When & how to bring out of crate?

[lilmm]

Zoie is 9 months old and we have always put her in her cage when we leave the house and at night when we go to bed. I would love to leave her out at night and during the day while gone, need some advice on what step to take first and how to do it. Thanks for any info....

 

[apollosdad]

i'd still hold off for a few more months. dogs usually enter adolesence at this time and you don't want to have problems that could be avoided. i'd wait until your dog is about 1 year old before beginning the process of introducing her to free roam of the house. even then, the process should be slow and gradual. the same principle following crate training is used in introducing your dog into the whole house.
you wouldn't buy a large crate and give your new puppy the whole space and expect to be accident free would you? of course not. you would section off a smaller area of the crate for your puppy to have and gradually increase the amount of area she is given over time. well that is the same way you should introduce your dog into your home. start off by giving her only a small room in the house to be left alone in. also keep in mind to start off slow and only leave her alone in that specific room for small increments of time. owners often make the mistake of giving their dogs too much room too quickly, which can sometimes be a big shock to their dogs, and cause them to have housebreaking accidents due to the anxiety of feeling all alone in a huge house. keep in mind to start off slow and take things gradually.

 

[Roxy_girl]

My DH without my knowledge left Bear out of his crate (the run of the whole house)when we went to work one day which should have only been 6 hours but my car had broke down and i had to wait till he got off work to get the car fixed. Bear ended up ALONE for 10 hours !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he totaly shreded the couch.

 

[Jan]

You could probably give Zoie freedom at night, as long as she is confined to your bedroom. If you don't want her sleeping on your bed with you, you need to make sure that she has a very comfy bed to sleep on and be prepared to keep putting her back on it. I would also pick up anything that she could chew and of course make sure that the closet doors are closed.

Good luck!

 

[kassa]

I usually start off being loose in the bedroom at night/early morning. On weekends we're out at 5-6 am and then breakfast, then out again and I come upstairs and try to sleep another hour or two. That's a good time to let a puppy up. So long as the pup will lie down and sleep, they stay out. Once they hop off the bed, it's back in the crate (Mother needs her rest!) Works better in winter as I can shut the bedroom door and it's darker in the early hours, so the dogs want to nestle and stay put.

Likewise, nighttime is good, because I've found that once they settle in for the night, they do tend to stay in one place (assuming your bedroom isn't full of fun distractions).

My pup is going to be 1 in a couple of weeks and only now am I leaving her loose while I shower or run upstairs to get something or downstairs to do laundry (usually she'll follow me, but before I made her come with me or put her in the crate).

I don't tend to trust them with the run of the house when I'm not home until age 3-4.

 

[jray]

Oskar is 2 and a half and we still kepp him in his crate. He loves his crate and I know he is safe. We do occationally let him sleep with us but he ends up back downstairs in his crate on his own!:rolleyes:

 

[lilmm]

Thanks for Info!!!

Thankyou all for the GREAT advice I will not try this just yet and when I do I will use all the great info that you all have given me. I just would like to say again how great this site is,I really enjoy getting on here & looking at all the beautiful pics. and reading all the wonderful information that is on here.

 

[mmichaelson]

We are planning on waiting until Sam is around 15 months old before starting. . .just to make sure puberty has passed.