# When to start letting my V sleep outside of the crate?



## Mcunnin4 (Jan 15, 2013)

Hi all,

My vizsla is almost 5 months old and has slept in his crate since we got him at 10 weeks old. My question is, when should I start the transition from letting him sleep outside of the crate to in the house? He's completely potty trained my fear is him thinking he has too much power and does something while we sleep perhaps...also, when did you start letting your vizsla stay out of the crate while you went away for your job during the day or errands etc? 

Thanks in advance!


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## smurfette (Jan 14, 2013)

Hi Mcunnin4,

Our Vizsla Dugo is also 5 months TODAY  so it seems we are more or less in the same boat ... however, crating is not that common where I'm from (I read about it for the first time in Ceaser's book before getting Dugo) so can't give any tips re crating. 

However, we've always left Dugo in a certain section of the house (3 rooms) from when we started letting him stay for a few hours on his own and until now .. touch wood and kissing a ladybird .... he has not chewed on anything and didn't even pee. His couch and all his toys can be found in these rooms so he has his favourite place to sleep as well as familar chew items. Once or twice he jumped up to steal someting from the counter top (like my shoe) but didn't chew it at all, only slept on it! 

Maybe good to start with leaving him out for short intervals and just pop out to see what he does ... Good Luck!


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

If your pup is used the crate every night and when you leave step one is to leave the crate door open when you are out for a little bit. 

You most likely find that the pup goes into their crate anyway. I would start with this and increase the time over the coming weeks. Then once you can leave the crate door open for three hours while you are out you can then look to leave it open for the night. 

Step two is to remove the crate and put the pups bedding in the same place. 

Every pup is different so if you might find that you have to go back to the crate if they become destructive. Very few pups are destructive after 2 years old but below 2 years of age and you are risking it. That said my Mac stopped using his crate at 9 months and never destroyed a thing. 

Just slowly transition your pup into it. Don't just take the crate away straight away as it at the moment a place of safety for them.


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## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

Mine is still in the crate at 2 yrs old and will probably always be in the crate at night. She likes it there and we get a good nights sleep. This is the only time she is crated now.

As for letting Ruby out of the crate when we leave the house, we waited a while (probably longer than most people). Started when she was a little over a year old. We would start out leaving her for small amounts of time and worked up to it. There is no way I would leave her on her own at 5 months...she was quite the little devil still. We saw a big spike a maturity with Ruby after she was a year old. Also, we had recently renovated our house and did not want to come home to destruction.

Just do some trials and see how it goes but my opinion is to wait a couple more months.


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## Mcunnin4 (Jan 15, 2013)

Thanks everyone! He is able to roam the house freely while we are home at all times just the night time and as we go to work or run errands is when he is left in his crate I will try to slowly transition him as everyone said  

He doesn't destroy furniture (thank god!) but he likes our clothes more so.

He is also scheduled to be fixed at 8-9 months and I'm sure he will calm down even more after that!


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

Mcunnin4 said:


> He is also scheduled to be fixed at 8-9 months and I'm sure he will calm down even more after that!


Careful you will have the forum neuter police down on you 

More seriously, search the forum because there have been some recent threads on this subject and you may want to consider delaying the neutering after you have read them.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Lyra said:


> Mcunnin4 said:
> 
> 
> > He is also scheduled to be fixed at 8-9 months and I'm sure he will calm down even more after that!
> ...


That's right, Lyra...
Had to jump back online... http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,5794.msg43950.html#msg43950
Good post


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Riley was about 7 or 8 months old before we could trust her for *short* periods outside the crate while we were gone. @ over a year we hardly ever crate her when we leave the house.



Mcunnin4 said:


> He is also scheduled to be fixed at 8-9 months and I'm sure he will calm down even more after that!


Nope. I don't know where this idea comes from... our re-home Cooper was neutered at 4 months (before we got him) & he is crazier than all the intact adult Vs I've met. He regularly tries to hump our Riley girl.

Do your pup a favor & let him develop fully (18 months) before you get him neutered.


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## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

Lyra said:


> Mcunnin4 said:
> 
> 
> > He is also scheduled to be fixed at 8-9 months and I'm sure he will calm down even more after that!
> ...


..............................careful Lyra the forum police will snip you..


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## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

On a serious note...Darcy is nearly 2 and when we are out she is in her crate, it's her safe place and she loves it, in an earlier thread last week I mentioned I was going to get Darcy an Igloo to try and ween her out of the crate. I must also mention that Darcy is not in her crate at night as she sleeps in our bed at night...


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