# How to leave him alone



## hmc (Oct 22, 2007)

We got a Maltese puppy 2 months ago and he is 5 months old now (with 6lbs). We have to go to work during the day and my wife comes back during lunch time. He is now fully housebroken.

The problem is that we used to use pet gate to put him in the bathroom when we are away. Now he is able to jump over the gate which is about 2.5 foot high...

I wonder how you guys (working people) leave your dogs alone during the working hours? Leave him/her wide open in the house or constrain him/her in a room/crate?

Any suggestions appreciated.


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## sassy's mommy (Aug 29, 2005)

You could either crate train your baby or even just close him in a bathroom or another room with tile floors. Please do not leave any sort of collar on your baby since he has proven he can climb his gate. He could have a hanging accident. There are also other pet gates available which are higher, but if your baby climbs they may be useless. have you tried putting anything in front of the gate to try to deter him from climbing it? Leaving music playing or even a TV on a non-violent channel (turned low) may help him not feel so lonely.


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## LitGal (May 15, 2007)

I started leaving Haiku loose in the house when she was about a year old. Until that time, I had her in a very large pen so that she could walk around, sleep, play, etc. As Sassy's Mommy said, you could also leave him in a room so that he has lots of space.

If you're considering leaving him free in the house, you need to be sure that he won't chew on anything that could harm him.


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

I leave my enthusiatic girl in a 'cage' when I'm not able to watch her. She LOVES getting into trouble, so this is for her own safety.
[attachment=29641:IMG_6917.jpg]

If your malt likes to chew things up, don't leave them with a donut bed or you could come home to find that it's 'snowed' in the cage, like what happened here. This is a three feet by three feet puppy pen and there is no way for her to get out. she loves her cage, she'll go and sleep in it even when she is allowed the run of the house.


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## precious paws (Jun 7, 2006)

> I leave my enthusiatic girl in a 'cage' when I'm not able to watch her. She LOVES getting into trouble, so this is for her own safety.
> [attachment=29641:IMG_6917.jpg]
> 
> If your malt likes to chew things up, don't leave them with a donut bed or you could come home to find that it's 'snowed' in the cage, like what happened here. This is a three feet by three feet puppy pen and there is no way for her to get out. she loves her cage, she'll go and sleep in it even when she is allowed the run of the house.[/B]


 :smrofl: :smrofl: That picture is so funny! She looks so proud of herself!


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## hmc (Oct 22, 2007)

Our baby just doesn't like to be in bathroom alone. Whenever we put him in, he whines or cries and tries to jump out (for the first 20 minutes). He is very attached to his "mom"...

Do your dogs do the same?


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## binniebee (Sep 27, 2007)

My last Maltese suffered from separation anxiety and would tear up anything he could, including the bathroom door facings and scratch deep groves into the bathroom door. So with my new puppy I started out crate training him. He stays in his crate (with no collar or leash) all day while we are at work. He stays in a different, smaller crate at night when we are asleep. He is very happy in both and doesn't mind going into his crates when I tell him to. (Kongs filled with treats help, too!) He does not suffer separation anxiety, never yaps or cries when we leave him and is very safe in his crates. I think that would be your safest solution. Of course there will be a few days or nights of crying until he gets used to it, but in the long run I think it will be well worth it!

Cyndi


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## binniebee (Sep 27, 2007)

My last Maltese suffered from separation anxiety and would tear up anything he could, including the bathroom door facings and scratch deep groves into the bathroom door. So with my new puppy I started out crate training him. He stays in his crate (with no collar or leash) all day while we are at work. He stays in a different, smaller crate at night when we are asleep. He is very happy in both and doesn't mind going into his crates when I tell him to. (Kongs filled with treats help, too!) He does not suffer separation anxiety, never yaps or cries when we leave him and is very safe in his crates. I think that would be your safest solution. Of course there will be a few days or nights of crying until he gets used to it, but in the long run I think it will be well worth it!

Cyndi


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## hmc (Oct 22, 2007)

> He stays in his crate (with no collar or leash) all day while we are at work.[/B]


Can he hold his pee all day?


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

I also crate my dogs. 

For puppies, the rule of thumb is that they can hold it for their age in months plus 1. So 6 hours is the limit for a 5 month old. Someone ought to let him out in the middle of the day still. My adult will spend almost 12 hours kenneled without a problem (11 hour drive from TN to D.C. or days when I work and hubby works).


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

I think a crate is a way to go. Ollie was never a jumper-over-gates, so he did fine in a pen until he was a year old and now he's got free roam. But if yours is a jumper and you put him in a pen, no matter how high the walls, he may find a way over. You can get a large crate like Lucy in the pic (omg that pic is SO funny). 

