Day 4 in the crate free house and so far so good. We were in Yorkshire with Baxter and we were talking how grown up he has become. He rarely takes or chews things that don't belong him and is so laid back he's horizontal! We gave him a few days home then thought we'd give it a go. We have a stair gate as he's not allowed upstairs but decided he would have freedom of the livingroom, hall and kitchen. all de-Baxtered before going to bed. First night when we got got up he went to his crate but when we closed the stair gate behind us he came to the bottom of the stairs with a look of you've forgotten about me lol we left him 10 minutes and then checked on him and he was on the sofa He was still there in the morning. Second night he was on the sofa when we got up, all we got that night was he lifted his head had a look then went back to sleep. Third night son came in late 2am, he said Baxter didn't move from the sofa (some guard dog!) even when he went into the fridge for a drink he didn't come through. So have we cracked it or is he lulling us into a false sense of security? I still remember when Nevis destroyed the wallpaper in the utility room
Did the same with Rory a while ago. He'd been fine in fact he seems a lot more chilled. He loves the sofa too. Hope it works ok for you too, I'm glad we did it he was definately ready. He'd not a silly as he used to be.
We had been leaving him in the kitchen if we were going out during the day and he was really good. The crate as just for night time. He is a year and a half now and i was wanting to get rid of it. Like Rory he loves the sofa, i think he'll be fine
I think you just know in the end. We took it down to clean the carpets and I told the oh to stick in the garage and leave it there
Well done Baxter! We've recently done the same with Ella (she was in a pen rather than a crate though). I wish I could find an old post where @Oberon was saying that she leaves Obi in the house during the day. I'm pretty sure I said something along the lines of "you're crazy" and "we will NEVER be able to do that with Ella". Now whenever we go out we leave her in the whole house (not bedrooms) and she is great! She greats us at the door when we get home but you can tell which couch she's just been sleeping on by the warm patch
One of my dogs trainers leaves her dogs loose . They seem a happy bunch. It nice to realise what a long way you have come when you know you can trust them. I been so pleased with Rory
My two are loose in the house when I go out. They just sleep. As I drive up to the house, they wake up and drag themselves off the bed, then are waiting at the door by the time I get in to tell me they've been waiting there for me all along. The warm spots and piles of hair tell a different story.
We always leave Snowie inside our house when we go out. He's totally trustworthy, will never chew anything that isn't his. But he has this terrible habit of digging in our sofas. Not during the day, but at night -- we think it either has to do with him getting hot, or perhaps he's just trying to nest cos he also digs up his blanket. So when we go out now at night, we put barstools across the opening to the lounge and to the utility room (both have sofas) otherwise we'd end up living like students with scruffy furniture! As it is, if you lift the loose cushions on the sofas you discover how torn it is below. Very annoying, but doesn't seem like we can do anything about it from a training perspective; just management now. Interesting that he doesn't hop over the barstools. We have a babygate stashed away in the storeroom on the off-chance (very slight) that we get another puppy. But it's unsightly and inconvenient for usual lounge access, and the barstools are already around the kitchen island, so they're the easiest solution.
Poppy has free run of the house when we are out and is completely trustworthy. But just a word of warning about what can happen if you de-crate your dog too early: 'THE CUSHION JUST EXPLODED MUM!!! IT WASN'T ME, HONESTLY!!!' Or this:
LOL oh yes, I just noticed the little tinkle. But I was right, it wasn't Poppy! I'm sure it wasn't really Bones, either
I didn't know it could happen outside of "funny photos of dogs on the internet". But... it happened to us, too!
