# Advice and successes of NOT crating when leaving!



## Rhiannon (May 19, 2021)

Hi everyone - first post!

My girl is just coming up to 4 months old and leaving her alone for any time is proving tricky due to her panic at confinement in the crate during any awake time; I know as a breed inherently they’re not keen on being left but I really need to get milk, grab a coffee.. the basics.

*Background:*
She sleeps in the crate at night with the door shut and is ok, sleeps through. 
In the daytime she might chose to curl up there if we’re in the same room as the crate; if she’s sleepy and snuggled she’s happy for us to leave the room and potter about the house. If she’s awake.. not so much, she whines and yaps so teaching ‘settle’ is right up there on our list right now. 
She enjoys crate games and has all her meals in there, but building up time with the door shut up just isn’t sticking.. she panics, so I feel like confinement might be the issue. 

If I’m honest I’d rather her not be cooped up in the crate, after all she has spent the night there. 

Does anyone have any *success* stories for leaving a Vizsla pup uncrated in the daytime whilst you go out? I need some reassurance that it can work as the general advice EVERYWHERE is crate crate crate. Obviously I’d like my house not to be wrecked so I would limit her space to the kitchen and hallway. Any tips?

Thank you.


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## TrumpetBlast (Jun 27, 2020)

We had every intention of crate training, but then I made the 'mistake' of staying with her on the couch the first few nights. She never did wind up sleeping in her crate after that, no matter how many meals or treats or fun times I tried to create in there. And to be honest, I loved every snuggle. So, to answer your question, that also meant she wasn't left in her crate during the day, either. I bought two adjustable baby gates online so we could control how much access she had to the downstairs at any given time. So she has always had some amount of freedom since we brought her home at seven weeks. It's obviously grown as she grows, and now her area is quite large in our absence. Just be sure her area is very puppy proof and she can't chew electrical cords or get hung up on things. We also lost a few shoes, but that was our fault for leaving them before she was old enough to know better.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I've owned Vizsla that just napped on the sofa, or my bed when left home alone.
I've owned some other Vizslas, that could not be trusted to do the same.
Shine is 3, and Jasper is 7. Neither one of them can be trusted home alone uncrated.
To be honest, they try to get into stuff when I'm home. Shine knows how to open doors, and Jasper is her partner in crime. Shine loves to chew the bill of baseball caps, and can even leap on top of a dresser to get them. Jasper goes after anything made of paper, plus socks, underwear, the occasional shoe. 
It's just safer for the two hooligans to be crated, when I'm not home.


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## Rhiannon (May 19, 2021)

TrumpetBlast said:


> We had every intention of crate training, but then I made the 'mistake' of staying with her on the couch the first few nights. She never did wind up sleeping in her crate after that, no matter how many meals or treats or fun times I tried to create in there. And to be honest, I loved every snuggle. So, to answer your question, that also meant she wasn't left in her crate during the day, either. I bought two adjustable baby gates online so we could control how much access she had to the downstairs at any given time. So she has always had some amount of freedom since we brought her home at seven weeks. It's obviously grown as she grows, and now her area is quite large in our absence. Just be sure her area is very puppy proof and she can't chew electrical cords or get hung up on things. We also lost a few shoes, but that was our fault for leaving them before she was old enough to know better.


We slept downstairs next to the crate for two weeks which settled her really well. I’ve no issue with her being in the same room as me but would like her to be comfortable not to have direct line of sight at all times 😆
There is a LOT she could chew in the kitchen - plinths, cupboards, door, table, chairs - but nothing unsafe like wires, but would need to get some cupboard catches so she can’t help herself. Ive thought about getting some bitter spray to deter her, have you any experience with that? I suspect she’ll develop a liking for it. It’s reassuring to hear a no-crate success.


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## Rhiannon (May 19, 2021)

texasred said:


> I've owned Vizsla that just napped on the sofa, or my bed when left home alone.
> I've owned some other Vizslas, that could not be trusted to do the same.
> Shine is 3, and Jasper is 7. Neither one of them can be trusted home alone uncrated.
> To be honest, they try to get into stuff when I'm home. Shine knows how to open doors, and Jasper is her partner in crime. Shine loves to chew the bill of baseball caps, and can even leap on top of a dresser to get them. Jasper goes after anything made of paper, plus socks, underwear, the occasional shoe.
> It's just safer for the two hooligans to be crated, when I'm not home.


