Today is finally the day I give it a try: leave Beagle in his crate the entire day. On a typical week, the dog goes to daycare on Wednesdays and work with Lauren on Fridays. The other days he stays at home. Normally when we go to work, Baxter is left in his crate from 7:30 until I come home over lunch break to let him out for 30 minutes. Then, from 12:45 until 5:30 he’s back in the crate. It wouldn’t be such a big deal except that it’s a 15-mile drive each way from home to work. That equals out to 4,680 extra miles of driving per year, or about 16 extra tanks of gas just to let our pup stretch his legs. Pretty staggering numbers.

I feel very guilty about leaving him in the crate for ten straight hours, especially since he has been known to get panicky and attempted (successfully) to escape numerous times. I would imagine right about now he’s starting to hatch a plan to make his escape, and then it’s destruction time! If he does get out, he will either destroy things in the house or dig holes in the yard. But really, what is worse–spending ten straight hours in the crate, or spending five hours, taking a thirty minute breather, and then realizing you have to go right back in for five more hours?

Perhaps I am giving him too much credit. He is a beagle who is yet to turn two years old. He probably doesn’t realize anything. He also probably can’t tell time very well. Would he know the difference between being in his crate for fifteen minutes or ten hours? If I leave the house and walk right back in, he greets me the same as if I had been gone for a week. Probably the only indication that time is passing is the pressure on his bladder as the day goes on. Also, in some bizarro world where humans were kept as pets for some far superior species, it wouldn’t seem that bad to be locked in a room to sleep for hours at a time with a favorite snack and some form of entertainment… knowing I’d eventually be freed, anyway.