Hi everyone, So, Barkley is now coming up to one year! (on the 15th January). Over Christmas we spent four days down in England at my dads and couldn't fit his crate in our car so Barkley was de-crated the whole time. To be completely honest, he was a gem. No chewing things, just roaming seeing the unfamiliar environment and sleeping up in my old room with us at night (sometimes on the floor sometimes on the bed), but someone was with him constantly so if he had tried to do anything we would distract him. My partner looked on this site at de-crating and it advised around 18 months was the ideal time... I was just looking to get everyone's thoughts and some advice. My partner is away for a couple of days next week and I have decided I am going to allow Barkley to come and sleep upstairs with me at night so he has a little freedom and it keeps me company! Our worry when thinking about de-crating is... he chews. Not the sofa or the cabinets or carpet.. but he actively looks for objects to take in order for us to chase him and then he hides. About a month ago I left him downstairs for ten minutes alone and he managed to chew our Sky remote and the batteries out of it... after an emergency visit to the vets thinking he had swallowed one of the batteries - thankfully we found the battery under the sofa untouched, all he is left with now is a slight mark on his jowl from the one battery he pierced so it could have been a lot worse - but nevertheless the thought upsets me greatly. After that incident, I am reluctant to leave him alone at all unless he is sleepy and settled and I feel i can nip away upstairs for a couple of minutes or outside etc. Does anybody have any advice regarding de-crating and 12 month old pups that look for objects to take? (Socks and hats/scarves are his favourite). Again, when it does come to it I will be sweeping the whole house of anything he could get his paws on! Thank you in advance x
My pup was decrated at 9 months. We didn't really have a choice, our day care fell through and he was going to be left for longer periods with a walk in the middle and I didn't like leaving himin his crate. So we left the door open. He's never touched anything. We did through the day and on a night together and we've had absolutely no problems. We just leave him in the kitchen behind the baby gate and he chills in his bed. We make sure anything tempting is out of his way. When I'm in the house or just popping out for a short while I tend to give him free run of all of downstairs and he just chills on the sofa. My dog has always taken stuff for us to chase him, tea towels are his favourite as @Emily_BabbelHund will be able to confirm it's 100% an attention thing. If I'm not there (or more specifically my OH who does chase him) he doesn't touch anything. He can be left alone for 4 hours with the tea towels on the radiator - as soon as he sees my OH he takes one and runs around the coffee table Good luck!
Our last Lab outgrew his crate at 8 months so we got rid of it, but never locked him in it anyway. We had a baby gate across the room where he slept, and when we got rid of that when he was about 2yrs old we simply left him in the downstairs area and closed the living room door, so he could not go in there. He always just stayed in his bed. You will probably have to suck it and see, but I would say that dogs do not understand "sometimes" so unless you intend him to sleep upstairs with you it would be better to leave him where you intend him to sleep, otherwise you may confuse him.
Hahaa typical Labrador cheekiness and lust for fun! Perfect, thank you for your reply. It is usually my partner who plays rough with him and chases him too... although I do love his little face when i catch him. He just sits there still gripping whatever it is in his mouth, knowing he is defeated but then knowing I have to use all of my strength to open his mouth! I may try leaving him for short periods and build it up slowly (after having swept the house of anything remotely chewable). Did you start by leaving the door open slightly or just leave him completely to roam without being in his crate first?
I never really thought about that, it's a good point. Thank you... our house is basically the living room and dining room (so his crate is just in there) which is fine for him to roam around as long as I make sure anything he may try to get is out of reach!
This sounds like a great plan. My boys were both "de-crated" by six months old, but they were Rotties and not as orally-fixed as Labs. Both of them just seemed to go into a coma with their legs up in the air if you left them alone.
My Labs have all been de-crated about 6 months. It's your responsibility to make sure there's nothing around that can harm him, or that he might damage - so a sweep of the room picking up remotes etc before bedtime just has to become a part of your routine. My dogs sometimes sleep with me, and most of the time don't. They know how it works; if the door is open, they can come in. If not, not. There's no problem with that.
I decrate my pups at 7 to 9 months old. Only you know what a chewer your dog is and if it will work. Overnight tends to be easier as nearly all dogs just sleep. I decrate mine overnight first but not during the day for a month or two. I don’t leave any stuff around for them to chew. I only ever leave them for a couple of hours during the day. If I’m being out for longer I have them looked after.
Oban was decrated at 5.5 months, a month after he'd been clean overnight. He chose to come upstairs and sleep on the floor by my bed. He never left that spot, didn't roam, didn't chew, didn't get into trouble. I never did crate him in daytime, used gates on our kitchen instead. I continued with that if I had to leave the house or needed to get some work done till he was about one year old. I think all you can do is try it in stages and remove anything dangerous to him or precious to you from his possible reach. To gauge his reach image he can fly and has arms like a monkey. Or a devil.
The problem with chewers is that they don't necessarily just chew what is removable. Mine chews furniture and walls if unsupervised and bored - especially just after breakfast. He has an evil hour where I am trying to get breakfast and get everyone to where they needs to go. A 90 sec trip upstairs for me inevitably has unfortunate results. I can't get him back into his crate every time I need to leave the room.
Oh no what a nightmare!! Thank fully Barkley is quite obedient - I have to give him that. He will do anything for a little treat and a lot of the time without too! I hope yours gets easier as it sounds hectic!!!
Yes, I think for us the best option would be in stages for now so it's not too much of a change for him... short periods and gradually building! As mentioned above, when we were at my dads, he was a Gem! Probably quite tired generally due to not being in his crate and all of the excitement and at night he did the same and just slept by us... So, hopefully he will do the same.
