dobe8

Here is question for all you long time dobe owners...

When can your dog be left alone in the house without being crated? My pup stays in the crate upstairs when we are gone, probably not longer than a few hours and she sleeps on our bed at night. I was thinking about puppy-proofing an area of our garage so she can have a bit more room when we leave to play and sleep. It does not get too hot or cold in the garage. I was thinking it would be a first step to letting her eventually hang out in the house when we are gone. Is the garage a good idea? How old until they can be left alone?

Any advice would be great!

Maranda & Sierra

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Julie W

I have indoor/outdoor dog runs that my dogs go in when I'm not home, so I've never had one roam the house when I'm not here.

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Murreydobe

I don't think there's any magic age that would be true for all dogs, there are too many different variables.

I'd say most of mine were reliable in the house uncrated for at least short periods of time by 12 months..some younger. But I have the luxury of not working, and pretty much dedicate the first year of a dog's life to training them...the more the puppy is out of a crate and under supervision/training, the faster the process will be, IMO.

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robinb

It all depends on the pup. My current boy Rex proved himself to me pretty young. I start by puppy gating one safe room and leaving for just a few minutes. Rex would just lay down when I was gone and still does. The trick is to not let them start any bad habits in the first place as they are hard to break. Rex was very dependable at 12 months. However, the boy before Rex took a little longer. Let the pup tell you! And start with a small safe area with short time periods.

Lexus

All depends on the dog, but in my case, at about 6 months Lexus was allowed to be loose in the bedroom at night with the door shut, out of her crate all night to sleep, and at about a year to 13 months we started shorter times frames of allowing her access to the house unsupervised. That graduated up to full days loose over time as my trust increased in her.

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Luvbirds59

I agree with Murry....the more they are out in the house being trained the quicker the process. Petey has not been crated since June, but he isn't alone very many hours in the week, we have a very busy household with people coming and going all day long. He can last 8 hours now with no problems, but that only happens every couple of weeks, most days it's no more then 5 hours alone.

Carol

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Linda H

It is all up to the individual dog. Most of mine I have felt good about leaving them loose by the time they were around a year old. Now Parker may be a different story. He seems to get upset and bark lately when I leave him out of the crate and leave the house. I don't know why he started this as this behaviour is fairly recent. Since he gets aggitated, I don't feel like I can leave him for anything longer than a half hour as I don't know if he might get frustrated and start to rip things up. He is only six months old so maybe he will calm down, just have to wait and see.
I do leave him out at night and he is very good even with me asleep and him awake.

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sheenbeen

We've never used the crate as Bailey just was one of those dogs who didn't gel with the crate plus crate training is not really as 'big' over here yet.

He has run of the garage and garden when we are out and having had the chance to spy on him several times we know we don't have to worry as he pretty much just sleeps and plays with his toys. He also has run of downstairs (openplan) at bedtime and apart from now being able to jump on the sofa he doesn't mess with anything.

Have to say that he's not really been a worry regards chewing - he's never really shown any inclination to chew anything other than his own stuff or us lol the only other thing he does is suck on cushions to settle himself but we keep an eye on that and have removed the good cushions out of his way.

KCFilley

Hi,

I let my guys have run of the house when they were about a year. Now at 12 and 13 they still get into trouble. I have mouse traps set in every plant because they love digging out the plants! They immediately go to the sofa when they hear me start my car and don't ever leave a pork chop in the middle of the island because nothing is off limits to big ole boy Wheeler. He once took egg rolls out of the oven when I left the oven door open for them to cool.

I will say if a dog is by himself, I might tend to leave him in a crate with a blanket over it for quite a while or not crated in a room with the door closed. The main reason I might do that is because I think the dog may not be so stressed. S/he is only guarding his crate and doesn't have to feel like s/he's got to take care of the entire house. I also am paranoid someone will break in my front door and shoot my dogs just to get at a piece of jewelry or electronic. Thus I want to put a plaque on the door that shows where every piece of electronic is with instructions on how to dismantle and tell them just to give W&W an apple or cookie and take the stuff or just open the door and let the boys out. I mean I'm paranoid about someone harming my dogs.

Might as well be honest and tell you guys. My boys have never spent the night at my place alone. If they can't go with me, I won't kennel them so I hire someone to stay with them. I'm sick I know.

KCF

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KyJustice

Good thread. We got our Red girl at 10 months and she had never been left alone in the house without being in a crate, but had been housetrained by the previous owners. After a week I let her out on her own and she has shined since day one. I never worry about leaving for extended periods with her home alone. My 3 month old male dober boy actually does well whenI go outside and leave him for 10 20 minutes at a time . We are working hard on the potty training and as quick as he has picked up on what he can and cannot mess with I don't imagine it will be long before he can be alone. Hope that helps

Rob,AJ, Dado & Zayden