# Leaving them alone out of crate



## 2Gingers (Jan 25, 2018)

I would like to read the advice and experience of when others began leaving their Vs alone, uncrated in the house for short periods of time. Jax is only 8 months now, and I know he is too immature to be left alone for even a few minutes. I am wondering, however, when I might begin training him for such a time and how I might do so.

Here is a little background: I work from home full time, so I am always with him. He only sleeps in his crate when he naps (currently twice a day) and goes to sleep at night. I take Jax with me whenever/wherever I can. I do take him to daycare a few times a month for the socialization and so that I can get some work done. Other than those few occasions, I rarely leave him alone outside of the hours he is sleeping, so I fear that I may have been setting us both up for failure. Any training suggestions and tips are welcomed!


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## lilyloo (Jun 20, 2012)

We started leaving our V out of the crate for short periods of time when she was around a year old. However, she had never been a chewer/destroyer of anything -- not even as a puppy. We gated off the bottom of our stairs so she only had access to the lower level of our home, which was just a kitchen and living room. I think the first few times we just ran to the store quickly and slowly increased our time gone from there as we became more comfortable. We also left her crate in the living room with the door open in case she felt more comfortable going in there. 

There are SOME V's who can never be left out of the crate unattended so it really just depends on the dog.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

It really depends on the dog, but it comes down to trust and risk and your tolerance for mischief. You can start by giving him more space in a safe area, like the kitchen, fenced/gated off from the rest of the house and see how it goes.

But recall that if you're using the crate properly, he shouldn't mind be left in it, folks typically feel "Guilty" b/c they know they are leaving them too long or they experience the crate not so much as the dog should, as personal space, but as confinement...which is a human projection. Recall that scene in Coming to America when James Earl Jones admonishes Arsenio Hall that he must be "Punished" by being confined to the Royal Suite in the Waldorf?


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