Home Alone

[CathyAnn]

We had to take my youngest son for a lengthy, all day college visit today. We were gone from 7:30am til about 3:00pm.

We left the dogs uncrated this time to see how they'd do. The only thing I found was one of the couch back cushions was smooshed and rumpled a bit. Piper likes to get up there for squirrel patrol. But, it really is a 'no, no' when we are home and he knows it.

All things considered, they did pretty well.....no pottying in the house which was my main concern. A few months ago, I left them for 3-4 hours and found wee-wee on the carpet.

Anyway, how long do you leave your doggies at a stretch?? Crated and/or uncrated?

Thanks,

Cathy

[toomanypaws]

That's great that they did so well. We can only leave our almost 4 yr old uncrated w/o worrying about what she'll get into. Our other two are still young and are crated if no one is home for more than an hr. I will babygate them in the kitchen if I run a short errand or am just working on landscaping in the front yard.

[wheezie23]

I had been leaving the boys uncrated recently to see how they would do. I was so impressed. Only a few things to complain about. Well, boy did I have that wrong! I just noticed that "someone" has been chewing on my diningroom table and chairs! I know it's Tucker, b/c he's the chewer of the two. So it's crate time for him again!

Thela

[Scully'sMom]

Twice we had to leave Scully for about 8 hours. We put the baby gate across the kitchen door and she has access to the kitchen where her water is and down into the family room where she spends most of her time with mom and dad. She did GREAT, no potty accidents or chewing. For ONCE we were proud!

[Carolinasmom]

Ever since Carolina was about a year old and potty trained, I have left her uncrated for up to 5 hours. I'm sure she could go longer but if I'm going to be gone for most of the day, I will take her over to my parents' house to be with her sister.

I know as soon as we leave, she heads upstairs to our bed and I think she stays there the whole time.

The only time she's in a crate now is when we travel in the car.

[Eliz222]

Scout is never crated and she can stay in the house all day. Finch can stay in the basement for up to 3 hours at a time. Any longer and she has to go in the crate. Sometimes I will leave them both in the basement (it's a finished family room) and my DH will come home at noon to take them out. He will then leave them out. If neither of us can come home, Finch is in the crate all day. This doesn't happen very often and won't at all during the summer.

[Tribo64]

You guys are SO BRAVE! I don't know if I will ever be brave enough to leave my kids uncrated. Is this really a possibility?

We owned a dog once who CHEWED EVERYTHING and my husband thought it was "mean" to crate her. My table, furniture, cabinets, doors..... it was awful. We just purchased a home a few years ago and spent a ton of money on new furniture for the living room. Don't know that I'll EVER trust them alone...

[Toto times 2]

I haven't crated Ghillie since he was 1 and have never had a problem. Smokey came to us when he was 4 and I leave the two of them uncrated all the time. They are now 9 and 10. However I have worked at my home office most of this time so they are not left for long stretches very often.

I thinks the cats trained Ghillie. It is pretty funny because he comes to tell me if the cats are doing anything they shouldn't be.

[Logansmom]

Logan has been out and about since he was eight months old. I am a firm believer in crate training but after the initial "training" I think it is essential to "train" them to be big boys and girls. There is no way to teach them right from wrong if they are in the crate. Did we suffer damage...oh yes!! However, he learned what is acceptable and what is not. He has enough exercise before we leave for the day and has enough stimulation in the house while we are gone that he has been a great kid. He has the run of the house and when we walk in and something is out of place, he is actually the one to let us know before we even see it. The classic signs of ears down and tail gone lead us in the direction of the deed. They are generally little things like disposing of the toilet paper that is on the roll because he wants the roll NOW!