home alone

[Stacy Deitrich]

Rosie is now 16 weeks (tomorrow).  We have been leaving her home out of her kennel for short spurts here and there and she is doing great.  At what age do you think it is safe to leave them home out of their cage for short periods?

~ Stacy & Rosie

[Lindsey]

Yikes! I'm afraid to leave Molly out of her crate now and she's 6 months old...I think it really just depends on the dog :-)
My molly would have our house turned upside down if we left her uncrated for any length of time.
That's awesome that your pup is already able to be trusted when left alone for a period of time!

[Pam & Trixie]

Trixie will be 5 months on Thursday...I was just saying to dh someday we will be able to leave her loose in the house when we arent home.  She is very good.  She does not get in to Trouble in the house at all.  But because she is still so young I will wait longer to be sure.  More because of a safety concern.

 

If Rosie is doing good for short spurts- that is great.  I will follow your thread to see when she is ready to be out for good....to help us decide on Trixie.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Agreed with Lindsey, I think it really depends on the dog. I've had one or two that were probably ready that young, but Lachlan's six months now and I'm thinking another year for him, realistically. If I left him out now I'd come back to holes in the walls (apparently they taste nice) and a ginormous vet bill for whatever he was able to stuff down his throat.

Wonderful that Rosie is doing so well. I'll admit I'm a wee bit jealous! *grin*

[Bonnie and Kona]

Oh Lachlan, you and Owen are cut from the same cloth! Owen's 10 months and I do not see him being allowed alone in the house until he is arthritic and unable to move around on his own!

[Linda and "Toby"]

Hi Stacy - you might want to consider setting up a puppy cam when you leave the house. :) The technology has changed so much on these lately, it's a really affordable way to have peace of mind: http://www.eyespyfx.com/mywebcam.html I turn mine on whenever my DH and I go to dinner and a movie, etc. It's fun being able to check in on Toby and make sure that my house isn't on fire or that a burglar isn't in the house (heaven forbid). The program that I use is for Macs or PCs. It's free to install the broadcasting software on your computer but you have to buy a $4.99 app for your smartphone to receive the live video stream. The image looks amazing on my iPhone/iPad You can have up to 3 camera's going at once and you can take snapshots of what the camera sees manually with your phone. (Note: The default setting is to broadcast "live" publicly so be sure to change that to "password protected.")

Here's the one that Adina and some other DKers use. It's a free (Windows only) program: http://www.yawcam.com/ Instead of a live video stream, the camera is activated by motion detection and it will take/send you snapshots each time it picks up movement.

[Tracey Birling]

I am curious to see the replies on this one :) Our Cooper is also 16 weeks old. From what all of my friends have told me, we are definitely waiting, at least, until he is 1 year old. Actually, we have Coopers main crate set up in our sunk in sunroom, which is right off of our living room, and we also have a 60 inch wide gate set up between the sunroom and the living room. When I cannot watch him completely, I do have him in the sunroom out of his crate (since it is gated). The sunroom has become "Cooper's room" which is really nice. But if I have to leave the house, I still will put him in his crate. I agree that it's mostly for safety concerns. But I also think at this age they are probably still unpredictable :)

[Sue Amos & Mulligan]

I started to leave Mulligan at the age of 4 months. He has the downstairs area and was left for max time of 3 hours now a the age of 9 months we leave him for 8 hours a few days a week. Every other day I take him to day care. He is a really low key dog and providing he get exercise is perfectly happy to stay home alone.

[Melissa]

I guess I am in the minority here.  Buddy is a year and a half and we still crate him when we leave.  He has actually caught on to when we are gettting ready and he automatically goes into his crate.  It is larger than he probably needs but I think he feels comfortable in there and doesn't seem to mind.  We will probably always crate him when we leave and of course that is where he sleeps as well.

[Tracey Birling]

I don't think there's anything wrong with that! We may be in the same boat, Melissa. Cooper loves his crate. He sleeps in it as well. It gives me peace of mind knowing that he's safe (and hopefully happy) while he's in there when we're gone.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Agreed completely! My last dog, a Border Collie, was crated when I left the house his entire life and was perfectly happy with that. Saved stress for both of us.

[Judi, David & Maddie Irishdoodle]

Double Yikes - Maddie was 15 months old before we left her out of her cage.  She is fine and usually we just find her sleeping in her open doored crate when we come home and we keep our fingers crossed she doesn't surprise us with anything shredded or chewed up. . 

[Pam & Trixie]

I should add that like others have said.  it really varies with every dog.  Some can be trusted at a Young age. others cant.

With my Last 3 dogs, all Flat Coats...the 1st one we were able to leave out at 2 years...the 2nd at 9 months.  the 3rd NEVER!  LOL...She was still kenneled at age 11.  She always was getting into trouble.