Would you crate?

If you were gone for 10 hours during the day and had no one to go let the dog out to go to the washroom, would you crate your dog while you are gone?

I have a crate that is 22W x 36L x 28H. I was considering crating Spencer (4.5 Month old Beagle) while we are away because he is ruining the door frame in the bathroom but I don't feel completely comfortable with it and wanted some opinions. I could put Puppy pads at one side so that he could go to the washroom and water, bed & toys at the other end. The person that we got the crate from actually used to keep their lab in at all day. Spencer is about 1/10 of the size of their dog so he would obviously have a lot more room.

How about using an exercise pen? This way you can have the crate within the pen with the door open and have another area for Spencer to use for his potty needs. Having him stay in his crate for that long will teach him to go where he sleeps and normally dogs are extremely clean animals and don't like going where they sleep or eat. He will also have a bit more room to play with his toys.

You can crate and have a dog walker to walk him in between the 10 hrs or even have him walked twice a day. What about a doggy daycare? I think 10 hrs is too long for a puppy they need interaction.

I'm not sure why you would get such a young dog when you are gone for 10 hours a day. The likelyhood of him ever being properly housebroken is pretty slim without supervision. The rule of thumb is he should only be able to go between 4-5 hours without needing to relieve himself. This being said, you have him already so the only thing you can do is block him in an area with papers or pee pads. Do not use a kennel as already stated you are teaching him to relieve himself in his sleeping place. The best solution is to either put him in doggy daycare or hire a dog walker to come in and take him out. :sad:

My mother would come and babysit my pup on days we were gone for 8 hrs.

A friend of mine would close off his pup in the kitchen while they were at work but it made housebreaking a lot harder.

Are you saying 10 hours a day every day? No puppy should be left alone that way, and certainly not crated to mess and be forced to lie in it, but if you insist, then:
I could put Puppy pads at one side so that he could go to the washroom and water, bed & toys at the other end.
This is what you will have to do. It will make housetraining much more difficult but that's the way it goes.

I use exercise pens for the little dogs with a wee wee pad in case they need to go, it's not fair to crate a dog for 10 hours in my opinion... We also use the kitchen which is linoleum and I couldn't care if the dog has an accident! IF you crate at night, you shouldn't crate during the day, that's way too much crate time!

I vote for an x-pen or doggy proof room. :D

I crate my dog but never for more than 5 hours a day, personally I would not get a dog if it would be crated 10 hours. But as you already own the dog a pen would be better they are bigger, can you not get a neighbour or one of their children to take your dog out or look into doggy daycare centre. It sounds like your dog is already having some separtation anxiety.