Calling dog experts - When to let pup roam

[HD333]

We have a 7 month old lab who we have been crate training since July. He does fine but I feel bad keeping him locked up when we are not around. With ski season upon us i was wondering at what point do we stop locking him in the crate and let him roam free in the house when we are gone?
He hasn't pissed/crapped in the house in months so I am pretty sure he is fully housebroken at this point.
Thanks in advance.

[Cono Este]

Keep him in there until he prefers to be in there. 1 1/2 - 2 yrs.

[pointemstraight]

I think our lab (now 2 1/2), earned the right to chill in the house around 8 months or so. We started by closing off the door to the laundry room, which also has a spare bedroom off of it (his crate is in the laundry room). So he had run of that small area to start with, and the crate door was always open and his bed was in there. After a month or so of that, we'd give him run of the whole house when we'd be gone for only a few hours at a time. And when he passed that test, we started giving him run of the castle all day.

[hutash]

It's a lab, better wait until his 12

The simple answer is start leaving him out (with the door open so he can sleep in it if he wants,) for longer and longer periods of time There is no real need to leave him out at all if he is real used to it. My little spaniels are still shut in during the day, and are perfectly happy as long as the get a treat when we leave for work.

[irul&ublo]

try opening up the crate but leaving his bedding in it. He may well just hang in the crate but walk around a bit. At 7 mos, I would leave him restricted to a safe room.

[MotherFucker]

I have a 3 year old lab and a 4 year old rottie. Both have massive cages they stay in while wifey and I are gone. They get a treat before they head in and they also seem content until one of us returns. We live in thin-walled apartments and none of our neighbors has ever said they hear them barking. Actually it seems like our lab prefers to rest in her cage. Whenever she's about to zonk out she crawls into it and and crashes. The rottie was never in a cage 'til we came home on day (she was about 8mos at that time) and saw she dug up about 75% of the houses carpet. Since then her and the lab go in the cage whenever we leave the house.

We still notice they nibble on the bedding inside their cages so we don't really plan on letting them roam at all anytime soon.

I say as long as your dog/s are cool with it then let be free.

[Blatant]

I'd just start leaving the door open and allowing him to come and go, as mentioned. Too me that seems pretty old to be penned up but i have a different breed of beast so perhaps it varies. Mine was pretty much dialed in at 4 mths or so.

[Sphinx]

I am far from a dog expert, but I don't see why one would keep your dog confined unless he's extremely destructive and it's the only way to keep your stuff and the dog safe.

I got my mutt when he was 9mo old, and fully crate trained. I left him at home when I went to work. He had full run of the two bedrooms and a pet gate kept him out of the rest of the apartment. We were diligent about not leaving much out that he could chew on, and the worst casualties were a pair of shoes and some of my ex's pants.

Now he's about a year and a half old and he hasn't destroyed anything of value in a long time - since I left him alone in a new home and he was wigged out about the life change.

If your dog is going to eat stuff that will hurt him, or choke himself to death while you're gone, I can understand locking him up, but I wouldn't want to spend all day in a cage, and neither would the mutt.

I'd say child/doggy-proof a room or two and get him used to being out. Scold him for chewing stuff up. Hopefully he'll figure it out pretty quickly.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Well, we had one of the most well behaved dog's in the world, but we had good luck letting our lab roam free early. Crates are good when they're young, and some dogs even like it, but a lot of dogs can earn their freedom.

It helps if you have a kitchen-type area with a tile or other non-carpeted floor, especially if you're worried about presents. We used to put gates up around our large, eat-in kitchen after she was about 6 months old or so. Put a bed in there, or something to sleep on, give her some toys, etc. After a few months, my dad forgot to put the gates up one day. Guess what? Everything was fine. Spotless. So we stopped putting the gates up, and pretty much allowed her full rein of the house, or close.
Damn, I still miss her.
Anyway, slowly introduce your dog to being able to have more and more of the house using kiddie gates, and keeping rooms that you don't ever want them in closed.

[knumbskull]

We have let our 3 year old lab have the run of the house for 2 years now. We would have occasional trash eating episodes but all seemed mostly fine. Until she figured out how to open the lazy susan cabinets where we keep food. It was like a scene out of a movie, shit everywhere inlcluding a full bag of powdered sugar covering the living room.

Well, she also ate a bag of chocolate chips. We tried to make her puke with hydrogen peroxide with no success so she went to the vet. After all was said and done she left the vet 10lbs lighter!

[Elkhound Odin]

It's not the house broken bit you need to be so much concerned about. That's just a clean up chore. It's the chewing that will happen. Even if you think you chew proofed the living space, your dog will find something to destroy. Counters, window sills, linoleum floor, sofa, tables. If your dog can put his mouth on it, it can be chewed.

