Un-crate training...advice needed!

[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.