"Uncrating" - when to start leaving your doodle out of the crate when you're gone...

[Kim, Abby & Beckett]

Hello everyone. I know we have discussed this before, but I am looking for advice/opinions on when and how to begin the "uncrating" process.

I have gradually been giving Abby a bit more freedom. First I would use a baby gate and give her the kitchen to freely roam when I would run errands on the weekend. Then I would come home during my lunch break and instead of putting her back in the crate I would leave her out in a bigger crated off area. After a few weeks of this, she had proven herself so I decided to go without the crate for the day. The first week of this was great. No issues. Just toys all over the place when I came home. But in the second week, she must have gotten a bit bored because she started finding magazines to shred. Nothing else, always magazines. I had a few stacked on the coffee table in the living room and under my nightstand in my bedroom. Needless to say, Abby is back in the crate. I feel badly because she is getting older and has a lot of energy, so I would prefer her to have some room to play while I am gone. However, it seems like she is may be a bit too young (6 1/2 months) and/or her puppy teenager phase and energy bursts are just too sporadic and crazy.

When did you start "uncrating" your doodle and how did you do it? Thanks in advance for the advice.

( And believe me, I understand it could be much worse. She has only went after magazines, not furniture, shoes, etc. I am very thankfully my doodle is, for the most part, well behaved! )

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

Lilly is 10 months old and still crated.  I don't know when we will feel like she can be out on her own without having the neighborhood dogs over for a beer party.

[Jo and Beamer]

Beamer still loves his crate at 1 years old. He sleeps in at night, not per my request but his. I have several crates in my home for other dogs that I train and he loves his time out in the big one in the cool basement. When I leave for long hours during the day I do leave him out now but find that he is sound asleep on the tile in the laundry room. I shut all the bedroom doors etc and leave a few frozen kongs out. I snuck in our backdoor last week and caught him snoozing on the couch. HE WAS SHOCKED!! Now he just lays by the last door I went out.

[Jen & Ember]

I have been super interested in this thread as I think I want to try Ember out of her crate in the next couple of months. She's currently almost 10 months and is SO good. She has never chewed on anything that is not hers. We dealt with some separation anxiety in her crate when we moved a few months ago to a new place, but that has subsided. My thought is to continue the crate another month or so, then if I have some small errands letting her have free reign of just the kitchen, as there is nothing in there that she could get into. Then slowly opening up the space as she proves herself trustworthy. 

My main worry is a window in the front room that she loves to look out... it has mini blinds that I always pull up, but I don't really want to have them up when I'm gone because then anyone could look in the house. But I suppose better that than getting her stuck in them and hurting herself.