Returning to work - two dogs - what to do?

I'm returning to a place of work in three weeks' time, after nine months off to work from home / study.

In that time, I've gone from no dogs to two.

The first, Wingo, an English bull terrier cross girl, joined me in January and quickly showed she destroys crates. So, lots of training to get her comfortable with being left alone with the run of most of downstairs when I did go out.

The second, Weemsy, is an older, male Staffy. He's technically with me on foster but, being older, no one has shown any interest in offering him a forever home at all.

He was supposed to be here for a short stay for assessment but I'm loath to put him back into the rescue as winter approaches. That decision brings with it its own problems, hence this post....

I basically have four choices:

1) return him to the rescue, in his golden years, even though he's now very much at home and a lovely lovely boy.

2) leave both to have the run of the house when I'm out.

3) crate Weemsy.

4) crate both.





4) is out really as Wingo will destroy whatever she's put into and I don't want her injuring herself trying to escape from Alcatraz.

3) feels a bit wrong, especially as I'll be out from 7:45am to 3:30pm five days a week. Having said that, Weemsy does love his sleep and I do wonder how different snoring in a crate would be compared with snoring on the sofa, where he usually is when I'm home. He's crate-trained and is relaxed in it if I go shopping (Wingo comes with me in the car, Weemsy snores away in his crate - have videod him to see if he was "anxious" - he's not.)

2) hmm, have read a lot of horror stories online about leaving two dogs together.They do get on very well but how well is well enough to be left alone?

1) I have a feeling Weemsy wouldn't cope too well going back to kennels now. As said, he's made his home here and lets me know every morning how happy he is with vigorous licking and tail-wagging. As well as that, I think him being here would reduce any remaining separation anxiety Wingo might have.

The house is as dog-proofed as I can make it - gas off and electricity off when I'm out, save for a separate electricity supply I've had ringed-in for the kitchen.
Water off.
Door to the kitchen shut and dog gate behind it if prying paws manage to open the lever.
Same for the stairs.
And the door to the hallway (leaving either dog in the hallway is not an option as it gets baking hot, even in winter.
Their water bowls live in the dining room.

Taking them to doggy day care isn't an option - I'll be in work before the day care centres even open. I've phoned and asked and there's no leniency in dropping off even fifteen minutes early.

Getting a walker in isn't going to happen either. Weemsy would be overjoyed but Wingo protects her territory and I'm not even going there with the risk of letting some random person in.

No local family.

Friends who know Wingo work during the day themselves.

Neighbours - lol, no chance.

I can't come home at lunch time as lunch time is 30 mins and it's 20 mins each way....

So.... the plan is to take both out at 5am every morning - I'm easy with going to bed around 9pm anyway - then let them run themselves silly until 6am.
Feed them just gone 7:15am-7:30am and, I expect, the poops will arrive a few minutes after.

Then leave them at 7:45am.

But which of the four options to take?

Help..............

i can see the dilemma your in Keith,you must be racking your brains trying to decide whats the best thing to do,how are they when you leave them at the moment?it would be horrible to put Weemsy back in to the rescue centre again,your plan for their walks in the mornings ect sounds good,if they are fine together alone may be thats the way to go,will you be gone all day?

can you not leave on ein one room and one in another room but seperated by a baby gate?

I think (2) is your best bet, but can you leave them in seperate rooms? Maybe one upstairs & the other downstairs?

Hayley wrote:can you not leave on ein one room and one in another room but seperated by a baby gate?

Caryll wrote:I think (2) is your best bet, but can you leave them in seperate rooms? Maybe one upstairs & the other downstairs?

Think 2) is the best bet Keith with the separation . This is how we leave ours when out for a while ( 3 or 4 hours up to now we've never had to do anything longer than that ) yep its only a kids safety gate and unless you make it bullet proof it will be removed by the dogs or jumped over but we find this more than adequate that they are still around each other but with their own space

Yeah, I was going to suggest the same. Leaving them in separate areas of the house, with a door or baby gate to keep them apart, might help.

You could also try, as daft as it sounds, litter training. It'll allow them to relieve themselves during the day while you're not there.

I was gonna say the same, separate rooms. You can make it work so don't over think it

I would like to think that our 2 have kisses through the gate whilst we are out but more then likely Tilly just sits in my chair upstairs and Tommy just lies behind the bars where we left him  

stella wrote:how are they when you leave them at the moment?

They've not been left together yet.
Wingo comes with me if I go shopping etc - she's good in the car.

Hayley wrote:can you not leave on ein one room and one in another room but seperated by a baby gate?

The house is open plan downstairs. There are no rooms, lol.

Keith wrote:

stella wrote:how are they when you leave them at the moment?

They've not been left together yet.
Wingo comes with me if I go shopping etc - she's good in the car.

What are they generally like together though if you are there and just not paying them any particular attention , how are they on walks together etc

Keith wrote:

Hayley wrote:can you not leave on ein one room and one in another room but seperated by a baby gate?

The house is open plan downstairs. There are no rooms, lol.

So no possibility to block off the top of the stair case ?? one up and 1 down .

Caryll wrote:I think (2) is your best bet, but can you leave them in seperate rooms? Maybe one upstairs & the other downstairs?

This is possibly an option but kind of defeats the objective of two dogs being together or in close proximity for company.

Eleanor wrote:Yeah, I was going to suggest the same. :)Leaving them in separate areas of the house, with a door or baby gate to keep them apart, might help.

You could also try, as daft as it sounds, litter training. It'll allow them to relieve themselves during the day while you're not there.

The litter training wouldn't be a problem if they were both downstairs - the floor is mostly tiled. Upstairs, the carpets are a foot deep.  

To be fair to both of them, they both have cast-iron bladders - Wingo only wees about three times a day and Weemsy doesn't do much more than that (unless on walkies - then they both go about a million times each time they sniff whatever it is that makes them decide to wee).

Dave wrote:

Keith wrote:

Hayley wrote:can you not leave on ein one room and one in another room but seperated by a baby gate?

The house is open plan downstairs. There are no rooms, lol.

So no possibility to block off the top of the stair case ??  one up and 1 down .

It's a rounding-on-itself staircase, Dave, with a jumpable top balcony. One leap off the top and it's 15 feet to the bottom. Short of building a wall, there's no option there.

Well I personally leave the boys together with free run of the house, but that was after nearly a year together and built up slowly over time.

That's what I do but in your case I would try to keep them separate even if just with a baby gate

As your home is openplace downstairs, what I would suggest is perhaps you could leave them both together just for 5 mins a time and if all seems ok, increase the time to 10 mins and so on. Leave weesmy crate open for him, so he can come and go as he pleased. I agree it would be unfair on him to go back to the resuce kennels, hes found his forever home with you and Wingo. You have three weeks to work on the times leaving them alone. Keep us posted on what you do. Fingers cross you find something that works.

Trial and error - you'll work out what works best as time goes along. Keep an open mind. Stay positive. You're doing an amazing thing for your dogs by not sending them back to a kennel - you can make this work. Perhaps you could think of approaching a dog walker in future who has a lot of experience with territorial dogs. One step at a time.

Hi, just a thought..

What about a room divider? Babydan make playpens that can be converted into a room divider with wall fixings, you can get them pretty cheap off ebay. 

They are the same height as a stairgate, just like 6 stairgates joined together.