Alternatives to an all day crate-a-thon?

[Mr. Griff]

I got my, now 4 month old, golden retriever early this summer because I have a work-from-home summer job. However when I go back to school and an out of the house job my dog will be alone 8 or so hours a day. I've been told to crate him because it is the safest for him. He is potty trained as far as I can tell because long road trips and being left the run of the house for 45-60 mins has proved successful. So much so that we paid a ridiculous amount to get his piddle stains steam cleaned out of the carpets. I do plan to walk him in the morning and continue evening walks, I just don't think 8 hours being penned up is fair. The crate is quite larger he has a good foot or so of extra space all around. Are there any alternatives? or can I have a happy dog that is in jail all day?

[Roxy's CD]

Well some people disagree, but I had no problems with ROXY, (Hades we did). Every dog is different.

Roxy was a crated for a few weeks. Than one day she was locked in my room. Some more space. She did fine. So slowly, gradually I allowed her to have free roam of more areas of the house. Until she could be left alone with no problems.

It all depends on the dog. Is there anywhere like a hall way you could leave him? That's got tile/linoleum floors?

[Mr. Griff]

Thanks. If it doesn't work after a few weeks I can always leave him in a spare bedroom, that way he can talk to the ferret! thanks

[Herschel]

I got my, now 4 month old, golden retriever early this summer because I have a work-from-home summer job. However when I go back to school and an out of the house job my dog will be alone 8 or so hours a day. I've been told to crate him because it is the safest for him. He is potty trained as far as I can tell because long road trips and being left the run of the house for 45-60 mins has proved successful. So much so that we paid a ridiculous amount to get his piddle stains steam cleaned out of the carpets. I do plan to walk him in the morning and continue evening walks, I just don't think 8 hours being penned up is fair. The crate is quite larger he has a good foot or so of extra space all around. Are there any alternatives? or can I have a happy dog that is in jail all day?

45-60 minutes is a completely different story than 8 hours. Our puppy is 4 and 1/2 months and he has been accident free for...so long that I can't even remember. He went 8 hours today (congratulations, Herschel!) for the first time, but we worked him up to that. At first, we would only leave him alone for a couple of hours at a time (and he had some accidents). Then, after he was accident free for a couple of hours, we increased it to about 4 hours. Then 5, 6, and finally 8. At each step, he had to be accident free before we would allow him to be alone longer.

[Zoom]

You could always look into either doggie daycare or hiring a good petsitter to come over in the middle of the day to take him out for a walk and some quality play time.

[DanL]

We were leaving Gunnar crated for extended periods at that age, as well as Bruzer. They both did fine, just make sure you give the pup lots of exercise when you are home, and make the crate a friendly place.

[SummerRiot]

Riot was crated as a puppy, then as he grew and matured, he was allowed in the kitchen blocked off, then the kitchen/hallway/front enterance and then the whole upstairs :)