More crate/freedom questions...

[Laura & Chewie]

Chewie is six month now and quite reliable with the potty training. He hasn't had an accident in at least 6 weeks, but still doesn't seem to have a definite way of telling us he needs to go out. He will go to the door and look back at us, but if I am not in that part of the house, I obviously don't see him at the door. I make sure he goes out at least every 2-3 hours and he usually "goes" immediately showing me he knows to hold it until outside. At night he's good for easily 9-10 hours.

He is crated at night and when I leave for errands during the day, out to dinner, etc...not longer than 2-3 hours...some days not at all. He also has an x-pen that I used to use when I was home, but couldn't keep an eye on him, but I rarely use it anymore. I did leave him in it a couple times when I knew I wouldn't be gone longer than an hour. Twice he "escaped", but did nothing wrong in the house.

I would love to take the x-pen down. I would also like to let him sleep out of his crate at night (in my room with door closed), but don't know how I know he's ready for that. I would probably still have to crate him if I'm out during the day as my home is a very open floor plan and the only rooms I would be able to close off to him would be bedrooms and bathrooms and I don't know if that is too much freedom at this age.

Sorry for such a long post...how did you know when your dog was ready for more freedom?

[Gina and Finn]

I am interested in this too. Finn is almost 8 months and we kept his crate in our room at night.We started just leaving the crate door open but closing the bedroom door when he was around 5 months and now we just leave both open. He stays in until we get up and stay up in the morning. He also likes to crawl in during the day if he has followed me upstairs. We put his crate in the kitchen if we leave him alone during the day or evening and close it. I think we will keep that up for a while. It is not his potty issue I am afraid of but what he might get into if he is bored and unsupervised. So many things I don't think I would anticipate that could hurt him.

[Libby & Bentley]

I too am wondering about this..Bentley is 5 months old..and I think he's ready for some increased freedom, but not sure how much

[Sandy]

Toby is 15 months old. He still sleeps in his crate, door closed, at night. It's in our room. I can't see that ever changing. He doesn't mind, and I think it just tells him he needs to be quiet and still, and can get up when we get up.

I started leaving him out for short periods of time when he was one. If we are out more than about 1 1/2 hours, I crate him (I have a second crate downstairs). I, too, would worry about boredom, and how he might try to solve that problem.... :)

[Missi]

For Lizzie it was trial and error. She never took to her crate very well, even though every other dog I've had loves theirs. She is 11 months old and stays out in the house when we are asleep but not home alone. When I started, she was completely reliable in the house when I was awake and around, even if I couldn't keep an eye on her constantly. I started with when I was taking a nap, or knew it would only be a short while. First in just my room, and then in the house. If the house was safe, we tried for longer. The few times I found accidents, we went backwards and back to her kennel. She probably would be fine when we're not home, but I too fear when she is bored. We have a big fenced in back-yard with covered porch that she she stays on most of the time when the weather's nice, so she doesn't mind.

[Dan, Judi, & Timbow]

We keep Timbow crated during the day while we're gone because I just feel like he's safer in there. We did start letting him sleep on the floor in our room when he was about 5 months though and he's been great. We started out keeping our door closed to make sure he could be trusted with no accidents, but now he can roam at night and normally prefers to sleep on the wood floors in the hallway because it's cooler. He is happier and we are happy. You could do a trial run with chewie sleeping on your floor to see if he's ready. :)

[Debbie and Thomas]

We let our doodle loose in our house by the time he was 5 mths. and at night soon after. He never touched anything in the house-just slept. My husband is a big softy when it comes to this and now when he complains about the 85 pounder lying on his legs at night I just look at him with that I told you so expression in my eyes. It's funny- there is lots of room on my side of the bed!

[Kyoko]

Charlie is 10 months and still sleeps in her crate with door closed in my room. I don't really see a need to change this right now, since it is working out fine from the day 1, and she seems to be comfortable being in there. She is also crated if I am gone for more than an hour. When I am gone for a short period of the time and/or home but can't keep an eye on her, she is in her little corner section of our living room. I bought this self-standing baby gate, and sectioned out a part of the living room. It works out great and I think it is sturdier and useful than excercise pen. It can turn into an octagon shape pen, straight gate for longer opening, or use for sectioning areas. Right now, I find it to be for her own sake, since she tends to find random stuff to chew and play with. I don't want her to chew/ eat stuff that can cause problems.... My older Chow roamed free from the day he came to us at 9 months old. He never chewed anything or any other concerns if he was left alone unattended free in the house. I think it's just a different personality, too.....

[Annie OG]

Rico is 5 months and he still sleeps in his crate with the door closed at night and he likes it, no problem. He is a BIG TIME chewer so mostly he stays in whatever room I'm in during the day and is crated when I leave. He has taken a corner off of the kitchen rug while I was making coffee--just one gulp and it was gone! Not sure if the chewing ever stops??

[Julie B.]

Every dog is different and I think the only way to figure this out is trial and error... I just got done raising my son's goldendoodle pup until he was 6 months old (long story...). Anyway I found that I could leave him out of his crate around 5 months old for 1-2 hours at a time. The first few times I did it, I was outside doing yardwork etc. and I would just sneak a peek to see how he was doing. I would also leave a Kong out that had frozen kibble in it to keep him busy if he wanted to chew something. It really helps if you have a smaller room that you can contain him in but if not you have to shut off as much of the house as possible and see what happens. I also had another dog and I think she helped to keep him "good". I guess the signs that I looked for to show that he was ready to stay out of the crate were; he always chose his toys to play with, not shoes rugs etc. When following me around the house he was pretty quiet and non destructive. He had learned how to learn... he was doing his sits, stays and downs with regularity.