# Do you leave your V out of the crate when you arent home?



## Dillon152

So, Mylen is 15 months old now and before leaving the house today I decided that today would be the day that I let her have free roam of the house while I was gone.... I was gone for a little over a hour. When I got home my house was destroyed! Garbage everywhere, shoeboxes chewed to bits! decorative flowers all mangled up! Whne i Iwalked into the house she RAN to her cage and wouldn't come out for 20 minutes... she knew she was in trouble!

So do any do you let your V have free range of the house while you arent home? If so, at what age were you able to finally trust her/him??


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## Ksana

We have started leaving our boy out of the crate about a month and a half ago; he is nine months old. We tried to spy on him and he either asleep on the couch or looking out the window waiting for us to come back. We, however, try not to set him for failure (f.e., there is no food left on the kitchen table, etc.) He actually did worse when he was confined to one room only (our first try to leave him on his own).


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## FLgatorgirl

Another forum member, cannot recall if it was Datacan or maybe RBD said they did not leave the Vs out of the crate at any age because they did not want them making adult decisions. I thought that was pretty funny, but also accurate!! My husband says keeping the dog in the crate is just keeping a good dog honest. 

Ellie has been in the house for maybe 15 minutes or so out of the crate on random occasions since she was about 9 months old. Never any issue, but I think she is just watching out the window in that time. She has not had enough time to start any mischief. I think we will most likely stick with the crate indefinitely. Our girly is super smart and needs to be entertained. I can see her getting into trouble making up new games. On the same note, our regular playdate who is only crated at night has learned how to turn on the dishwasher at his house this week!! Apparently, he really gets a kick out of it and is doing it constantly.


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## hobbsy1010

Leave at your own peril !!!!!!!

http://hodj.smugmug.com/photos/i-Sf9K8xG/0/XL/i-Sf9K8xG-XL.jpg

Hobbsy : :-\


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## MilesMom

Miles (almost 2) started sleeping out of his crate at 4 months and staying out of crate while I am at work when he was 8 months. 

Chase (6 months) stays in crate at night still because he and Miles would wrestle all night and we wouldn't get any rest! He stays out of crate for short durations (1 hour or less). 

BUT..... our Vizslas are odd in the fact that they don't eat our stuff. Our garbage is in it's own closet so they can't get it, but they don't counter surf and leave our shoes/ furniture/ baseboard etc alone. 

The only incident we have had is Miles chewed our coffee table. We were home though, and the power went out and in during the time it took us to light some candles and get some flashlights he had likely become anxious and chewed. 

Before leaving for work Miles gets a 7 mile off leash run. I leave him with 2-3 puzzle toys as well. I imagine he plays with his toys for about 30 min then heads upstairs to his cave bed and to patrol the neighborhood by watching out the windows.


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## Rufus Tiberius

Leave at your own peril !!!!!!!

I did leave my third V alone in the house ONE time! When we returned the house was a shambles and almost cost me my marriage. When all was said and done it cost us over $10,000 to repair and/or replace what he destroyed. He was NEVER left alone in the house again. 

Whenever we left he was either in his crate or outside with our Lab, (we could leave the Lab alone in the house). Learned a very expensive lesson.

With RT, when Ken lets me have him , he either sleeps in his crate or in bed with me. Always in his crate when I am away.

RT


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## Carolina Blue

Sounds like separation anxiety. Kiya has it, but if I leave her out of the crate she is much better. Try to leave him for a bit with a Kong stuffed with peanut butter, regular food and some sort of 'surprise' at the bottom. That will keep him busy for a while and then maybe take a nap until you get back.


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## Ksana

MilesMom said:


> Miles (almost 2) started sleeping out of his crate at 4 months and staying out of crate while I am at work when he was 8 months.
> 
> Chase (6 months) stays in crate at night still because he and Miles would wrestle all night and we wouldn't get any rest! He stays out of crate for short durations (1 hour or less).


Sounds like there should be an individual approach and there is no magic age at what a Vizsla may be left on its own. Some do well and others don't do very well when not crated. An owner probably is the one who knows/ senses the best what is good for their Vizslas.


