Home alone?

[Domestika]

How old was your puppy when you felt comfortable leaving him/her home alone with free range of the house?

I'm debating the advantages of crate training. I know EVERYONE says you should but I'm starting to wonder...why? My aim is to have a dog who can live freely in the house. I understand that a puppy can't be trusted free in the house, but isn't a playpen (x-pen) enough for overnight until they are old enough?

I just want to hear what other people found with their pups in terms of trustworthiness when home alone/overnight.

 

[girlbuffalo1]

My dogs are both over 2--and they are both crated during the day. Can I trust them out? Yes as I have accidentally forgot to latch crates before and there hasn't been any event--but I"m not willing to take the chance--they could swallow something, get into something--that would hurt themselves. Also when out they lay under the coffee table and when in the crate they lay there--I don't see much difference.

 

[Max's Dad]

My puppy is 5 months old, we've had him since he was 3 months old, and he's always had free range of my room at night to sleep. I leave papers on the floor because he still can't hold it all night, every night. During the day, however, if I leave the house, he is crated. There are too many things for him to get into downstairs, and he is at that stage where he's quite the misbehaving rebel puppy - he's already proven several times that he's not trustworthy alone downstairs.

For me, crate training has many advantages. It's taught my pup that he can hold his potty, it's taught him that he has a safe place to go to nap or rest, and it's given us a way to establish boundaries - he goes in when I can't supervise him, when we're eating dinner at night, and he goes in by his own accord when he's tired or doesn't want to deal with whatever is happening in the house.

I can see where using an X-pen would have it's advantages, too, and see it as a viable alternative. The only reason I use a crate is because the breeder had already crate trained him, and said it was an invaluable tool in house breaking puppies.

You do what you think is best by you and your puppy. There are several ways to accomplish the same goal. Just be vigilant in whatever method you use.

-Tim

 

[girlbuffalo1]

Max's Dad--what breed of puppy do you have? I would think that most puppies can definitely hold their bladders at night by 5 months (I know Wrigley could hold easy for 7 hrs as a mixed breed 7lb pup around that age)

 

[Max's Dad]

Max is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and weighs about 13 pounds.

I don't know what it is, but some nights he holds it fine, others he doesn't. He may go potty on the papers twice out of a week, so it's not frequent. There are just some times, even during the day, when he can't hold it for some reason. We had an incident today where I had just taken him outside to go potty, and he came inside, jumped up on the sofa, and peed all over the cushions. We've had him checked for a urinary tract infection, and he doesn't have one, so I don't know what the problem is.

-Tim

Edited to add: I take sedatives at night, and sleep more than 7-8 hours. Some nights I even sleep 10 hours. I haven't paid that much attention to it, but it may just be those long nights that he can't hold it.

 

[Angel Chicken]

Kona is crate trained.... however....

She has free reign of the house. As long as she doesn't use my floor as a bathroom, and doesn't get into anything... she's allowed to.

We'll have an occasional incident where we'll leave a paper towel where she can get to it, she'll tear it to shreds along the living room... but other than that she is awesome in the house. She still loves her crate, even puts all her toys there.

Hopefully, you'll be able to do this to your pup.

 

[skKi]

I trusted my dog to be alone for an 8 hour day by the age of 5 months. Thankfully we never had issues with housebreaking, and never had destructive problems. The worst case scenario to come home to would be finding him asleep on the couch (not allowed on furniture).

I cannot, however, leave him alone now (over a year old now) for fear that he will bark at every sound he hears which he never did as a puppy. Disadvantages of living in an apartment.

 

[Gempress]

My dogs were crate trained initially, but are now completely trustworthy alone in the house without a crate. Zeus was a chewer, so he wasn't reliable alone until about 18 months old. But Voodoo....ugh. Only recently has he been worry-free. It took Voodoo until he was nearly three years old to be reliable. He's a perfect angel now, but you wouldn't believe the chaos this dog caused in our home.

You have to take in your dog's breed, too. Small breds often mature faster, and may be reliable at a younger age. Larger breeds tend to get stuck in the adolescent idiot stage for quite a while. And this can also vary depending on the breed and the individual dog.

