Dogs

So I'm assuming some of y'all own dogs and also have jobs that take you away from the house/dog for 8-ish hours a day. My question is, does the dog seem to be neglected or does it even care? I'm debating getting a dog in the near future but I'm living alone and have a full-time job. I don't want to get one and then have it be miserable all the time because I'm leaving it alone.

Greyhounds sleep ALL DAY. Won't notice you until you return!

get an radio perimeter electric fence (no buried wires) and install a doggie door. Let him come and go as he pleases. My dog is going on 14... seems well adjusted :)

Some dogs get bored which is a BAD thing. They will destroy all kinds of things when they do. Border Collies are known for this. We used to have a mutt that had the same problem. Usually the smarter the dog the more likely to get bored they are. Then they start looking for things to do.

Toyman01 wrote: Some dogs get bored which is a BAD thing. They will destroy all kinds of things when they do.

My sister had a Malamute. One day she came home from work and the dog had eaten the couch.

stuart in mn wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Some dogs get bored which is a BAD thing. They will destroy all kinds of things when they do.

My sister had a Malamute. One day she came home from work and the dog had eaten the couch.

Yeah, mine got bored in the back yard several years ago and ate every rubber hose and belt off the 10K diesel generator I was building at the time.

We got a Basset hound. He tore our stuff to pieces while we were gone. Now we keep him crated with a bunch of toys. He tears his own stuff to pieces.

He is very relaxed and sleeps all the time, but when he gets excited about something (his tennis ball), he will run around like crazy for about 10 minutes.

Adorable dog, great with kids, gets tons of attention, absolutely beautiful, fits my personality quite well. I love my Al.

stuart in mn wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Some dogs get bored which is a BAD thing. They will destroy all kinds of things when they do.

My sister had a Malamute. One day she came home from work and the dog had eaten the couch.

See the doggie door/fence advice above... my terrier would go and murder squirrels and chipmunks. That is good for everyone. Sometimes I would have to clean the blood off the furniture... but atleast he wasn't eating it.

mini daschund.. she is a great dog.. has a major napolean complex.. barks at anything and every stupid lil noise....

Four pugs here. Usually someone's home (I work nights) but I'm out of town all week. When we're out the three youngest go in crates. They make some noise but otherwise can't get in much trouble that way. If they're mad about being locked up all day they don't show it when someone returns home. The oldest is left to roam the house but usually just camps out on the couch and snoozes.

When Gertrude looked like this

She destroyed all sorts of stuff, including the house (ripping up carpet, chewing on the wall, etc.) She also got computer cables....all sorts of stuff

Now that she looks like this she's much more calm. She sleeps most of the day, has a doggie door to a fenced back yard, and doesn't destroy things. She's NEVER crated....

Hey Joey, did she ever look like this.

My dogs are crate trained. They stay in their beds for 8 hours. They just sleep all day. My one dog on his own would piss on everything.

In reply to JoeyM:

What breed is she?

Toyman01 wrote: Hey Joey, did she ever look like this.

Nope. never.

She does occasionally look like an elf or a triceratops

neon4891 wrote: In reply to JoeyM: What breed is she?

Short answer: Don't know, she's a rescued mutt who's parents are both some sort of hound.

Long answer: A friend who works for a veterinarian called me and asked if I wanted a "beagle" puppy....they had a litter of them that had been taken away from someone. All the puppies were in a filthy kennel, had mange, and were underfed. The vet clinic's staff had nursed them back to health, but needed to place them.

As Gertrude grew up, it became obvious that she looked more like an American Foxhound than a beagle She's in between the two breeds in size, but has a pronounced under bite (something that is common in beagles with a lousy pedigree.)

Our dogs are home alone all day, but since there's the two of them we figure they keep each other company. We use a child gate to limit them to the back half of the house. So far, so good.

Currently stuck out in a big pen, as my grandfather didn't appreciate zee puppies destroying his basement.

But, not a lot I can do about it right now, they don't seem to mind much either.

My horse and I foxhunted for ten years and spent a lot of time around hounds ...Gertrude looks an awful lot like a tri-colour english foxhound Beautiful!

I love dogs, but with the amount I travel, no way. But I have two very doggy siamese cats.

In all seriousness, a cat (or even better, 2 cats) might make more sense. They sleep 16 hours a day, greet me at the door when I get home and are great companions.

Not as fun as a dog, but they require a TON less attention and are very entertaining to have around.

Just got my boy Linus a new friend. He's about the chillest dog ever, and I've had some chill dogs. He's perfectly content in the house, even though he was rescued from the chain outside where he spent the first 2.5 years of his life. We had to teach him stairs. Love that dog to death. He's a big-ish mutt, around 65-70 lbs, and looks a lot like an American Mastiff in his head/face, with a good amount of pit and/or boxer in his body.

Hoping he'll rub off on the new pooch. She's right around a year, another rescue; a pit mix with what looks like some Bull Terrier in her head/muzzle shape. Sweet as candy, with energy like a lightswitch but hey, she's a puppy.

After two days in the house with only Linus supervising, she's done remarkably well. She did chew up the cellophane wrapper on a James Brown record I had too close to the floor, but she had enough respect for the Godfather to leave the sleeve and the record alone.

But to answer the OP's question: it depends a lot on the disposition of the individual dog. I've also never come home to my dog(s) without obviously waking them up, so I don't think they're too stressed about it. Greyhounds, as stated, are the most cat-like dogs I've ever met. Generally speaking, bad candidates for house dogs would be intelligent working breeds like your smaller shepherds and such. Best bet would probably finding an adult dog that's out of the nervous/puppy stage. And adult dogs are generally a lot harder to adopt, so you're doing the shelter a favor, too.

Greyhounds are good, most well behaved dogs with enough chew toys will be fine! It depends on the dog more than the breed in my opinion.

Problem is, I really like Australian shepherds but i'm pretty sure my lifestyle isn't real conducive to having one. All I really need is a dog that is happy outdoors and good with other dogs. How does one crate train a dog? I really like that idea.

Lesley wrote: ...Gertrude looks an awful lot like a tri-colour english foxhound Beautiful!

I'll flatter her for you.

BTW, the foam bits on that triceratops costume velcro onto the muzzle....We used an oversized muzzle so she can still open her mouth and eat treats. (Bribery is necessary to wear headgear.[*]) I'm thinking that I might make a rhinocerous costume - utilizing the same velcro-onto-the-muzzle technique - for next halloween.

[*] - bribery is also very effective. When I took Gert to the Humane Society's Halloween party as a triceratops, several people commented on how she didn't seem to object to the head gear. What they didn't know was that I had a bag of chicken nuggets in my pocket, and that Gert knew she'd only continue to get them if she left the costume alone. This is also why she looked disdainfully at the people who tried to feed her dog biscuts....she knows where the good stuff is.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: My dogs are crate trained. They stay in their beds for 8 hours. They just sleep all day. My one dog on his own would piss on everything.

No offense, but I find the term crate trained always seemed kinda funny. Like, "this guy was a menace, but now he's jail trained!"

Joey