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## MCD

Glad all of this has been said. Dharma is 6 months old. She sleeps in our bed with us with the door closed no problem and has for quite some time. If we put her in the crate she will dig to China and soil her crate. Yet she eats in her crate and will come and go as she pleases from it as long as it is not closed. So far when left loose the only thing she has destroyed is a dollar store ornamental reindeer. Maybe still too young to totally trust..... but sometimes I don't think she will ever get the crate thing down. I also hate doing it to her now because of what happens.


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## Kafka

Kafka was about 13months when left home alone without being crated. She just goes to sleep and seems calmer when we get home than when she has been crated. I still crate her sometimes if there's lots of stuff around the house that I don't want her to get to.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to leave her alone for ten minutes first and then slowly increase the time, just like with crate training.
However, if leaving her in her crate went well and your v seemed happy with the old system, maybe just stick with that.


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## Dillon152

She has never had any issues with her crate, in fact all i have to do is say the word "cage" and she gladdly goes running into her cage! But, I do feel bad that she has to be in her cage while I'm at work... I do have a pet watcher come and let her out on my days I work, but i still feel bad! And I bought a new doggie door for her to have free access to outside... 
I have previously left her out before <only for 20 minutes or so< and she was sleeping on the couch when I got home, I guess a couple hours is too much for her!


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## Darcy1311

Darcy is now 2 years of age and still loves her cage, I now leave the door open for her to give her asses to the living room when I go to work, but when I come home at lunch time she is happily asleep in her cage....I don't think that I will ever be able to remove the cage completely as she finds it her safe little sanctuary..


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## mswhipple

It has been my experience that you can usually trust a dog after the age of two. ("They chew 'til they're two!")

I don't own a crate.


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## Darcy1311

Darcy chewed up until 18 months, but I was more worried for her welfare as she dives around the house like a lunatic, I wanted to keep her safe more than any thing else.


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## Denethor

We've been leaving Seiya out of his crate and building up the amount of time he spends alone. He's 8 months now, but behaves remarkably well when home, supervised or unsupervised. We left the iPad out the first few times to record what he would get up to, and all he does is lay down for a nap, look out the window and sit at the door waiting for us to get back home. He even ignores his Kong!

We've done half a day last week, he did make a lot of grunting noises when i got back, like he was telling me "you left me alone for soooo long, how dare you". 

I just make sure he is tired out before we leave him, as the saying goes "a sleepy Vizsla, is a happy Vizsla" ;D


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## CatK

Morris can be left for about 4 hours at a time and he's 7 months, we've been doing this for about a month. He gets walked plenty and left with a buster cube of food, and a stuffed kong, and a kong jack with the biscuits stuck into it. The only things he seems to destroy if he's not tired enough are his own toys! As he gets older I'm increasing his morning exercise to ease the buzz of energy he wakes up with. The crate was great for when he was younger, and I still frequently come home to find him asleep in it with the door open, but I'm really happy he's out of it now.


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## born36

Mac over 2 years old but he has been out of the crate since 9months. He is great and to date has never destroyed a thing. We even have a free standing bin in the kitchen and he has never even tried to tip it or get into it. Saying that I have accidentally left a block of cheese (amongst other things) on the kitchen work top and he didn't touch that either. He is a genius about things like this and I think I have taken it for granted and now feel great having reflected on it. 

Different dogs are different but the main thing is to build up the trust.


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## drew3308

I can't even walk into my garage or be on the other side of the fence without Chevy barking. She does great in her crate while I am at work, I cannot imagine leaving her out of it. She would destroy everything. She got out when she was about 7 months, lets just say she managed to get onto the kitchen counter....


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## mlg1900

We do not leave the house without crating our 9 month old. I see it as a permanent situation. Nothing wrong with it. And this way I won't come home to any problems.


