<p>Just another warning about invisible fences. I know TWO dogs who escaped these fences and were hit by trucks on nearby busy roads. One made it…one didn’t. Very sad.</p>
<p>We also have a doggie door and our dogs come and go as they please. I think for the most part they lounge on the furniture waiting for someone to get home. </p>
<p>I want to come back in my next life as a dog in my house…</p>
<p>Invisible fences are…interesting concepts. I’m not a fan, but the reasons have been mostly elaborated at this point. </p>
<p>Will you have a lunch break with enough time to get back home? I know some people who do that. We have neighbors who are gone literally from dawn to dusk (I have never actually seen these people…they moved in three years ago. I just know they exist, and like their dog). Well anyway they got a dog, and a dog walker comes like three times a day or something…must be super expensive. </p>
<p>My mom works at home and my dad has an office but he doesn’t leave until after school hours. When the dog we had when I was little was a baby, my mom was in college and the dog was okay for daytime hours, she walked her in the morning before she left and she got home in the afternoon to walk her again. Bedlington Terriers look about 40-50 lbs to me, but I just made that up from seeing them on TV, so. Generally the smaller the dog, the more frequent the bathroom breaks needed, but obviously there are individual circumstances. How long do they hold it at night? Or are you concerned more about attention, exercise, etc? (understandable)</p>
<p>If there is a high school kid in your neighborhood you can trust, you can probably get it much cheaper than $15. I’d walk a dog once a day for $15 or $20 a week. It’s not that much time. Of course I understand you’d have to find someone trustworthy, because they’d need a key, etc.</p>
<p>For us, the Invisible Fence works great. But, there is a huge qualification: I don’t leave the dogs in the yard if I am not at home. It is convenient for me to be able to let them out while I am at home, though. There are dogs that are difficult to train to the fence; some just don’t mind the jolt. Our Brittanys are major wimps, though, and they stay back from the perimeter. I have to pick them up and carry them over the line to take them for a walk. They never wear their collars, because one training really did it. </p>
<p>But I do not recommend it if the dog is left out while the humans are away. It would be asking for trouble from invading animals and people.</p>
<p>Weenie, I live next door to an Independence house for mentally disabled adults. A couple of the men walk and ‘nurture’ (their term) my dog. They didn’t want any money but I pay them $20 week. They spend about ten minutes chatting us up on the proch, thirty minutes walking him and 10 minutes nurturing him with hugs and massages.</p>
<p>Think outside the box when it comes to this chore. Many people would love to own a dog but can’t afford it or aren’t allowed one in their housing. </p>
<p>Truthfully, we keep our old dog patched together for their sake’s now. I don’t know what they would do without him.</p>
<p>Cheers - That is a great plan. I’m going to think about that.</p>
<p>My dog comes to work with me when I’m home (4 months each year), where he is thoroughly spoiled by the other hospital/kennel employees. During the rest of the year he just dozes for the 4-5 hours between the departure of his “mom” for work and the arrival of his “sister” from school. Sometimes he likes to watch TV. </p>
<p>$15 seems reasonable for two dogs. Day boarding at my animal hospital costs $15 and includes feeding and two 10-minute walks.</p>
<p>We actually have a fenced in yard - but, again, I wouldn’t leave the dogs out there unattended. One would be miserable and the other would be naughty. LOL.</p>
<p>I suppose if the weather was bad (ha - like that’s a big IF in Rochester) a dog walker person could just let them out in the yard for a bit, instead of actually walking them. Either way, I’d still bring them to the park later. I even take them in the dark with a flashlight (not alone).</p>
<p>I adore these dogs, but why I took on this responsibility at this point in my life I really have no idea.</p>
<p>We had invisible fence. Spent a fortune to put it in and it didn’t take long for our springer to figure out how to quickly jump over it. I’m sure she got a quick shock but she didn’t seem to care.
We have always had two dogs so that one would keep the other company, we fenced our yard finally because of the springer. Last summer right after my son went to college and the 19 year old cat died, one of the dogs had to be put down.<br>
I bought a small metal “cage” and a sleeping pad. I’m self employed and most days I just bring the dog to work. He is an older dog who doesn’t bark and has great bladder control so it works just fine.
