house at 6 months. They've never had any issues. I even webcammed them and they just lay around all day. Fozzie's SA starts acting up if he's not left at home with another dog.
 

Dogs6

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#44
Yes and no.

Fudge and Taz are left loose in my bedroom together.

Scamp is crated in my bedroom.

Aura, Tika and Ozzy are loose in the living room/ kitchen.

Diesel is crated in the kitchen.

The group's might be changing soon because Aura and Tika can be destructive together and I don't particularly trust Tika 100% around a bitch although she's never given me reason to doubt her with Aura. So Aura might end up in my room with Fudge and I'll move Taz to the living room with Tika and Ozzy. Taz might be a good influence on Tika and there's a lot less for Aura to ruin in my room plus she'll be with fun police Fudge. However as both bitches are in heat they're staying put for the minute.

Scamp can be loose with Taz, Aura or Tika but he can't be loose in the main part of the house because he will mark and I prefer not to leave him and Fudge together for long periods of time as they can get snarky with each other.

Diesel will never be uncrated when we are not home again. I do not trust him at all with any of the males apart from possibly Ozzy. He and Scamp are separated permanently now. Aura and he cannot be loose because they play so hard that they will wreck the house and recently it has also turned into aggression when they get over aroused. And the last time he was left loose with Tika he ripped up the carpet by the door and chewed through the cable to the modem.
 

SpringerLover

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#45
I used to leave Buzz and Bailey loose together when I was gone. When Buzz started to lose his hearing, that became dangerous for him, so we usually gated or crated Bailey when we left. Bailey lives as an only animal with my mom now, so she's very rarely crated. She's not even remotely destructive in the house.

Buzz and Gabby are left loose in my apartment 90% of the time (with my cats). I very occasionally crate Gabby, just so I know that I still can. If Buzz is having trouble walking, I'll xpen him so he doesn't get himself stuck somewhere. Neither one of them is going to start or finish a darn thing. I love, love, love being able to not manage my animal's behavior in the house one bit anymore. I never want to go back to having to crate/gate and rotate again.
 
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#46
I leave Susie, my Bernese cross, Monty and Kiska loose in the house. Remmy is always crated because he and Monty get along great but as they are both intact males, don't want anything to happen between them.

Kris is always crated as I don't trust her to not get into things. Lucy is also crated as she bugs Kiska too much.
 

kady05

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#47
Umm... I'd say that is a GREAT thing, that you can trust your dogs! :)
Well thanks! I do trust them, but I do realize that things can happen.. it's a risk I'm willing to take at this point. My parents come and check on them during the day if I'm gone long and they're always passed out asleep LOL.
 
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#49
Nope.

They're all loose together with free roam of the house when someone's home (even without direct supervision, like when I'm sleeping or in the shower or something), and they have zero issues.

They're all separated whenever there isn't anyone home - Jack and Missy are left in separate bedrooms, Heidi is crated, and the cat has free roam.

We had Jack and Missy first, and they were always separated because Missy has separation anxiety, so she has to have a Kong or some sort of puzzle toy whenever anyone leaves, and I'm not chancing a resource guarding situation getting out of hand. Her separation anxiety is solely from my mother (it doesn't really matter if I'm home or not), and she can have very panicky moments, and she has redirected onto the other dogs when they come near her during these moments, and I'm not going to let that turn into a fight when I'm not home.

Heidi needs to be crated for destructiveness/housetraining issues (which is odd, because she has no problems when anyone's home), so she can't be loose, by herself or with anyone else, period.

Even if I had dogs who theoretically could be loose together...I think I'd still separate. Just for peace of mind issues.
 

Saeleofu

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#50
Nope. Gavroche is loose in my room, Logan is crated or with me. They would *probably* be fine, but once in a while they push each other's buttons, and I don't want it to get ugly when I'm not home.

I used to be able to crate them together, but now I only do it for a short time (10-15 min) and under supervision. Just in case, since Gavroche is getting old and crotchety.
 

Shai

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#51
When we're home they are out together, when we're gone they are separated even if they are not crated. My dogs all get along and I feel this arrangement gives us the best chance of keeping it that way.
 

MericoX

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#52
Mine are fine together loose in the house when I'm home or if I leave them in my bedroom for a few.

All are crated when I'm at work. The two older schnauzer used to have free roam before the young ones came, I would trust them again if some many people didn't live here and the trash was locked up. They would also be fine together crated if they weren't in the same room with the others (don't trust any of mine being crated together to not redirect from their neighbor).

Link would either be dead from something he got in to, or destroyed the house if he was left loose. I also trust him for very long periods with Stryder.

