# When did you start leaving your dog out of the crate home alone?



## stefanessa (May 12, 2013)

Hey everyone, 

Just wanted to get an idea of when you started leaving your pups out of the crate when home alone?

Jax is now 9 months old and has never chewed or destroyed anything other than his own toys. I have left him out of his crate with free reign of the whole house for about 20 minutes and so far so good. I have also left him for about an hour out of his crate but confined to my bedroom with a bone and toys and his open crate. 

Do you think it's a good time to start introducing him to longer periods alone in the house?


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

We started leaving Bristol out of her crate at about 8-9 months. She was fine for about a month and then went through a teething stage - destroying our new chair right before Thanksgiving. Now she is crated whenever we aren't around to watch her. I am going to start leaving her out again soon - for short periods of time. Good luck!


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Miles was 8 months and Chase was 7 months


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## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

Funny that this topic came up today! It's raining really hard here today and I had to come into work a little early so I decided to leave Penny and Cash in my bedroom this morning. In the past they have not been trusted in the house alone because they have destroyed more things than I can list. Lately I've been doing the trial runs of 20 minutes or so alone in the house and they have been fine. Today - not so much! I went home at lunch to let them out and they had found a bag full of yarn and now my bedroom looks like someone sprayed it with silly string. I don't even know how they got string in some of the places!! Luckily there was a new pair of shoes still in the box and they ate the box, but not the shoes. It was back out in the garage for them this afternoon and I know what I'll be cleaning up tonight when I get home!!


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Dozer was 11 months but needed a frozen kong EVERY day at lunch to keep all else whole and undamaged. Penny is almost 23 months old and still crated unless it's a 15-20 min trip. That's bec she will wait by the door for at least that long for you to return. But as far as full/half work days we learned our lesson when she went thru two pairs of leather boots in one afternoon. #putitonmytab


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Sometimes just when you think it is safe they will do something. I leave Cash out of his crate to keep a eye on things when gone during the day. He will be 5 this summer and I have done this for almost 3 years. Two months ago I came home to a kitchen floor covered in glass shards.
He has never counter surfed before (that I know of) but decided that day to pull a glass pie dish off the counter.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Some people are lucky in this regard, but generally speaking... "They chew 'til they're two!" ;D ;D ;D


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

Fergy has been out on his own since 5mo. but I keep him out of the living room, dining room, master bedroom and kitchen with gates. He also has Pearl, the nanny dog to keep him company. The other thing is he has his bone bits to chew on, all over so if he gets a chewing urge, he finds one of his favorite chunks and takes it to a comfy place. He has a dog door and free access to the back yard which is safe and totally fenced. He loves to hang out in the sun on the chase lounge that I'm sure he thinks was put there just for him. I have never left the two for very lengthy periods of time, about 4-5 hrs Max.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

I don't think we can trust Dharma yet. She destroys toys within a matter of hours and has been chewing the legs of an old sofa when left unsupervised with someone at home even(BAD PUPPY!). I only just found that she was doing this and when was anybody's guess as the legs of the sofa are under some fabric. It is still the crate for our friendly little red head.


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