When we go out of town a friend comes and stays at our house. Our last kennel experience was terrible and expensive so I will never do that again. Our vet boards but I don’t like the idea of my dog in a cage all day with just a couple of short walks and a lot of other barking dogs.<br>
One more thing: apparently like 50% of dogs like TV and I have a friend who made a “no more lonely dogs” video that people actually play for their dogs. </p>
<p>He gave me a copy for Christmas but I told him my dog doesn’t prefer tv, due to his high level of intelligence, he prefers classical music. LOL.</p>
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<p>Cheers, that’s fabulous! Especially considering the grief these places take trying to find residential locations. I appreciate your post and will recommend it to some people I know who work in such facilities. Of course, it also requires a good neighbor like you.Thank you.</p>
<p>I have a fenced run for my dogs. I have two Shelties. The fence is 4 feet high – and I would go higher if I did it again. The run is about 50x20 and opens to our basement door on one end, and hinged gates on both sides. It’s post and rail fence backed up with green wire mesh. I would like it bigger – and I would like it with access to the main floor, not the basement, but I wasn’t given much of a choice by my husband!</p>
<p>I have a fenced area inside the basement also with an electronic auto feeder (Petmate LeBistro) and plan to add an auto waterer (Drinkwell) soon. The dogs go out in the morning with “cookies” and come in when I come home. They also have a dog house (Precision’s Outback Log Cabin) that they like to hang out on top of … although I occasionally find them inside it. The basement area has beds as well as their food/water and they do sleep in there.</p>
<p>They seem to be happy – and they only get out and in trouble if one of my darlings has left a gate open!</p>
<p>Cnp, Wow! Your dogs are living a heavenly life! Where did you buy the electronic auto feeder? </p>
<p>Cheers, Your dog is a lucky one too.</p>
<p>We have an underground fence and viligant neighbors. We keep an eye out for each others dogs and houses if someone isn’t home. My son watches dogs for $10 a day in the neighborhood and that includes feeding and letting dogs in and out at least three times a day. Our dog is a golden and was trained to the fence in just a few lessons. He will not go through it for anything, even bunnies and squirrels. His next door best friend dog will come over and steal his toys - she doesn’t have a fence.</p>
<p>My H works from home and I work part-time, so most of the time, our dog has people around. Just the way he likes it!</p>
<p>When we are not home, we put him in his crate in the living room, with toys and a dog biscuit. We could let him have run of the house and not worry at all about potty issues, but we have a doggie door and I wouldn’t want him to go outside and bark all day or try and dig out under the fence. He likes his crate, and goes right into it when we tell him we are leaving.</p>
<p>He is a 4 year old maltese/shih-tzu mix.</p>
<p>cnp: I grew up with a sheltie, then had two while in law school, now my dad got another after my mom died. They are so pretty!</p>
<p>We have two well behaved 4 year old mutts for whom the electric fence works well. I try to get them in before I leave for work, but sometimes they win that battle. They are brother and sister and the male likes cold weather while the female is loving our 90 degree October. Both have learned to control their bladders for 10 hours easily; the male can’t wait to chase squirrels at 6 in the morning while the female won’t even lift her head from her pillow at 9 a.m. when I suggest she go outside. Just like my kids, shared genes but totally different personalities!</p>
<p>our dog has an electric fence and gets to go to doggie daycare once a week to play with her friends</p>
<p>I just recalled an old story, sharing if it helps any dog. The ending is happy so don’t wince while reading…</p>
<p>This was from before I knew anything about teenagers; my oldest child was just 2 years old. We went off for a week and hired a neighborhood teen, just 14, to come and water/walk the dog. We realized that was young, but the Mom was a friend, backing up the thing as the kid’s first job. Excellent family, excellent kid.</p>
<p>When we returned, the house was a mess and the dog had been inside it for the entire week, unfed, unwalked, uneverthing. </p>
<p>As it turned out, the teen simply hadn’t written down the correct DATES.
How many of you fussed with your kids over planners at that age? I didn’t have a clue.</p>
<p>The only reason the dog didn’t die was we happened to leave the toilet lids up, just sheer habit. Thus she drank water-- for the first half of the week, anyway. </p>
<p>So I learned from that to not only be attentive to the age of dog caregivers when I travel, but to contact them within the first day away to make sure the plan was happening.</p>
<p>Those days were before cellphones and I didn’t call around as much as today from the road. Still…we were so lucky not to lose the dog.</p>
<p>I was very gentle to the teenager, too; she felt terrible enough. Her Mom was in charge of processing all that angst with her. We had the dog checked over by the vet, and she was ok enough. Vet said the open toilets made the difference and saved the life; that hydration was the key. </p>
<p>Fortunately also it was just a RENTAL house.</p>
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<p>Wow, your shelties stay nicely during the day alone? Mine would be very belligerent. Or someone would off him for barking. Our neighbors hate us. In our defense he is extremely beautiful and has approximately equivalent intelligence to an average human. I guess he would be better with a companion but the barking frenzies that might result could get us arrested 
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<p>Prince is very different from our other sheltie. Not really a casual type of dog. It takes constant maintanence and careful calibrations of daily routines (he cannot see the coffeemaker start, for instance) in order to keep his barking under control. Which is probably a vicious cycle. But my parents don’t have that much else to do and he seems to enjoy it. He’s actually gotten a lot better since he hit 4-5.</p>
<p>Fortunately also it was just a RENTAL house.
snort
thank goodness for small favors huh?</p>
<p>I have been taking my dog to school with me
She has been squeezing herself out the door in the morning hoping for an adventure( even though she has already had a walk) & I can park close to class so I take her out a lot- ( not everyday- just about once a week)
She only is at home by herself for a few hours at a time- she is 13, so she sleeps that much anyway.
I wouldn’t leave her in the yard and I don’t trust invisible fences- like Temple Grandin points out, they may have motivation to ignore the shock going out- like an attractive squirrel, but what motivation are they going to have to come back in?</p>
<p>If there’s someone home, I can’t put them in the run. One of them is a champion howler! My pair are pretty gorgeous – with some serious bloodlines behind them. The older one was my agility dog but is now retired.</p>
<p>The electronic feeder … came from my store. It’s fairly expensive but it functions nicely. My Shelties however have figured out how to remove the top to the food reserves and eat from the top! I am in the process of sorting that problem out – and actually will discuss this issue with the manufacturer in person later this week! It’s by Petmate and should be fairly available – but it runs about $100 retail.</p>