Do you think the two that are mischievous are worse towards the end of their time being alone? Like a boredom thing? Not to say you don’t entertain them just trying to understand. 
Ruby isn’t allowed a bed anymore because she obsessively tries to shred it, it winds her up so much to the point that she won’t sleep if it’s in the room 🤣


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

It could be that you are taking the "panic" as the time that you give up and let her out from what you are saying here. If so, that is the complete wrong thing to do when crate training. The idea is to play the games get her in all comfy with door open, then close it briefly while keeping her distracted and open immediately before crying sets in. This is showing that the door is not a bad thing. Over time with your judgment reading her, try to keep the door closed longer yet still open before she cries. It will feel like its taking forever! Eventually you will graduate to the part where you close the door, and she will be waiting for you to open it and too much time will go by and she will cry LOUD. At this stage you must not open the crate. Sit by the crate with her, ignore her when she cries staring face forward not doing anything. You will probably need to cover your ears at this point. Let her whine and cry for how ever long it takes for her to quiet up. It may seem like forever and could be an hour in extremes. As soon as she is quiet and not acting nuts for a few seconds, immediately (timing is key) open the door and praise, treats , etc. Wait a few hours before repeating this process. She will learn the door opens when she is quiet and not freaking out. It will take time but it will stick. No matter what you do, never never open the door from this point on if she is carrying on crying/barking/going nuts, etc. You will set back all your progress instantly. Even at the point you leave her and you come home. If she is acting up barking/crying just ignore her and leave her in the crate. Go sit next to her and repeast the lesson above. Once she quiets up and is relatively relaxed, that is her brain working "for me to get out I can't be a nut, being a nut no longer gets me what I want!". At first , don't expect a super relaxed settled dog, as long as she's being quiet is good enough to let her out. It's ok if her butt is wiggling etc. Eventually as she matures, she'll just relax and wait for you to come over to open the door.


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## TrumpetBlast (Jun 27, 2020)

Rhiannon said:


> We slept downstairs next to the crate for two weeks which settled her really well. I’ve no issue with her being in the same room as me but would like her to be comfortable not to have direct line of sight at all times 😆
> There is a LOT she could chew in the kitchen - plinths, cupboards, door, table, chairs - but nothing unsafe like wires, but would need to get some cupboard catches so she can’t help herself. Ive thought about getting some bitter spray to deter her, have you any experience with that? I suspect she’ll develop a liking for it. It’s reassuring to hear a no-crate success.


We did rub a lemon on certain furniture corners that she liked to chew and that seemed to work, at least in the short term until it wore off. For us we just had to keep on her and constantly redirect her chewing until she grew out of that puppy phase. We did use a squirt gun in extreme situations, and that definitely worked- but we only did it sparingly.


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

4 months old is still very young. I wasn’t even able to have her uncrated alone while I went upstairs for more than 5 minutes. 

I have found that around 12 months they suddenly mature emotionally, and it’s easier for them to relax while you’re away. We are now able to leave her out of her crate while I go upstairs for about 30-45 minutes. We haven’t left her uncrated while going away, because we have a single space floor downstairs and it’s just too much freedom. If we could divide the room I would easily leave her alone in a safe confined room by now (14 months).

So don’t expect too much at 4 months, try and leave her in a safe confined room for a minute, then two, etc.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Rhiannon said:


> Do you think the two that are mischievous are worse towards the end of their time being alone? Like a boredom thing? Not to say you don’t entertain them just trying to understand.
> Ruby isn’t allowed a bed anymore because she obsessively tries to shred it, it winds her up so much to the point that she won’t sleep if it’s in the room 🤣


They have never been left alone uncrated.
Dogs have to not get into things while I'm home, before I trust them out alone.


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## [email protected] (Nov 12, 2019)

I use to make sure I had everything picked up that onyx could destroy or get into and then would fill a kong or another puzzle toy, and then I would go and close myself in another room, I would do laundry or whatever and then come back out after a short period when it was quiet and would slowly we worked our way up after a few days from 5 then 10 then 15 etc. and that worked really well for us now I can go downstairs for a couple hours and do laundry and he doesn’t really come looking for me. I can also leave him home all day un crated and he’s been fantastic.
I did make him cry it out in his crate in the beginning though. I don’t know if that made a difference in our success at all or not. After he had the crate down and be calm in there is when we moved on to leaving him alone in a room while I would go into another room and do things. Good luck!! I am hoping for you!!!


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## rubicon (Dec 9, 2019)

Others have given advice but I will just chime in to say that my almost 2 year old has not seen the inside of a crate for at least a year now. I say that because I don’t remember, not that I stopped crating him a year ago. It’s possible. And we can leave him alone for 5 hours and have not seen anything destroyed. He mostly just sleeps.


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## Rhiannon (May 19, 2021)

rubicon said:


> Others have given advice but I will just chime in to say that my almost 2 year old has not seen the inside of a crate for at least a year now. I say that because I don’t remember, not that I stopped crating him a year ago. It’s possible. And we can leave him alone for 5 hours and have not seen anything destroyed. He mostly just sleeps.


