Am I mistreating my dog

[Pennies]

I have a labrador bitch who is 7 months old.

I work 3 days a week from 12 - 4.30pm during which time she is generally crated, with a supply of chewy toys / a bone + water. She has a 30min walk every morning, as well as lots of time to run around in our garden and when I come home at 4pm she is let out into the garden and sometimes has another walk. We have quite a big garden so she can race around a bit if she wants to.

On Wednesdays I work from 8pm - 4pm. She is let out for a run in the garden from 6am - 8am, a dog walker then turns up at about noon and takes her for about an hour's walk. My cleaner also turns up in the afternoon and lets her out. She is allowed to run around the garden / house when I get back from home.

On Thursdays I work from 8am - 4.30pm. The dog is out from 6-8am, then crated from 8 am until about noon at which point the dog walker takes her out for an hour again. My cleaner then comes again in the afternoon and lets her out for a couple of hours. She's allowed free reign of house and garden for the rest of the day.

The cleaner thinks that the dog is locked up for too long and I am therefore mistreating her. This is my first dog. Is she correct?

I'm no expert but I would have thought that she would be too big to be crated for such a long time. What about leaving the crate open in the room so she can get in for comfort if she needs it, but out for a leg-stretch when she wants to?

I have a 2 year old lurcher who has the run of downstairs while I'm out from 8.30-3.30. He has a 20 min walk at 7am, another 20 mins when we get home and he'll be off out for 40 mins-1 hour at about 7pm. He also has hidden treats to find when I'm out and the radio left on. Apart from some post-chewing in the first few weeks he has settled to that just fine.

I wouldn't want to crate mine for that long (not that he'd go in a crate anyway).

She has a very large crate - the biggest I could find. Until last one she had an unlidded one but she could jump out and she chewed a load of stuff, rummaged through the cat litter and ate all the cat food. I replaced it with the largest lidded crate I could find. She seems generally happy with it but isn't as happy as she was in her old one.

I really don't want her roaming around the house whilst i'm not there and the house is open plan. The crate is in the utility room which I put a dog gate on which was the plan originally, but my cats then can't get in there to eat / use the litter. If I put their food and litter elsewhere the dog then scoffs / scatters both there when she is let into the house. Also I really don't want cat food and litter in my living room.

When I go out I leave the radio on as well.

Far too long in a crate

How big is the crate? It would have to be truly massive for a labrador if you're leaving her for so long.
4 hours in a crate in my opinion is not good for her, why can't you leave her in the kitchen with a baby gate at the door?
I've never used a crate for my westie apart from the tiny puppy stage and only then for an hour max. I would imagine you'll have as very unhappy dog caged up for so long...doesn't seem right to me I'm afraid.

I don't have a dog, but that is too long. She needs to be able to walk about.

A crate?!?!

Tell you what, I'll shut you in it for same time. Time it. See if you can guess how long you've been in it. And how long left.

Genuinely bemused as to why that sounded a good idea.

My entire downstairs area is open plan. I can't baby gate it.

What about leaving her in the garden, with some sort of shelter during the summer. Then by winter she will be well out of her puppy stage.

I'm sorry but surely you thought this through before getting a puppy...and a big puppy at that! Just move the cats litter into your kitchen while you're out and use the baby gate to keep your labrador in the utility room (although even a utility room is pretty small for all those hours). Once she's let out to run around simply move the cats litter away again.
Your poor poor dog...not kind to keep her crated at all.

I don't use a crate Eric has free reign of the downstairs and the upstairs seeing as he can jump the stairgate It seems a really long time to me for a dog, and a puppy at that, to be shut in a small space. Is she crated overnight as well? Can't you get advice on working on stopping the chewing instead? If she's not given the freedom to learn not to chew then she will always have to be crated won't she ?

Lindum baby gates do extensions and gates. You could. I recently sold 15ft of gates, extensions and connectors for about £40 on eBay.

Or outside as other suggestion.

I'm still bemused as to why you got a dog if your house is so "yours".

I wouldn't leave her outside - she would be a prime target for thieves.

As others have suggested, too long in a crate I'm afraid.

You're not really using the crate for training are you? You're using it as a cage.

