# Transitioning from crate to free roam



## jsca (Dec 10, 2013)

Haven't been on here in awhile, life's been hectic! My puppy is soon to be turning 5 months, time flies 

I started a new job recently and can't be home with her anymore. She is out of her crate for 3 hours in the morning, and she gets a quick potty break and 15 minutes out during my lunch break. She's stuck in the crate about 9-10 hours most days though, and it just seems like a lot of time for a young one to be locked up alone to me. 

I'd love to eventually make it so she at least gets free roam of the house, but don't trust her with that yet for her safety. I decided this morning to clear out a spare bedroom and make it "her room." I set her up with food and water, her favorite bully stick, and a dog bed. The room was, I thought, completely puppy proofed but I came home to all the mini blinds completely shredded...oops, didn't think of those !

She's a dog that never, ever gets into anything that isn't "hers" while we are around, so I'm not really sure how I can teach her to not destroy things while we're gone. I've always had dogs that just got complete free roam of the house from day 1 and wound up lucky with none of them ever getting into anything so, I'm not sure how to go about this. Is it even possible to train a dog this?

I was thinking of taking away the mini blinds and adding a couple more toys, but I'm not sure that would help as I'm worried she might go for the window molding itself (and we are renters)

Thanks in advance!

ETA - I am not against keeping her in her crate until she can be trusted (another thought of mine was to do an x-pen set up), I do plan on doing that, but would also like to one day be able to trust her outside of it if possible


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

Depending on the size of the dog, sometimes gating them in a room works better than closing the door to keep them in the room. It will only work though, if the gate is tall enough to contain the dog. We bought a walk-through gate (there are some that are kept in place without permanent mounts) and first gated the pup into the family room, then to the kitchen, then the hallway, an eventually the house.


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## kelly528 (Feb 13, 2014)

Also, keeping them in an area with a hard floor helps if they are accident-prone.

Grannick's Bitter Apple Spray is a good, natural taste-deterrent that you could use pre-emptively to protect moldings, furniture legs, etc.


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## jsca (Dec 10, 2013)

Thanks guys! I didn't even think of the bitter spray and I actually had some on hand. That did the trick, at least for the room she's in. I think transitioning her into the full house might still present it's own challenges, lol, but for now we are good


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## Kyle071785 (Nov 28, 2013)

it'll take time and I'm in the process of doing it myself little by little with Jax

in terms of full house exposure, Jax had access to everything in the house (aside from the office since we haven't fully unpacked since our move and its a mess) as long as we were home.

When we left he did initially get crated although it wasn't for more than 4-5 hours (which he could manage)

In terms of being left alone in the full house (no confinement), we started very small. I made sure he had just went potty, then I left him in the house while I went and shovelled the driveway for 15-20 minutes. When I came in, I did a quick walk around then praised him when everything was good (I knew it was fine though as he mostly just sat in the window watching me shovel  )

Next time, I went to grab some groceries via the car (so completely out of his sight) for 30 minutes. Came home, walk around, rinse and repeat

I've currently worked up to about an hour of total free access of the house and he hasn't had an accident since the Christmas holidays. My goal for the end of March is to work up to roughly 2 hours of free access (so I can go to the gym) so we'll see how it goes.

Baby steps, slow and steady. I just have to remember to put away certain things when he is left alone (ie. wife's slippers which he loves, socks off the floor, etc.) 

Good luck


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## Kayla_Nicole (Dec 19, 2012)

We didn't transition Alannah out of her crate until she was around a year old and she had shown she could be trusted alone and was reliably housetrained. 

We started with very small periods of time leaving her uncrated and with full access to the house. 15 minutes one day, a half hour the next. Then an hour, then 2 hours, then a half work day. We spread this out over a couple of weeks. After she had zero issues, we decided she was ready and she hasn't needed the crate since.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Thud's 15 months old.

I expect he'll need to be crated until he's, oh, 4. The other dogs rotate free roam and confinement in bedrooms and crates, but Thud? Ahahah- *sobs*.

It just varies by dog.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Well we switch off with the dogs - they rarely have to be home alone for more than 4 or 5 hours, and have never crated- however if they get bored or something we arent surprised if they (one of our dogs can be mischievous) steal something out of the trash to shred, but usu we put things up-- the occasional loss/ mess isnt a big deal in our household.... I say your dog is doing pretty well for 5 or 6 months old.....


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## Ghamorra (Dec 15, 2013)

Do you have a room with with a sliding glass door?

Whenever Griswald is home alone for extended periods of time I do two things:

Find a cheap stuffed animal that's new to him. Khols sells animals that like $5 and 100% of the purchase goes to charity. These animal keep Griswald occupied for a couple of weeks until he gets bored with them.

And I put him in a sunroom that is surrounded with floor to ceiling glass doors and windows. The view keeps him interested on what's going on outside and gives him little interest in things that are in the room.


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