soooooooooooooooooooooo true

Just to clarify, my Pointer wasn't in the crate at night, just while we were out of the house. I was dead against crating him but I was worried for his safety as he was such a chewer when young. Not uncommon in Pointers, I understand.

This would be the schedule:

Sun nt - bed at 10pm
Mon -
6am - wee/poo, play
6.30am - 40 minute walk,
7.10am - breakfast, play/free time
8.15am - into crate
12.15 - out of crate for wee/poo/play/walkies
12.45 - back in crate
5.15 - out of crate, play
5.30pm - dinner
5.40pm - play/cuddles/training
7.30pm walkies
8pm - snuggles on sofa and play
10pm - bedtime in crate

And repeat.

The kitchen is puppy proofed (I've even removed all the buttons from my cooker and radiator covers), the only thing he would be able to do is gnaw the door and wall but I can't remove them and he likes anti-chew spray (weirdo!). He would also wee and poo there and whilst I'm not bothered about cleaning it up, it would mean that it takes up some of his play time with me at lunch and surely is abit nasty for him to be in there with it?

if my math is right thats 17.5 hrs a day crated, many dogs will be happy with this, many will not its trial and error I guess, would it be poss to not crate him at night?

On everything you have said my instinct would be to give him the kitchen simply because although i like crates i do think that means he is spending a large amount of time in it and if the kitchen is puppy proofed then you might as well give him the extra space.

Tons of luck with it - leaving them for the first time can be so hard I often wish i could text my lot and see how they are doing when i leave them!!!

Hi Pidge, we'll be in a similar situation when we both go back to work in January and we've decided to leave Monty in the kitchen. He hopefully can;t do much damage in there!

Its also refreshing to see that other people leave their dogs whilst at work as we've had negative response from family when we said we had got the dog.

Monty's routine will be similar to Woody's. My OH leaves for work at 7am so i'll be out with the dog from 6:30am for a good hours walk then as i only work 2 miles away i'll let him out again at lunch and then the OH will walk him in the evening so its not so bad really.

With that schedule I would have thought he'd be very tired in the morning (after all that play and free-time). After being fed & emptied would sleep for most of the time before you come and let him out at lunch? With that in mind I wouldn't have thought he'd be so inclined to be nibbling on anything he shouldn't, he'll more than likely be pooped!!

Why not have the crate in the kitchen with his bed/blanket and some chew toys (maybe a stuffed kong?) to keep his peggies busy. I know it's a pain to clear up any mess, but he won't do this for very long, as he gets older he will naturally hold himself for longer periods.

This is what we did with Marius and it worked a treat.

By 6 months old, both my boys (Boxers) were counter surfers. Accomplished door-openers, food stealers, paper shredders also.

We went through a stage of having everything in the kitchen in 2 or 3 large stacking boxes when we went to work after a spate of destruction which included several tea towels, contents of a bread-bin, skirting boards, dog beds, towels, washing, dirty plates, washing up sponges etc


Nowadays, both could easily get up to the counter (and open the microwave etc) but choose not to!

Sorry I'd be no help either like Isochick when I had to go to meeting and other things, I just left Bruce, but then he did have the girls to annoy....... I just dealt with his mess when I came back

That's what my husband suggested, but:

a) It would be a pain moving it in there every morning (It's too big to stay in kitchen permanently) and

b) I'd be worried about him catching himself on the door, or it shutting on him?

I think if it's going to be the kitchen then we'll just put his bed by the child gate (this stops him peeing in the entrance and jumping in it), but he has already gnawed the corner of the wall in the kitchen and the door (pre-crate time). What if he turns the oven or washing machine on? I don't think I'd be able to concentrate at work worrying about him!

Help, what do I do!!