Locals - what do you do with your dog(s)?

[MickeyIsMyne]

This is kind of a strange first post, but thought this might be a good place to ask. We just moved to the area 2 months ago, and bought Disneyland AP's immediately. But we've found that our dog seems to be a hindrance to us going to Disneyland (or ANY local theme park) as much as we'd like to and we're trying to come up with a solution. I don't feel comfortable leaving her home alone for more than about 6 hours at a time. We've left her for up to 8 hours, but I was nervous about it the whole time, not wanting her to have to suffer (you know, with having to "hold it").

We live an hour from the parks, and when you take into consideration the hour to drive there, and the half hour to get from our parking spot to the turnstiles, 3 hours of our Disneyland time is taken up with just logistics. That only leaves us 3 hours of park time before I start worrying about getting back home to let the dog out. The only 2 solutions we've thought of so far are taking her to doggy day care (which she goes to all the time anyway) or boarding her overnight. Doggy Day Care is about $13 each time, and it only runs for 10 hours per day. Having to leave the theme park during rush hour to drive back home to get her by 6:00 adds an hour to the commute, leaving us with 6 hours of park time, which seems insignificant after all the rigamarole. Boarding her overnight works great and gives us a full day at the park to enjoy, but it's $35 each time and we don't have that kind of money. She hates riding in the car, so driving her all the way to Anaheim to board her right at Disneyland isn't an option either.

Oh - and we'll live in military housing soon and won't be allowed to install a doggy door unfortunately, and I'm not comfortable just leaving the door propped open all day long.

I know that if it weren't for the dog, we'd probably go up there at least 1-2 times per week, but because of the dog, we're only able to go about 1-2 times a month and only for long enough to eat something and ride a couple rides.

So what do you all do with your dogs to allow you to actually get good use out of your annual passes?

[ChessurInWonderland]

Mine is fine at home, but then again, he's a pug and sleeps most of the day and literally will do anything to please his owner and go scout the backyard before we leave until hes sure he doesnt have to go anymore, but you could leave your dog at the Disneyland kennel. It's only 20 dollars, which I think is a pretty good deal. But for every time, it may be a lot of money, so I don't know. Do you have a friend or family member who lives nearby that can watch the dog for you during the day?

[Ron W]

Disneyland has a kennel on-site for $20 per animal per day.

Disneyland Resort | Frequently Asked Questions

[wolfy]

I'd find another "Doggie Hotel" you are being charged twice what I pay here in OC.

[penguinsoda]

Our dogs are indoor/outdoor dogs so its not a problem. When we're gone they are outside, and when we are home they are in. But we have a fully fenced back yard.

Is your yard not fenced where you could leave them out? And if you have a sliding glass door, you could get a doggy door that just attaches to the sliding door, but is not permanent.

[MickeyIsMyne]

Mine is fine at home, but then again, he's a pug and sleeps most of the day and literally will do anything to please his owner and go scout the backyard before we leave until hes sure he doesnt have to go anymore, but you could leave your dog at the Disneyland kennel. It's only 20 dollars, which I think is a pretty good deal. But for every time, it may be a lot of money, so I don't know. Do you have a friend or family member who lives nearby that can watch the dog for you during the day?

Disneyland has a kennel on-site for $20 per animal per day.

Disneyland Resort | Frequently Asked Questions

Like I said above, she hates the car (terrified) and won't tolerate the hour long drive to the park and back.

[MickeyIsMyne]

Our dogs are indoor/outdoor dogs so its not a problem. When we're gone they are outside, and when we are home they are in. But we have a fully fenced back yard.

Is your yard not fenced where you could leave them out? And if you have a sliding glass door, you could get a doggy door that just attaches to the sliding door, but is not permanent.

Our house is still being built, but from what I can see it will have a fenced in yard (a very SMALL one) and no sliding doors. We actually bought one of those sliding door pet doors thinking we'd have a house with a sliding door, but for whatever reason they are not putting sliding doors on these houses so our pet door is still sitting in the box unopened. UGH.

My dog is half Beagle which means she's a digger and a barker. If I tried to leave her outside for a whole day we'd get in all sorts of trouble with the military with the trouble she'd get into LOL.

[penguinsoda]

Our house is still being built, but from what I can see it will have a fenced in yard (a very SMALL one) and no sliding doors. We actually bought one of those sliding door pet doors thinking we'd have a house with a sliding door, but for whatever reason they are not putting sliding doors on these houses so our pet door is still sitting in the box unopened. UGH.

My dog is half Beagle which means she's a digger and a barker. If I tried to leave her outside for a whole day we'd get in all sorts of trouble with the military with the trouble she'd get into LOL.

Well darn...

Yes, Beagles can be a challenge... we had one once. Sounds like your best bet short of doggy day care, which doesn't give you enough time would be to get to know some neighbors really well, find ones you can trust and hire them or neighborhood kids for the day to dog sit/go over to let him out.

[MickeyIsMyne]

Well darn...

Yes, Beagles can be a challenge... we had one once. Sounds like your best bet short of doggy day care, which doesn't give you enough time would be to get to know some neighbors really well, find ones you can trust and hire them or neighborhood kids for the day to dog sit/go over to let him out.

Yeah I'm thinking that might be my only option. Right now no one lives in the neighborhood as it's still under construction, but when they open it up in a couple weeks everyone will be moving there at once so it shouldn't be hard to get to know some people.

I was just curious what everyone else did with their dogs in case I was overlooking some sort of obvious solution.

[Bruce Bergman]

Solution #1 - Get a cat.

