When to stop crating?

Huntumup · Post by **Huntumup** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 11:14 am

Hello All,

My weim is now around 6 months old and is doing very well in the house. He hasen't even attempted to chew on any furniture or shoes, probably because we give him plenty of toys and chew bones to play with. I have always had a steady 8hr job and my fiance was home to take care of the puppy because she was still in college and would only leave to go to classes for an hour at a time. Well now my fiance is out of college as of Dec and has an 8 hr job. We crate the dog for the first half of the day then let him roam free of the house on the second half of the day. Then I take him out to the fields when I get home and let him release all of his energy, do a little basic trainig, and he seems to be doing fine with this.
My question....
At what age do you typically let your dogs have free roam of the house?
Do you think this is a good scedule or do you have some better advise?

Thanks,
Rob

Post by **kninebirddog** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:05 pm

It depends on your dog...try and see what he does if you start to have problems revery back to the crate..besure you have dangerous things out of his reach...
It is hard when your not home...but a bored dog will channel their energy somewhere.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:54 pm

the big problem is the nature of the "dangerous things" they can get into. you would not think of the laundry or a pillow as dangerous, yet they can be fatal to a dog if the dog eats a nylon stocking or some stuffing from the pillow, and the bowel impacts. you are lucky to get away with $1200 worth of surgery.

i would say it would be safer to stay with the crate until the dog is about two. they go through many chewing stages between 6 mos. and 2, and seem to settle down then. they actually get to like the crate, it is their home. so not a hardship for them at all. and safer. anyway, that is my practice. we have a 3 year old and she gets crated during the day for about a half day.

original mngsp · Post by **original mngsp** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:12 pm

John

Try closer to $2000 to get a Beanie baby out, and that was a 2 yr old dog.

I always crate my dogs in the house if I'm not around, brings me more piece of mind.

Buckeye_V · Post by **Buckeye_V** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:05 pm

I planned on crating my dogs at night and when nobody is around to keep an eye on them and also in the vehicle. Too much can go wrong otherwise. My parents learned those lessons the hard way.

gone · Post by **gone** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:08 pm

I have to agree with what has been said here already. Just this last weekend we were out of town & my brother-in-law was watching the dogs for us he left to get some food & didn't latch the crate right & our lab got out & shredded my garage (he is a year & a half or so now) luckily all chemicals were out of his reach, but he pulled everything & anything off the walls shelves whatever he could get at. He is an awesome dog, but leave him alone & he goes crazy. He even pulled the plastic mud flaps off my "new" '85 4runner. (The rear fenders are a bit rusty & he took advantage of it). We got home & saw it & I could only laugh it wasn't worth gettin angry over (it wouldn't have done any good anyway) I would say at least until he is 2 years old. My lab will be crated forever I think LOL.

Buckeye_V · Post by **Buckeye_V** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 4:08 pm

It takes a big person to laugh off a "shredded" situation. Our first lab did not like the fact that we all went to the beach for a week without her. My grandfather came and played with her and fed and watered her every day. The day before we came home she went downstairs to where mom kept all of our winter boots and shredded everyone of them. Needless to say, mom was not happy. Dog was in the proverbial dog house for a long time after that one.....

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 4:22 pm

all it takes is one pair of pantyhose or a nylon stocking from the laundry basket to kill a dog.

Post by **Ayres** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 7:43 pm

My V is nearing 2 years and we still never give him free roam of the house unless we're at home. However... we get by with completely puppy-proofing an area of the house to confine him in.

Currently, it's our basement. Everything stored down there is packed into large rubber tubs, so, unless he wants to chew on a 6x6 support beam or concrete, he'll have to stick to the dog toys we give him down there. And, really, he seems fine with it. He usually just takes a nap the whole time we're away from home.

Huntumup · Post by **Huntumup** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 7:35 am

Okay, so pretty much everyone says leave him in the crate while I'm gone til about 2 years old.

I like the puppy proof concrete room idea

Thanks a lot,
Rob

Post by **ezzy333** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 8:27 am

My dogs still spend their alone time either outside in a run or n a crate. They sleep in the crate at night. When its bed time they head to their crates and are happy to be in them and secure it seems.

Ezzy

qballs · Post by **qballs** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:23 am

My dog has the run of the backyard all day, which is nice. When I get home, he needs to be near me, on his bed or out for a walk etc. Every night he sleeps in his crate in the garage. He seems to like it and heads right for it when we go out into the garage.

Post by **Ayres** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:09 pm

Just remember, dogs love routine. It provides security.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:25 pm

what ayres says is true about routine. have a 3 1/2 year old female. we put her in a crate with a dog bed in it for the first couple of years, when we went to work. then we stopped using the crate but left the pillow. now, she comes into the bedroom every morning, and as soon as she sees I am putting work clothes on, she goes out in the other room and lies down on her pillow. she is happy and secure there.

gone · Post by **gone** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 11:33 pm

Buckeye_V wrote:It takes a big person to laugh off a "shredded" situation. Our first lab did not like the fact that we all went to the beach for a week without her. My grandfather came and played with her and fed and watered her every day. The day before we came home she went downstairs to where mom kept all of our winter boots and shredded everyone of them. Needless to say, mom was not happy. Dog was in the proverbial dog house for a long time after that one.....

Well I went out today & was cleaning up things a bit in the garage & I picked up my waders that I thought he had just pulled off the wall NOPE there were 3-4 tears & a softball size hole in one leg near the thigh. I hadn't looked very well at them on Tuesday when we got home I just picked them up & tossed them to the side so I could hang them up again later. It is a good thing I didn't find those until today. Looks like a trip to Cabela's hopefully I can find another nice pair in the bargain cave.