When did you let your puppy into the rest of the house?

I'm hoping that everyone can give me some advice/what they did, as I'm not sure what to do for the best. George is currently 11 weeks and he's been with us for 3 weeks. Toilet training is in progress but obviously not there yet - if I let him out regularly then he goes outside and there are no accidents, but he's not asking to go outside yet. Do people remember how long it took for their puppy to start 'asking'?
But the main thing is, he is currently kept in the kitchen. He has a crate and a puppy playpen for when he's alone, but I haven't let him into the rest of the house yet. I know that a lot of people on here said that it's better to keep them in just one room for a while. But my question is, how long should I keep him in here? Because I feel like I'm starting to get cabin fever in my kitchen! I can't remember what the rest of the house looks like!
Any advice or experiences would be great.

 

Just to clarify, I'm not talking about unsupervised access to the rest of the house - he hasn't been in there at all.

 

I let my puppy have free reign of downstairs straight away. When he couldn't be supervised I just kept him in the kitchen behind the baby gate. I never really saw any benefit to keeping them confined to one room and he just liked being wherever we were

My dog never asks to go out, he just holds it until I let him out which is every few hours. The only time I've ever noticed anything is if he's had a bad tummy and barked through the night.

 

Yep, I have recently felt this - never thought I'd ever get out of my kitchen. My puppy has never asked to go outside - occasionally she has gone and sat by the back door. I had to decide when I thought she needed to go and we have got into a routine now when I take her out every few hours. Sometimes she refuses to move so I know she doesn't need to go. Mostly she just trots out with me and goes. The routine just evolved and there have been no accidents in the house since she was a tiny puppy.

I didn't let her have any freedom in the house for months. Again this just evolved gradually. Partly this was because our older dog needed her own space but now they are together all the time. Neither of them go upstairs and they are generally supervised but I do go and do things upstairs and they are fine left.

 

We pretty much keep to the kitchen until the pups are five months old, but we are lucky - we have a large 'live in' kitchen.

From day one when I'm sure the pup is 'empty' we have an 'explore' of the rest of the house for five minutes or so.

But we do lots of carrying the pup out to experience the world in those early days, at least three times a day - so no chance for boredom.

 

I can't remember the exact timings but we just let it evolve naturally. I restricted access to upstairs because I didn't want Jess running up/down stairs while her joints were developing. And she was a very, very busy little pup so it took a long time for her to learn to settle in the living room. She was allowed into the living room, but she would constantly roam round the room, jump up and down from furniture, bark at the windows, bark at the TV, bite at rugs and throws. Even if she was tired she wouldn't stop until we confined her, at first in a crate and then in the kitchen.

She was a bit of a nightmare to be honest - I used to long for the day when she would just settle down and sleep in the living room, but it took a while. And yes, we were actively trying to train a settle during this time! I seem to remember a significant turning point was at around 6 months, and by 9 months she was pretty much freely using downstairs. By 11 months she was coming upstairs too.

So, I guess it depends on the dog?

 

Oh yes, and for those first months I spent a LOT of time on the kitchen floor!

 

I've always allowed access (supervised) to the ground floor rooms from Day 1 with no problems. Daytime is mainly in the kitchen or office but evenings are most definitely in the lounge. We have a play session and then pups settle for the evening after a toilet trip to the garden.

 

My pup had free rein of kitchen, hallway and lounge from day one but always supervised. She was however, like @blackandwhitedog 's pup in terms of the whirling dervish behaviour but there was no way I was confining myself to the kitchen (it's pretty small), it would have made me more bonkers than I already was!

She asked to go out quite early but only through jumping up at the back door and lounge door, never with barks. In the early days she was always watched so I could catch her in time. She still doesn't bark (unless she has an upset stomach at night) but can hold it for longer (at 11 months) and I let her out regularly.

 

Mine have always had free run of the downstairs from the moment I had them. I can't see the point of keeping them away from the family and left in the kitchen. Of course they have to be supervised and popped into a crate when having a shower or shopping

 

We stay in the kitchen with ours.

 

I let mine out immediately they came home and I watched like a hawk. They never had any accidents in the rest of the house and I didn't get much done either.

Mine didn't "ask" to go out. Well they did but until they learned I did not have ESP and could not read the invisible little thought bubbles over their heads that said, " I need to pee" I just had to plan their outings. Dogs are very smart and once they figured out I was not very smart and began to glance at the door did I have a hope of knowing their thoughts.

 

We let our puppy in any part of the house as long as she's with us. At first, if I needed to take a shower or something I'd put her in her kennel. Now at 4 months I will leave her gated in the kitchen, where her kennel is. Otherwise she stays close by....I should have named her Shadow

 

Our George is 5 months and I have the stairs gated (will probably stay this way for a long while) and the hallway to the bedrooms gated. He has access to the dining room/kitchen/living room. I think it'll be this way for a long while because it keeps him away from the kid's toys and it gives our senior dog space when she needs it. I think, like others have mentioned, it will evolve naturally as you trust the pup to have more access.

 

Our boy had access to downstairs from day one, and has always slept upstairs with us - we have a small galley type kitchen so there was no room for a crate or pen there so we just watched Bailey like a hawk, took him out regularly and then carried him upstairs at night where his crate was kept. During the day we had a time out area in a corridor (draft free). We had a crate that we used at the rugby club where I work as Bailey comes with us. We also carried him into the town centre and sat outside cafes or on benches just watching the world go by. I do miss when he was small enough to carry around!

 

I too let Harley have the run of the house from day 1. I always watched her like a hawk and she learned very quickly about asking to go out, even though I took her out every 30 mins, after food or a sleep. I found she was really good in all of the other rooms. It depends on what works for you really as every person and every dog are different.

 

Same here. I let them have free reign over the downstairs from the beginning. That way they become accustomed to most rooms at an early age and what is considered available to them and what is not. I just recently let them go upstairs where they have never been before and they thought it was new play territory for a few days! They seem to be over that now, thankfully!!

 

Nelson had the parlour, hall and utility room from day one. Two more rooms added after a week. All were tiled or parquet, so easy to clean. Then there are three rooms he will never be allowed in (he politely sits at the door and gets a kibble for that).

Unlike your puppy, ours has never been allowed on the ceiling.

 

it took me a minute

 

We let them in other parts of the house by 10 week, as long as they were closely supervised. At 3 months we had to give Cooper the run of the house for a few days while we went to a wedding and had a part time house sitter. It did not go great, but not too badly. All of our dogs have had free run by around 6 months, but we have lost a few things that they thought were great chew toys. By a year and a half, they were really good and very dependable.

We have dog door to a fenced back yard at our house so once they had the run of the house they could go out any time. At our cabin we have to let them out, and Tilly will bark, but Cooper will just sit by the door to let us know.