Dog proofing the house

I would like to ask everybody's opinion/experiences when leaving dogs home alone. Soon I will be moving and Bacon won't have anybody to watch him during the day. Normally he goes in his crate when nobody is home, but the time is coming when he'll be home alone for 8 hours/day. Now, before you crucify me, I won't be leaving him in his crate for this time. I would like him to have open run of the living room, kitchen, hallway...

So here is my question - How do I go from training Bacon to get better at not getting into trouble when I'm gone. I already know the drill with things to keep him occupied like Kongs and such, but how do I stop him from going through garbage, chewing the TV controller and power cords that are plugged into the wall? He's never gone into the cupboards, but should I put child locks on everything to be safe? These are the things he does when unsupervised and sometimes WHEN HE IS SUPERVISED! Where do I start and what can I expect?

I want to get ahead of this issue so that when he is alone I'll be at ease knowing he won't chew holes through the walls.

Firstly I wouldn't leave him for 8 hours a day! Can nobody pop in during the day?

Obviously you need to lift anything dangerous/valuable off of the floor & put them out of reach. If he's a bin diver, then take the bin out of the room he's in. I did put cupboard locks on for my second border collie because she was a little minx, but I've never had to with any of the other dogs.

Things like power cords could be smeared with Vicks or similar to deter chewing.

I agree with caryll re- Thame time left on his own being to long, is there a family member or neighbour that could help you out? Or perhaps a dog walker?

Agre with Caryll , bin out of the room , remotes out of reach . Try the Vicks on the power cords but if you are really concerned perhaps the best way is just to unplug them , the consequences of chewing through them are far worse than any hassle to unplug and replug

Thanks all. In response to Caryll... It's just a hypothetical situation right now, so i'm just running through a probable scenario. I thought that if he was free to roam the house the 8 hours would not be a problem. I guess it will be. Depending on where I end up, I wont know many people in the area so getting someone to check in is unlikely. A dog walker, would be ideal, but I can't say i'd trust someone to come into my house without me there.

Ideally, I'm going to live close to work so would be able to check in on my lunch break. Either way, I want him to be ok, and I want to feel comfortable leaving him at home also as I always worry he's gonna get into trouble when I'm out.

I'll try the Vicks now to see if he lays off things he shouldn't chew.

also make sure any human food is out of reach,ie chocolate,you might come home to a poorly dog

I have just gone through the same thing with Louby - see my post 'i feel i should justify myself'...Just last week we have started leaving Lou out of the crate through the day - we onyl have a small house, s she onyl has access to kitchen & living room. we have put a basket over the letter box to stop her shredding the post and just made sure that no shoes were lying around or anything else. Luckily, so far, she hasnt tried to get in the bin or cupboards, has never shown any interest. The only thing she could destroy is the sofa and rug.

sounds really corny but we tackled this problem the ole fashioned and time consumming way with beau when he was young i made a row of orniments and other things in the middle if the floor,[ looks really daft at the time but paying off now] he would of coarse go to every one of them and we just persiverd with leave, goodboy, and treats it does take a lot of patients though. we never done it for any longer than than 5 mins at a time as they get bored very quickly. we also leave the radio on as well, our longest is 2 hours and not a thing out of place but he does just get kitchen and livingroom hallway door[to upstairs] is closed

Thanks for the info all. Good ideas here. I guess i'll start leaving him alone in small spurts. He's just so darned crafty that I don't think my house will ever be Bacon proof!!! I guess I also have to sit back and realize that he has made major improvements in his behavior! It's just hard to deal with it in the moment.

Very tricky situation and you should be prepared for the chance that it won't work well. Some dogs do get used to it and can be left all day without really a problem. Mine can't handle it and I leave them at a dog daycare in Sacramento (don't know where you are) if I really have to be out and nobody else is home/can check on them. If Bacon has the ability, you will need to really work on tiring him out very very well before and be ready to do some exercise when you get home. Start by incrementally leaving him more and more (always with plenty of exercise first and lots of interesting things for him to play with/chew when you are gone. Don't get too upset if there is house carnage (it happens in these circumstances on occasion and just know it is possible). See how he does.

Ben, I live in Suisun right now. Most likely I will be moving to Sacramento, but I'm not sure about that yet. When the time comes I'll look into getting a dog walker to pop in or if that does not suffice will ask you what the name of the dog daycare place is if it's close to where i'll be living...

Nor Cal wrote:Ben, I live in Suisun right now. Most likely I will be moving to Sacramento, but I'm not sure about that yet. When the time comes I'll look into getting a dog walker to pop in or if that does not suffice will ask you what the name of the dog daycare place is if it's close to where i'll be living...

wag hotel in west sac on Industrial. Great place and you can do it by the month (not cheap though) a dog walker might be good but check references.