Home alone??

[Annetteb]

The question about counter surfers when not attended brought up a question I have. When we leave the house we put baby gates up so Kona stays in one of the smaller rooms. She is now about 18 months and is calming down from the puppy antics and chewing. She stays loose in the house when we go to the neighbors or out on our boat and I am wondering if she would be OK loose in the house now for longer periods. Otherwise we are going to build a pen in the yard so they can stay outside, but am not sure about leaving them to bark at the neighbor dogs when they come by the yard.

I have to say the thought of her pulling a trick like getting in the kitchen sink while we are gone scares me. Also, getting rambunctious with our other dog...

Wondering what others do with their Newfs when working or otherwise away from home for several hours. Please let me know what you have come up with.

 

[4ondafloor]

Mine get gated in a large kitchen (with newf proof counters I might add, I have a surfer!)
I never, never leave mine outside alone when I am not home. Newfs are targets! Heck, I don't even leave them alone in the backyard for long when I AM home. Just me...paranoid!

 

[Bailey Boy]

We put our 3 big dogs in our family room with a baby gate up, and Ginger goes in her crate in the dining room so they can see each other.

I personally wouldn't put my kids outside unattended especially when I am not at home. To many crazies out there.

 

[lacey9875]

Until yesterday and the table eating, I was pretty sure Maggie was fine being left alone. At 14 months, and only previously eating flip flops, I though other stuff was safe.

Today I'm just praying.

 

[NessaM]

When I leave the house, I lock the doors to the outside. That's it. My guys have free rein of the entire house, including the pantry (which is always open because the ice-cube maker in it gets overheated if you close the pantry door) everything on the counters, and their bag of dog food, which is left at ground level. I can count on one hand the number of times either of them has counter surfed.

The only things that I trouble myself to remove to a height they cannot reach are medications, just in case. But I've never really had to worry.

When both of them were puppies, I would put them on a long lead and then set food up on coffee tables and leave it out, and then I'd ignore the dog until the dog went for the food. They'd be brought up short by the lead, and then corrected. If they ignored the food, or removed themselves from the food's location, they were rewarded. After a while I took the leash off, and then just used verbal corrections. Eventually I didn't even have to watch them, and I could make my dinner, bring it into the tv room, leave it on the coffee table and go get myself a drink, and come back, and the dogs would still be settled, and my food would still be untouched.

 

[ardeagold]

Since we have so many, ours are all over the place, but all are in the house.

The puppy is in a puppy safe area OR his crate.

I'd never leave them outside if I wasn't around to monitor what was going on. Dogs do get stolen from their yards, or get out, or get injured, etc.

 

[dumainedogs]

Obie usually has free run of the house when we're away for short periods of time. We have only had a couple of "chewing" incidents since he arrived as a pup. When we go to work though, he stays in the back bedroom where he is set up with his own portable a/c, toys and water bowl. That is more to save on trying to cool my old drafty house all day than to prevent any indiscretions on his part. But, it does have the added benefit of keeping him away from temptation. I'm not sure whether I'll continue to isolate him when winter finally returns down south!

 

[twright1231]

When we are not home, they guys are in our attached garage, with a gate at the door. The door is just off the kitchen. We haven't yet entrusted them to the entire house when we are gone. The garage is usually much cooler than the rest of the house, and when it isn't, we have a monster fan set up in that area. They actually really like the garage. The concrete floor is really cool, and when it's colder outside we offer blankets or rugs for them to sleep on, but they rarely do. I do miss the garage space though

 

[kailani]

Since we have so many, ours are all over the place, but all are in the house.

The puppy is in a puppy safe area OR his crate.

I'd never leave them outside if I wasn't around to monitor what was going on. Dogs do get stolen from their yards, or get out, or get injured, etc.

How old before you leave a puppy? So far we have worked it out so I leave for work in the morning and my boyfriend leaves in the afternoon and he will leave Baloo at my mom's for a couple of hours but i would like to be able to leave him at home in case we need to go to the store or do something fun (which we haven't done since he came home) if my mom isn't available to watch him.

The only time I put him in his crate and left was to bring my niece home (she lives 2 minutes down the road) and I called the house phone with my cell before I left and left it off the hook so I could hear how he reacted while we were gone for 5 minutes. He completely went bonkers! I could hear him yelping and thrashing in the crate the entire time.

 

[KodysGrandma]

Lke Ardeagold we have so many. The Newf is always in the house, usually with one or two others. The rest are generally outside although if the weather looks bad all come in except the rotten rowdy Rhodey Ridges who are still a tiny bit rotten and rowdy. They have big wonderful dog house to get out of the weather. Where we live and the reputation my husband cultivates for them I do not worry about anyone trying to steal the ones outside, locks on the gates.

 

[BlackLightning]

Ayasha and Boum are 21 months old and they play like MAD in the house - for that reason, we keep them separated when we are not home. I am too worried they may hurt each other or wreck the house. Boum has a nice den in the basement that he loves because it is the coolest place in the house - Ayasha gets free run of the house. The only problem we have had is that if they have an accident, they always seem to choose the beige carpet in our bedroom. :crazy:

On another note - I am completely paranoid about collars - neither one of mine EVER have their collars on if they are unattended in any way. They have them off at all times when in the house and only on for walks. There have been very sad consequences from dogs being unattended with collars on.