When can I leave Stogie loose in the house?

[Toaster]

Let me start with, this forum, and the wonderful people who contribute to it, have been instrumental in Stogie's life... The advice I've gotten here has REALLY helped us get to where we are now with "The Stogie-meister" ... THANK YOU ALL :hail:

We keep Stogie in his crate when we are not home, when we are asleep at night, or while we are all home but no one can keep an eye on Stogie. (ok, maybe not so much in the crate when we are all home, but occasionally he's in there when we're all home)

Crating has played the biggest role in getting him to go OUTSIDE only. Mainly because we're trying NOT to give him the chance to go INSIDE AT ALL. We've even hung some wind chimes by the front door, and he *WILL* go to the door and whimper, and ring those chimes by knocking them with his nose to get you to come take him for a bathroom walk. which is excellent. We give him lots of praise, and attention when he's a good boy.

I'd really like to be able to get Stogie to the point where I can leave the crate unlocked, and leave him in the house knowing he won't make a mistake. I'm wondering if this can be possible with a small dog? I know one of the disadvantages with smaller dogs are smaller organs which means smaller bladders and bowls, and less control over them. Is it possible to have a dog like this, in this size/weight class, and be able to leave him home unattended? or am I dreaming?

Stogie doesn't hate his crate either btw. He doesn't like to put in there, but it stays open and unlocked during the day, and he goes in there to sleep and relax all the time, in fact he's in there right now with the door open while I'm on the couch using the laptop.

Do other owners of small dogs leave their dogs loose and unattended during the day? or what?

Just thought I'd ask.
-Tom (Stogie's Daddy)

 

[Red_ACD_for_me]

I just started trusting my boy out of his crate all night long and he sleeps out in my den or he will go into his crate because I leave the door open for him. Caiza is almost 20 months old and I started doing this about 4 or 5 months ago. I trust him at night because alls he does is sleep anyway, as far as the daytime when I am at work I crate him and come home at lunch and take him out for a walk. I trust him not to use the house as a bathroom but I don't trust him not to get into something or chew something up that isn't his How old is stogie? You will know when it is time and you feel it's right to let him stay out of his crate but you have to take that first step into doing so Also, it is very possible to leave a small dog unattended in the house and lots of people do. However, Stogie is intact which you have to keep in mind and some dogs will mark in the house but thats all in the training. In my own personal observation I find small little intact males to be leg lifters inside more than a larger dog and thats after working with dogs for more than 15 years and talking to many small dog owners who have had problems. I know you don't want to fix Stogie but he would make a much better and calmer house pet if you did

 

[Spiritus]

How long are you gone during the day? A full work day or is someone home at lunch?

A successful way to start leaving him loose is to either do it for short periods (say if you're running to the store) and building up to longer periods as he proves to be trustworthy, or by gating off part of the house to give his roaming room some limitations. There is no way to know 100% if he will behave unless you try. The only way to be 100% sure that he will behave is to keep things as they are.

If you do choose to try, if he does make a mistake, pee somewhere, chew something, and you find it when you get home, you cannot give him heck for it. Clean it up, and make a mental note that next time he stays crated.

 

[Toaster]

Stogie is about 1.5 years old and 8.5 pounds.

I guess I might try in the kitchen again... problem is he use to use the kitchen as a bathroom before. So I don't know.

 

[Love That Collie]

Test Stogie out in the kitchen only while you are away for about an hour or so. At a year and half old he should be trustworthy although I don't know how long he has been housebroken.

Each dog can be different, just have to feel it like Red ACD said.
Timmie (RB dog) was 5 months old, never did pee/poop in the house nor did he ever bother anything. Bailey was about 8 months old when I began leaving him out of his crate entirely while I was at work and at night. Chloe just turned 7 months old and she's crated at night and when I'm at work simply because I have a mulitple dog household, not that I don't trust her.

 

[Herschel]

Tom,

Unless the crate is completely unbearable for Stogie, I don't know if you should stop using it.

We didn't like the idea of keeping Herschel confined when we first got him, so we only used his crate for about a week. After that, we gave him a little bit of a kitchen, then the entire kitchen, then some of the living room, then the entire living room. Essentially, if he didn't have an accident for a week, he was given more space. He's been completely house-trained since 4-5 months and now he holds it as long as we need him to, which at one point was 14 hours!

He rarely had any bathroom accidents at all when he was given free roam. However, he did chew walls, rip carpet, and in one case, dig a hole in the wall. I don't think it's separation anxiety (most of the time), but rather, he was bored and had nothing else to do.

We gave him free roam every day from 4 months until he was about 8 or 9 months old. On some days, he was perfect. On others, we would come home to complete destruction. We're lucky--he never chewed wires, ripped up the couch, or anything too terrible, but we weren't happy about shredded paper/cardboard, destroyed plants, and chewed walls.

We decided that we would start using his crate more. We got him a bigger crate and a Snoozzy Bumper Bed (http://www.petmenu.com/precpetsnooz.html). The deal is that we will tire Herschel out in the morning to no end, and he will spend the rest of the day in the crate.

Here is our routine:

Monday - We stay home with Herschel until 10:30 and run with him, practice agility, and play fetch with him until he is ready to collapse. One of us will get home around 5.

Tuesday - Herschel goes to Doggie Daycare at 8:30 and comes home at 2. (All indoor, monitored 24/7 by a trainer/certified vet tech) He spends from 2-8 in his crate until we get home.

Wednesday - Same as Monday

Thursday - Same as Tuesday.

Friday - Herschel goes to Doggie Daycare from 7:30 until 2:30, and spends from 2:30 until 6:30 in his crate.

Whenever he is in his crate for an extended period, he gets a few stuffed toys, a nylabone, and either a Zuke's Z-Ridge or a bully stick. Since we've started this, Herschel hasn't destroyed anything in the house and he is much better rested when we come home. Overall, he seems much more content with this than our old routine.

Herschel is a very high energy dog so our situation might be different than yours. If you think Stogie will rest peacefully while you are gone, then you should try leaving him little by little. If you have any doubts at all, you might want to exercise him really thoroughly before crating him for the day.

 

[Doberluv]

Lyric, my Dobe was about 17 months when he could be left unattended. I think a couple of months before that, I started leaving for like 15 minutes and coming back and if all was well, the next time I went for 1/2 hour and if I had to be gone for more hours, I kept using the crate...just for a while until I tried him at say....an hour or two. I think we just built up from there. I'd be sure to tire him out well first and leave him some interactive toys. In other words, Kong with peanut butter. LOL. I think at that time, too, I crated my Chihuahuas just for their safety from him until I got to know and trust him with the little ones and he wasn't so rambunctious. He's always slept while I'm gone....never really got into anything much. My dogs all sleep when I'm gone. I don't see any evidence of playing or doing anything. The couches are warm when I get home and the dogs are stretching.

Just take it slowly. If there's much chance of him getting into something dangerous, I'd keep crating for a while or just keep him in the kitchen and everything dangerous out of reach.

My little dogs were much easier that way than my Dobe. They were calmer and just not as "naughty." Well.....Jose kind of was. But over all, the little dogs were easier and quicker to mature. So, I took my time with Lyric.