How long does it take?

Question

I'm just wondering about how long it will take to crate train my puppy. She's been doing very well the past couple of months and I'm wondering if I should give her somemore room to roam. How long should I keep her in the crate? When would be a good time to give her a little more freedom? Thanks :0)

Ughhh..why do I even bother posting questions when people just assume things!!! I don't leave her in the crate all day long. I can't, however, leave her free to roam the back yard all day. She's a very small dog and she can(and has) slip under the gate. She's really a sweetheart and the whole family loves her. I just want to make sure that she learns right the first time. I've tried other ways of training dogs in the past and crate training seems to work best for me. Now, if someone else would care to leave a thoughtful comment rather than bashing me for no reason...please do :0)

Also, she is allowed to run around the living room and kitchen all evening when the family is together. My 4 year old son plays with her and so does the cat :0) She also gets to have pretty much free reign of the place on the weekends or whenever anyone is home. I don't think that's cruel at all...

Thank so much for all of the sincere answers! :0)

Answer 1

I think it depends on the dog. I had three dobermans, and one of them didn't "earn" the right to roam free in the house, when we weren't there, until he was almost 2 years old! (He destroyed things when we weren't there to watch him all the time!) The girls, on the other hand, had that privilege at less than a year old. All three of mine are/were crate trained and they still retreat to their crates when they want the world to leave them alone! :) Everyone now has free access to roam in the house since I know that I can come home and my house will still be intact! Trust your instinct and like someone else said, start with baby steps about leaving your pup out of the crate for short periods away. You don't want her to get into mischief and hurt herself!

Answer 2

I usually start with small trips to the store at about 8 months. Quick 10-15 minutes alone in the house. Eventually you will be able to build that up to home all day and out of the crate. By about 1 1/2 they should be able to do fine and know all the rules and that you are alpha.

Answer 3

She should have already been given room to roam and only crated at night or when you are going to be gone for a short period of time. She will never learn to let you know when she needs to go if you don't allow her any freedom.

Answer 4

if she has been doing very well just give a little bit of room to roam and see how she does with that if she doesn't do very good put her back in the crate and keep training her.

Answer 5

If it's been a couple of months and she's been doing pretty well, I'd definitely give her a little more freedom. Just keep an eye on her and take her out pretty often. But not too much freedom, give her one room at a time. Good luck!

Answer 6

elt the puppy out of the crate and go straight outside and stay there until it does it's buisness. then crogratulate them like its the best thing in the world. over time, they will get on a schedule of sorts and you can let it out more often to roam the house.

Answer 7

You are only supposed to keep them in the crate at night, not all the time--that's cruel. Of course give her freedom, now please. Make a yard for her and put her outside for a while with fresh water.

Answer 8

While I am against crate training myself-- here is a link to what you're looking for.

http://www.perfectpaws.com/crt.html

Have a great day!!!

Answer 9

if you havent been doing to since birth its going to be differcult

Answer 10

tooooooooo long