Crate, garage, fence, or kennel

[Guest Anonymous]

We are in the process of getting a new retriever, and need to know what is the best place to keep a dog about 9-10 hours during the day when we are at work. The last dog we owned died at age 15 years, and never wondered off our 6 acres a day in his life - we know we were lucky.

So, should we crate train (although 10 hours seems way too long), leave him/her in the garage (where we have a doghouse) with paper for relieving themselves, fence an acre or so around our house with underground fencing, or build a kennel attached to a detached garage? If the answer is a kennel, how large should it be (maybe 18' x 8')?

[Carolk9s]

How old will the new dog be? Will he/she be in the house while you are at home? Is it possible to put up an above ground fence so there is a physical barrier not only to keep your dog in but other animals out?
If not a whole acre, how about a solid fence for a yard area, say 50x50 feet? Trouble is if dog gets bored/frustrated, might dig so would want to bury part of fence or otherwise discourage/prevent digging out. If your dog can safely get some sort of exercise while you are at work, he/she will be a bit less crazy when you get home. Now thats not saying your dog will self exercise itself but some room to stretch out might help. A dog left to its own devices for too long may either find trouble to get into or simply escape.
Hopefully will get some more responses on this, I'm sure I've left out ideas.

[Guest Anonymous]

We will probably not get a puppy, but are looking for one between 1-4 years old.

[wildbunch]

Welcome Aboard TBerkhouse,

Any way you decide to go make sure that you have a nice warm place for the pup to go when it gets chilly. An insulated dog house is great as in summer it keeps them cooler and in winter keeps them warmer.
Is this a puppy? If so how old?
If it is a baby you will want to spend time with the puppy to let it adjust to that many hours alone. You don't want a pup that grows up with seperation anxiety.
I would agree with Carol about the 50x50. Make sure that part of it is covered. A patio is great.
An invisible fence is really designed for the adult dog. You can start now with some training if you want the invisible fence.
Definately do not do the crate for an entire 10 hour spread. Way too long for a dog to be cooped up. The garage can be a dangerous place as dogs can get into poisonous items. Remember Antifreeze is lethal.
Hope this helps and let us know what you decide.
Danna & The Crew

[Guest Anonymous]

One thing about the invisible fence...make sure the dog is ALTERED. My sister has an invisible fence and 2 female black labs, unaltered. The neighbor's yellow lab caught a wiff of Belle when she was in heat and now she's with child...or children. :oops:

Belle and Maddie do wonderfully with the invisible fence but it wont stop another animal from coming in. :wink:

[Guest Anonymous]

This is a tough one since you are gone so long during the day. In my opinion, no dog should be left outside all day without supervision. The dangers are many - escape, injury, dognapping for purposes of selling to laboratories and for using as bait to train fighting dogs (a big problem in rural and urban areas), people coming on to your property to tease or torture your animals, and you leave yourself open to lawsuits should someone come on your property, even without permission. I, personally, do not like invisible fencing. The only purpose it serves is to keep your dog in, but, as others have said, it will not keep other animals or people out, and in the event of power failure, it will not keep your dog in.

Is there any way you can dogproof your kitchen area, so that the dog will be safely kept inside? or is there anyone in your area who will come to the house daily to let your dog outside and exercise him/her a bit, perhaps a high schooler. I hope you find a workable solution.

[eric]

My solution for my boys was to set up an outdoor enclosure in my basement. Its one of these chain link fence deals that comes in pieces that you assemble yourself.

Its quite large (11 ft x 11 ft or so), keeps them out of trouble and they're warm.

As far as accidents, my dogs aren't alone for quite that long, but they regularly hold it for 7 to 8 hrs.

[Aroura]

Is the garage empty???
I think the best thing would be to attach a dog run to the garage the full lenght of the garage and about 5 metres out, that way the dog gets the shelter from the garage, the fresh air and mental stimulation etc from outside and plenty of space to move around. If the garage isn't insulated and it would be too pricey to insulate the whole garage, build a kennel inside and insulate that. Just make sure there is plenty of shade in summer, if not cover the run in shade cloth in summer and remove it in winter.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck with your new dog!

[Hobbit]

The carbon monoxide from the vehicle(s) would be too much for any dog or human for that matter. Garages can get pretty hot in the summer and pretty cold in the winter --- if not heated or cooled. If the floor is concrete, that gets cold too (in the winter).

[Aroura]

Oh, shouldn't it be ok though if the garage isn't used and there is also a suitable kennel area? I don't know, we don't use our garage and its made up like a room, I was offering the oppinion only if the garage is suitable.