Where in the house does your dog go when you are out -ideas please

[lepetitchienbrun]

Where does your dog go if you are out, assuming they do not have a free run of the whole house?

My little guy is still a puppy so is crated but I want to plan ahead.
I have got the following options:
-utility room, quite small but big enough (dog will be at the small end of medium sized when he is grown up), lino easy clean floor, would be able to add a dog door to the garden easily, but our clothes are in there and not sure I want the two to mix. Also closer to a neighbour's if he barks.

• kitchen but he is already trying to jump onto the worktops and so I feel unsure, easy to clean floor though, large kitchen dining room for him to move about in
• convert back half of the double length garage to a proper room with heating. Would add an easy to clean floor, window etc and probably a doggy door but there is no door into the main house so this would not be ideal for every day use or overnight
• convert the old shed into an outdoor doggy den, not ideal when very cold though and well away from the house so again, it would only work when we are out and if we are happy with him roaming in the garden (not keen on this one)

I would appreciate more experienced dog owners' views! He will never be left alone for more than a sensible amount of time. If it were more very occasionally I would get a dog sitter. Having him wandering about the whole house is not an option at least for the forseeable.

They stay in the kitchen which has a flap so they can go out to the garden. Got CCTV installed so can spy on them when out.

Utility room here. Washing no longer gets hung on driers in there though, that's now in the conservatory.

Am thinking the utility room is the way to go then after he isn't crated as the potential for chaos is less! He has already made a jump for stuff off the work surface and has a way to grow yet. Also I can see he tries it on more when he thinks I am not looking so when I'm out who knows what he will get up to!

Thanks for that NCI, she is a bit out of sorts at the moment as we had her spayed yesterday, but once she is on the road to recovery, I will try your method . She is currently snoring away on my lap.

She has to wear a doggy baby grow for two weeks until she has her stitches out.

lepe, unless one of us is around, she always goes in the utility. I used to keep my airer in there with wet clothes on in winter if I couldn't use the line outside, but I will have to pop it in the dining room now.

Crate in Utility room - he is 4.5 months. We may leave the crate open as he gets older if he proves himself to be reliable

Our 10 mth old dog has his bed in the kitchen, as we spend most of our time there, so he gets to lie/snooze on his bed while we're pottering around in the mornings and teatime/evening. I think he likes being close to us but he too lazy to not be on his bed! We have one stairgate at the kitchen door and one at the stairs.

At night and when we're out or when kids have friends round he is confined to the kitchen - but it's big enough for a potter.

If we are in the house he's then allowed downstairs freely but never upstairs.

He used to leap up at kitchen counters but I used to be terrible at leaving food out - he's had a loaf of bread, dozen eggs and various other bits! Now everything is in bread bin or biscuit tin, fridge and he doesn't bother leaping up.

Bella - it's a pug. Give up now. Ours doesn't let me move three feet without needing to follow me.... It's not going to let you go upstairs alone :)

They have a single bedroom downstairs with a tiled floor and an actual bed to sleep on. They hate their dog beds but love their actual bed. There's a smal ensuitenoff the bedroom too where their water bowl goes and things can be showered down easily if they make a mess. The room is about 3m x 2m.

Once they settle in and stop chewing (adult rescues) then we're going to gradually introduce more
time in the main house without us. It's all open plan though so is either this room only or the whole lot.

They don't go upstairs. We didn't aim for it to be that way, but they won't. I suspect there were ramifications if they did that in their past life but we have a baby gate anyway, so we can block the front door off so we can come and go without them getting out of the front door

leg. she doesn't let me move very far either

My house is open plan so she has the run of it whilst I'm out. She never does anything, apart from stealing food if I'm stupid enough to leave it on the worktop and probably leaping all over the sofa while I'm not there to stop her! Before I had this house, I've always had a strict no dogs upstairs rule, and they've always slept in the kitchen at night, but my house now is upside down and open plan, so she has more freedom, although I've trained her not to come in the bedrooms unless invited.

I trained ours not to go upstairs too, then 5 years later had a change of heart and allowed him the run of the whole house - but it's so deep set in him he will only go upstairs now if invited!

Our boy has 6 beds in 6 rooms, and uses them all, but if he's left alone he will sleep in the bed by the front door and await our return.

My two have the run of the whole house as do the two cats. No crates, no shut doors, no problems!