This is reassuring, thank you. She’s so miserable in there and the ‘cry it out’ method just doesn’t sit right with us. The last couple of days I’ve puppy-proofed so she’s now got free roam when she’s left alone. She’s settled herself on the sofa when I’ve left, a bit of whining but no panic. I think we’ll go with our gut and not force the crate.


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## shaunag (May 17, 2020)

I have 2 Vs..4 year old female and 15 month old male. I crated my girl for the 1st few months and started to trust her a bit more. My male has never been in a crate. I am a homemaker, so they are rarely home alone..but some days we travel for our kids sports, they stay out in the house from 2-8 hours and are completely fine. Our female has always been pretty mellow and never really chewed anything of value in the house. When we first got our male, I kept them in our bedroom when we would leave, then slowly started to trust him in short periods, then longer time frames. The only thing they will get into is food type stuff..so I have to make sure those things aren't accessible on the counter or anywhere. we always make sure to run them before we leave so they are tired. Also, I will throw some chew bones or treats around the floor before we leave. They stand by the door until they see what I'm getting..then they know they can't go along this time...lol. Maybe I just got lucky..I don't know..lol..but i think if you do it the right way...they get accustomed to it. I also have cameras in the house that I can check up on what they are doing. I couldn't imagine ever crating mine for long periods of time (but i haven't used a crate at all since my girl was very young)...but I know every vizsla/owner/ and situation is different. I would rather just put them in one room if I had to rather than a crate. Good Luck!!


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## Rhiannon (May 19, 2021)

shaunag said:


> I have 2 Vs..4 year old female and 15 month old male. I crated my girl for the 1st few months and started to trust her a bit more. My male has never been in a crate. I am a homemaker, so they are rarely home alone..but some days we travel for our kids sports, they stay out in the house from 2-8 hours and are completely fine. Our female has always been pretty mellow and never really chewed anything of value in the house. When we first got our male, I kept them in our bedroom when we would leave, then slowly started to trust him in short periods, then longer time frames. The only thing they will get into is food type stuff..so I have to make sure those things aren't accessible on the counter or anywhere. we always make sure to run them before we leave so they are tired. Also, I will throw some chew bones or treats around the floor before we leave. They stand by the door until they see what I'm getting..then they know they can't go along this time...lol. Maybe I just got lucky..I don't know..lol..but i think if you do it the right way...they get accustomed to it. I also have cameras in the house that I can check up on what they are doing. I couldn't imagine ever crating mine for long periods of time (but i haven't used a crate at all since my girl was very young)...but I know every vizsla/owner/ and situation is different. I would rather just put them in one room if I had to rather than a crate. Good Luck!!


Good to hear! I’m sure crating hasn’t always been this much of a thing? Growing up we had four or five dogs and didn’t crate any of them, restricted access if needed but never crated. The worst we had chewed was the TV controller and the arms of my dads glasses. 
Like you say, everyone’s situation is different. At 15 weeks my girl is already very mellow, she found her soft mouth at 10 weeks, hasn’t bitten since then. She loves natural chews like pig/cow ears and pizzle sticks. We train in short bursts three times daily, and exercise appropriate for her age. I know it could all change once she starts teething and hits adolescence but I think we’ll deal with that when it happens!


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## anna wright (Dec 12, 2021)

Rhiannon said:


> Good to hear! I’m sure crating hasn’t always been this much of a thing? Growing up we had four or five dogs and didn’t crate any of them, restricted access if needed but never crated. The worst we had chewed was the TV controller and the arms of my dads glasses.
> Like you say, everyone’s situation is different. At 15 weeks my girl is already very mellow, she found her soft mouth at 10 weeks, hasn’t bitten since then. She loves natural chews like pig/cow ears and pizzle sticks. We train in short bursts three times daily, and exercise appropriate for her age. I know it could all change once she starts teething and hits adolescence but I think we’ll deal with that when it happens!


I found that a good walk with some free-run (I wrote free-run intentionally vs. off-leash - suggestion that we don't always have a specially dedicated area, but this should not stop us from getting them the free time) and play/fetch in the park 92x/day) makes a significant difference even at a very young age. For this reason my usual morning time was about 5-5 30, when the streets and parks are still dark and quiet. We had this schedule for 11 years, equally every day. It did help. The second: we used fresh (green) birch branches to channel his chewing needs; he stuck with the habit for his adult age, too and it kept his teeth clean, his gums healthy and his breath fresh. They make a bit of mess with the chewed up branch but the pieces are easy to be picked up by hand and they woudn't stain the carpet. We tried the crate; it was a complete failure. The crate went to the balcony packed nicely and stayed there for possible travel, if ever...At about 18-20 months of age he calmed down, we continued the same schedule in the morning and afternoon.


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