Ripped off my dog walker? Advice please...

cjmumto2

Perhaps it would be worthwhile booking an hour slot, as it will give your dog a good run and as mentioned it may suit the dog walker better. I am a walker and my walks get timed from when we get to the forest for the 1 hour walks so means some of the dogs are out for 2 hours. Which is nice for a dog who would otherwise have been home alone all day.

If I do 30 min walks it is 30 mins from the persons house as it is not viable to drive to the forest for 30 mins as the whole process would take an hour. (but they do get a full 30 min walk) Talk to the walker and if you dont get a good vibe then change. But as mentioned 30 mins for a quick walk when you are out all day is not really fair on the dog either.

arbroath_lass

Your dog is locked in a crate all day? Except for a 20/30 minute walk? That's downright cruel in my opinion. Why is it in a crate? Can it not have the run of the house, at least? TBH I'm surprised a pound would let you take a dog home to conditions like that.

gettingready

I missed the crate being mentioned - is the dog really in her crate for whole day apart from the short dog walker visit?

arbroath_lass

KS2008 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
there have been a few days when she has escaped from her crate and they have put her back in etc (I have seen the chewed objects to verify this! )

It was in Post #5

Dave101t

you do realise that if they empty your house with a truck, your insurance wont cover you as you allowed them a key to your property?

KS2008

Thank you for all your replies.

I am aware some people's views on keeping dogs in apartments - however just to clarify. She is walked for 30 mins - 45mins in the morning before work, she then gets taken down for a quick wee break just before we leave. She is then crated for a max. of 4hrs until the dog walker arrives, she has 1/2 hr with him, then crated for another 4hrs until we arrive home with toys and filled kong etc. She then goes straight out for another 1-2hrs for a walk with us when we get home, comes home and then goes out for another 15 minutes before bed.

She isnt crated overnight (because I realise I don't want her crated 16hrs a day!!) she sleeps in our bedroom.

The reason she is crated during the day is because she cannot yet be trusted to not chew things (we havent had her long) but we are working towards this on the weekends (i.e. building her time up uncrated) and once we are confident that she can be left she will will have run of the flat.

Also, just to add - she gets a total of min. of 2hrs exercise per day (more at weekends) and this is a lot more than many other dogs that I know that live in house with gardens, just because you have a garden to kick the dog out into doesnt make you a good owner!

Hope this answers some of the criticisms

aliasojo

KS2008 wrote: »

She is then crated for a max. of 4hrs until the dog walker arrives, she has 1/2 hr with him, then crated for another 4hrs until we arrive home with toys and filled kong etc.

I dont want to give you a hard time I promise but there was an interesting Victoria Stillwell (dog trainer) prog which showed her locking the owner in a small room with only a chair and a table. The object of the exercise was to show how the mind can be affected by boredom and the inability to move. She was trying to show what was happening to the dog in question. Obviously you cant see what's going on in the mind so this was her way of making the owner feel the experience.

4 hours is far too long, 1/2 break is nowhere near long enough (for an 8 hour enforced crating), another 4 hours is again, far too long. Where is the crate? Can the dog even see anything different? Things out a window for instance? The amount of exercise she gets doesn't balance things out with the length of crating she has.

I know this is temporary until the dog settles but I wonder if there's any other way of dealing with this? You dont want to be swapping one problem (the chewing) for another (anxious/distressed/bored dog with a behavioural problem). Although the dog is so obviously bored out of it's mind, no wonder it's chewing when it escapes. The chewing problem may lessen if the dog feels less bored. Is there anyone you could ask to watch her for a while? Or have her taken out twice instead of just once to break her day up?

Raksha

Why wait until you come home with Kongs and goodies? Why not leave those with her when you go in the morning and ask the dog walker to leave her with one when she leaves - at least then the dog would have something to occupy herself - and may even start to look forward to you leaving so she gets some time to do something interesting.........

KS2008

I have to say I do feel like a terrible owner after the comments, they have upset me a bit considering we are really trying our best to make life good for her.

I understand what you are saying about the 4hrs, and now that you mentioned it I have seen that episode - with the 2 labradors?! So I understand what you are saying about the time spent alone. Her crate is positioned to look out of the juliet balcony/patio doors which overlook a field which she enjoys watching the comings and goings on (lots of dogs get walked there!)

I know we will never know whats going on in her mind but she quite happily puts herself into her crate on a morning - when we are in we leave the door open and she will go in herself for a little snooze....

Anyway, I will take on board the comments made and look at increasing her mid day walk to 1hr, and obviously continue with the out of crate training so that she can be left with the run of the flat

Raksha - sorry, I dont think I explained that properly. We leave her with a full kong and goodies in the morning, then when the dog walker leaves her he fills her kong again and rotates her toys with new ones! Yeah, she doesnt really seem bothered about us leaving is too busy with her Kong and treat ball!

aliasojo

KS2008 wrote: »

I have to say I do feel like a terrible owner after the comments, they have upset me a bit considering we are really trying our best to make life good for her.

Please don't be upset, you're not a terrible owner and it's all a learning curve with a new animal to look after. Well done for giving an otherwise unwanted dog a loving home.

Sometimes we just need to give things more consideration than we originally thought and MSE is just the place to help us do that. Even if it's not always done nicely. :D