Solution #2 - Get a nice doghouse so she has shelter and a climate modulated hiding place, provide dry food and a water supply outside, and let the dog live outside for the day.

The barking can be solved with some training, and possibly one of those fi-shock training collars - not as bad as they sound, it's just a tingle to remind them to stop. Some of the collars have a timer - one or two barks gets by without reaction, but if they continue they get the tingle to stop it.

Digging, you'll have to cure somehow. Or diversion - give her a sandbox she can dig in to her hearts content...

If you can't put in a permanent dog door and will have this billet for a while, there is a trick: When they finish the house you take the existing back door down, wrap it in plastic and stick it in the garage.

Then get an inexpensive exterior door the same size, have it hung on the existing frame and hinges, and cut in the dog door. If you do all the hard work of finding and dragging home all the right pieces (including matching the hinges exactly so they can be interchanged) it won't take a good carpenter long to hang the door.

If they bought pre-hung doors and you can find out manufacturer and model (and if they are still building the housing this should be easy) you are golden - just call up and order another pre-hung door from the same company, this one without the doorjamb.

When you leave, it's a simple matter of swapping the doors back. Three hinge pins and a bit of lifting and carrying, and swap the locks over with a screwdriver. Save the dog door parts for next time, and scrap the door with a big hole in it.

--<< Bruce >>--

[kirsten]

Mine is fine at home, but then again, he's a pug and sleeps most of the day and literally will do anything to please his owner and go scout the backyard before we leave until hes sure he doesnt have to go anymore, but you could leave your dog at the Disneyland kennel. It's only 20 dollars, which I think is a pretty good deal. But for every time, it may be a lot of money, so I don't know. Do you have a friend or family member who lives nearby that can watch the dog for you during the day?

I have pugs too! 3 of them. My pugs are fine being left at home while we go to Disneyland. It's nice because my mom lives nearby so if we're running late we can always call her to go over and check on them.

[MickeyIsMyne]

Solution #1 - Get a cat.

Solution #2 - Get a nice doghouse so she has shelter and a climate modulated hiding place, provide dry food and a water supply outside, and let the dog live outside for the day.

The barking can be solved with some training, and possibly one of those fi-shock training collars - not as bad as they sound, it's just a tingle to remind them to stop. Some of the collars have a timer - one or two barks gets by without reaction, but if they continue they get the tingle to stop it.

Digging, you'll have to cure somehow. Or diversion - give her a sandbox she can dig in to her hearts content...

If you can't put in a permanent dog door and will have this billet for a while, there is a trick: When they finish the house you take the existing back door down, wrap it in plastic and stick it in the garage.

Then get an inexpensive exterior door the same size, have it hung on the existing frame and hinges, and cut in the dog door. If you do all the hard work of finding and dragging home all the right pieces (including matching the hinges exactly so they can be interchanged) it won't take a good carpenter long to hang the door.

If they bought pre-hung doors and you can find out manufacturer and model (and if they are still building the housing this should be easy) you are golden - just call up and order another pre-hung door from the same company, this one without the doorjamb.

When you leave, it's a simple matter of swapping the doors back. Three hinge pins and a bit of lifting and carrying, and swap the locks over with a screwdriver. Save the dog door parts for next time, and scrap the door with a big hole in it.

--<< Bruce >>--

Haha - trust me, I'm not a dog person. I've only ever had cats. A couple years ago one of my cats was hit by a car and I was really messed up about it. I wanted another animal to fill the void, but didn't feel right about "replacing" my dead cat. That's how I came to have this dog. I love her, but she drives me crazy and makes it very difficult to have a normal life!

The door switching idea might be a good one. I wonder though, if the base does routine inspections of the properties. Maybe we can just simply ask their permission to swap out the doors. I guess it will be easier to figure something out when we actually move into the house and see what we can do.

I mentioned before that she is half Beagle, but she is also half Pug. I'm jealous of all of you who have lazy Pugs who lounge all day. I don't think my doggie even realizes she has any Pug in her. She acts 100% Beagle!

[ChessurInWonderland]

Haha - trust me, I'm not a dog person. I've only ever had cats. A couple years ago one of my cats was hit by a car and I was really messed up about it. I wanted another animal to fill the void, but didn't feel right about "replacing" my dead cat. That's how I came to have this dog. I love her, but she drives me crazy and makes it very difficult to have a normal life!

The door switching idea might be a good one. I wonder though, if the base does routine inspections of the properties. Maybe we can just simply ask their permission to swap out the doors. I guess it will be easier to figure something out when we actually move into the house and see what we can do.

I mentioned before that she is half Beagle, but she is also half Pug. I'm jealous of all of you who have lazy Pugs who lounge all day. I don't think my doggie even realizes she has any Pug in her. She acts 100% Beagle!

Oh my gosh, a puggle? How adorable! But she's okay to be left outside? cause my pug is really sensitive to heat, but I dont know if puggles are the same way

[MickeyIsMyne]

Oh my gosh, a puggle? How adorable! But she's okay to be left outside? cause my pug is really sensitive to heat, but I dont know if puggles are the same way

Well, before we moved here to CA back in June we lived in North Carolina. It's absolutely miserable, sweltering, humid, yucky heat there so I have never left the dog outside before. But where we'll live on base rarely gets above 75 degrees, so I bet she'd do ok outside....assuming we can get her to behave. Maybe we'll experiment and leave her for longer and longer amounts of time and see how she does, since we won't have to worry about the weather. That is, if we can get her to get over the whole barking/digging thing.

[kirsten]

Maybe you should look into getting another dog. I know it seems like more work, and it is more work in certain ways, but at least the dogs could keep each other company when you are gone.