How do you transition a dog to be left home alone outside her crate?

Question

I have a 9 mos. old lab/mix and I have tried to leave her alone for 5-10 mins at a time with a radio on and some things with my scent on them to make her feel comfortable, but she chewed up some newspapers and scattered them all over the place. My main concern is that I rent, and I am really afraid she will chew up the rug(which is wall to wall throughout), walls, or baseboards. She has a ton of chew toys ranging in size and texture. We lavish her with love and hugs and time as much as we can(mostly nights and weekends, we are mainly homebodies). When weather warrants, we take her for rides in the car. We let her sleep in our room at night with the door closed, but she has freedom to be in and out of her crate. Are we asking too much for her at this age? She isn't quite potty trained 100% yet, either, thanks to the foster home paper training. But if she needs to go, she at least goes on the kitchen floor.

We had a lab/mix prior to her, and one day she got out of her crate(which she didn't like being in) and she earned her right to be left alone outside of the crate. The dog we have now loves the crate. I am looking to get a bigger one, since she is able to turn around in this one we have now, but it is getting old and starting to fall apart. I feel bad leaving her 8 hrs. in it and it not having enough room either. She's a great dog, and I would like to at least let her have the option to roam the apartment without any harm to herself or the apartment.

Ok, rubber toys like Kongs are not an option. I am allergic to rubber/latex. I cannot afford a pen, nor do I have a place for it. It was not my idea to paper train the dog. She is out a good portion of the day currently and on a pretty consistant schedule.

We made the crate very cozy for her, with a soft blanket and a quilt over top for more coziness. She seems to like it very much.

Answer 1

I crated my American Eskimo until she was almost 3 yrs old. The reason wasn't potty training, but rather the chewing factor. Larger breed dogs will have the urge to chew until they are 3 years old. Even tho they have their adult teeth in, the teeth are still shifting and settling into the jaws, which creates the urge to chew still. By the age of 3, my dog had gotten beyond the chewing urges and no longer was tempted to tear into something she shouldn't. But every dog is different and it could possibly turn out to be a younger age for yours.

I'd say if your dog isn't behaving well in those 10 minute time slots, that she still needs to be confined for a while still. Every month or so, give it a go to see how she does. Eventually, she will likely be fine, but she may not be ready yet.

Answer 2

Dump the pads - you'll only confuse your dogs when it comes to WHERE they should be emptying - and that should be outside. Unlike cats, who empty in the same place, and cover it up, dogs don't do this and I can't imagine what your place must smell like. Puppies need to be taken outside every hour to begin with, so although you may be able to extend the intervals to every 3 hours, do it. No dog should be living in a crate (Dachshund?) and certainly not in a small crate. At least if a dog isn't being allowed out often enough and HAS to empty, they'll be able to do it and get away from it. Forcing a dog to hold is cruel, and as far as peeing is concerned, building up the potential for kidney disease later on. Dogs should only be crated for 4 hours without the ability to empty (adults) apart from overnight. If you can't deal with these dogs other than how you are right now, please find them homes where they can live a normal life for a dog.

Answer 3

I once had an elderly lady for a friend. She had a wonderful little dog. A mix of some sort. She had the dog trained well and it behaved very well. Learn here https://tr.im/nycqQ

She kept an uncovered candy dish on her coffee table with candy in it. The dog was forbidden to eat the candy. When she was in the room observing the dog he did not even appear to notice the candy. One day while she was in her dinning room she happened to look in a mirror and could see her dog in the living room. He did not know he was being watched. For several minutes he was sitting in front of the candy bowl staring at the candy. Finally he reached in and took one. He placed it on the table and stared at it, he woofed at it. He stared some more, licked his chops and PUT IT BACK in the bowl and walked away. Did he want the candy, oh yeah. Did he eat it? Nope. They can be trained that well but most, I'll admit, are not trained that well. When I was a young boy, maybe 5 years old. We had a german shepherd. He was very well trained also. My mom could leave food unattended on the table, no problem. She would open the oven door and set a pan roast beef or roast chicken on the door to cool. No problem. He would not touch it, watched or not. But butter? Whole other story. You leave a stick of butter anywhere he could reach and it was gone. He was a large shepherd so there were not many places he could not reach. Really, I think the number of dogs trained to the point they will leave food alone when not being supervised is very small indeed.
.
Now if we are talking obedience training, not food grubbing, that is a different story. Way back when I was first learning obedience training one of the final exercises was to put our dogs in a down/stay and not only leave the room but leave the building for 15 minutes. The only person that stayed was our trainer, not the owners. Most of the dogs in my class did not break their stay, which would be an automatic fail. I'm happy to report my dog was one of the ones that passed.

