Decorating & Renovating
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Outdoor shade?
We just moved into our new construction house about 2 months ago and we love it! Yay! The downside? There is 1 scrawny natural tree! Poor tree!
Our back yard is west facing, so, afternoon, it gets pretty sunny in the back yard. There's no shade whatsoever. With our dog, we really need some place for her to escape to if we can't get home to let her inside for the afternoon and it would be nice to block some of the sun coming inside.
I want to put a tree near there, but that will take some time to grow (Years!). What can I do for an immediate solution?
We have a small covered area with some steps down to a concrete slab that isn't covered at all. The covered area does no good with the sun after noon once it starts heading down.
Re: Outdoor shade?
Well, I would personally keep the dog inside. For a variety of reasons, but especially for her safety. That solves that.
If you still want a shade for yourselves, we went to an open house the other day that involved retractable shades. They've come a long way from the fugly they used to be. I'd install one of those.
But again, your dog should never be outside unattended - there's just too much that could happen to her while she's out there.
Stepping into the fire- I do believe there are situations that it's okay to leave a dog outside during the day. With a pool, shade, fan, etc. My dog loves to run around, chase the cats that come into our yard, play with the squirrels and neighbor watch. We have a wrought iron fence which provides for more entertainment, but she's just fine out there.
I'm not asking anyone to agree with me, but I think it's an unnecessary judgement when one is looking to provide appropriate conditions.
Oleander is poisonous to animals who may eat their leaves.
I agree with PPs that you really shouldn't keep your dog outside all day. Crating is a much better and safer option.
You left out 'annoy the neighbors by bark off and on all day.'
Our neighbors feel the same way that you do, but their dogs are not having fun and playing all day. Instead they have become more and more territorial and are pretty stressed being outdoors all day.
I have seen some decent retractable shades, and also some pretty cool sail shade canopies, but you might need to put in poles for those.
Whoops! Thanks for the info.
I've been seeing alot more pergolas used with fabric or shades lately that I love! I like the idea of changing the fabric and love the look.
My Home Bio
Thanks for all the shade info ladies.
If I crated her while we were at work, she would be in the crate for a total of 15 hours in the day (8 for work, 7 for bed time). That just seems a little cruel to me, as neither DH or I can work from home to babysit our dog all day. Also, she has hurt herself in the crate, torn the door off, and has chewed through the airline crate. We're taking small steps to get her use to the crate. Since I've had no complaints about her, I think she's safer (and much happier) outside for a few hours a day then cooped in a crate that she hates right now and stresses out in.
My own vet said to keep her outside instead of the crate, so, yeah >.<