Hello from Tx!
Hi there, my name is Jordan and I'm a 7th grade life science teacher in the Midland area. Before teaching I worked at an exotic pet store in HS (where I fell in love with PDs before the ban) and then got into doberman rescue (love my dogs, they are my "kids" for now). I was working in the education department of the Abilene zoo (caring for a sweetie PD named Kiowa) when my husband and I started dating. I moved to midland and finished my degree and am in my first year of teaching.
My vet is an exotics vet who does a lot of rescue so after bringing her several animals she finally told me I needed to take something home lol. I brought home a spayed female PD who we've named Steve from the animal crackers video on YouTube haha.
At school she stays in a rabbit cage, but at home she's in my super sturdy dog crate because she pulled the bars on the rabbit cage to escape and can't be left unsupervised. She gets plenty of out of cage time, usually 3-4 hours a day minimum but I need to get her out of the dog crate. It's not ideal, hard to clean and I don't like the spacing on the front because she can pull.
I'm looking at a critter nation single story for now. I can add a second story later if necessary, but I really feel she gets enough time out and with us that it should be ok. I'm planning on making a separate dig box as well.
I would have my husband build an enclosure, but home built ones in general don't seem to look that great and tend to be really bulky. My husband is concerned with having a big honking cage becoming the focal point of the living room. He adores Steve and wants to do right with her but we want something more streamlined and classy looking so she can stay in the living room where she belongs and will be with us even when she's away.
So any thoughts? Are critter nations appropriate for PDs or does anyone have plans for other enclosures that look really nice?