quick question re: leaving alone in house

[Lmuglia]

Hi all -- can any of you give me some insight as to how old your "kid" was when you left him/her alone in the house for the first time -- UN-crated? I crate my Gracie as she's only 7 months old. But I have to say, I left her alone with a chewie for about an hour the other day and she was still just hanging in the living room (with the door in sight) when I came back, which I thought was a little unusual for a puppy. Then again, I know it's only an hour, so I'm not going to aim too high right now or anything. My friends with a lab waited a year and a half. Your thoughts?

 

[chase2]

Well, I've got an 8 mth old male and a 9 week old female and for a few weeks now I have left them free in the house for small streches of time ( 30 min to 2 hrs) and have not had any problems. The puppy has had 2 accidents but those were due to her being asleep when I left and she woke while I was gone and naturally had to go.

For a long stretch though I still put the dogs in a safe place. I have a good sized kitchen and I baby gate it with the puppy having its own section.

For me, I will gradually give them more time alone in the house and see how they do. If it ever seems like it was too much time I will scale it back again.

So far I have been really lucky because my 8 mth old has really taken on a mama role to the new puppy and he keeps her from getting into too much.
From what I've seen he must do this even when I'm not in sight or home.

Goodluck,
Elizabeth

 

[babydex]

Hard to tell...

Honestly I don't think there's any real set age to do it at. I went by his maturity.

At first when he was younger it was the 3 strikes you're out kinda thing...we'd leave him out for a short stretch and make sure that he had lots of toys to play with. Needless to say he got board or ticked off and would chew other things! I will not give him a bone or chewy unattended...

We went back to crating him. Just in the last recent month we've been letting him stay out for half of the day and then I pick him up at lunch and take him back to work with me. He hasn't thrashed the house yet!! We also leave a little scavenger hunt of treats around the house for him to find and it seems to keep him busy. If he doesn't bother anything else in the house he is rewarded with a treat when we get home!
Good luck I think it's a baby step process!

 

[JMitchl]

I left Harley uncrated in the house at 5 months old. It was for 4 hours and he was left with a new toy that he loved. I did not want to push my luck so I did not try again until last week. Harley is now 12 months old and does great in the house alone from 8AM until 4PM. When I get home I reward him with hugs, kisses, verbal praise and of course a treat (or two). So far so good.... Harley seems to be more of a devil when I am home and not paying attention to him. This is my first Boxer and it is a learning experience. I love him so much.....he is like having a third child!



`Harley~ ( also called Quinnie...not sure why)
Flashy Brindle (born 12/16/03)
I wish I could add a picture but I cannot figure it out!

 

[Roxymyboxy]

Knock on wood....but so far both my 'furbabies' have behaved extremely well when left in the house alone for as long as 4hrs..... I do make sure that there are no temptations left out and about. Close off any rooms that you don't want them to wander into. I always make sure that they have gone potty and don't leave a bunch of water and food down....
I only leave 'safe' toys out, no bones or chew toys that could break off and choke. It is not something I do regularly, only when it is chilly out and I think they would be better off indoors. Luckily they are both "couch potatos"

 

[mancin]

My boys are 7 months and 6 months, and the longest I've left them alone (uncrated) was about an hour. I've done it a few times and most of the time they've been good. This past time I came home to a shredded floor mat. :D
The only time I leave them uncrated is if I have just taken them both outside and won't be gone for long.
I always feel more comfortable crating them... at least for now.

 

[lisabethshaw]

2 years!

Wow! You all have such well behaved boxers! With our first boxer, Brutus, we didn't leave him for more than 2 hours until he was 2 years old! And then we only left him with access to the basement (our family room/offices). Shiva is now just over a year and I can see that he will probably be 2 also.

Just out of curiosity - When one boxer matures enough to be left out in the house and the other is still way too young, what does everyone do? Won't it drive Kali crazy seeing her brother running around? He's such a tease as it is!

 

[Buster2003]

Buster had never stayed alone until we moved. For 15 months be was babysat by my in-laws. Once we moved we decided it was time. We gave him the house, well it was upside down when we got home. I posted a thread on how to get him used to a crate, so we got him a crate and everyday he broke out of it. My brother would go see him at noon and Buster would be hurt from breaking out of his crate.
That was two weeks ago, last week he had my brother only in the afternoon until we got home. This week he's alone til we get home. Monday(day 1) we got home to Buster waiting for us in the kitchen and a clean house. Let me tell you how proud we were of our Boy.
We pick up all that he can get a hold of and leave all the doors open( he opens doors). It took a little patience in the begining but when we leave in the morning i'm not freaking out all day. He's a good boy and we're proud of him.

 

[MyBoySamson]

I really like this thread because I was wondering the same thing. Samson is almost 2 and we leave him out for short occassions. It hasn't been over and hour and half. He just sleeps on the couch and looks out the window. We started leaving him alone in the house when he was about 10 months old, we'd go and mow the grass or go outside with friends etc. Then we started actually leaving, but only for 20-30 minutes. And now its getting longer. We are also mixing it up, like we'll leave for an hour one day, leave for 15 minutes the next, then 30 min etc. So that he doesn't know when we may just come home. Now I know a couch can probably be distroyed in under 10 minutes, but I think he likes it to much

 

[LoganLVR]

We started leaving Logan alone for short periods of time when she was about 10 months, and gradually built up time so that by the time she was a little over a year old, she was mature enough to stay out for the day. I think a lot of it has to do with the dog and their personality. Logan is totally engrossed in wondering when the person left will come home and will pine by the window for hours. We did have a regression when we moved into a new house. Logan chewed off the carpet on the bottom of the stairs and chewed up some laundry. We built a house, so there was a lot of construction going on around outside and we believe she was nervous. So, we crated her again for awhile, until she could feel comfortable in her new home and gradually let her out. She is 3 now, and she stays out no problem. She doesn't touch anything. She mostly stays by her post, looking out the window, or laying in our bed all day.

We did have a boxer puppy last year. He obviously was not ready to be left out, and he stayed in his crate while Logan was out. We put her crate beside his, and I believe she probably laid by him a lot to keep him company. They did fine together.