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## harrigab

Ruby has never been crated, I used to leave her in the kitchen when nobody was home. Gave her free run of the house at about 8 months old. Apart from the occasional slipper or sock everything has remained intact


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## tknafox2

I have been leaving Fergy out of his pen ( he was never crated), since he was 4 mo. I have baby gates that block access to the area of the house I don't what him in. I keep dog beds in the two main rooms the dogs frequent, and that is where they tend to stay. They can go through the dog door to outside at will. He is not destructive at all, most of the mischief is done by my old Bloodhound, searching for a snack. At 5 mo. old now, I would not like to leave them for extended periods, with out exercise. Even though he can go out and run on his own (which he does) He might choose to pester Pearl instead, and I don't like them roughhousing without supervision. She is very tolerant, and he can get really nasty, and then she chases him ( which he loves) like a bull in the china closet!


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## haefen

Yes. She's been completely trustworthy since she was 11 months (she's two now), and she's always been more interested in the attention that making mischief gets her than in destroying things, so there's no way she would "waste" an opportunity to get attention on a time when I'm not home... 

I do always leave her with either bones or a frozen kong so that she'll have something to entertain herself with.


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## FrancoD13

Over the last month or two we have started leaving Bryce out of his crate when we leave the house. he is 18 months now. Never an issue. He sleeps in his cozy cave, and during the day he is home with my wife who is working from home. We put him in his crate a couple hours a day, but he goes in there by himself for feedings or naps. Whenever we leave him home alone, he goes into his crate. We are very lucky, we can leave trash out, slippers you name it and he has never touched a thing. We were very hesitant about leaving him out alone, but he has been great so we are slowly giving him more and more time. Of course we try to make sure he is exercised if it is going to be a long time.


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## lilyloo

I've actually decided that Ruby is better behaved left out of the crate while we are gone than she is when we are home! Hah.

The only "bad" thing she does is immediately curl up on the couch. She isn't allowed on the furniture. It hasn't increased her attempts to get on the couch when we ARE home, so we're fine with it. We've been leaving her out of the crate for short amounts of time for a few months (She's 1.5 years old) but I am hoping to eventually get rid of the crate all together. I think she'd be fine for long periods of time, just haven't tested it out yet.


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## Vizsla Baby

We leave all 3 of our dogs out when we aren't home. Two V's & a dachshund. 

We've had one counter surfing episode (our fault for leaving it out!) and our almost 14 year old dachshund sometimes has accidents (old age symptom, when he's gotta go, he's GOTTA go!). 

Otherwise, we have no problems. They just sleep I guess.


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## FrancoD13

I must have jinxed myself. one day after writing a post to this thread saying how Bryce has been great outside of the crate, when we came home the yesterday he had a Xmas tree santa ornament in his mouth. No damage, but he was all proud of himself. Amazing he didn't knock the tree over.


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## Ksana

Ksana said:


> We have started leaving our boy out of the crate about a month and a half ago; he is nine months old. We tried to spy on him and he either asleep on the couch or looking out the window waiting for us to come back. We, however, try not to set him for failure (f.e., there is no food left on the kitchen table, etc.) He actually did worse when he was confined to one room only (our first try to leave him on his own).


Remember, I mentioned our boy did not do well when he was confined to one room only? Well, what happened, our boy by accident (trying to get out) locked himself in. The key was nowhere to be found and all I could think about was my boy knew I could not get to him and he was scared! The next is history: command was given to my Vizsla boy (step aside, this door is going down. He understood, my smart boy!) and to my husband (kick that thing down, NOW!) Well, that room happened to be our son's bedroom and he needed his door (yes, I asked him if he was sure about this). The first challenge was to get the door to our house (mam, do you know the delivery will cost you three times the cost of this door? Yes, I know this and my next car will not be a sedan.) Next challenge: the doors they make now, do not fit! The house is only a few decades old, seriously? 1/2'' had to be cut off from two sides, holes needed to be made for a new lock, etc. I painted today while my husband and my Vizsla boy were out for a walk (I could not ask for more than an hour; it is a Canadian winter in here!). So if nobody touches the freshly painted door/ walls for some time, we are good. The project was complete just few days before my son is home for Christmas. The lesson is learned: my boy does better when he is free in the house.


