How to leave puppy home for 3 hours or less?

[Nikki]

We are totally baffled by Botti's traumatic response to the crate. He, totally, freaks out. Bites the bars to the point that he has bent them. He is fine sleeping on the floor at night but if I need to go out during the day, I can't leave him alone so, it's either doggie daycare or he goes to the office with Michael. This has been going on since he arrived at nine weeks--we are in month seven. I have tried the following: treats, blankets over crate, in the crate, a piece of our clothing, tick tock clock, music, tv, toys. And we sent him to obedience school with my one goal of the program to be that Botti would go in the crate--not happening. So, if the crate does not work for when we need to go out to dinner, grocery etc ie no longer than 3 hours how do I go about training Botti to stay home alone/unsupervised? Any thoughts or suggestions will be much appreciated:))

[BG and Gavin]

Are you able to make a safe room for him?  We used the bathroom (with all chewables put up) and put a baby gate across the doorway.  Do you think he would react better to that kind of set up? 

[Nikki]

We tried that and he got himself so upset that he threw up and turned on the bathtub:) So, I am thinking of putting him in the exercise room where there really is not much that he can destroy. Is there something bigger than a baby gate? He might jump it. Did it take a long time to leave your dog free in the house or do you always use the safe room? Thank you so much for responding!! 

[BG and Gavin]

How big is he Nikki?

We were lucky as Gavin was ok with the crate but was getting so big, we worried about his comfort, so transitioned him out of it at 6 months.  We started by letting him be out of the crate at night in our room and gradually gave him more and more space by using the baby gate to section off areas of the house.  Our gate was spring loaded so we set it up in the doorway about 8 inches off the floor (not enough to crawl under) which made it taller so he could not jump over it.  However, if your guy is fretting, this may not be a safe option for you as he may and try to squeeze under the gate and godforbid get caught.

[Nikki]

That is a great idea! Botti is getting pretty tall-he weighs about 38 pounds so I don't think he will get caught if we leave some space between the floor and the bottom of the gate. What is an exercise pen? At this point, we are willing to try anything!

I adore this puppy but I am feeling like I have a baby-every outing is a logistical problem dealing with the dog. Our work schedules are revolving around who is taking Botti and we are not able to do anything social that Botti can't attend. Thank you so much for the suggestions:)

[BG and Gavin]

Check out this discussion - lots of good advice in here including my best material :)

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/still-dealing-with-separat...

[Emily, Jace, & Maggie Devers]

This is a random picture I got off google, this is the basic one but there are nicer ones, some bigger, some smaller, some cloth with roofs, there are different varieties!:)

the one we got for maggie is kind of smaller but they have them on amazon for a pretty decent price, I ordered hers on tuesday and itll be here tomorrow! 

[Emily, Jace, & Maggie Devers]

have you considered an exercise pen? We've already purchased one for maggie in case the crate is a complete disaster. Of course.... If he's getting big by now he may just knock it over or jump it.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Maybe you should take him for a really long walk or run and drain all the energy before you go out.  Then he will be tired and hopefully sleep.   I would feed him daily in the crate and make it a happy place after a while he will associate the crate with good things not with bad because crate means you leaving to him now.  I would put him in the crate for like 30 seconds a number of times a day and then work up longer periods etc. etc.   I would also put some lavender sent which is calming around the crate of a bit on his crate pad.  Don't give up... you can do it, it just takes time.

[Nikki]

After speaking with another doodle owner who had the same crate issues-we threw in the towel:) Maybe we are bad parents but until he matures a little more we have decided that if we need to attend an evening function, we will hire a babysitter. We were probably the ones who should have gone to obedience school:)) Thank you for all of the great suggestions!!

[Heather & Brinkley]

Brinkley was like this. We stopped crating and kept him in our sunroom (temp controlled). He only did well in this room because he could see us leave and could see us arrive home. To this day we still have to walk out a door where he can see us drive off or he freaks. Now he had full run of the house (different house) but he still watches us leave.

[Pat and Traveler]

There was a period of time when I put Trav in the bathroom.  I don't think I had a crate at the time.  I put everything out of reach that he could destroy or chew--and even though he didn't like it--whined and barked--it worked.  He got free run of the house fairly early--can't remember exactly when--and he's always been fine alone in the house.  I started that by leaving him while I walked around the house or did something else for just a few minutes and gradually extended the time.  He's always really hated to be confined--but alone in the house or car is okay.   I just leave without paying any attention to him.  He has accepted that sometimes he goes with me and sometimes he doesn't.  Actually, he was never crated as a puppy--he slept on a towel by the bed and I had a puppy pen for the times when I just didn't want him underfoot. 

[Leah Olson & Kona]

We set up Kona in our laundry room when he was a puppy, also using a baby gate. He was content in there when we left him and that's also where he went during meal times. He could still see us, but he knew that was his room while we eat. When he was about 1.5 years we slowly let him have more freedom when we went out. We started for just testing him for short durations. Adding more time every few weeks. He never got into a single thing! 

Hope you find something that works!

Leah