Can you leave your dog out loose while you are gone?

Laurelin

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#1
Just thought this would be an interesting tally.

Summer: yes

Mia: no.

I've lost hope that Mia will ever be able to be out without supervision.
 

Taqroy

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#2
Murphy: Yes
Mu: Yes (but we don't)
Tipper: No. Last time she got a bunch of stuff off the coffee table and stashed it in a dog bed. She only does that like every 6th time we leave her out but we don't pick the house up well enough to risk it.
 

JessLough

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#3
Rosey was left out from day 1. We are a crate-free house, so any other dog will be as well. We're just smart about it. Not that we can have anything nice anyway, because ferrets break all the things :p
 

GoingNowhere

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#5
yeah, Boo is about as perfect a house dog as you can get when she's by herself or it's just the family around. We tried to crate her when we first brought her home. She adamantly put up such a fight about going into the crate (and we didn't want to manhandle her into it) that we left her out and babygated to the kitchen. After about a week, she graduated to free roam, but was taught not to come upstairs (without barriers). Now she's learned that once my dad leaves for work, my mom doesn't care if she comes up the stairs, so she greets us in the upstairs hallway nearly every morning now :rofl1:
 

MicksMom

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#6
I'm assuming you mean loose in the house, not the yard. ;) No problems leaving Caleb loose in the house. The worst he does is empty one of his toy bins or car or carry dirty socks or my slippers around.
 
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#7
Maisy and Pip: Yes
Squash: If I actually leave the property, no. If I'm working in the yard or something he's ok but I would never LEAVE leave him at this stage.
 

Laurelin

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#8
I don't think you can be smart about leaving Mia loose. Even if everything is picked up she will find something to do. My puppy proof room ended up with a large hole in the carpet. I have a lot of evidence that Mia doesn't just sleep while I'm gone. She's always into something and I usually come home to her beds having been rearranged and toys are everywhere or something....

I don't crate though. I use a large pen for her (miraculously does not climb it)
 
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#9
You just kind of never know what Squash is going to get up to. :D

Also, part of it is for the benefit of the cats. He is not aggressive towards them but he is obnoxious towards them and although they have the whole upper floor gated off for their personal use I don't care to leave them without a referee.
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#10
Sloan: Yes, she is left daily.

Backup: Yes but he's contained to the guest room so we can put two doors between him and Arnold. If Arnold isn't home we leave Backup loose.

Arnold: On a tie down, Yes. If he is crated he panics and hurts himself destroying it, if he is totally free he panics and knocks over or empties out things. If he's on a tie down he's secure.

Shamoo: No, her version of SA is very odd and subtle but destructive none the less. She will find a barrier and lick and flea bite it to relieve stress. She will destroy doors, scratch glass, and even damage floors with the moisture of her drool.
 

Laurelin

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#11
Yeah it's a guessing game with Mia. She is often ok when I try (like yard work days or something) then one in four or so times she will destroy something. I think she prefers her pen though. She seems to really like it there.
 
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Sekah

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#12
Yes to both of them. Though with the new house, I close doors to bedrooms and like to keep the basement gated during the day. Mega was not fully housetrained when she came to live with me at 7 years old, so I'm hyper-vigilant when it comes to managing her in new(ish) environments. So far, no accidents. The dogs never squabble, so I'm not concerned about that.
 

Shai

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#14
Kim: Yes. She actually cares about rules even when alone.

Mira: Yes, provided there is no food available. No dishes anywhere on the counter/sink, trashcan locked. On top of the fridge is about the only place food can be if we're leaving her out alone for the day.

Webster: No. So much no. Unless Kim is also out. He doesn't get into things if Kim is out too. She's that good lol.
 

Julee

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#15
All yes except Bloo. If she could be loose by herself, I'd trust her just fine, but I'm not going to risk her getting snarky at one of the other dogs and having it escalate.
 

Michiyo-Fir

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#16
Luckily we're able to leave all 3 dogs loose. When Nia used to be a baby, we used to crate her but after she turned about 1.5-2 years old we slowly started to leave her to free roam the house and it's been mostly fine.

Occasionally some paper might be shredded or something but as long as we don't leave those on the floor, it's fine.
 

Grab

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#17
Newt and Jules have the large kitchen/dining area. Mainly because Jules is a jerk and, if he feels another animal has wronged him, will pee on something in front of them (I have no idea...)

Goose is always loose. Nog can be left loose as well, he's generally just crated at night (he gets on the bed and, if the child happens to be sleeping there, will climb on him. This angers the child) or if I feed him before I leave. We do have to watch what we leave out, because he'll climb over all hell and creation looking for qtips...

Aesop is crated, only to prevent him bopping at a window if a neighbor dog barks. This may end soon, though, as his meds are working wonders.

Brooks..no....just...no, lol. He uses his tallness for evil and he also respects no gates, so I can't even leave him in the hall like I've done for other puppies. So, right now, crate it is. He's only 5 months though, so hopefully he'll grow out of the naughtiness :)
 
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#18
Gambit has been trustworthy since the night I brought him home. In 2.5 years, he has never once pottied in the house or been destructive. He's never even snatched food that was left out. This is rather fortunate, since he's a natural Houdini and I haven't yet found a crate to hold him.

Quid.....no way. Though, oddly, he's very trustworthy at night. But during the day he has to touch everything, pick up everything, chew everything. Obnoxious brat.
 

Sekah

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#19
Kim: Yes. She actually cares about rules even when alone.

Mira: Yes, provided there is no food available. No dishes anywhere on the counter/sink, trashcan locked. On top of the fridge is about the only place food can be if we're leaving her out alone for the day.

Webster: No. So much no. Unless Kim is also out. He doesn't get into things if Kim is out too. She's that good lol.
Heh. I'd forgotten what a little **** Megatron is for getting into garbage/food etc when alone. Kim sounds a lot like Cohen. Cohen keeps Mega in line when we're not around.
 

Beanie

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#20
Both Auggie and Payton are okay to be shut into a room for short periods of time, but not long periods of time, or they will invent ways to get into trouble and destroy things which you thought were not destroy-able.

Auggie is also crated so he doesn't pee on things. Not his fault, just related to the bladder issues, and if he has a UTI and has to pee, well, he's gonna pee. Except when he's in his crate. He won't pee in his crate. I don't want my floors destroyed by pee - I've seen a house where even the sub-floor was damaged by urine soaking through - so he's crated.

Pepper prefers to be crated. She doesn't even like to sleep out of her crate. One night I wanted her to sleep on my bed with me but she got restless and nervous... I put her in her crate and she curled up and went to sleep immediately. Boo. So she is crated because she likes it.


There's also the whole "Payton and Pepper are both intact and I don't want them making puppies especially not from them because they are half-siblings" thing which makes crating another thing. When Pepper is in season she is crated in a different room from Payton with two closed doors between them. No Pepper puppies plz.
 

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