On a somewhat similar note (you'll laugh when you read this) when my twin bro & sis were toddlers they HAD to share a room and they were FULL of trouble together. They wouldn't stay in their rooms at night so my parents tried a gate. They climbed it. Double gates (one of top of the other) they climbed those too. So my parents did a 3/4 door. They took an inexpensive door and actually sawed the top 1/4 off of it and used that. Worked great. That way my folks could still keep an eye on them and not totally shut them in and the twins did not feel "shut out" or like they were being punished or feel claustraphobic.


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## casa verde maltese (Apr 7, 2007)

> I leave my enthusiatic girl in a 'cage' when I'm not able to watch her. She LOVES getting into trouble, so this is for her own safety.
> [attachment=29641:IMG_6917.jpg]
> 
> If your malt likes to chew things up, don't leave them with a donut bed or you could come home to find that it's 'snowed' in the cage, like what happened here. This is a three feet by three feet puppy pen and there is no way for her to get out. she loves her cage, she'll go and sleep in it even when she is allowed the run of the house.[/B]



That looked like a FABULOUS [email protected]!!! :HistericalSmiley: 

We leave the boys in a cage -too much stuff to get into trouble with. They have a huge cage


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## binniebee (Sep 27, 2007)

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Yes, although he has a pee pad in his larger day-time kennel and he is only alone there from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.. There were about two incidents in the first two months and about two within the last 6 months (and we got him at 3 months; he is now nearly a year old). So he seems to have no trouble holding it, although he has a place to go if he needs to.

Cyndi


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## binniebee (Sep 27, 2007)

> > index.php?act=findpost&pid=468925
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This looks exactly like Midis' daytime kennel. He loves it (Kong included, of course.  There is no way I would put anything destructable into his kennel as he is THE MOST destructable puppy dog I have ever had! However, to give him credit where credit is due, I have also never seen a puppy so happy to get into his kennel, or his night-time sleeping crate and be so calm and content when his parents are going off to work or out to eat. He obviously knows we are coming back and it is GREAT to have a pup like this. MY first experience with such.
Okay, Midis is now freaking out; I think Greg just came out of the bathroom. ROFLMAO!!!!!

Cyndi :HistericalSmiley:


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## Gail (Oct 14, 2007)

I started out using a play pen. I tried a crate and Scarlett screamed and cried to the point I couldn't leave her in there. I slowly introduced the crate again and she is fine with it. In fact, she will go into it on her own to sleep. I leave her in the crate while at work or running errands. I let her out to potty then she has free roam of the downstairs while I'm home to supervise.


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## theboyz (Jan 10, 2007)

Our Boyz are gated in the kitchen and back room. We leave the radio on, food and water. Maybe because there are 3 of them all is well.


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## writepudding (Jun 9, 2007)

I have also been struggling with leaving Henry alone. I got him in May and was home with him everyday ( up until 3 weeks ago when I got my first official on site job in my field after graduating). Before that I was working from home, which was so fantastic, because I was able to be with Henry and earn money at the same time, but unfortunately, that's not how the real world works, at least for the time being. 

Now I leave him in the kitchen while I'm at work. I block one entrance with his crate, which has many different toys for him and I also leave his bed and a blanket out. I close the door on the other entrance, give him his food before he leaves and leave the t.v on. His pad is also in there with him. He has a lot of room so he doesn't feel restricted.

There is not a moment in the day when he's not on my mind. I so wish I could be with him all day long, but it's just not feasible at this moment in time I guess. I hear him barking for a couple seconds while I leave, but I think he calms down afterwards. 

The trouble is that when we come home, we see that he has peed up to 3 to 4 times on somewhere other than his pad (next to it, 4 steps away from it) It's not hard to clean up but I wonder, is this because he has separation anxiety and is doing it to spite me or because he isn't fully potty trained. I really don't know :huh:


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## SpringHasSprung (May 4, 2007)

We kept Spring in a small cage for "naps" and when we had to go out for about a month after we got her. She was house trained from the moment we got her and that coupled with the fact that I am so lucky to be able to be here with her almost all the time gave me all the time to cement that initial house training. After that month of napping in the bag, she one day adamantly refused to go in anymore. I had to go out for a hour, so I decided to leave her having the full run of the house. She was perfect and now has complete freedom in the house. I really don't know how I got so lucky. 

You mentioned that your fluff is completely housebroken. Maybe on a weekend when you don't have to go to work, I would try letting him freedom in an area of the house for a short time and see how he does. (Of course, make sure the area is as puppy proof as possible). You just may be very surprised as I was that it all works out wonderfully.


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