Alone in House
I have received some great advice here, so I had another question. We have crate trained Kayla (9 months) since we have had her (May 2007) and I was wondering when if at all have you guys left your dogs out in the house alone during the day? She has been sleeping outside of the crate during the night for the last month & half and have had no real issues other than sometimes having trouble settling down and waking us up really early. We feel due to our schedules Kayla unfortunatley spends too much time in the crate so we are looking into doggie day care a few days a week as well. Is crate training just the way a lot of dogs spend there days? Or is it just to protect your home and dog while they are being potty trained and behavior trained. We had always hoped to have Kayla free during the day, but just wanted some feed back from anyone who can help. Thank You, Jay |
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| I guess it depends on whether you have an area that you can keep her safe and confined in. I crated Tasker til he was 9 years old but that was because I lived in an area where there was a high population of children and their playing outside would drive him nuts. He was always wanting to get out and play with them, once he went trhough the window.
If you have aroom you can shut her in then give it a try. I would be very hesitatnt to leave her with free reign of the house, there is just so much a pup cn get into! |
| Both my older dogs, Pearl, OES and Cosmo, Beardie...are not crated when we are gone. Heart of course is....
I stopped crating Pearl at about 2 years. I tried at 18 months and she was good for a couple days and then I came home to find she shredded paper all over....  so back in the crate she went for a couple more months. NOw she is fine.
Nine months seems awful young to stop crating, but I am no expert...I am sure you will get good advice from other members who are more experienced.... Good Luck!!!!!!Keep us posted.... |
| It really depends a lot on the individual dog and outside issues.
Some of my dogs never get beyond crating when we are gone. They just do best in the security of their crates. One in particular loves his crate and can't handle all that house when we are gone. Pees and poops all over - and this is an older adult dog! It also depends on the outside distractions (as in Taskers Mom's case) and also what other safe place in your house they can be in. Ollie - our 1st OES had free run of the house, but started out crated, then graduated to the porch. Then the whole house. Chewie is still crated, and gets the porch for longer times more and more often. Simon (adult basset) is never crated. Riley (2 yr old rat terrier) is occasionally crated when he has lapses in behavior. Maggie - (2 yr rescue coonhound) is ALWAYS crated - even when we just go outside. She has no sense of house respect and goes wild! But, she loves her crate, so she still really needs it for security. |
| All three of my dogs are left free run of the house when we're gone. Lucy is about 13, Clyde is 3 and Bear is 2. Out of the three, Lucy was never crated (I got her when she was older), Clyde was crate trained and always hated it and Bear was crate trained by his first owners but not me. Myself, I prefer to use the crate as a tool until I don't need it anymore. The only dog of the three that seemed to want it was Bear but he was just as happy sleeping in the bathroom (plus he got to big for the X-Large one we had!).
It really does depend on the dog. We started slow with 15-20 minute trips away from home, leaving them alone and then gradually increasing the time we were gone until they were all trustworthy. Now all they do is sleep on the couch.  |
| Sometimes if we go downstairs and she even suspects she may be going in, she gets a very defensive posture and she is ready to flee...I have to assure her she is not going in but she does have a very reactive behavior even being close to it....My concerns are 100% for her safety....She may not particularly like the crate, but we know she is as safe as she is going to be...This summer we were going to a Redsox game on a Saturday afternoon and Kayla was going to be alone in her crate all day (over 14 hours)...Beth insiisted we leave her with her parents in there fenced in back yard against my better judgement....My big stance was "at least we know she is safe" in her crate...Well she left her there and at around 11:00 we get home, go to her parents house which is pitch black as they were not home, and neither is Kayla....I am going crazy with panic at this point as her parents did not take her, and she had escaped through the fence door...She was only about 4 months old at this point, and we were all scared as could be...We called the police who had a report of picking up a stray but it was described as a Golden Retiever , and was found miles away and since they were closed, we all had to wait until morning to verify if the dog was Kayla...Well it was but I learned a lesson that my biggest concern always will be Kayla's safety above all else...Well thanks for listening.
