Those of you with pets/dogs

[sprinkles]

Do you have a separate part of your garden for the children and a separate part for your dogs?

I went to my meeting this afternoon to get our disclosures checked and signed and the woman said that if I don't have a bit fenced off in the garden that the dogs can't get to then the inspector may not let me use my garden for the children

I'm not overly fussed if that is the case as we will be moved by Christmas at the latest and I may not even start minding while still in the house we are in now - depends on how long my registration takes and if I can get any work.

Also, where are your pet beds etc? One of our dogs sleeps in a crate and the other just sleeps in the living room (either in his bed or on the sofa), will beds etc need to be out of children's reach? The cats sleep on the sofas or their cat tree in the living room. Also we have covered litter trays in our kitchen (open plan with living room) but I'm guessing these would need to be moved too? We're planning to put them in the bathroom when we move but because our house is a farm cottage it can be quite cold so we don't tend to leave any doors open. I was thinking of getting a room divider thing so that I could shut the kitchen off from the living room and children could get in there to litter trays etc....

[adele1985]

Hi hun, i have 2 dogs (german shepard and a lab) i have fanced a bit of my garden off for the children to use and the dogs have access to the rest

my dogs sleep upstairs so thier beds are in my bedroom ( the german shepard goes to work with my partner and the lab has the run of my house - apart from the playroom and play garden he normaly doesnt move off the sofa when mindees are here unless there is food involved

I have the dogs water bowl in the kitchen and the toy box (yes my dogs have a toy box lol ) is in the licing room i have risk assessed the bowls and toys stating if the mindee touch the toys they wash their hands after

hope that helps

[LauraS]

Our dog doesn't use our garden, and never has, for hygiene reasons. I have small kids who play on the grass and would hate for them to put their hands in the remnants of dog poo, so we made the decision when we had him not to let him out there. Having said that I know that people do have their dogs in the same parts of the garden as the children and ofsted are ok. I'm sure someone on here had her dog poop in the garden in front of the inspector!

Our dog sleeps mostly. If I am in the living room he will mostly sleep in his crate in the corner of the living room, if I am in the kitchen he sleeps on the front door mat where he can see me (...drop stuff!)

The cat is house trained, no litter boxes in the house. I don't know how environmental health would view having litter boxes in the kitchen to be honest, covered or not. I know they don't even like food dishes in there.

[sprinkles]

Yeah I guessed they'd need to be moved but apart from putting them in the living room there's not many other options without leaving all the doors open. They're not sure about safety gates either so without shutting them out along with litter trays there's not much else I can do in this house. Maybe everything will need to go on hold til we're moved.

[watgem]

we have 2 dogs, their beds/food/water are kept in the kitchen and we have a dog flap into the back garden which is theirs, and I have a dog/kiddy gate up at the kitchen, mostly the younger dog likes to sleep upstairs in the day and the mummy dog likes to stay in the kitchen, we also keep the guinea pig in the kitchen, The front garden is my play area so I can be sure there is no dog mess, although I do have to check for mess from neighbouring cats. Everything is risk assessed and checks are done daily and ofsted have always been ok with this.

[VINASOL]

I have a 12m old English Springer Spaniel. She is bouncy, and lively and well SPRINGS everywhere - literally!

She is not allowed in the house as my lo's are too little and she is too bouncy but she's ruined our garden so we're trying to do it up. We've decided to fence off a back section of the garden so that she can do her business (she does it in one specific area), thus allowing my mindees to play safely. She's such a friendly pup I'm not sure that it'll work but I'd hate for a midnee to go out and fall in poo remnants....hopefully by end July the garden will be sorted out to be used by both

[sarahjane]

I have 2 dogs and they have the run of the garden as do the small people. I just make sure I clean up after them and they are not out if the small people are.

I have 2 beds in the living room for them and the small people actually spend alot of time in them as they are fleece lined and very comfortable, washable covers and my dogs don't tend to use them that much. When my DO came round to do my observation towards my accreditation, she loved the fact the small's sit in them to read etc and ofsted have never commented about it

[CH1957]

I have 2 small dogs who have the run of the house and garden while mindees are here. Their bed and water bowls are always in the kitchen. I have risk assessed it all - wash hands after touching dogs, not leaving children alone with dogs, vaccinations up to date, garden always checked for fouling etc - and Ofsted were fine with it.

[sprinkles]

I have 2 small dogs who have the run of the house and garden while mindees are here. Their bed and water bowls are always in the kitchen. I have risk assessed it all - wash hands after touching dogs, not leaving children alone with dogs, vaccinations up to date, garden always checked for fouling etc - and Ofsted were fine with it.

That's what I've got in my policy. I'm in Scotland though so will just need to see what happens when they do my inspection.

[Tina O]

I'm in Germany with BFEYS and we have to have our garden fenced off so there are seperate areas for dogs and children, if not, not allowed to use garden space with mindees. xx

[sprinkles]

I'm in Germany with BFEYS and we have to have our garden fenced off so there are seperate areas for dogs and children, if not, not allowed to use garden space with mindees. xx

Thanks, if this is the case then I just won't use the garden til we move. I'm not spending loads of money putting up a fence just for a couple of months when the weather will probably be crap anyway!

[mushpea]

I have a labrador, he has the run of the house but tends to sleep in the kitchen during the day as its quieter, he then peeps round the living room door in the evenings and if everyones gone he comes in , he does have a fenced of area of the garden with a kennel in but thats because we have lots of 'loose parts' play stuff and I dont want him weeing all over them , the kennel we got cause I kept forgetting him and leaving the poor mutt down the garden during the day not that it bothered him, he never wines to come back in. he used to have the run of the garden with the children and when he'd done his buisnees I would clean it up then use dettol and water to wash the patch down but we have all block paved garden so its easy for us to clear it up.