When to Give Free Reign of House?

[Flaro1522]

Hi All

At what age did you give your DS free reign of the house and ditch the crate? My guy is a year old and I in no way trust him enough to leave the house while not crated. All the stuff that makes me crack up at him are the same reasons why I feel my house would be destroyed if I ran to the grocery store and back if I left him uncrated.

Any tips for how to help with this transition would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Dutchringgirl]

its not an age thing, its a trust thing. my dogs all were, and I tell other people I work to keep the dogs on a long line at all times until they know the rules of the house.

My girls are crated ALWAYS when I go out, except for the 5 or 10 minutes to take the kids to the bus or to run to the garage. but other wise they are crated.

[TimL_168]

My female is pretty low energy. I can leave her for a few hours. I leave the crate open and she normally just hands out in there anyway. But it took a good bit to get her there. Lisa's on point with the trust thing. It had far less to do with age.

[Wes Thomas]

Karma was around a year old. Now she's never crated unless we are traveling somewhere or she's at the trainers house. I was nervous at first about leaving her unattended but my wife insisted. My wife said "how is she going to protect me while you are out of town if she's in her kennel?" So she's limited to the hardwood floors only but has had 0 problems..

[Dutchringgirl]

Ill regress. Let me say that when Thalie was younger, she had free reign of the house. We never though about it, we just trusted her. When I moved to my current house. that went down the crapper. Mostly because she was a bit older, I hardly left her home and she developed separation anxiety, wich they do as they age.

Sadie probably would be fine, She had escaped from her crate a few times and nothing was damaged, but I do not feel its fair to leave one out and one in. Bassets are just naughty so she is crated.

[Dutchringgirl]

what you can do, is, leave him for a minute, go outside and peek in a window. Then do that for a while. Maybe have some safe toys for him, leave some of your clothes out for him to lay on. Then increase that time to 5 minutes, while you look in the window. Hopefully your neighbors know you or you will have a visit from the Po Po ( Dont tell Joxgirl' hubby) If he is fine with 5 minutes, increase it until you see fluf flying around the house, then youll know it was too long.

[TimL_168]

Never mind. En just chewed the zipper off off my only good coat.

[centrop67]

"Baby" steps

Start by baby proofing the house. Remove all temptations. Don't leave shoes, clothes, or anything that smells like you laying around the house. Paper towels, rags, or any small chewables need to go up and out of the way.

Close doors to all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and any other rooms to the house.

We started Radar and Leela overnight while we were still in the house.

When you're ready to start leaving the house, only do it for short periods at first.

Even today, both Radar and Leela get a treat blitz every time we leave.

DO NOT GET RID OF THE CRATE

Leave it where it is now.

When Radar and Leela sense us leaving, they go to their crates and lay down. Leave the crate open all the time, so it's a safe space all the time. Don't use it as punishment.

Leave at least one toy or chewable that is okay for him unattended (That is, he won't chew it into tiny pieces and possibly choke).

Don't ever leave him alone for more than 8-9 hours. Make arrangements for someone to let him outside if you can't. I am sure that someone will respond that even this is too long, but it works for us. You may find a length of time that is shorter before bad stuff happens, so pay attention.

When returning, keep the excitement at a minimum. Don't make a big deal about it. I pretty much ignore the dogs the first few minutes after I return, and only give them attention when they are calm. This is really hard to do, but it is important.

Don't punish him for things that happen when you're gone. He won't understand.

If it doesn't work, start over after a period of time.

Good luck.

[Dutchringgirl]

Never mind. En just chewed the zipper off off my only good coat.

[TimL_168]

Never mind. En just chewed the zipper off off my only good coat.

[Dutchringgirl]

Now THIS photo needs to be on the cover !!!

The face is so perfect !!!

[karenz]

I started working with Xander around 8 months old leaving him out of the crate. I bought an internet camera that I can view from my phone. It has audio on it. I would put him in the room with the camera and leave the house. At first I would just go outside and eventually built up to going to the store and running errands. I could watch him on the camera and keep an eye on him. It gave me piece of mind to see what he was doing. If it looked like he was up to no good I’d turn on the audio and tell him to “leave it”. It was kind of funny because he’d look at the camera like “ where are you and how did you know what I was doing”. He actually did really good and never destroyed anything. I think I got lucky with him. He stays in the house as long as I need him to and doesn’t bother anything. It took a month or so to build up to a couple hours. He did fine but I took it slow and gradually built him up to basically being alone 4 or 5 hours if needed.

[Wes Thomas]

increase it until you see fluf flying around the house, then youll know it was too long.

Lol hilarious

[MckennaV_90265]

Absolutely a trust thing! Ridge is 5 months, fully potty trained and not at all destructive, I can leave the house with him uncrated for hours at a time and the only thing that will be destroyed when I come back is his bones. He's only crated at night now, and thats just so he doesn't decide he wants to snuggle at 3 AM, or play with the other dogs and cat.

[Joxgirl]

Karma was around a year old. Now she's never crated unless we are traveling somewhere or she's at the trainers house. I was nervous at first about leaving her unattended but my wife insisted. My wife said "how is she going to protect me while you are out of town if she's in her kennel?" So she's limited to the hardwood floors only but has had 0 problems..

I would love to dream that this might happen, but it’s a dream I don’t dare to dream.

[Joxgirl]

Karma was around a year old. Now she's never crated unless we are traveling somewhere or she's at the trainers house. I was nervous at first about leaving her unattended but my wife insisted. My wife said "how is she going to protect me while you are out of town if she's in her kennel?" So she's limited to the hardwood floors only but has had 0 problems..

I would love to dream that this might happen, but it’s a dream I don’t dare to dream.

[Joxgirl]

Ill regress. Let me say that when Thalie was younger, she had free reign of the house. We never though about it, we just trusted her. When I moved to my current house. that went down the crapper.

[Joxgirl]

what you can do, is, leave him for a minute, go outside and peek in a window. Then do that for a while. Maybe have some safe toys for him, leave some of your clothes out for him to lay on. Then increase that time to 5 minutes, while you look in the window. Hopefully your neighbors know you or you will have a visit from the Po Po ( Dont tell Joxgirl' hubby) If he is fine with 5 minutes, increase it until you see fluf flying around the house, then youll know it was too long.

Ha ha ha ha ha. He’s says that would look very Suspicious.

[Joxgirl]

Never mind. En just chewed the zipper off off my only good coat.

Soooooooo about how long was she alone for exactly????

[Joxgirl]

Now THIS photo needs to be on the cover !!!

The face is so perfect !!!

I agree. Was it a real photo or photoshopped???? Can Michael just close his eyes long enough for us to sneak it in the contest? Maybe we can all pass his a round of that bottle.....