Our puppy is approaching 10 months and we use her crate at nighttime and daytime if out of the house. I’m thinking to weaning her off the crate and am wondering if it’s best to start with overnight out of the crate or a short time during the day when we are not at home. I am interested in what other people did, Thank you.
I started by leaving the crate door unlocked and slightly ajar while going to the shops and gradually extended the time and the door opening until it was just always open for free access.
We de-crated overnight as soon as she slept through (12.5 weeks) by leaving the crate door open and putting another bed in our room (her crate was in our bedroom). She chose between our bed, her crate or her dog bed. We never had any issues and she never left our room until we got up. We de-crated her much slower when she was home alone when she was around a year old. We started the same as we crate trained - with very short periods in one dog proof room while we stepped outside or we got the mail and slowly built up time from there. She was anxious at first, with a change to the crate/Kong routine and thinking she was coming with us. I started a new routine each time we left and she was not crated - she was left with a treat hunt in the living room and a Kong and over time, increased her access to the entire house. She eventually stopped going in her crate at all and took it down.
We de-crated at night at about 14 weeks as I recall. We used a doggie playpen in the kitchen until about the same time. At about 16 weeks we were forced to give Cooper the run of the house, because we had a dog sitter for 4 days and she was only their at night. It worked ok but it would have been better to delay a month or so.
Hi, Cassie was almost 7 months when I left her crate door open at night, and when that was ok started to do the same in the day for short periods and before I knew it just became the norm. Could depend on the puppy though, she hasn't been a very destructive chewer at all.
Ask 10 people get 10 different answers I slowly decrated during the day at 9 months - 15/20 mins while I took my kid to school etc. Slowly built duration from there. No problems whatsoever. I first tried decrating at night at...10 months? To cut a long story short, big fail. After a few nights of waking up to hearing her gnawing on the baby gates/plaster board, then waking up one morning to a massive puddle in the kitchen, I crated again. I tried again...14 months? It's in my post history, definitely after 12 months. She was fine. No more midnight rowdies, no puddles (which I realised with hindsight was caused by the excitement of being "up" when OH left for work at 530 am).
I am interested in this post as Red still sleeps in a closed crate in our kitchen. She is 12 months. In my mind, I am thinking around 18 months until we lose the crate. It is very large and so she has plenty of room to stand and move around. She is also crated when we both go out. She is happy to go in and sometimes uses her crate in the day when I/we are in the kitchen. I cover the crate with a large blanket at night. DH says we should ditch the blanket but I think not yet. Does this all sound ok? Sorry @Elsie - I don’t want to highjack your post - it just set me thinking .
Mine still have their crates - and they are now six and four. The crates are large enough for them to stand up and turn round or stretch out, so I use them as their base during the day if I go out, putting their Kongs inside, but leaving the doors open. They also choose to go in sometimes for a nap during the day. At night they are still shut in their crates, as my attempt at leaving the doors open ended in failure. I couldn’t cope with the sound of playing at 3.30am! It would be lovely to have the space back, but keeping the crates seems to work best. Just see what works best for you, but keep the crate stored somewhere in case you need it, eg for post-op rest.
@Atemas there is no right or wrong age to de-crate your pup and if you are both happy with the crate no reason at all. It really is what is best for you and your pup
It really depends on you and your dog. I tried crating my girl at night when we first got her......epic fail. She sleeps with us and we've never had an accident if issue overnight. She was crated when I was at work until she was around 6 months old. We started by leaving her in the kitchen with her bed, blankets and a few toys. After a few weeks we decided to try and leave her in the living room - again we didn't have any issues. By 10 months old she had free run of the house when we were out and usually spends most of that time in my bedroom.
We de-crate our pups at about seven months old - so far so good, no chewing. Except Gypsy, who had a go at the skirting board, but anti-chew stuff stopped her doing that.
Join the club. It's so much easier sometimes to give advice to clients on what they should do with their pups and can be so much harder to do yourself . I usually go with what feels right for me and my furry family
Thanks for all the ideas, I think I will try some short times during the day first and leave night time until she is a bit older.