If you don't want to use a crate, you don't have to. We do advocate crates a lot on here, but they're by no means a necessity. If a simple baby gate or X-pen works great for you, then go for it.

 

[Sch3Dana]

The thing is, you can get lulled into a false sense of security. I am raising the nicest puppy and he just wants to be good. He had never chewed anything and was housebroken very easily by the time he was 5 months old. He was doing so great I started letting him sleep loose in the house at 8 months. He was fine for 2 months, using the doggy door and behaving himself like a perfect gentleman in the house. Then one morning I wake to the sound of chewing- on my flip flops and tennis shoe laces :yikes:

He is a great boy, but he is still a puppy, so we are back to more careful supervision and putting shoes away until he is at least 18 months old.

 

[Ilyena]

Although my pup has been fully housebroken and reliable about it for a year now (he's 1 yr 4 months old now), he never has free range of the house when no one is home, simply because he's got separation anxiety and is much more relaxed in his crate compared to free roaming the house when he just destroys things and scratches on doors trying to get out after me.

He is behaving perfectly overnight if left out of the crate though, it's only when he's home alone that he has issues. It's at least now gotten to the point of being able to leave him alone out of his crate for 10 minutes but no longer than that if he's not really sleepy so I don't particularly expect to ever be able to let him have free range of the house for any longer time. Time will tell though. In either case crate-training was the best thing I ever did for him, it's not only his safe place but it also keeps me calmer when I'm at work knowing that he can't get into anything potentially dangerous.

 

[skittledoo]

I cannot really leave my dog free to run the house when I'm not there for multiple reasons. One... I don't trust him to be with my cat all day and not cause problems. He is a herding breed with a very strong herding instinct and he's proven that time and time again with the cat. He loves cats. He and Goober love to play with each other and are allowed to under complete supervision so that I can call Bamm back if I feel he is getting too rough. If no one is watching him, I worry about him playing too rough and the cat ending up injured. I don't think Bamm would intentionally try and hurt Goober, but because he plays rough, I'd rather it be supervised. Also... there's too many things for him to get into. I don't trust that my roommates aren't going to leave stuff out that he could get into and injure himself with or destroy. I feel safer knowing that he's snoozing away in his crate during the day.

Now... my last dog, Cheyanne, was allowed free run of the house until the day she died. She was great and never got into anything past her puppyhood stage. Maybe one day I'll reach that point with Bamm, but I probably wont as long as I have a cat in this house.

My suggestion to you is to do what you think works best for you and your dog. I would still recommend crate training as you never know when one might come in handy. Just make sure that if you decide to allow your dog to have free run of your place that you take what precautions you can to ensure that your dog will be safe doing so. Good luck to you.

 

[IcyHound]

It is a matter of dog maturity and personality.

I have one girl who is so wicked that she is never given that type of freedom. I have others that have been reliable since 5 or 6 months of age. They are all different.

But I always crate train puppies and will continue to do so. They are young and make poor decisions at times.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Cider at 3.5 can roam when I'm gone. She hasn't had that privilege long. She's been loose in my room for about a year.. Free at night since 6 months in my room.
Smudge gets crated if I'm gone.. free at night since 9 months.

 

[BuckarooT35]

Max's Dad--what breed of puppy do you have? I would think that most puppies can definitely hold their bladders at night by 5 months (I know Wrigley could hold easy for 7 hrs as a mixed breed 7lb pup around that age)

Yes, you are right. Cooper is 5 months old last June 22, so just a little bit over 5 months but when he hit 4 he was already house trained. It was a long hard slog getting up every two hours when he was just a little babe but it paid off now and we go to upstairs to bed at 9pm. 9:45pm is his sleep time and we are trying to get him to sleep later as during Thursdays are his training nights at the Dog Museum and we do not go home until sometimes after 9pm...but we do send him off for his Wee-time/Poof-time in the yard before we go upstairs. He has the run of the living area of the house (the cat belongs upstairs). I still have my computer near the kitchenette doorway where I am writing this post response.... but we trust him now as he barks at the door when we are not near it and he wanted to go out to do his doods.