I have a half fenced yard, with a buried lead. Typically my dog (~90lb GSD) roams freely and doesn't bother leaving the yard without the lead. But if your dog(s) is a runner I can put them on the lead or walk them around the yard to use the bathroom. Normally I bring my dog with me whenever I go to a store or what not, and he sits and waits in the truck (Yukon with all seats folded -- huge amount of comfy space for up to 4 large dogs). I leave the truck running on remote-start with the AC on during hot days of course! Because of this , between Thursday - Sunday my dog spends virtually no time alone at the house. On the weekends I bring him to the dog park to play and socialize, take him on hikes (usually off-leash), or take him to my local baseball fields and throw a ball for an hour until he's tired out. I also have him remote-collar trained, and he always wears a full chest harness. This allows me to make sure I can always maintain complete control over him and prevent any sort of incident.