Transitioning From Crating to Free Roam? Crating vs. Free Roam?

[Camilla and Darwin]

We decided to crate train Darwin for potty training purposes. It has worked wonderfully and he has been completely potty trained for a couple of months. My question now, is should I transition him over to free roam? Do any of you have opinions on crating/not-crating your dog during the day? (we are never gone more than five or six hours) Should we continue crating him during the night? What are the benefits/cons of free roam? He is six and a half months old...

[F, Calla & Luca]

By the time Luca was six and a half months he was free at night and when I was home. Calla still is in a crate at night, in my room, at 10 months. She seems to like it since she'll often go into it on her own. Both dogs are crated when I'm not home. I feel more secure that way. Also, I wouldn't be comfortable with Calla free when I'm not home. At ten months she still gets into things she shouldn't at times. I'm not sure when I'd be comfortable with them free when I'm not home.

[Caroline]

Hi, I crated , then puppy penned Christy when she was little and you're right - I too found it great for potty training. When we moved to our new place though (she was about 4 months old) she was able to jump over the pen and so I thought I'd give her a go without it. At that time though she wasn't regularly left for long periods- 4 hours at most usually and confined to 1 room. Now at 9 months, I leave her all day with a walk break 3days per week and a couple of days do daycare. That seems to work well and on the whole she doesn't chew anything she shouldn't ( though I leave lots of chew toys and stuffed kongs for her to keep her busy). That's probably why she's getting porky. I guess it's all individual and you have to try them - in a small area first where there is less potential for damage. Even now Christy doesn't get full access. Only the living room and hall are open to her as there's too much temptation (bathroom- toilet paper, bedroom - smelly socks in laundry basket to tip over)...good luck x

[Melissa & Porter]

Porter left his crate at 7-8 months. I work from home, so it was not such as big deal. At first, his time chunks were 1-2 hours. Now, I go into an office one day a week for about five hours; he is almost 1.

I left him with a cream cheese kong for a while, but he would finish it before my car was out the driveway, which I learned when I forgot stuff and had to run back in the house.

He is funny though--he won't eat his delicacies (bully, beef knuckle) unless I am home, and likewise, he seems to get in trouble when I am home too, especially if my bedroom door is open at 5 am. He sometimes leaves my room and shreds my kids' stuff while they are sleeping.

When I am gone, I am pretty sure that he sleeps or stares out the front window, perched over the back of a comfy armchair. When I come home, he usually has to do a big stretch and that chair-back cushion is squished. Then if he has a bone, he'll go get it and eat it near me. Must be dog pack mentality.

The one thing I don't do is leave him in my fenced yard when I am gone. His drive to find me is strong. My gate was once not properly latched and he ran across the street and found me in the crowds of parents picking up kids from the school across my street. You should have heard all the kids yelling/exclaiming over the fierce black dog looking for his mommy :-)

[sandy b]