It is too much crating/caging. A lot too much.

You need to find another way for her to be in your house.

Also, why is she not getting a walk in the mornings before your long workdays? A mooch about the garden doesn't really cut it IMO.

Far too long in a crate and on her own imo.

Poor thing, would you consider day care?

What's the longest she is crated in the day, it sounds like about four hours? I don't think that is a huge amount of time. I'd she crated away from you at night as well? That would be the tipping point for me as it would feel like too long alone.

Many people happily crate their dogs for seven or eight hours at night, personally I have never understood why that is okay, but it is terrible to crate during the day, dogs are naturally mostly active at dusk and dawn and sleep in between. I sometimes leave mine for six hours in the day but they sleep with me at night.

why cage a dog??

I couldn't do it. We "dog share" with my parents for that very reason. I couldn't leave a dog locked up for any length of time. My parents bought our dog for my kids but to stay at their house as we work. We looked after her when they were on holidays and realised she was entirely "at home" so now we collect her on fri and drop her back on Monday morning plus have her in school holidays-I teach. My mum says that she swears the dog knows the days of the week as on Friday afternoon she waits for us behind the door-never sits there any other day! It works well for us-but wouldn't suit every dog, I know.

I agree, would you like to be cooped up for the same length of time? I doubt it, and I assume a dog's sense of time is much slower than ours, too- much like a child- on the basis that the perception is proportional to time lived.

If you can't adequately accommodate a dog in an open plan house, don't have open plan, or don't have a dog,

Can't you just lump having cat litter in the main part of house, so dog can go in utility?

Is the dog crated overnight too?

I don't think you are mistreating your dog. But I would say that 4 hours a day is probably the absolute maximum time to be crated. At 7 months, a labrador can be very destructive when left to its own devices. And also too much freedom can make a dog anxious and prone to seperation anxiety. She will probably be really happy to go into her crate with a chew/kong. In time, you will probably be able to allow her more freedom in the house while you are out but for now, it's fine. I did this with my labbie when she was little but we gradually used it less as she matured and could be trusted not to wreck stuff when left unattended. She would rush into her crate and never showed signs that she didn't enjoy her time in it. It was her den, comfy bed and safe haven.

A CRATE, when used correctly, if a safe haven for a dog. It's their den, their place of safety, relaxation and comfort. A CRATE can be a wonderful thing.

That being said, and with the best will in the world, you are misusing or not understanding what the purpose of the CRATE is.

Do you actually go into the garden with your dog or is she left to roam around there on her own? Our garden is massive by most peoples standards but it certainly doesn't provide enough stimulation for our dogs.

How much interaction with you does she get? Dogs are social beings, they love being with their humans. They love training and cuddling and interacting and generally being part of the family. It seems she's either in her crate and then on her own in the garden. My BIL has a lab in exactly the same circumstances, she's 4 now and the result of this lifestyle isn't exactly what I would want for my dog.

OP - I am sorry if I have read your post incorrectly, but, given the amount of time she's crated, then left alone (I think) in the garden, then, yes, it's cruel.

What training do you do? Play games? Puzzle toys? Kongs?

Why do you think she chewed stuff? Stress, boredom?

It's a dog- not a guinea pig you can put in a cage! I have a 9 year old yorkie and have never crated him, don't see a problem with it for short periods of time but not for as long as you are doing. I know you say you put chews in but dogs need to explore and sniff around- he will be very unstimulated!

Do you or your dog walker know someone local who does doggy daycare? If you were local to me, your puppy could come and hang out with my two.

Why did you get a dog OP ? As it sounds like you actually do very little with her yourself . I think its too long in a crate especially if you crate overnight as well .This is the problem with the crate ,its open to abuse and lots of people abuse it .

I agree with your cleaner, it's too long. You work five days a week from what I can understand? And she's crated for most of that time. Overnight? At times when you are out socialising, shopping at the weekend?

That's way too long. It sounds quite cruel.

I did use a crate for mine. The maximum they were in were two hours. And that wasn't every day as I don't work. They were crated overnight when we went to bed until we got up, until they were 8 months to a year, them we disbanded the crate and didn't use it at all.