When did you first leave puppy alone in house-NOT in crate?

[Jordan & Daisy]

Daisy is about 5 months now and we have crate trained her but I am wondering- how old was your doodle when you first let him/her be in the house alone and NOT in crate?

I know you are supposed to do this gradually- try leaving them alone for 10-15 minutes, then a half hour, etc. but I am just not sure what a good age to start trying this is.

Today I left her in her playpen instead of her crate for the first time for about 25 minutes, I came home to THIS!! She must have knocked it over, lol!!! She was fine and nothing was out of place but I guess the playpen idea isn't going to work. :)

[Julie and Max]

Aww look at her sitting in the corner!

I don't have a crate, so Max has always had free roam, though I did keep him gated in the kitchen area. He has free roam now, he's 9 months old. 

[Sam, Risa and Archie]

I left Archie cold turkey at 7 months and we were gone for about 1-2 hours and he was a saint.  We have been very lucky with Arch as he has always been an amazing puppy. No furniture biting, table begging, barking, crate crying, or house destroying of any kind.  We are spoiled lol we have left him for 6-7 hours at a time before and he's always sleeping right where we left him.  

He loves our attention and company and when we leave he gets real sad and mellow and just sleeps or looks outside of the windows until we return.  He won't eat, drink, or anything lol once we get home he's all excited with kisses and jumping all over us and then usually goes right for water bowl or food bowl (since he has a problem eating or drinking without us) HAHA 

I would say tho not to do it cold turkey like we did, but baby steps...start it young! 

[Diane and Alma]

We had the same thing happen to us when Alma was a puppy.  She knocked over her pen and we never used it again.  We did put up a gate to keep her in the kitchen when we ran errands.  Over the space of a few weeks we opened up more rooms because she was good on her own.  We still give her a kong stuffed with a little peanut butter or a treat ball to keep her busy.  When she's finished, I'm sure she falls asleep or watches life go by from her favorite chair near the front window.  Daisy is adorable!  The pen probably scared her when it fell over.  I vote for moving on.  Good luck.