Dog owners with 8-5 job?

You are right in a way. If you have the space to let your dog have the run of the basement then I think that’s fine. But expect to have him *** and **** there too because he’s not old enough to hold it for that long. Dogs should not be crated for more than 5 or 6 hours at a time. That is time enough for the crate. An longer is cruel.
Crate training is fine during the evening that way your dog cannot have the run of the upstairs.
Dogs will get destructive when bored. If you can hire a dog walker to come to your home during the day and take your dog for a walk to he can *** and **** and give him some water. It will also give him exercises during the day.
I think you can have the best of both worlds if you just figure what is best for you and the dog.

get the gate installed ASAP & go that route caging the dog all day long is not fair as dogs have to go potty near their sleeping quarters…..
just make sure when you have the area picked out there is plenty of toys, his crate to sleep in food & water in one area & lots of paper down for him

good luck

First off a positive note on crating.

Dogs are by nature pack animals. They tend to view their humans as their pack in the absence of other dogs. Dogs in the wild have dens and domestic dogs will follow this “denning” behavior. Crating a dog does not make it aggressive. Rough play and encouragment of aggressive behavior makes a dog aggressive. You’ve got a good dog in a lab however, they tend to be quite laid back even though they are hyper by nature.

That said I have a German shepherd that is crate trained. She stays in her crate during the day while we are at work (generally 7am-6pm) and is out of her crate while we are home. We let her sleep in our bedroom at night, as we are her “pack”, and have provided her with a floor bed and we leave her crate open. She typically starts out on the floor bed but by morning has moved into her crate or “den”.

Aside from the fact that “denning” is a natural and generally well tolorated behavior for dogs, crating while you are away or not supervising is a good way to ensure that your pup doesn’t get into anything that he/she shouldn’t.

My aunt has two chocolate labs who are very nosy. She can’t leave them unattended without crating them. If she does she comes home to chewed TV remotes, destroyed rugs and broken lamps. My own lab couldn’t handle storms and had to be crated during them – the last time she was left uncrated during a storm she clawed and chewed up the frame to the bedroom door!

I’ve owned a lot of dogs over the years and I’ve NEVER crated any of them. Now I know a lot of people that do and we do have to remember that dogs like their crates…they look at them as dens and they can become extremely protective of their den. I have friends that have labs and they are exuberant animals so I think crating them would be a hard thing to do, but a nice run area is great… People who say that he is too young to be house trained are wrong, every dog I have ever had was completely housed trained by 8 weeks…they can and will hold it until you get home if they know they will be taken out when they get home. Once you get him trained I see no reason you can’t leave him loose in your basement, provide him with lots of toys and stimulation so he doesn’t chew on the carpet or walls (dogs do get bored!) and love him like crazy when you get home!

You don’t like being caged because you are a human. A Dog would spend all it’s time in the den as a baby. You should crate train him until housetrained then it is perfectly acceptable to allow him more area…it MUST be puppyproofed…is there antifreeze in the garage? Is there ANYTHING in the garage? Can he chew through the gate, can his head get stuck in it? Is there access to anything dangerous because a young lab will find it. In any event, crate training is a healthy happy way to train your dog. It is NOT a punishment and should never be used that way. Don’t ascribe human traits to your dog or you will never understand it. Is it unfair to leave a baby in a crib all night…you are protecting your dog. We crate trained our twin labs and at about nine months we took the door off as they were well trained…guess what…they still hung out in there all the time!! You are not making the dog aggressive. I’m assuming that you get home form work and play with puppy and take him for walks? That’s not how a dog becomes aggressive…

If you correctly crate train your dog he will not become aggressive. He will think of his crate as a home away from home. Search the internet for some articles about it, thats what I did when I crate trained my puppy. She’s now about 4 or 5 months old and totally fine with her crate. She spends the day in there during my work hours (8-5) and when shes really playful and not tired she spends the night in there, too. Otherwise she sleeps at the foot of our bed. If you don’t want to crate train your puppy then don’t. As long as he gets potty trained and has food and water and is loved, who cares where he stays during the day or at night. Right?

right now, i think crating him is the best. because he is only 6 months old he cannot hold his blatter that long. if you are really against the cage, then grate him up in a smaller area like a bathroom (obviously PUPPY PROOF IT) or kitchen (again puppy proof) look into have someone at least let him out to potty half way through the day if you cannot come home for lunch.

when hes older he can have run of the house while you are gone, but for now definately not. i have 4 dogs, three of them can be home alone all day with no special gates or doors closed – the 4th is still a puppy, so if shes home alone with them all the doors get shut so she can just road about the open areas of the house.

with you garage/basement – wont heat/air conditioning get out??

I would suggest the dog help you make this decision. Unfortunately my ESS pup is a “door frame” lover so we have to crate him (so to speak) he has access to his crate, but he also has ample room to move around we just don’t leave “things of interest” exposed to him like door frames, our shoes, T.P., etc… The more he learns to respect the house the more access he will gain. So, if your dog is “not” a “destroyer” I would give him room. If he does chew things (Labs are known to chew) I would seclude him w/ as much room as possible, Good luck

Doggy doors work really well. Dogs love them. Have your dog
sleep in a bathroom with the door shut and put *** pads on the
floor. Put a bed in there too. Make sure you let him/her out
right before bed and first thing in the morning. You can also
use a child’s playpen with a board on top if the dog is small
enough. It takes awhile but most dogs are pretty well trained
after a year old. They prefer going outside . The doggy door
worked really well for my dog. When we are visiting somewhere and her door is not available she now knows to
go to an outside door and stand until she is let out.

Seems like you are really on the right track. You can try having him sleep outside the door but he might cry quite a bit. Don’t worry about leaving him in the crate. He will be fine trust me. They get used to it and later they will think of it as their “safe place”

Like you I am not in favor of crate training. We have a 7 month old english pointer (very active breed) . Being a construction worker there are times I’m away up to 15 hours a day, I started by gating him in my entry way with disposable doggy mats ( there are spray scents you can use on these to help). Take him out before you leave and as soon as you arrive home. Praise him outside when he does his duty. If he potties in the home scold him show him the pads. While at home you need to watch close for signs of needing to be let out always possitive when he does his bussiness out of doors. If you see him messing on the floors be very firm with him, rub his nose in it before you let him out then reinforce his outside behavior. Our dog has been house broken since 4 months. Don’t send him mixed signals best of luck