Sleeping outside of kennel

[kelleyanne1988]

I'm starting to give the boys a little more area of the house to roam while I'm asleep or while I'm gone. I was allowing them to stay outside during the day, but with it being so hot... Bear tends to get into the water tub and then he's a big mess! And they just got baths a week ago and I don't want them getting too messy just yet (Although we are gonna go to the lake tomorrow... haha)

I tested it out with Bear first. I put up a babygate at the end of the hallway and shut all the doors except the one going into the dog bedroom. Made sure everything was picked up and put out some toys. I left for a few hours with some friends and came back. everything was still in once piece!

Sooo, since that few hours went well I tried it with both of them while I went to work tonight (4 hours). Everything went fine again. Only problem was that one of them had an accident by the backdoor and one of them had thrown up. I got that cleaned up, got them fed and now have them outside to take care of business before going to bed.

Does anyone have any advice for me while I transition them to having more room of the house?

I will probably never let them have the whole house, because if my landlord has to come in for something while I'm not here I don't want my dogs all up in her business. At some point though i do hope to be able to open up my bedroom door so they have a little bit more room, and then I can just run the AC in my room instead of my room and the livingroom while I'm gone.

[emmabeth]

Make sure you have enough toys to keep them interesting - dont put out the same selection each day but rotate them so every day is a bit different. This does mean you need enough toys to keep all dogs amused, every day though..

Mmmmmm do some calm training (nothing giddy) before you go out too so that their brains are tired and they are more likely to sleep.