Jay |
| 14 hours is too long in a crate, too. At that point, you're better off just having someone stop over to let her out and exercise a bit and then putting her back in. Like you learned, I never leave them unattended in the yard. Too many things can happen out there. |
| i was lucky derby was out of his crate at 4 months old but he had 2 other ones to keep him company |
| When we adopted Violet at 9 mts she came from the rescue trained and we really never crated her. China we adopted at 8 wks and so we crate trained her. I don't remember when we let her run free through the house, but she will soon be 4 yrs old and it has been a long time.
Good luck! |
| I think it depends on the dog as well. I dont crate Obe anymore. His crate is still up and the door stays open all the time. If I am gone for say four hours he is sleeping in the crate, on the bed or couch. He has had free roam for at least the last 5 months. No bad behavior so why should I not trust him. I do puppy proof everything though (always have). I leave nothing laying around doors are shut, remotes put on top of entertainment center, etc. I think I was blessed with a good pup as he is still at 15 months. He has never chewed or destroyed anything (knocking on wood). He has his toys and bones and will bring them into his crate and go to sleep.Some may not agree with this but as I said it depends on the dog. A friend of mines dog I would not leave alone for more than 15 minutes. Try short trips to the store and gradually extend the time. If he acts up back in the crate. |
| We never crated, but we did gate our first sheepie in the kitchen when we would leave him. After he was 9 months old, with no accidents, and no chewing, etc., I started giving him free run of the house for short periods of time. The first time, I left him loose for 15 minutes, drove around the block a couple of times and came back in. Then I left him loose for a half hour, then an hour, etc. He never chewed, or had accidents, so he had full run of the house from then on.
Oscar is a little different, because he is deaf. He has never been crated either, but he continues to be gated in the kitchen when we leave, and will be for the rest of his life, even though he is not a chewer, and doesn't have accidents. As it was explained to me, deaf dogs will wander the house looking for their owners until they find them, which means that they will wander and become anxious if you are not home. The gate, for Oscar, is like a security blanket. If he sees the gates are up, he knows that we are not home, and he lays down and goes to sleep. The funny thing is, the gates are merely propped up, and he could walk right through them if he chose to. If you want to try letting Kayla have run of the house, I would start out in very small increments, which gives her less time to get into trouble. It also reinforces the fact that you are returning. And if she has ever shown any interest in counter-surfing, or chewing toilet paper, I would make sure that all bathroom doors are closed, and food is put away, and the house is puppy-proofed.
Laurie and Oscar, the Perpetually Gated |
| WE didn't crate at first but then we decided to as George went on a chewing fest!!
At 6 months he was let out and left in the kitchen/dining room as my husband changed shifts . One day he wouldn't come downstairs when we were going out so weleft him and he has been out ever since!! He has chewed a couple of pairs of shoes but other than that he has been no problem!! He sleeps in the bathroom most of the day and comes down when we come home!! |
| Mine are both two and neither has the run of the house - Marley will chew when left alone so she is in a bathroom (sort of chew proof) that is extremely large, behind a baby gate she could jump if she wanted to but never does. We had "graduated her to the Master bedroom but she ate part of the footboard the second day.
Morgan was in the breakfast room until he started pooping during the day - our trainer told us to put him back in the crate. His crate is huge and I didn't want to have to deal with it so I put the Xpen up in the breakfast room and he is in there - no more messes and he loves "his space". And it is much easier to take down to clean the room than the crate was. |
| We kept Bingley crated for the first year + of his life but only for a few hours at a time. This August Ian started a new job - teaching with me - so we decided to leave Bing out. After a few days of "testing" with long hours, we have left him out from 6:45 am to about 4:15ish each day. He's done really well. We do keep some of the doors closed to bedrooms and keep everything 'interesting' out of the way! |
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