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## 1notenough

We gave our dogs crates,mostly for when we were not at home. One of our dogs hated his crate and the other one loved it. Each dog will respond differently,so trial and error are the only way to find out what works for your dog. Our Vizslas were out of the crate by twelve months, our kitchen trash can is now relegated to the bathroom.


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## CatK

Ksana said:


> command was given to my Vizsla boy (step aside, this door is going down. He understood, my smart boy!) and to my husband (kick that thing down, NOW!)


That reminds me of when we accidently locked Morris in the car when he was only about 4 months. It was a summer evening, so not hot but warm and I was panicking. The spare car key was in the house, and the house keys were in the car. We called breakdown and they couldn't break into our car (great news normally, but not good when there's a puppy in there!). The car was new and my other half's baby, he and the recovery guy went to try to see if the house was easier to break into than the car, and my OH gave me a stern look before he left and said 'no breaking windows' (the car was new and his baby). Bad luck for him MY baby was inside his baby and I was already eyeing up large enough rocks and a heavy looking bootscraper outside a nearby front door which I could bash through a car window if M started panting...

Luckily for Morris, the car, and my relationship the breakdown guy was willing to climb into our house's top window to get the spare car key and they got back before I did anything drastic.

I know you'd have all been on my side if things had gone differently... :


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## Ksana

CatK said:


> Ksana said:
> 
> 
> 
> command was given to my Vizsla boy (step aside, this door is going down. He understood, my smart boy!) and to my husband (kick that thing down, NOW!)
> 
> 
> 
> I know you'd have all been on my side if things had gone differently... :
Click to expand...

Absolutely. All those material things could be replaced, but your V is priceless.


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## Laika

Text from my girlfriend this afternoon: Don't freak out when you get home, the house may be destroyed.

Me: What did you do? :-\

gf: Laika wouldn't go in her kennel 

gf: I even took her to the park to play and run this morning. I left her out. :-[ 

Me: If I have a heart attack walking through the front door I am holding you responsible ... I'm a little scared. 

gf: Take pictures!

Well, I walked through the front door and all I saw was one very exuberant puppy, and a house that looked exactly like it was left. Not a thing out of place.  8)

I don't know if this will become a daily thing, (I will need to see many repeats before I feel easy about it) but her first day home alone went very well. 

I think she probably spent most of the day curled up in her chair, getting down only to chew on her kong and bone.


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## Scooter

I notice lots of people leave their dogs inside is this because there is no fencing?? we left scooter with an open crate in the kitchen after making it scooter proof. as she got older we started leaving the kitched door open into the courtyard and small garden. We always left her with puzzle balls with her lunch in, frozen kongs etc, we also made a 'dig pit" and buried stuff although she did prefer buying in the plant pots, a piece of wire fixed this. the swing set no longer has a seat, but at 7 months now she is doing less desctructive stuff and is always asleep in outside kennel when i get home.


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## Ksana

Scooter said:


> I notice lots of people leave their dogs inside is this because there is no fencing?? we left scooter with an open crate in the kitchen after making it scooter proof. as she got older we started leaving the kitched door open into the courtyard and small garden. We always left her with puzzle balls with her lunch in, frozen kongs etc, we also made a 'dig pit" and buried stuff although she did prefer buying in the plant pots, a piece of wire fixed this. the swing set no longer has a seat, but at 7 months now she is doing less desctructive stuff and is always asleep in outside kennel when i get home.


We have a fenced yard; however, we feel he is safer inside the house. There are stories out there about Vizslas jumping over the fences or dogs stolen from the backyards.


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## texasred

I have a 6 ft. fence and two gates (1 is padlocked) you would have to go through to get into my backyard, and I don't leave them loose in the backyard if I'm gone. I do have a outdoor kennel with a concrete floor and top if I want to leave them out, its get padlocked too.


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## mlwindc

We just started leaving w out. Started with 2-3 hours in the morning before his walker came and then, in the afternoons too. Today we went on a four mile run and I left him out from 3-7:30. House spotless and he was happy to see us. We have no yard so outside isn't an option. Fwiw, we started with 15-20 mintrips to the grocery store and graduated to lunch to 2-3 houra


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