Charlie I would trust somewhat being loose, never have given her an option to. She's not destructive and a few times I have accidentally forgotten to not lock her in her crate and she's been fine. And she can sometimes be a little much for the others.

Nimbus at this point I wouldn't leave out as she's only now fully housebroken and don't want her to back slide, she's not so thrilled about Charlie, and lately she's been trying to start stuff with Kiba.
 

krissy

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#53
I have left Summit loose with other people's dogs when we've been visiting. Kili is crated for her own safety primarily but it also serves double to protect Summit from her pestering ( and her from his eventual retaliation).
 

busannie

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#54
When I first got Bus, I crated him and Annie in separate crates beside each other when I was gone, as I didn't trust either as far as housebreaking at that point, and even play at that point could go south if someone got too rough or got their feelings hurt. After about a year, I set up an expen (with wire top, and linoleum underneath in case they peed) and would leave them both in there. Eventually Annie got to where she was peeing every time I left them (either beside their beds so they would be drenched, or along the bottom of the pen so it wicked along the whole edge :< - massive cleanup every day- she's always been a "dirty" dog), so I took it down and relegated them back to individual crates, as I didn't want to crate them together because I was afraid they might have a tussle in the smaller space, and it wasn't fair for Bus to be trapped with Annie peeing on their blanket/beds. Annie didn't take well to going back to the crate, so I avoid it whenever possible, I don't even have one set up for them at my house right now, because I never leave Annie there, and if I leave Bus, I just gate him in one room. They can be out at my house for short times, but I make sure I have any toys/food/bones put up because Bus does resource guard over high value items like that and Annie likes to creep around him and push his buttons. They are fine if there are no "prizes" out, and when I leave both at my moms', they stay out together. When I take them to work with me, I usually kennel them together, but seperate for feeding/toys/treats.

APBTs are my other favorite breed, and I've had a dog who could never be left with another dog because she would pick a fight as soon as the "police" were away (she couldn't be with some of them even supervised). On the other hand, my first was totally cold with our smaller house dogs (would run away if they went after her- but was very dog aggressive to strange/larger dogs), and we left her alone with them for short periods regularly. She usually went into my room and slept on my bed when we were gone, and there was a gate that they couldn't get over easily, so she had her own space. We also had a cocker, and a Chi mix, who were shut in the kitchen with Annie anytime we left for longer periods, and would all 3 pile into the cocker's crate to sleep (door open, other crates available).

When I have another APBT, it will be separated from Bus (and my cats) when I'm not around, just to be safe. I've seen the results of a lot of bad household dog fights when owners aren't home (often at least 1 dog seriously injured or dead), and while it can happen with any breed, more often than not the one causing most of the damage is a pit or pit mix- frequently a dog who has never had any issues with dog aggression. One of my co-workers got a an Ambully/pit looking dog last year (was a foster and she kept her- prior to this dog she wasn't really a fan of the breed), sweet dog, and from what I've seen, fine with other dogs, but I cringe every time I see that she's kenneled that dog and her elderly cocker together at my workplace- overnight with no one there.
 

Moth

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#57
Watson being true to his basenji nature needs to be crated when he is unsupervised for a longer period.

Recently we allowed Menchi free run of the room that their crates are in when we are away, but that came to a screeching halt this week when we had a major mishap that ended with her injuring herself while we were gone. We were careful...I know Menchi very well and she usually is not one to get herself in trouble, but something happened to startle or panic her, and things happened and the aftermath was frightening enough to land her back in the safety of a crate.

So I got a nasty lesson this week that sometimes even the best, most stable of dogs can get in serious trouble when unattended and left loose.

So no currently ours are not loose together if they are alone for more than 30 minutes.
 

kaykay21

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#58
yes.. laika and jayson adore each other and they cuddle up under the table on their blanket and sleep the whole time im gone
 

meepitsmeagan

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#59
Nope, they are crated separately side by side. Harlow RG's high value toys and chews. Though nothing really ever happens between them and Rider would back down anyways, I just don't feel comfortable with it.

Not only that, I like the peace of mind of having my dogs crated while I'm gone. Both are minor SA and being left loose for more than a half hour just stresses them out. In the crates they just sleep or chew on bones/kongs.

When we had Lucy, she probably could have been left out though never with Harlow as they had to be supervised and occasionally c&r. Same with Story.

With the breeds I'm involved in, better safe than sorry.
 

Ozfozz

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#60
Yes,
If we're going out for an extended period of time (2+ hours) Ruby gets crated simply because she not only has some SA issues, but she also gets on counters.

The rest of them pretty well go to sleep until we get back.
 

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