Dog crate trained?

Question

My dog is a year and a half old. Until now when we leave the house he always stays in his crate. Yesterday however I dont' know if we didn't close it all the way or if he unlocked it himself but he was out of his crate when I got home. Nothing was deystroyed, so now I'm wondering if I can stop putting him in his crate when we leave. Anybody have any suggestions?

Answer 1

Go ahead and start giving him more freedom. I'd start slowly even though he did well yesterday. Start with an hour of you gone, and him out his crate, then two and so on.

If he's good in the house outside of crate, I dont see the need to put him in there. I "graduate" all my dogs out of the crate, although I never fully take their crates away. They enjoy them and go there on their own when things get hectic.

Answer 2

K, you won't crate instruct. You'll be able to need to pay very close awareness to both dogs for some weeks, maybe longer seeing that both have already developed the addiction of going indoors. Under no circumstances give them a threat to move indoors. Take them out by and large sufficient so it cannot occur, watch them until they pee external, use a phrase so they partner the phrase with the motion, and give quite a few praise once they do what they are supposed to. Then when you're going to take them external, ask them if they wish to pee or some thing word you utilize. "rarely had an accident" doesn't depend as apartment-trained in my opinion, and i additionally consider that a dog which is rather proficient doesn't go simply considering the fact that an additional did. Would you say a character used to be toilet proficient in the event that they most often used the toilet? I crate trained my canine, and she was once condo-knowledgeable in about two weeks. In nine years she has had one accident, whilst someone else was looking after her and failed to recognize that she wanted to move out. I have not used the crate on account that she used to be about 5 months ancient. A crate is not a prison, dogs aren't the identical as people. Appear once more at crate training, considering the fact that I suppose you may have misunderstood what it's about, and due to the fact that what you've accomplished up to now has now not labored. I would no longer tolerate two puppies peeing in all places the condo unless they have been ill, and would go to a few difficulty to look that it did not happen.

Answer 3

For my dog, she eventually got to the point where she could be trusted out of the crate. It really is an individual thing as to when a dog can be trusted. Mine was a destructive chewer until she was 3 yrs, so I had to keep her crated when I left until that age. After that, no problem.

I'd say to start allowing your dog to be out on short term while you run to the store for 30 minutes or so. See how your dog does. If all goes well, you will be able to increase that time.

I think crates are very useful in the training of young dogs, but I retire the crate when the dog reaches a trustworthy stage.

Answer 4

I've never had a dog who was kept in a crate once he was past the age of chewing and was reliably house trained. Give your dog some freedom - start by leaving him out when you're only going to be gone for a short time and see what happens. There's very few dogs who can't be trusted loose in the house once they're a bit older.

Answer 5

We started first by leaving our dog out of the crate, but confined to someplace like the kitchen (where they have more room to move, but no rugs!) to see how she did. Then we gradually expanded (first to the hallway and bathroom, then to the living room). She has the run of much of the downstairs and seems to spend most of it in the living room on the chair or couch.

And never EVER use the crate as a place of punishment. That is supposed to be their safe space. You don't want your dog associating their crate with being bad.

Answer 6

Yes. In fact, with proper crate training, your dog should be able to freely go in and out of his crate as he pleases even before he is a year old. s long as your dog is not messing in the house or tearing things up, I suggest to leave his crate open so he can go in and out of it aas he pleases!

Answer 7

I crate trained my dog as well. Although I did it a little differently, and gradually moved him from crate, to one room, to two rooms, and then let him roam free. We let him out at about the same age you did. If you can, try leaving him in a room or two (with the door open and he being contained by a doggy gate), and see how he does. If he is ok with that, then you shouldn't have a problem letting him roam free.

Answer 8

Basically you just have to go thru trial and error....Maybe start leaving him out when you leave the house for short periods of time...When you arrive back home, if nothing is damaged then you praise and reward him. However, if he does mess up anything then you have to walk him over to his mess and scold him...like a pat on the nose and a firm NO! followed by putting him back in the crate for 10 mins or so.Over time you can be gone longer and he will come to an understanding.

Answer 9

You can start by leaving him out of the crate for short periods of timeand extend them longer and longer to see what he does. Do not let him have this new found freedom without testing it first because you may come home to a surprise one day.

Answer 10

i vote yes, you can stop crating him.
we stopped crating our pup after a few months b/c he got too big for his crate (we bought the largest size too!) and he was potty trained enough to be trusted in the house alone.

we get home and he has all of his toys out everywhere and we have to [ick up the bits and peices, but that's all he does all day.

take care:)