Need your opinion ... Please to put my mind at ease

[JR0579]

I leave Roy, 8 months GSD, in his crate when I go to work. He stays in the crate for about 9 hours with a 30 minute break each 4.5 hours. He sleeps from around 1pm to 5pm even on weekends when he has a free roam of the house. Am I being cruel ?

Thanks for the help

 

[AmberwayGSD]

To me that is long.Do you have anyone who can come get him out for a few hours.Sasha spends at most 3 hours in her crate tops.Than I get my butt home.If I had to work full time she would be left loose in the house.Id rather clean up shredded TP than have her in a small space that long.Just my opinion though.

 

[Wings]

i just got a crate too, she will stay 7-10am then 4 hrs break for walks and such then 2-5.30/6pm. And i got a really huge crate meant for a saint bernard...lol. She had to be in a crate, she dun just shred TP, she will shred anything she fancies

 

[JR0579]

No one to come along and daycare is not an option for 2 reasons :

1. Cost
2. Even more important ... I don't feel comfortable leaving him with someone else.

What is bothering me is that I had told the breeder about my life style and she said it won't be a problem. Roy will just adjust.

Any more ideas ?

 

[sheps4me]

No, I don't think you're being cruel. I'm assuming from your post that you (or someone else) comes home midday and lets him out for 30 minutes? People who own dogs DO have to work and I would imagine that there are many other dogs that do fine with a routine similar to Roy's.
It's not a permanent situation either. As soon as he's a bit older and trustworthy, you may be able to leave him loose either in the house or in a gated part of the house.
As soon as you feel he's ready, you could experiment with leaving him loose in the house for short periods, maybe 15-30 minutes at first. Then you could leave him uncrated for half of the nine-hour period and see how he does with that.
If you're really concerned about long periods in a crate, you might want to consider setting up an outdoor dog run which would allow him to stretch and move around much more than a crate.
The most important thing to do is make sure he gets lots of exercise and attention when you're home from work.

 

[Gempress]

I agree with Sheps 100%. When their person isn't home, dogs usually spend all the time sleeping anyway.

 

[Jacks100]

We have created a run in the garden for our dog for when he is being left, he has a house which is heated with a dog flap leading to a run, which part of is sheltered. This way we dont need to worry about him destroying anything in the house and he can go out into his run as and when he pleases. We do have a crate but this is used mainly for training purposes. Is there anyway you would be able to create something outdoors for him for maybe half of the 9 hours, just so he isnt in the crate for so long?

 

[LabDad]

Both of my boys spend all day in their crates sleeping. For a dog without separation anxiety problems the crate is their home. I crated them initially to avoid having my house eaten, especially by Duke the Lab. Now they seem to prefer to sleep in their crates even if I leave the doors open.

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

It doesn't sound cruel to me. It's true - a lot of dogs just sleep while their owners are gone. If I leave my lab out rather than crate her when I'm gone, and she doesn't come running up to me when I come back, she's snoozing. I feel bad for leaving them though so I stuff a kong and let whoever is crated have it.

 

[Mordy]

as long as he's properly exercised otherwise, i don't see a problem, especially since it's not 9 hours straight in the crate, he does get a break.

if it were 9 hours without a break, it's a different story.

 

[JR0579]

Thanks for all of you for taking the time to help me out.

Sheps4Me : I had tried testing him a couple of months ago. Instead of leaving him in his crate to sleep for the night [ he outgrew the crate I had for him. I have a bigger one now ], I let him sleep in the bathroom to give him more room. The first night was OK. The following 2 nights he dug 2 holes in the wall.

Last night I went out with my wife for 4 hours leaving him in the laundry room. When we returned things were fine except for a torn cardboard box.
I'll try a couple more times during the weekend and see how it works out.

Again, thanks so much for the help and advice

P.S. : When I return from work every day to give him the break, he's usually sleeping and comes out of the crate yawning and looking at me as if I have interrupted his sweetest dream