How long until Dog can be out of the kenel most of the time when we're home?

[Rick Smith]

We have a 6 1/2 month old Goldendoodle (Jake) and we take him out of the kenel throughout the day to play with him, train him, take him to potty, etc...

If we leave him out he goes all over the place...jumping on stuff, people, etc....being way to rowdy, chewing things, sometimes pottying in the house (although this is getting much better)..

So we have to keep a close eye on him when he is out of the kenel. We'd like to leave him out to hang out in the house during the day like our other (older) dogs....Is there a certain age when he is able to hang out in the house most of the day instead of being in the kenel? 

Any advice / feedback is welcome. Thanks!

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

oops...lol...I meant that he was in the bathroom not IN the actual shower.  :)

[Adina P]

Totally depends on the dog. Boca is still crated when not somewhat supervised...at least gated off in the mudroom. Small house with small kids that can quickly distribute toys over every walking surface means dogs must be corralled more than i would like. Rooms can change to not-so-dog-friendly VERY quickly in my house.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

• Out of the crate
• Potty in the yard
• Exercised with a Frisbee or ball for 10 mins
• In house to be with us
• back out to play ball
• in house with us
• back out to play ball
• Only crated when I was not home

FOUR MONTHS.  Is that what you are asking?

Exercise is your friend  :)

Run the dog, every hour for ten minutes,  and then you will find him by your side resting.

And I will tell you, I have the most hyper of doodles :)  So, I get what you are asking and I understand what is needed. 

AFTER exercise, start working on the command> LEAVE IT

[Rick Smith]

Lol...ok. I think you are more normal now. :-)

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

I am honestly not really concerned as to whether you think I'm normal or strange.

[Kristi and Mickey Finn]

My doodle is 12 weeks old. I crate him at night, in the car and if we leave for only an hour or two. Other wise he is hangin with us in every room we reside or in his pen (exercise pen) that we set up either in our family room and sometimes in our backyard. He is potty trained and goes out to the deck on the grass. He loves to chew stuff but were playing with him & he has only chewed 1 thing when we weren't' watching him closely. I think I use my pen like you use the crate.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

By this time both of my dogs were out of the kennel for the majority of the day.  Actually at this age I'm thinking they were even out at night, but I'd have to go back to check.  The only time I really needed to crate by the time they were 6 mos was if we were leaving them for a long time...and then it was just be be sure they were safe.  We did a lot of training to get them to this point, but it was worth it.

[Rick Smith]

Yikes. Are you married? Seems like a big dog sleeping in the bes would be difficult on "married life."

:-)

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

if she was married then she probaly would have said "he is one fourth of our family" ?  lol

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

If you didnt want to give your puppy constant supervision why did you get one? Puppies are like babies and you should give them constant attention to teach them right from wrong. Then after they learn what you expect from them they understand their boundaries.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Our dogs were very rarely crated when we were home. I crated Fudge at night for less than than 4 months and Vern only lasted about two weeks. I kept them near me in the house at all times and made sure to give them plenty of exercise so they rested throughout the day. After we stopped crating at night, I kept them in our bedroom with our bedroom door shut at night. They now have free run of the house, except our basement, at all times. I did crate them when we left the house, but even that ended when our youngest dog was about a year old. I can count on one hand the number of accidents they had in the house, because I was a fanatic about taking them out all the time. I don't care what any trainer says, I think the best way to acclimate a dog to your family is to allow the dog to be with your family and not in a kennel. I think once he is out more and everything is not so new, he will calm down in no time. Meanwhile, I agree with Joanne. Exercise is your friend. Good luck!

[Rick Smith]

Lol...loving your dogs don't mean you have to sleep with them.



Same goes for your children. :-)