[sleepergun]

I thought this would make an interesting thread.

If you're like me you use a mix, but what is your main method of containment for your animals? Why? And describe your containment practices in detail if you like.

[kasandrasikl]

We crate because we live in a townhouse, where there's no room for even 1 tether let alone 4 .
We we move, I plan on having fenced-in tethers (10-15ft chain surrounded by chain-link to protect the dogs) for during the day. We'll also have crates in the house.

[BruceCroucshs]

Bentley:
Inside, crated
Inside, baby-gated, roaming upstairs/in my room

Carter:
Inside, crated
Inside, baby-gated to my mom's room
But mostly crated because he pees (incontinence) and chews on things.

[Aizutox]

Inside roaming 99% because someone is home with her; or crated inside 1%.

Honestly at 5 years old she'd probably be fine inside roaming unsupervised as long as we didn't leave anything stupid in her path; but it happens so infrequently why take a chance. She was quite a chewer as a pup and young adult.

[BruceCroucshs]

If I leave Bentley roaming in the house, he'd stay on my bed most of the time anyway, so I may as well just gate him in there. In the past, he would chew on the woodwork if I closed the door, so the baby gate lets him see out which I think was the problem with closing the bedroom door on him.

[Pharmaciest]

If we are gone the younger two are crated upstairs and the older one is gated downstairs. If we are home but need to contain or separate them, the oldest girl can be anywhere but prefers outside if weather is nice, she just lays around out there (fenced yard) and barks once when she wants back in, the youngest girl usually gets gated in the kitchen, she is a chewer from hell and don't trust her to be 100% housetrained yet so if we can't watch her she goes there, male can be loose in our bedroom, he can jump a fence so don't trust him with gates at all. If we are home all the dogs are just downstairs with us for the most part.

[MannyLopez]

People will flame me for this.

I spend almost 100% of my time with my dog(s)

For over 4 years whenever I needed to go somewhere without Rowdy and Sugar ... they both were allowed to free roam the house. They would settle down into a respective area and await my return.

Maybe I was lucky, maybe I was stupid ... but nothing ever happened (between Rowdy and Sugar). Rowdy was not aggressive toward Sugar if Sugar didn't start something she couldn't finish and it was as though Sugar knew better than to mess with Rowdy if I wasn't there. Smart dog ... Sugar greatly respected Rowdy when I wasn't around and stayed away from him and Rowdy was a don't mess with me and I won't mess with you kinda dog ... at least with Sugar. Did they play together ... sure ... but it was a whole different situation if I wasn't there ... nap time. I always left the TV or radio on so outside noise would be less distractive.

I do have a chain spot and on rare occasion when I would need to be gone five or so hours or more without Rowdy and Sugar, I would place Rowdy on the chain spot (which he didn't mind) and allow Sugar free roam of the backyard (she has never tried to escape like Rowdy would have). I also used the chain spot for Rowdy when service people were in and out of the house and yard.

I would not recommend the free roam situation I did, for anyone. All dogs are individuals and the arrangement just happened to work for those two dogs (Rowdy and Sugar) and I think under the circumstances, it might have been rare or at least unusual.

[Narcodran]

Tegan is left inside to roam. All she does is sleep. My Chihuahuas, however, are crated when I am not home. They would tear my house apart and piss all over it xD

[sobre]

Rita and Ike can be left alone and not squabble, but she every once in a while gets a wild hair up her butt to eat a cushion. So, when I am home the dogs get to free roam the floor I am on. When we are all gone away from home, pretty rare, we crate everyone but Ike.

At night, unless they are in bed with us, Renee and Owen get crated because Renee isn't able to hold potty overnight without being crated and Owen eats stuff that is not food unless supervised.

We have a fenced yard, but when they go out someone is always with them, watching.

[moopierof]

I homeschool and only leave the dog unattended for five hours one day a week, so he has limited roam inside the house when we're home and crate in the house when we're gone.

We have areas of the house closed off to him so we don't have to worry about picking up toys or guarding the entertainment system.

When the weather is good he has free roam outside in my fenced yard but only when someone is home. He's never left in the yard when someone can't keep an eye out; even if we're downstairs playing xbox or watching a show, I'll bring him in.

[sharpyure]

My dog has free roam of the house and fenced yard when we are home. He is inside when we are not home (which is not often). He has a chain out front for occasions when needed, ie ,he needs a break from annoying children, service people, mowing the lawn etc.

[deandrecooke]

I leave Judge loose when I'm gone for a few hours..if it will be longer than a few hours, I either leave him outside in his kennel or crated inside. LoLa is crated when she is left alone. Hobie stays outside in the kennel. If Judge is out there too, then they are at seperate ends of the setup, each in a 10x10 kennel.

