How old was your dog when they didn't need to be crated?

[stardogs]

Spin off from the separation thread. I noticed a number of people talking about eventually phasing out crates and figured I'd see when different dogs earned that privilege.

THIS one has multiple choice for multiple dogs.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

I voted 25+ months, as Jack is four years old, and still needs to be crated. Missy is five, but needs to be confined to a room.

 

[bandaide]

I let Prim have free range of my (very small) apartment at 4 months, and she did amazing, until one day - about a month later - she wasn't. She tore up my books on the bottom book shelf. She is almost 9 month now and I crate her while I am away at work. I've left her out a couple of times, but I confine her to one room (without any books!)

 

[Paviche]

Rowan is 5 and still gets crated so I chose Jelly Beans.

 

[Beanie]

Auggie will be 6 in November and is still crated, except he is free in my room at night. He MIGHT be okay to be left out these days... he hasn't destroyed anything in a good while... (watch, he will now proceed to destroy something just to prove me wrong.)

If Payton turns out he's staying intact, and Pepper is staying intact, so if I have all three dogs, poor Pepper will at least always need to be crated because Auggie is annoying and I don't need any oopses with a silent heat or anything... assuming the boys end up completely fine to be left alone together, I guess I could crate the girl and leave the boys out.
But honestly it just seems easier to crate them all and not have to worry about any of it. All they would do is sleep anyway, and Auggie goes in his crate to sleep even when I'm home...

 

[BostonBanker]

I chose the 12 month+ one, as I never crated Meg in the house, and got her at about a year. Gusto is still crated most of the time if we aren't home, but he is just a wee 14 weeks.

 

[katielou]

Abe was about 18 months when we started to phase out the crate.

 

[JessLough]

I voted jelly beans, cause we have never used a crate I hate jelly beans, though

 

[nikkiluvsu15]

Harleigh is still crated when we are gone for long(er) amounts of time, she is fine if it is just a shorter amount though Oh, I voted 25+ months, as she is almost 31 months

 

[Sit Stay]

Quinn was probably around 4.5 months when she started getting free roam. Loose at night was a bit before that. She is a freak of nature though and was the perfect puppy - never chewed anything that wasn't a toy.

Dally was probably ~7 months.

 

[Laurelin]

I am betting for Mia it will be never. She's good nowadays about not eating things so much if I watch her, but I don't trust her alone yet. She bores very easily though and the couple times I left her out she got into something. Even my dog-proof room she figured out how to pull up the flooring.

I will say I don't have to put an extra lock on her kennel now. That's progress, right?

 

[stardogs]

Ziva was uncrated at 10 months iirc. Kes was uncrated about 16 months.

Aeri defies all the horror stories about malinois: she was left uncrated starting at 4 months and is still fine loose!

 

[AliciaD]

Cameron didn't have to be crated early on. She was always very well behaved.

Duncan is still crated fairly frequently. Maybe it's because he has the mind of a 16 year old boy and a never ending gut, but his counter surfing is so bad he just can't be trusted.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Smudge was less troublesome. Needed to pee during the night till 7-8 months, but soon after could be left free in my room. Cider was over two before she could be left alone in my room, let alone the house.

 

[Saeleofu]

Jelly beans! lol

Gavorche had about 6-8 months of "freedom" without a crate, but he had to be crated again when he started realizing he can get into stuff again Logan is still crated when I'm gone, but honestly he could probably do short periods of time without it. There was a time I actually trusted Logan loose more than I did Gavroche. As long as I keep crap picked up Logan is fine.

Gavroche is 4 and was crate-less at about 3, 3 1/2 years. Logan is about 28 months now.

 

[Saeleofu]

Oh and my dogs have enver had free run of the whole house when I'm gone. My room is all. But that's because I lived with 3 roommates, one of which doesn't like dogs, and now I live with my parents, who have 2 cats (Gavroche can't be trusted with cats) and an DR dog.

 

[Babyblue5290]

Art never was a chewer on anything inappropriate. He's been able to be free run of the room without worry after he was potty trained, which was about 4-5 months old.

 

[JacksonsMom]

Jackson's been fine since he was around 4 1/2 months old, honestly. He had his share of messes when I was home but if I left the house and left him loose, he'd never disturb anything.

 

[Southpaw]

Lucy was probably 6ish months old. She was a good puppy so it was just a matter of making sure she wasn't going to use the house as a toilet. And at that age, she was out of the crate only for short outings.
Turns out she's actually not 100% housebroken (and probably never will be), so while she doesn't need a crate anymore, she can't have free roam of the house unless she was JUST outside to go potty. But normally I just put her in my bedroom and she's fine.

Juno was probably 18ish months old. Again, she doesn't get free roam of the house, just because my mom is super paranoid for some reason. If we're only leaving quickly she sometimes lets it slide. Otherwise she's in my bedroom.

 

[Kalyxa]

I stopped crating Lola when she was 3 months old. Chewy never got crated, so I voted Jelly Beans for her, lol. When my dogs were puppies they weren't often left alone for long (I go to an online school, and we live at where my parents work). When we did have to leave them alone as puppies they were penned up somewhere, but it wasn't for long. Neither of my dogs are destructive at all, so they were perfectly fine being left in the yard.