Answer 4

At this point, I don't think it's safe to leave her free. She's still chewing things and not reliably housetrained. I totally agree with you that paper training her first, rather than training her to go outside has slowed down her training - that's why I've never done it.

Why not get her an exercise pen, 4' x 4', put her in that instead of a crate. You can put a bed, toys and a few treats in one end, and lots of newspapers on the other in case she has to go. Once she's been in there for a while without peeing, get rid of the papers.

When you're ready to try leaving her loose for short periods of time, you need to take her for a long walk to tire her out first, maybe throw a ball or frisbee for her, so she'll be quiet and more content with being left alone.

Answer 5

I wouldn't leave the dog out alone at all! How is she going to the bathroom in the house at all? Are you working on potty training her? You need to be more consistent. She should be in her crate at all times that you cannot watch her (when you leave the house for even a few minutes, when you are sleeping, cooking, watching tv, reading, etc.). She should only be out when you can directly keep an eye on her. When she acts like she needs to go out, let her out and praise her for pottying outside. Don't punish her for pottying inside since that is your fault, not hers. She was never trained, how should she know? Take her for some long walks when you are home. She is a lab puppy! She has lots of energy and she's bored as hell! She needs to run and play and learn. Teach her some tricks. Still, she should be crated when you are not home. This is for the safety of your home and HER as well! You don't want to find that she ate some hosiery while you were gone and got her intestines tied in a knot do you?! The absolute best potty training book around is Housebreaking: Pure and Simple by Mark and Dry Katz. They also have a behavior book called Prevent Dog Problems that has the housebreaking info in it, too. They are really cheap on Amazon.com and have everything you need to know about crate training a dog of any age or size.

Answer 6

It's really not a good idea to leave the dog outside of the crate. I know you love your dog, but the crate provides a safe haven for them while you are gone. Dogs go through separation anxiety when they are left alone, which is why they destroy things. You can give them all the love in the world, but to them, when you're gone you're gone. As for the new crate, you don't want them to have too much extra room in it. If a crate is too big your dog will usually use part of it as its haven and the other end as a rest-stop. The dog only needs enough room to stand, and turn around in. Let me also suggest putting a soft baby blanket on top of a pillow to make it extra comfy for your pet.

Answer 7

I started leaving my dog alone for a few minutes a day (10-15 minutes to start), then moved up to an hour away, then three hours or so. I did this over a month's time. It worked and my dog doesn't need to be in a crate or confined.

It gives them the ability to learn that you'll be back and they won't panic.

Note: Be sure your dog's house broken before trying this. All bets are off if she isn't. The age is OK. Mine was about 9 months old when I started.

Answer 8

There are almost as many methods of training as there are trainers, but over time the basic strategy has shifted away from punishment or avoidance training (negative reinforcement) to positive reinforcement, where the dog is rewarded for doing the correct thing during most phases of training rather than being punished for not doing what the trainer wants.

training would probably help. there are some helpful hints online

Answer 9

If you have a place in your house without carpet like in your kitchen then when your gone leave her in there and baby gate her in there somehow and maybe put her crate in there and leave it open for her to go in by herself if she wants. That way she can't get into anything and if she has to gp potty then she can go on the floor in there instead of on the carpets. Also you could try getting those kong toys at the petsores and put peanut butter inside and that should keep her occupied for a while.

Answer 10

Well, leave the dog alone a little at a time. Get puppy pads, and let the dogs use the pads.