from crate to loose in the house

[cfuh]

Does anyone know how to transition a dog from a crate to loose around the house while I'm not home? Thanks!

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Dixieland Dancer could probably help you out! her Dusty has just earned his freedom from the crate. She will have some good tips for you.

[hobird58]

I need to know this too. Sierra is 5 months now, but we have been trying her loose in the house a little at a time. Is it too soon for this? She has done really well for and hour or so at a time. Is there an age for doing this? Will she always sleep in the crate or do you take it away when they are old enough.

as you can tell I am new to crate training, but so far I have loved it.

S & S

Sal and Sierra

[cfuh]

I think she will need to be older since larger dogs don't mature until 2yrs but I could be totally wrong. My Sammie's only 3 months. Sierra is such a cutie!!! :)


Originally posted by hobird58
I need to know this too. Sierra is 5 months now, but we have been trying her loose in the house a little at a time. Is it too soon for this? She has done really well for and hour or so at a time. Is there an age for doing this? Will she always sleep in the crate or do you take it away when they are old enough.

as you can tell I am new to crate training, but so far I have loved it.

S & S

Sal and Sierra

[AdoreMyDogs]

I need to know this too! Candy...where are you....you are being paged....Hello Candy.....are you there???? :)

I want Kersey out of her kennel and to have free roam. She seems to be really trustworthy but she may have a bit of seperation anxiety due to her re-homing situations. She has already graduated out of the crate at night time and it's going really well.

[Karen]

I would let her loose in one (puppy-proofed) room at first, see how well she adjusts to that room. Then advance - slowly - to letting her free in more area, but always, when you're not there, make sure she can access her crate to have a safe retreat and napping place.

Go slowly, this is to be done on yours and her schedule - there's no exact timetable for any of it, it varies dog to dog!

And eventually you may be able to get rid of the crate entirely, but not for a while yet - and you may find she'll still treat wherever the crate was as her safe place!

That's my take on the situation, but my family never crate trained, I've just experienced it with the dog at work - a different, but similar - situation!

[Logan]

I think Karen is "right on". I never crated mine, so I don't have a lot to add, but I did use baby gates and sacrificed a little of my kitchen (which has since been repaired). Just do it, little by little.

[Tanya&Fritz]

This is a great thread for me right now. I'd love to get Fritz out of his crate, but he's such a chewer! He's 1 now and still in it. My parents go over every day at lunch to let him out so he's not in his crate all day. I thought that since he had Hans there, he'd behave. But, nooooo. Not Fritz:rolleyes: He just loves to chew the carpet! I can't wait until we don't have to crate him anymore. He looks so sad when you put him in there:(

[Dixieland Dancer]

I personally use the crate for two reasons.

1. For Potty training

2. For house training.

What is the difference? House training teaching the dog what is appropriate to chew and how to behave when no one is home. Potty training is usually done be 12 - 14 weeks so the dog will know not to soil in the house.

House training takes longer but if done correctly the ultimate goal of being out of the crate should occur between 6 - 12 months. This age is NOT set in stone. There are several things that determine when this occurs. Mostly it is when you believe you can trust the dog.

To transition the dog to being crate free, I go in several steps.

1. On short trips such as 5 - 15 minutes away from home, I give the dog something to occupy his time. I use stuffed Kong's or buster cubes with dog kibble. Once the dog is occupied and not paying attention to me then I leave. NEVER MAKE A FUSS WHEN YOU ARE LEAVING THE DOG. Nothing like "I'll be back in 10 minutes Fido, behave for mommy while she's gone." Then the dogs attention is on you and they may have a tendency to be depressed because you are leaving.

2. Work your periods up to longer times away. If you have success continue moving forward until you can leave the dog all day long. If you do not experience success either the dog is not ready and you need to stop trying for awhile or you need to go slower.

When I leave during this transition period, I usually put the dog in the crate with something to occupy him in the crate and then leave the door open. He is usually so busy with his treat that he doesn't even know I'm gone.

If the dog doesn't respond to this scenerio, then there are probably other issues that need dealt with such as seperation anxiety or aggressive chewing tendencies.

[Pam]

Dixie your advice is excellent as usual. I'll never forget the first time I left Bella loose in the house. It was for about 4 hrs. As I was standing at the door to leave, I said "now you be good and don't get into anything!" Fortunately she had no idea what I was saying! :o All was well when I got home thankfully. :cool:

[hobird58]

Thanks Dixie that was great advice. I am basically doing the transitioning now but I really like the idea of putting her in the crate with something to occupy her and leaving the door open. I will try that. Right now we give her a chewy and she immediately takes it outside, which is what she does with anything new.

Thanks again everyone.

S & S
(Sal and Sierra)