How can I start leaving my dog out when i'm gone?

Question

I have a 1yr old boston terrier and he is great. He is crate trained and when we are gone that is where he stays. We have tried to leave him out in small doses and he just goes crazy. Sometimes he is good, but rarely. I hate leaving him in his crate when we are out of the house. Is there anyway to fix this? He usually destroys things...like magazines, the couch cushions, etc.

I'm sorry, let me say that he is an inside dog and is never left outside. I'm talking about being able to leave him out of his crate in the house when we are gone.

Answer 1

Leave him out in the backyard, you REALLY need to take him out to places, if he doesn't go out often, that behavior is going to continue. Please, try to take him out to at least three new places this week? Then, try to leave him out. His rippy chewing phase should be over, though, if it's not, make sure to leave plenty of toys out for him, you can also try to cordon off one room with those baby gates, that way, he can be in one room (preferably wood floors, not to much furniture) and you don't have to worry about the rest of your house.

Answer 2

Don't Fret! You can help your dog!
I crate trained my pug for the first few weeks, then tried him free in the house.
He tore stuff up, and got himself stuck inside a big cardboard box! (lol)
So, we decided that having full run of the house was stressful for him, maybe he was 'searching' for us the whole time we were gone which created the anxiety which led to the destructiveness.

We did not want him to be crated for 6 hours at a time though. So we bought a baby gate and cornered him off in our dining room. He is not bothered by our cats, and has nothing in there that he would destroy, and he had a bed, water and toys to keep him busy.

I would suggest this idea. Try the baby gate and corner him in a room. If you do not have a room without a door, just keep the door open and use the baby gate, this would avoid any anxiety from being locked in a room.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

You can try in small steps to let him run around in small areas. Perhaps find a room or bathroom (it its a decent size) and purcahse a baby gate for the doorway. You can place the toys, water, his crate in there, some other items you find necessary. See how he reacts.

As time goes on you can extend the amount of space or just keep it to that. I know that I can't confine my dog to her kennel because it's pretty small (people state it's the right size for crate training). Not many things can fit in there, no water her toys are really huge (she has a knack for oversize toys), and I would take it she'll be bored.

For my dog: I know when I got my puppy I didn't like crating her. I instead took my 2nd bedroom (office) and turned it into a puppy room. I placed all her toys, water, puppy pads, and a dog bed in there. I put up a baby gate. I put the puppy pads behind the gate. She was confined to the small room. She enjoyed it, she liked running around in there and slept.

Eventually I had to stop doing that because she started jumping over the gate. I now allow her to roam my apartment when I'm home. She doesn't realy do that, she found/made a "spot" on my couch top in front of the window.

When I'm gone I confine her to two rooms with a gate up (that she can't jump over).

I am sure you will find something that works for you. Good Luck.

Answer 4

It takes some time. Try leaving him alone in one room (one that is not easily destroyed!) with his open crate and some toys. Leave him for short periods of time (15 minutes or so) and don't make a big deal about it when your return. Just ignore him until he calms down and then give him attention. You might try buying toys such as Kongs (when correctly filled with treats and such, they keep dogs busy for hours). When he can be trusted for longer periods of time in that room, try opening up a bit more of the house to him (baby gates are awesome) and leaving him for short times again. Gradually increase the time you are gone, and then when he's proven himself a good dog in the bigger environment, open up more of the house to him. Eventually, he should be OK in the entire house.

There's nothing wrong with crating him while you are gone. Dogs view their crate as a cozy den; he feels comfortable when left alone in the crate. When he has access to the entire house, he feels overwhelmed and doesn't know what to do.

Hope this helps...

Answer 5

Are you supplying him with many different toys? Such as stuffed animals, chew toys, etc.? We have a 9 yr.old Golden Retriever and a 71/2 month old GR and the puppy has been out of the crate alone while we are gone since 4 mo. but not for an entire day or even a 1/2 day. Neither have ever chewed anything but the older one wasn't allowed out until she was about 9 mo. Both destuff their stuffed animals which is nothing compared to magazines or furniture etc. but, I do believe if you supply them with an abundance of toys they won't even have the desire to touch other items that they shouldn't. I'd start with a smalll gated area and many toys as distractions and for only short amounts of time and gradually increase amount of time alone. When he seems to be gaining your trust give him more space and continue with the toy distractions. There is a thing called a Kong that you can stuff a cookie or peanut butter in that many say distracts them for long periods of time however, our dogs never got into them. Petsmart has these bones that are stuffed with p-butter, cheese or liver and those seem to keep the dogs occupied for very long periods of time even once they've been able to lick the good stuff out from the center of them. They run about $5-7 but our puppy loves them even when they are empty since the bigger one can lick everything out of them. Be careful of them on hardwood floors though.

Good luck and keep the faith as puppies are like toddlers, this too shall pass!

Answer 6

I know it may seem cruel to leave a dog in a crate all day but as long as you don't go beyond about 8 hours it's fine. A dog actually feels secure in his crate once he has been trained so. Destroying things is a way that he shows his anxiety...you can alleviate that anxiety by leaving him in the crate. It's you that feels bad, not him. As long as you are spending time with him when you are home you are being a good pet mom!

Answer 7

if you exersize him for a good 15-20 minutes before crate time he should be fine and napping most of the time there... its safer for him too, not just the house. sometimes dogs swallow some of the stuff they tear up. also there are lots of toys that you can stuff with hard to reach stuff like peanut butter and kibble. and they feel safer in a "den" than in a whole house and stay calmer.
make sure the crate is not an "airplane kennel" crates have open bars not solid plastic.

Answer 8

When we got our dog, we crate trained him too. He first cried whenever we left, but over the course of a couple of months he got over it. So now, he is almost 3 years old and we can leave him out. We have a door that shuts from upstairs to downstairs, so we just started shutting the door to the stairs instead of to his crate. Then we would leave for like 10 minutes or something and see how it went. The first time he did have an accident, but it wasn't much, so we kept leaving him for longer and longer times, until we can leave him for 8 hours now while we are away for the day. We still shut the door, because we want to let him mature a little more before he gets to stay out. (labs generally dint start maturing until they're 3) but for your dog,like is there a room you can leave him in like a bathroom, anything like that? or you could get a guard for the stairs and leave him at the bottom. Or you could put up one of those wire cages, that are open and you can make them as big as you want. They can get pricey, but its up to you. You may want to wait until hes about 2 though, to try just leaving him out because hes still a puppy at one. Good Luck!

Answer 9

Trust me. If he's ok in the crate, leave him there! It's safer for him and you that he be confined when you're not home. Usually it's the opposite problem of a dog freaking out while IN the crate. Count your blessings and take him for an extra long walk when you get home and let him out of the crate.

Answer 10

Before you leave the house try some simple training of letting him know what things are off limits to chew and destroy. Also giving him a toy he can chew/destroy may be of some help since he will know he can play with that. Also when you leave the house try only letting him out in a small room where you have taken anything he could possibly hurt out of his reach and see how he does, don't forget to leave his toy in there. do that for a while until he proves trustworthy and you can try adding another room until it is fully ok for him to roam the house while you are out!

Answer 11

When your home put him out side for about and hour or two. with his crate open and his stuff do this 2-3 times a day. Then bring him in do this for a few weeks and he should get the hang of it. Do feel pitty for hi,m when he's begging to come in make him do his time out. or you will defeat the purpose. good luck