At what age did you leave ur dog out??

My dog will be 1 on Friday--I gate her in the kitchen but for the last four days she has gotten out-she seems to be fine,she didnt damage anything-what age did you start leaving your dog free to roam when u were out????

Re: At what age did you leave ur dog out??

We started leaving Misty out for short periods of time at about a year old and slowly got up to six hours or so. That seems to be her max before she gets bored and decides to eat a pillow or blanket.

Re: At what age did you leave ur dog out??

Depends on the dog. With past dogs, I've done this as early as possible. With Oscar, he still stays in the kitchen most days. Sometimes I give him the run of the downstairs. If I give him the whole house, sometimes he goes upstairs and then he is afraid to use the stairs to go back down. I come home to him crying. When he does get the run, he may steal things. He rarely damages anything but it does happen. He usually rearranges something!!!!!!!!!!!

The nice part is that he accepts going into the kitchen as part of his day. When I need to confine him, he is used to it. Also, because he likes to be alpha, there is a training benefit to putting him in a restricted place (as long as we socialize him and give him freedom when we are around).

Re: At what age did you leave ur dog out??

About 1 year old, in just two rooms, not whole house

Message edited 8/4/2007 3:18:28 AM.

Re: At what age did you leave ur dog out??

We just started lettig our Rottie out and he is 1 1/2 years old. He can spend the entire day (not that I like to leave him that long) and not ruin anything. He is very good. Thinking back, he could have been left out for long periods of time at 1 year.

Re: At what age did you leave ur dog out??

Ok,thanks-she doesnt mind going into the kitchen-but every day she gets out-its so funny when we pull up and her head pops up at the window :)
I will try to just leave her for a couple of hours :)
THanks!!!

Re: At what age did you leave ur dog out??

We only blocked our dogs in until they were housebroken-then they had run of the house. They never do anything-they will eat my husbands left over midnight snacks if he leaves them on the coffee table.

Re: At what age did you leave ur dog out??

I think we started leaving Bonnie out when she was around 1. We used to keep her in our kitchen (pretty big kitchen) with her crate and her bed. Then we moved and our kitchen is much smaller so we blocked her off at the dining room. Then we just started letting her free to see how she did. She would still destroy stuff every once in awhile (remotes, shoes, stuff in garbage cans) but we've learned to dog proof better and she's been a lot better lately. Plus she's now 2 so she's matured a bit.

Now she'll sit in our bay window in the bedroom and look at the squirrels all day. She loves her window seat.

Message edited 7/3/2007 7:25:54 PM.

Re: At what age did you leave ur dog out??

Katie is 2 and is gated in the kitchen when we are out all the time. We tried letting her have free roam of the house when we are out but she winds up eatting the molding. I think she actually gets anxiety when she has too much freedom.

ETA: We put her crate next to the large bay window. She likes to sit on top of it and watch the birds- we have birdfeeders.

Message edited 7/4/2007 7:50:18 PM.