Hello all! So Larks is 8 months today and most of the time an absolutely lovely dog. She is VERY energetic and requires a lot of exercise and mental stimulation but settles down beautifully after she is tired enough. I am starting a new job where Larks will have to be left alone more then she has been previously. She will never be left in her crate for more then 5 hours, but I am wondering if you still think that is too long, and if so do you think de-crating is possible at 8 months? She is not a destructive chewer at all, although she has never really had the opportunity to be unsupervised with something she shouldn't be chewing. She sleeps out of the crate at night and we have not had any issues there. Any opinions and advice on how to begin de-crating would be appreciated!
We de-crated both Tilly and Cooper much earlier. We did use a play pen but did not confine them to the play pen or kitchen after about 5 months. Puppy proof (as much as possible) the rooms she can get to, and see what happens, before you start the new job. We lost some stuff, but not much. None of our dogs ever chewed on furniture, and we did always make sure they had a lot of their on toys to chew/play with. One reason we quit confining the dogs to one room or pen is that we have a dog door going to the back yard, and they have to have the run of the main floor and down stairs to access it.
Mollie was decrated at four months old. We put anti chew stuff on furniture - she's been fine. All our pups are decrated by six months old.
Im debating this too, rolo is 7 months I just get worried as all our stuff is brand new and my OH is an anxious stresser - so if anything gets lost he feels like its the end of the world. Im going to test leaving him for 30mins with a kong then returning and gradually expanding so maybe you could try that approach Let me know how it goesm
My pup is 23 weeks and I leave her in the kitchen behind a babygate (have been doing so for probably 10-14 days). Her crate is in there but if she chooses to go in I don't lock her in anymore and she mainly chooses to sleep in a bed outside the crate. I haven't left her for longer than 2.5 hours, it's usually 2 hours at the moment, when she's tired after her morning walk. She has toys in there but it's not a huge kitchen. I'm not brave enough yet to leave the babygate unlocked! But I would do as Jysicca suggests and try it all out, gradually increasing time out of crate, before you start your new job. Good luck.
W&S were decrated at 6 months. I think 5 hours is way too long to be confined to a crate, but if you can't trust your pup with your things (and they're all different, so no shame in that!) then a "safe" room or puppy pen will be your answer.
I "think" I can trust her it's just so hard to know! And I realize things can be ruined even by an older dog, so there's no certainty or anything but I'd hate to take a step backwards by giving her too much freedom too soon.
I have never used a crate, Ziggy is 6 months old nowand has had free run of our backyard since 12 weeks old. He sleeps in a semi enclosed verandah at night and has done since 12 weeks. When i am inside so is he. He had his first raw marriw bone at 5 months old, and has a new one weekly, this has curbed the chewing my stuff. I have left him in the backyard alone for up to 5 hours, i live in a rural town and a shopping trip takes that long, he is always sleeping in his bed when i get home.
Know your dog... Luna has spent a couple of nights decrated, but I know if I tried that during the day, there would be carnage. Trust your instincts!
Update for you all in case you were curious. Yesterday we left Larks un-crated for 40 minutes. I didn't shut her in a specific room, just closed the bedroom and bathroom doors so she had the mud room, kitchen and living room. She did perfectly! When we got home I quietly went to the front window to look in and she was just sleeping away on the couch!
I have Grannick’s Bitter Apple Spray which I used when Red was going through her croco pup stage. Also fairly recently when she was chewing the edges of her bed and blankets.
I just used some anti chew stuff from pets at home. It tasted rotten and put Stanley off the skirting board and cupboard side. But to be fair Stanley has never been much of a chewer, far too much effort required
Who don’t you try it out en leave the crate door open when you are going out for one or two hours, or at night? I have an bad experience with de-crating with our first lab at 8 month...I wrote it in the Christmas tree section here on the forum. Our second lab could easily be de-crated when one year old. Finn on the other hand is still in an open crate. Since a year it is possible to do so. Finn is 4 years old! We trained Finn the way I suggested, and it went ok!
