Un-crate training...advice needed!

[MoonandBean]

We are planning to start leaving Sunny in the basement when she's a year old, which will be February. We will leave her crate open and I expect to find her in it when we come home

[finn's mom]

I think if Malone isn't 100% trustworthy to be left on his own, he's not ready for free run of the house. I think either staying with the crate or restricting him to a couple of rooms would be your best bet at this point. Even with Finn, I still have to "control the environment" by making sure things aren't available to him that he typically goes for. Like food on the counter or an open trash container. No way could we leave meat thawing in the kitchen sink and expect it be there when we returned. We "Finn proof" the house when we leave.

The only suggestion I've seen that I disagree with is to muzzle the dog. I could be wrong, but every muzzle I've ever seen has a warning not to leave the dog muzzled unsupervised. I wouldn't think it was safe.

Other than, I say give 'em all a shot! And, good luck!

[pitc9]

Both of my pups were always in crates till my hubby had to work out of town for 9 months a few years back. I started feeling bad about all the extra time they were spending in their crates so I got brave and let them have free run of the house when I was gone.
Fast forward to last year. I finally replaced my furniture after they spent all their "free time" chewing on it and ripping it up along with my recliner and all the pillows, blankets, towels, curtains, comforters in the house they could sink their teeth into! Buddy would move my recliner across the room!!!

Needless to say, they are back in crates when we're not home and until I build an indestructable doggie room with steel walls and doors...they'll stay in crates when I'm not home.

[kokopup]

When Koko was 9 month old she had to spend 12 weeks in a crate. She had double knee surgery and each knee had a 6 week recovery time.The only time she was out was to go out for her business. The last 2 weeks of of her recovery she could come and go when we were home. She started coming out when she could.

After this long nonstop crate tour was over she was ready to stay out. She has been out for over 2 years and has free roam without incident. We are lucky that most of the time weather permitting we leave her on our 800 sq ft covered front porch. It has a gate to keep her in and she is free to run back and forth chasing squirrels. When we leave her in we restrict her to the LR, DR and kitchen. I usually will not leave her over about 4-5 hours unattended. So far she has not missed her crate and she is not chewing on anything but her toys. When she was around 6 months she chewed everything, the worst being the dining room rug. She has since grown out of this.

If your dog is comfortable in her crate I would leave well enough alone.
In our case Koko was ready to stay out and has not been destructive when left alone.