When do you give free run of the house

[lizbud]

Smokey Joe has been potty trained for months but just this
week I have not been keeping him gated off in the kitchen when
I'm at work. I hate to speak to soon, but he's done great so far.
No chewed furniture,no shredded newspapers, everything looks
fine when I get home. I see signs that he must be sleeping in
my bed at some point during the day, but that's fine by me.
How old was your pupster when you allowed them to "watch
the house" for you when you were away?

[binka_nugget]

Just recently Kai got the house to himself. In our first house..he had a cage when we left for school but my grandma would come back and let him out and free to roam around the house. Our 2nd house, he got the whole house the whole day we were out to school. Most of the time, someone was home. When he was alone, he was good. At our 3rd house (our current one), he's fine. He stays home with my grandma most of the day. When we go out to dinner or something, we let him have the whole house (top floor and bottom). I make sure there aren't things that are safety hazards lying around.

[shais_mom]

I am glad you asked this Liz!
I keep Keegan crated during the day. But I give her free roam at nite. She usually staying in the bedroom, but not too long ago, when I woke up there she had chewed up a rug that my mom just got me at Christmas! So she stayed in the crate for a couple nites. If she does that while I am sleepin I can't imagine what she would do when I am gone. I eventaully want to leave her out but I don't think she is ready. Nor do I think Kylie is either!

[zippy-kat]

Sara prefers to spend the day outside. We've tried to leave her inside free-run (esp. on stormy days--she's so skitish) but it always ends up w/ something being chewed or shredded or eaten.....

The last time she was left in, Mom came home (for lunch) to find book shards EVERYWHERE.... the title of the book? I'M OUTTA HERE! (How appropriate. )

[JGuitaristR]

All four of our dogs get to roam the house freely. Well kind of ... because of Bart's recent peeing we've had to close the bathroom door and the bedroom doors, but that's about it. Otherwise, they can go anywhere they please. Zoe would rather spend her life outside. She loves to go out there and watch/chase all of the squirrels, rabbits and birds. She has come too close to catching one of them far too many times. But anyway, the dogs own the house.

[lovemyshiba]

We keep pushing this back. Kito was probably almost ready, and then we got Abbey. She is definitley not ready, and it woudn't be fair to leave one in and one out. Then she started showing signs of being ready, and we got Riley--I know he's a good year or so away!! Right now, since our basement is being finished, they stay in one of the bedrooms downstairs. Riley and Abbey stay in their pen, and Kito has the run of the bedroom. This room has a stereo, desk, husband's drums , cd's and some other stuff in it, and he hasn't so much as even touched it. However, the other day, in a hurry, I guess I forgot to lock the door on the pen, and the other 2 got out, and the remote for the stereo was in a million pieces.

[anna_66]

but we can leave ours in, with free run of the house and nothing is ever touched (ok, Huney might sneak a tissue out of the trash every once in a while ). Luckily this has always been the case, even when Roxey was a puppy!

[Rachel]

If Smokey isn't getting into trouble when you are there and if he has not gotten into trouble during the times you do leave him out and alone, I say he is ready for the full enchalada of free run of the house. I probably would have tested him with short time periods, say when you were going to be gone for just a couple hours before doing a whole day, but the only way to test is to do it.

I was very paranoid about Tucker when we first got him because he had had surgery for a blockage from ingesting stuff he shouldn't have at his previous home. We couldn't crate him because he absolutely panicked in the crate so we kept him confined to the kitchen, first without Hannah and then with Hannah. He had significant separation anxiety in the confined setting. Since he wasn't getting into things when we were there, we eventually just tried giving him free access to the house. I was so nervous, but it worked out just fine and he no longer had the separation anxiety when he wasn't confined.

[Cheshirekatt]

Wilma and Joxer are still crated when we're not there and at night. It's usually only about 3-4 hours at a time during the day. Buford doesn't need to be in a crate at all....he's pretty much the watch dog. Because of dog aggression I can't leave Buford and Wilma out together. I just don't trust them. Pretty soon, we're going to start leaving either Joxer and Wilma out or Buford and Joxer out. Wilma I think would be ok, Joxer has a tiny bladder and piddles every once in a while, but I think he's close.

joxer hates his crate. When he knows it's time to go to bed he likes to play the "keey-away" game. It's so frustrating. lol When Wilma gets tired she'll head right into her crate and go to sleep.

[lizbud]

Rachel,

Yes, the separation anxiety played a part in this decision to
leave Smokey out. He does seem a lot less depressed when
I leave for work. I think it's helping him with his fear of thunder
storms too. He can get to his "safe places"in the house & I
believe it makes him feel safer. Funny thing, but one of his
safe hiding places is a double folded square of carpeting at
the foot of my bed. (Buddy's old sleeping spot sometimes)

Zippy,

" The last time she was left in, Mom came home (for lunch) to find book shards EVERYWHERE.... the title of the book? I'M OUTTA HERE! (How appropriate. ) "

Sara was definately trying to tell your Mom something.

[stacwase]

Jake has the run of the house. We have gotten into the habit of taking the garbage out as soon as we put any food in there, and rinsing out all the cans before we throw them in the garbage. Otherwise, we'll find garbage strewn everywhere. And we had to get a tall bathroom trash can to prevent him from dragging feminine hygiene products around.

We don't give Max the run of the house in the daytime, but we do at night. We've only had him 2 weeks. He hasn't destroyed anything while we were sleeping so I don't think it will be long before he can have the run of the house while we're gone.

[lizbud]

Well, Smokey got busted, big time...He spent last night gated
in the kitchen. I was home last night watching a movie when
the little fart came prancing out of the bedroom carrying the
electrical wiring (with plug attached) from the bedroom fan.
The fan had been plugged into the wall, but was turned off at
the time. But he still could have been electricuted. The wiring
had been chewed entirely in half. I'm thinking, he must
have yanked the plug out then chewed the wire.
He acted quite proud of himself... The bedrooms are now closed
off from him & I doubt that he'll earn house privileges any time soon.

[Cheshirekatt]

Originally posted by lizbud
Well, Smokey got busted, big time...He spent last night gated
in the kitchen. I was home last night watching a movie when
the little fart came prancing out of the bedroom carrying the
electrical wiring (with plug attached) from the bedroom fan.
The fan had been plugged into the wall, but was turned off at
the time. But he still could have been electricuted. The wiring
had been chewed entirely in half. I'm thinking, he must
have yanked the plug out then chewed the wire.
He acted quite proud of himself... The bedrooms are now closed
off from him & I doubt that he'll earn house privileges any time soon.

LOL Oh that's too funny! They're so proud of themselves when they have something they're not supposed to! Joxer did that with one of my shoes....but it was my fault, I left them out. Hehe.

[anna_66]

Sorry to hear about Smokey Liz. Hopefully for him, he'll earn his freedom soon