I work at home so Max was never in his crate when I was home. I crated him when I left and at night. And until he was potty trained he was on a short leash. He was also a chewer, still is but he loves his bullysticks. When he was about 1 year old I let him out of his crate at night and that's been great, no problems. I also let him roam for short periods of time while I was gone and gradually increased the time. I alwasy make sure he's been out to potty and I remove objects he might chew on - tv remote, papers, etc. He is now 16 months and so far no problems. I think he really enjoys his freedom and I think for the most part he sleeps while I'm away. We still have his crate in our bedroom but he seldom gets in it.
You'll probably get all different answers but do what makes you feel comfortable and take it in slow, small steps. There's no good or bad with either decision its whatever works for you. Before Max I had a tiny 3 lb Yorkie and I felt most comfortable crating him while I was away.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I think this is one of those questions that is very specific as to the dog, and the environment the dog is in. In our case, we have 2 GD's. We did crate train and play pen train for potty purposes. Then we transitioned them into their own room for when we aren't around vs. a crate. (we removed the carpeting from one of our bedrooms, put down a wood laminate, and put all their things in that room with a baby gate instead of a door). This is where they sleep at night as well (their choice). Once they had this room, we gave them the option of being in their play pen in our room at night, and they would after about an hour whine to want to go to their room so that is where they now go at bedtime. I started shortly after they were a year old and I had not had any chewing issues for awhile letting them stay out in the whole house if I was outside cutting the grass or something where I could check on them. I then started leaving them out if I would run to the store and slowly worked up to about a couple hours. That is if it were during the daytime ...... I won't do it in the evenings as that is zoomie time and they need watched more closely. During the daytime they are mostly sleeping anyway. I think though that if I only had one dog I wouldn't worry as much about leaving her out while I was gone. I think with 2 they can tend to get in a little more mischief with regard to chasing each other etc. That is why I think it is a decision based on your individual situation. I saw some pretty good changes in our girls from about 13-15 months and they got a lot more freedom after that time. I've still never left them out for more than a couple hours. I think there is a security involved with being in their room that they like as well if I'm gone for a long time. Good luck .... I'm sure you know your puppy well enough to make a good decision on timing.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I am curious about this too. I know Peri is not ready for free roam while I am gone - she is 7 months old and isn't quite there yet. Also, we have tried to transition her from crate to her bed in our room at night. She won't have it! She wants her crate. Last night she ran into it like clockwork at 10pm. So I really think you need to see what works best for you.
If Peri continues to calm down as she has, I may try an hour at a time contained in the dog room with Taquito (sans crate). I see this happening while I am off during Christmas/New Years and I can check on her a bunch.

[GBK]

I only crated for potty reasons too. Buddy had free reign when the puppy gates didn't hold anymore :) He was about 5 months old, and Kona was free as soon as she could reach and use the dog door. All doors to bathrooms and bedrooms are shut and they have free access to the backyard, living area and hallway. Their soft sided crates are still in the living area and kept open, they like to lay in them frequently, we also take the crates with us when we travel.

[Camilla and Darwin]

We have already worked up to leaving him for about two hours when we are gone. We live in a small apartment, so we usually just close our bedroom door and leave him in the living room/kitchen area. He has never shown interest in our cupboards or anything but we always lock them to make sure he can't get in. He hasn't gotten into any trouble any of those times. What I am wondering, is if we leave him out at night, or possibly during the short times we leave, will he begin to whine if we DO put him in his crate? Meaning, will he start to get used to his freedom and then never want to use his crate? We don't want this to happen, because we always crate him if he is in my parents house (they don't like dogs, and DEFINITELY not indoor ones) and we crate him when we travel.

[GBK]

My two go in and out of their open crates all day long. If they need to be crated, they do not put up a fuss.

[Kelli, Fenway, & Dustin Pedroia]

Dustin doesn't wine when we put him in his crate during the day and he's had free reign of the house, stays out at night, and gets all of the time we're home out of his crate. It really hasn't been a problem for us, but Dustin really doesn't mind his crate and runs into it when we say go get in your kennel with no problems. He associates it with good things so... Hopefully this won't be a problem for you either.

[Kathie and the gang]

Winston is a year and I don't give him free access when I'm not there. He is a chewer. Freya is almost six and if she was the only dog she could have the whole house, but I restrict them both to the family room and kitchen. Works well and I think of it as their large crate. Winston is my first dog not to use the crate all that much, slept in it at night for the first 4 months, now not at all. I use a gate and I have never had a problem with my dogs trying to go over or through it. I guess I'm lucky. In fact most of the time it just leans against the doorway. Winston is tall and could jump over if he wanted, he just isn't aware that he can. I think each dog is different and some may never earn the right to have the whole house to themselves without supervision.

[Kelli, Fenway, & Dustin Pedroia]

That's funny about Winston not realizing he can get over the gate. We had both of ours in our bathroom gated off for a while and prior to that Fenway was gated in a hallway. Fenway never realized she could jump over the gate until I lifted her over it one day instead of taking it down and that was all she wrote. It wasn't too big of a deal though because she had free reign of the house before Dustin came so the gate was more for Dustin to stay in and we just put her in there for company. Dustin barely knows how to jump at all so he still wouldn't know how to get out of his gate if he wanted to!