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I have a 7-month-old dog. She's only crated on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesday for no more than 4-5 hours at a time (I come home to walk her and let her eliminate mid-day). She's outside of her crate for probably 90%—if not 100%—of the day on every other day.
Is it too early to train her to be outside of the crate unsupervised while we're gone? I'm not too concerned about having to come home to let her out, but I think she'd like to be able to move around and play a bit during the day instead of being confined to a crate. We've done a couple of test runs and she always winds up getting into something (cardboard boxes and paper products are her favorites).
I'm wondering if I could puppy-proof our spare room and give her the run of that. I'm worried that she'll get anxious being confined to a space that isn't her crate, though, and wind up destroying something.
Anyone have any tips for me? Should I just wait until she's out of her puppy phase and try in a few months?
--- EDIT: Mods, can you move this to the Dogs section, please?
Last edited by arjo; 08-06-2014 at 12:36 PM..
Reason: Note to move to Dogs section
She might be OK at that age. How is she generally when she's out in the house and you're in another room? If she's chewing things and getting in to mischief then she's probably not ready. I think I'd try it in stages. Get a baby/pet gate and leave her for 5-10 minutes while you go drive around the block, gradually increase the time you leave her if she's doing well with the shorter periods. If she's not then I'd leave her in the crate until she's older and then try again.
It really depends on the dog. Some dogs are fine to leave out at that age and some you can't trust even when they're several years old.
I never heard of training a dog to be outside of the crate. What you are doing works. Our dogs, seniors, enjoy being in their crates and stay in there when we leave the house even though the door is open. It is a cozy place and safe. You have some time before your dog is out of the destructive phase and I am sure you realize the damage that could be done. If more people stuck with crating, we wouldn't have so many 7 month to 2 year old dogs at the pound.
Make gradual steps in the direction of leaving her loose while you're away. Practice short absences building gradually to longer stretches. Puppy proof a room or part of the house - if there is nothing for her to get into, she won't get into anything. Leave safe, long lasting chew items to keep her happy and occupied. It's helpful to choose a part of the house in which she is already quite comfortable. You mentioned trying the spare room - if she is never in there and doesn't already have a positive association with that room it could end up causing anxiety if you leave her in there alone. Might want to start hanging out with her in that room regularly before making it "her room". Play and cuddle in there, give treats, build a really pleasant association with that space. You can tie her crate door open (or remove the door) and put the crate in that area for her to use as a cozy den. If she does well with that we can expand the amount of space to which she has access.
Set up a camera and film her while you're away in order to assess her state of mind - is she relaxed and napping or anxious and pacing / panting - this will help you determine whether she is more comfortable loose or crated.
Don't set your dog up to fail. You already said she gets into stuff. Leaving here in a completely empty room doesn't seem to me to be a very positive environment for her. She will find something to chew- even if it the corners on walls.
Jazz was my only destructive puppy and while she was crate trained and loved her crate I did not keep her in it while I was at work, reason being I work only 3 days a week but they are 12 hr night shifts and there was no way I would have been able to find someone to come over to let her out in the middle of the night. I do have a pet door that goes out to a fenced patio but even as a puppy she would jump a 6ft fence to try to find me so I had to figure out how to prevent that. I ended up setting up an Ex Pen with a top on it on the patio and left a side opened up to my sliding patio door and the pet door. Thus she could go out to pee or poop but could not go over the fence and other animals could not get in my pet door. I live in a town house so I puppy proofed downstairs and moved things I thought she might get into upstairs and closed the doors to the upstairs rooms . I hid bones stuffed with food for her to find. She loved boxes and I had an endless supply so I would leave a box for her and if she was frustrated she would shred the box but that did beat having her shred my couch or a chair or chewing the walls( I have a friend who's dog chewed through a wall). In the beginning I made the mistake of leaving things such as books in my bookcase well she shredded books and destroyed a few things on the shelves so then I really made it puppy proof and just furniture was left down stairs, I even had to put baby locks on kitchen cabinets as yes she would open them and pull things out
Most of the dogs I have had I got as adults and had no problems with them and after Jazz I said I would never get a small puppy again well 3 yrs ago I got Chaos who was 12 weeks yet she really never had a destructive phase and was such an easy puppy, house trained to the pet door right away . The first few weeks I set up a 2nd pet door with an old one I had replaced as I have two sliding doors that go out to that fenced patio so I put a wire crate inside my house.The crate door opened to one pet door and divided the patio in half with the ex-pen used as fencing instead of a pen so Chaos coud be in the crate inside but go outside to half the patio and thus see the other two dogs yet they too could go outside and she could not come inside to run free but within a few weeks I realized she was not a destructive puppy so she had free run of the downstairs . I really did not have to puppy proof as much but Chaos had Phoenix and Dazzle to keep her in line. The first few months Jazz did have Maddie but she was too old and sick and the puppy annoyed her and she let the Jazz know it so Jazz hung out more with my cat, who could be quite a trouble maker herself!
Introducing new things should be gradual, step by step and supervised. You may also install a camera to monitor what she does while you are away.
Don't forget she is in her teenage days and may get unruly, regardless of cage.
No Training they EARN the right to be free! When they learn Leave IT & I don't have to watch them like a hawk when they are out of the crate then I start trusting them to behave when I go to mail box laundry room or short shopping trips. When I can trust them Not to eat my Books... Katies vice LOL Then I toss the crate. Its called Baby Steps. Freedom from the crate IS the reward!
I never leave my dogs alone out of a crate. I don't get the reasoning over leaving them unattended to get into mischief. My dogs go in their crates to nap on their own they do not look at them as a cage but their own personal *dog cave*
Thanks for all of the suggestions! She definitely does like her crate, I just feel bad keeping her locked-up for long periods of time (even if she can control her bowels).
It seems like the consensus it to gradually get her used to a dedicated space (spare room). I'm going to start spending some time with her in there and building a positive association and see if she takes to it. I'll start by leaving her when I go grocery shopping or to the gym, anything from about 30-60 minutes, and see how it works.
@k9coach: Good call on the long-lasting chew toys. I'll see what I can find that'll keep her busy, safely.
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