[farmer]

I think our lab (now 2 1/2), earned the right to chill in the house around 8 months or so. We started by closing off the door to the laundry room, which also has a spare bedroom off of it (his crate is in the laundry room). So he had run of that small area to start with, and the crate door was always open and his bed was in there. After a month or so of that, we'd give him run of the whole house when we'd be gone for only a few hours at a time. And when he passed that test, we started giving him run of the castle all day.

exact same thing that we did. Seemed to work fine. Never had any chewing problems. Laundry room has cement floor, so the couple times when he was still quite young and has accidents it was fine. Now we have no problems if we have to leave him for 8-10 hrs with full reign to the house, although my dad gets separation anxiety. He sleeps pretty much the whole time anyways.

[nickwm21]

He does fine but I feel bad keeping him locked up when we are not around.

Why feel bad, he is a dog, dogs are den animals, they feel safer in such a situation... My lab sleeps under the coffee table instead of on her nice fluffy mat.

[Danno]

Unless you have a dog door, it really doesn't matter. But I always follow the philosophy of trying to set them up for success, not failure. So don't just leave him out one day and go away for 8 hours. Start with just 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, then an hour. As he proves that you can trust him, you can increase. If he chews something up, well, it's too soon. My first pup didn't earn full house privileges until about 2, and my second pup (who I got at 1 1/2) came crate trained but had bad separation anxiety, and it took at least a year before he could be trusted. But he still runs to his crate when something bad happens!

[Bosco]

The 3 dogs I got as puppies (12 weeks old) were only in crates at night for the first couple of months, never during the day, even when i was gone. At most they pooped 1 or 2 times each. Never had a problem. My 4th dog I got when she was 5 months old. She was a terror and it took a month before I could get her trained.

Bottom line, it depends on the dog. Labs are usually pretty bright. I'd give him a chance at freedom and see what transpires.

[hutash]

my dad gets separation anxiety. He sleeps pretty much the whole time anyways.

Bummer, let me know if your mom needs some attention.

[The Reverend Floater]

I crate train my dogs but also start leaving them alone from the get go. Usually in small rooms with no danger, but I still want them to be comfortable. Teaching them behavior from day one, i.e. replacing shoes in their mouth with toys, etc. helps immensely. Steve will still terrorize from time to time, but for the most part, at 8 months, he's fine to leave by himself.

That said, this morning I walked out of the bedroom and I see Steve tearing ass towards me, KITTEN IN HIS MOUTH. He likes to carry the kitten around. Good thing he has a soft mouth!

[gatorboy]

Hutash, my golden turns 4 yrs in a week and she stays in the crate for 6-8 hrs on Tue and Th. Would you provide water while she's in the crate?

[DLD in UT]

I am at about the same place as the OP. I am not worried about accidents, it is him being bored and finding something to chew that worries me. That said, we've rigged a way using baby gates and closed doors, so he has access to the backyard through doggie door and then the inside stairwell that we put his dog bed at the top of. He's done fine there and think we'll stick with that for a bit, as he's restricted and can't chew much but I have a bit more peace of mind that he can go take a piss and stretch his legs once in a while.

[Danno]

That said, this morning I walked out of the bedroom and I see Steve tearing ass towards me, KITTEN IN HIS MOUTH. He likes to carry the kitten around. Good thing he has a soft mouth!

that. is. awesome.

take pictures.

[Grange]

With my lab I went back and forth with her until she was about three. What I mean is I thought I could trust her so I'd let her say in the house outside her crate while I went to work. For a while she was fine and there were no problems. Then one day she'd screw up. Usually it was chewing on a book. I'd then put her in her crate for a while and then try again. After she turned three I haven't had any issues with her.

My english setter is almost two and I leave her in the crate while I go to work, but she is smaller so there is adequate room. While at home or in the yard my setter has the run of the house. Once she settles down, which is starting to happen, I'll stop crating her while at work.

[Eastside]

Seems like we let the guy on the floor roam at about six month old. Norton-on the bed-was adopted at about a year old and was kind of a problem child. He got free reign after about a year.

[HD333]

Thanks everyone lots of good intel. I think we will gate off a small area where his crate is for short peroids when we leave and see how that goes then as he earns it give him more. When we are home he has almost free range and he hasn't screwed that up yet, yet being the key word.
Thanks again for the input.

[crackboy]

yea if you can gradually step it up that is the way to go. when our girl was a little pup she was gated off in our kitchen which had a sliding door with a dog door in it. eventually we would think she was good and let her out for the day, then she chewed a hole in the floor,so she went back in. eventually we though she was fine so she got the reign again. a week or later she chewed off the corner of our chair. eventually she was fine. though if we didn't double stack teh gates she would just jump over them

[axebiker]

My Yellow Lab sleeps in his cage with the door open all day long in the summer. In the winter, he moves to the leather couch. The cat takes his bed year-round.