[Vomephems]

Cleo - Outside, in a pen, on a chain spot. Tried the whole, just a pen, with an electric wire around it, didn't work. She ignored it, and still tried digging out. So, I just fixed her up a chain spot inside it.

Torque - Outside, on a chain spot as well.

[Trissinas]

People will flame me for this.

I spend almost 100% of my time with my dog(s)

For over 4 years whenever I needed to go somewhere without Rowdy and Sugar ... they both were allowed to free roam the house. They would settle down into a respective area and await my return.

I won't flame you, I do the same thing with Wilson & Piper sometimes

They're left out together when I'm showering upstairs and getting ready, so I can hear them very well. All the ever do is sleep. This morning, I left all 3 of them downstairs because Eric was supposed to get up right after I left.. didn't happen, got home an hour & a half later and they were all passed out, thankfully. But I don't have "typical" Bully breeds.. my dogs are attached at the hip and had never had even a squabble. So I'm lucky.

Anyway, generally speaking, crating is my main form of containment. Wilson is never crated anymore, he has free roam of the downstairs. Piper & Sako are crated at night and if I leave for long periods of time during the day. Sometimes I leave Piper out in the "dog room" by herself with the door shut, with Sako in his crate. Just depends on my mood.

It works for us!

[jeockammece]

Darla - tethered
Hillbilly - tethered
Mouse - tethered
Johnnie - tethered
Bailey - tethered
Oscar - tethered
Zydeco - tethered
Thera - tethered
Vaya - tethered

Scrappy free roam in the house during the day at night he is eithered crated/bedroom/living room

Mike (Pimpers) crated during the day, free roam at night either in the living room/bedroom

With either Scrappy or Mike they can not be together so it varies who is where at night.

Both OJ and Ginger are crated during the day and out on tethers at night.

Our property is 16 acres and about 4 are cleared. All the dogs spots except OJ and Gingers are cleared out of the woods.

We made 2 spots out in the cleared property and that is where OJ and Ginger's spots are. And down here in the Panhandle of FL during the summer dog's have to have shade and their spots have no shade. So that is why they have been crated during the day and out at night. Now we are in Winter they may be out 24/7.

[9wQlZkIj]

Generally, all three of my dogs are always inside the house "roaming" free.
Otherwise, they are together outside in the backyard or out on a walk.
Occasionally, I use the chain-spots out front, but not often as the front's not fenced.
They're always supervised.

[HwoRas1]

All of mine are tethered outside except 2.

[EnvellFen]

I wasn't going to vote, because I use them all fairly equally. But I voted "Inside, Roaming" because that's what we've done for Debo, for the longest period of time. There have been times when he needed to be crated inside because he chewed stuff, but that hasn't happened in years so he hasn't needed to be crated.

So nowadays, it goes like this:

Debo: Free-roaming. He has run of the house & a dog door that goes out to the fenced back yard. He shares access w/ the cats & the chickens. He also has a crate inside, for the rare occasions he needs it (like when a dog is visiting, and it doubles as a napping spot).

Jinny: Free-roaming in the house w/ Debo when I'm in the house & I put the cats away. Usually during the day. After dinner, she goes out & the cats can come out.
If the weather is nice & someone is home, she can be in the front yard on the tether. The driveway is open to the road, but the rest is fenced. No prey hangs out in the front anymore.
Otherwise, at night or when we're out, Jinny has the garage w/ a dog door out to the kennel/side yard area. She also has a crate/bed in the garage.

People will flame me for this.

I spend almost 100% of my time with my dog(s)

For over 4 years whenever I needed to go somewhere without Rowdy and Sugar ... they both were allowed to free roam the house. They would settle down into a respective area and await my return.

Maybe I was lucky, maybe I was stupid ...

Wondering, do you plan to do the same w/ your new pup?

[KeestRast]

All of my dogs are tethered, except for my newest pup and she gets to stay in a crate, she will eventually be put out on a chainspot/cable run in the spring.

[U5pz6B71]

If I'm gone, all the dogs are crated except Tank who is loose in Daemon's room lounging on his single mattress on the floor. The cats get free run. I have three tethers, 2 ten foot ones for pee breaks and a thirty foot one for play but I wouldn't leave them on them if I wasn't in ear shot and available to attend to them right away as my neighbourhoods a hole and I really like my dogs. lol During rotations I baby gate Tank and Arez in Daemon's room so they can lounge while the crazies have their house or yard play time. Well, they are loose with Roxy as she just ignores them. One of the outside tie ups reaches into the house so I can use it as an inside tether as well if I need to confine one inside but want them to have more freedom than a crate offers.