A Space Of Their Own
I am a big fan of pets with their own space. Pets feel safer when they have a quiet place to go when they are scared, or tired. A place where no one will step on them or nothing will “get” them is perfect for peace of mind—both yours and theirs.
A place for your pet does not have to be something fancy. It can be a spare room, a corner in the basement, or even a crate/kennel in the laundry room. The only requirement is that it is out of the way of household traffic and it stays in the same place so the animal can find it when he needs to.
My dogs have their own room. We finished off a section of the garage and put a heating/AC duct into it. The walls are plastic so we can hose them down to clean up and they have their very own shower stall built into the corner for those times when they find a stinky spot in the yard to roll in. They have beds on the floor as well as an old bed that is elevated about a foot, to sleep on if they choose. They also have food and water available at all times and can even relieve themselves if they choose. I have always built a system like this where ever I have lived and it makes working 8 to 10 hours a day less of a guilt trip. We are also thinking about putting in a web cam to watch them during the day. (Another thing to lessen the guilt of leaving them home while we work or go on vacation). Web cams are becoming less and less expensive and it is comforting to know that they sleep most of the time we are away –just like the research says they do.
But don’t worry about the special rooms and web cams if you are thinking about your pet. Just yesterday I was looking at a pet catalog that had pet crates made into Mission style end tables for the living room. They were beautiful pieces of furniture that also gave your pet a place to call his own. What a great idea!