At what age did your Doodle become a "big" boy/girl and not need their crate?

[Puppy Madness]

Lordy is a little over 5 months now and for the past few weeks we've allowed him to sleep on the bedroom floor instead of his crate at night. We really wanted him on the bed with us, but the poor little guy just could not get comfortable. We still crate him during the day while we're at work, but I'm considering letting him have full run of the house. He hasn't had any accidents in weeks, and it has been months since he destroyed anything, although my bras and house slippers have mysteriously disappeared recently, lol.  He is a giant doodle (over 60lbs now) and very mellow and lazy, so I don't think he would get into any trouble...

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Interesting subject, and maybe it depends a lot on the temperament of the doodle, but Oscar's trainer made it clear that no dog should have free run of the house until 2 yrs old. I know, that sounds like a long time, but her argument was that it takes that long for a dog to really settle in and have a good base of what's expected of him/her. Also, giving freedom too soon, according to her, can be detrimental to training, and mature dogs are less likely to have destructive behaviors.

Our Lucy is over 3 yrs old now and we still crate her when we leave the house (along with Oscar). Not that we don't trust her, we do, its just that she feels more secure and comfortable in her crate than out when we're gone. She's also prone to bark at the front door's sidelight and that in itself can get her riled up. During the day when we're home she generally stays out of her crate. That's changed a little since having a puppy in the house. Oscar feels more secure with Lucy in her crate next to him during nap times, and she's okay with that too (she often goes into her crate on her own during the day, with the crate door open). We started having Lucy sleep with us when she was about 18 mos. old, and does to this day. Oscar wishes he could too, but he's just too young. His day will come, but he's just not mature enough yet.

[Cathy, Fozzie & Shaggy]

I did the same things many of you have done with my 11 month old Shaggy dog...started letting him out slowly at night but with the door closed, opening the door but blocking the hall, opening the hall but blocking the steps and now he has the run of the house - AT NIGHT only.  During the day is a different story.  At 11 months old he is still happy to chew anything!   He does well in his crate with interactive toys he can manipulate for treats.  We do have to be careful what may be on top of the crate because he will draw it in and have his way with it (leash, gloves, treats, ...).  Fozzie who is almost 4 used the crate on and off for a little over a year.  I don't know if there is a hard and fast rule for how long a crate should be used.?  I want to know my dogs are safe when I'm not home and if I'm not reasonably confident they will stay out of trouble, then in the crate they will go - I tend to be an over anxious mom :)

[Traz, Karen & Dale]

Traz will be 9 months old on February 8th and weighs 54 pounds.  He currently sleeps in his crate at night which is located in our bedroom.  We hope to move Traz into our extra bedroom when our son moves out next month.  We'll see how that goes.  We are still dealing with separation anxiety with Traz, even though we are both retired and home with him most of the time.  He still wants to be near one of us.  We have tried putting him in the backyard by himself, but he will bark and whine if left alone too long.  Traz can also get a bit destructive; chewing on the side of the house & fence, if left outside too long.  He can also get into mischief inside the house, if not supervised.  Thank goodness for doors.  If we do need to leave the house, we crate him because he feels more secure inside his crate.  Hopefully that will change as he gets older and we can trust him to roam the house without remodeling/destroying it.  Good luck with your crating decision.

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

Lordy is so cute! I just love that you say he's lazy. I can't say that about Auggie, unfortunately. He used to sleep in his crate downstairs until about 5 mothnts old. He would wake up in the middle of the night in his crate and bark. We thought he needed to go out, but he really just wanted to be near. So ever since then he's been sleeping with the rest of us upstairs in the bedroom. He's got his bed, but he alternates between the bed and the tiles in the bathroom and the carpet. The two doods just switch places at night.

I still have to crate him during the day when I'm gone since we witnessed on our spy house camera that Auggie just snoops around, surfs the counters and generally creates chaos when left outside the crate, even though our older doodle sleeps. Auggie does everything but sleep. Hopefully it will change one day soon... otherwise he is not destroying anything in the house when we are home, he has the full run of the house since about 6 months as well.

[Scott Morton]

Kiley is almost 1year old and for the last week she has been left with free roam of the house. No problems so far. I think she just sleeps when we are gone. Longest period was for 5 hrs.

[Adina P]

I trusted Rosco at the age of 2.  Boca is already 2 but I don't trust her yet.  And she doesn't mind. 

[J&J]

At night, admiral has been out of his crate since 4-5months. I ALSO tried to keep him on the bed with us but he thought UNDER the bed was better. :). Now approaching his 1y birthday, he will snuggle up right behind my legs ...only after my husband gets up for work. :) ... A few times he's made an exception and will sleep on the bed with both of us, but those have been rare occasions :)

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Quincy starting sleeping in our bedroom during Hurricane Sandy-so he was about 5 months. We kept the door closed at night, then a gate to keep him upstairs (which we still do).  We rarely crated him when we were home, even when he was small, but did block him into the kitchen den.  At Christmas time, we took the gates down and he has free roam when we are home.  That being said, I always have a sense of where he is-he still raids laundry baskets and bathroom trash.  We work long hours and I do not think he is anywhere near being ready to be left free roam.  He has a dog walker come in about mid way.  He goes into his crate very readily, mostly because that is the only time he gets his cream cheese or peanut butter kong stuffed with treats.  He actually runs into the crate when he sees it!  

I hope the day comes when we can get rid of the big stupid crate, but just not yet.  He turns 9 months next week.  Accidents would not be the reason-he has not done that since he was just a squirt- but I think I concur with the idea to keep him in a safe place and not tempt the chew gene.