Too Soon to Trust?

[Budrbean]

So ive had Ace for about 8 mos now (think hes a pointer/lab mix 11 mos old). I did the crate training and he is finally house trained. He hasnt had an accident in his crate for atleast 2 months. Ive trusted leaving him out in the house by himself for short periods for a couple weeks and decided last night would be a good test of leaving him out out all toegther. I work 3rd shift....left him out and he greeted me at the door just as happy as can be and he didnt bother anything or mess in the floor. I was so proud of him and praised him all morning. So I went to bed and left him out today. I get up and find that he has chewed the door jam to my living room....chewed it up good, gonna have to replace the trim. Based on the way he is acting this evening, he knows he had done wrong and has not went back to chew on it anymore. He has never attempted to do such before. He always plays with his toys and bones and acts like he knows that is what he should be playing with.

So the question is have I put trust in him too soon? I figred at almost 1 yr old he should be getting to where he can stay in the house unsupervised.

[lives4dogshows]

Some dogs, no matter their age will always be prone to getting into stuff. My Beagle who is four, still gets into the trash if you aren't watching him. He knows it's wrong, and if you are in the room he won't try it but if you leave him...well...

I"m sure that Ace will get better at being left out but since is still basically a puppy it is to be expected that he will chew on things etc. Just make sure you have tons of chewies/toys out for him when you leave, and as you commented on, only leave him for short periods to start with. Kong toys are great for occupying dogs!

Hope that helps a bit!

[malmo]

Sounds like too much too soon. My dog still prefers to be confined (not to his crate anymore, though he sleeps there much of the day -- but he is less anxious if I confine him to my bedroom with the crate in it) when I'm gone. We built up slowly, though -- a month with only 2 hours alone at a time, then a month with 3 hours, etc.

Others will have better advice, I bet.

[lives4dogshows]

Forgot to say this, but my Beagle still stays in his crate while I'm at school. He actually is used to going in there now and it is part of our morning routine. I come home and take him on a walks between classes when I have time but he only has the run of the house when I'm home.

[MafiaPrincess]

My cocker girl couldn't be alone for 5 minutes until she was 2. Only at 2.5 could she spend the day loose in my bedroom. Before that she'd cause chaos in a very short period of time.

You aren't making any gains trying to force the issue prematurely. Let yur dog mature some more.

[Gempress]

If you think you can trust your dog, go for it. If something happens, you know that you made a mistake. Just go back to crating.

And I disagree that 8 months is too young. Our golden retriever had free roam of the house from the age of five months, and we never had problems. It all depends on the individual dog.

[juliefurry]

Hannah, our lab, we started leaving out of her crate when we were gone at about 1 and a 1/2. For the first couple times we left her she never touched anything (granted we were only gone like an hour). The first time we left her for a long time though, multiple hours, she ate my husband $125 pair of motorcycle boots and 2 of my pairs of boots. Since than though she has never eaten another one of our shoes.

[bumhouse]

My dog is 16 months now and I have only recently begun to leave him uncrated for short periods of time. The longest I have left him is 2 or three hours. Any longer and I crate him. He is very good but was a heavy chewer as a pup - he chewed up an area rug and would chew on furniture legs, I think out of anxiety when he was alone in a room. Now he has free roam of the house when we are home, but, like I said, I still use the crate for long periods (which isn't all that often). He never had accidents but some dogs just get anxious when left alone and do much better in the crate.

[Budrbean]

Thanks for all the input. I think its back to the crate we go for now. He has never had an issue with it, he always goes in his crate with no hesitation.

[fillyone]

I started letting Dante have the run of the house while I was gone to work this summer. He's 3
I then donated his crate to a rescue.
He spends his day under my desk in the study, I'll be getting him another crate.