[emmark]

Megan is now6 month old and doing really well with training she really is the best thing to ever happen to us. My question is about leaving megan out of the cage in the day, we have caged megan from day one 3 hours in a morning home for dinner then 3 hours in afternoon but we wanted to start leaving her in the dinning room with cage left open I removed everything from the room and put a baby gate in the kitchen hallway so the room was vizsla proof ! I though meg was left once a day for 4 days for around 3 hours came back to a happy v every time we've cracked it we thought on the 5 day we got back meg had pulled the carpet up and started to eat the underlay oh dear so we went back to the cage for a month. Today I left her in the dinning room again and she was great but will it be just a matter of time ! Has anyone had a similar experiance ?

 

[Lisa]

I've had a similar experience. Catan has always slept in his crate in my room. Recently I left the crate open and he would either sleep on his bed next to my bed or on my bed with me. Everything was fine for a couple weeks and then he regressed and started chewing up things in my room so it's back to the crate for him. I fine once they get comfortable with a new situation they start to get adventurous.

 

[scooby]

Not sure how old Catan is but at 6mths I think all dogs are still at the chewing/destructive age, I left Scooby in his cage till he was about 12 mths (he's 14mths now) and touch wood so far he's been fab.
I'm no expert but I'd be tempted to leave them till they are a bit older

 

[Lisa]

Catan is 13 months now. I have a feeling he'll be 13 years old before I can trust him alone.

 

[jp]

Penny is almost 2 years and we wouldn't trust her. Night while we are sleeping, day while we are out, or even day while we're somewhere else in the house that she can't go unless she is dead asleep. Maybe we'll eventually get there.

 

[Blaze]

Blaze is just about 2 years old and we still use the crate. I have left him for a half hour by himself if it's after his daily run but he still could cause me some grief if he is restless, so ... better safe than sorry. He doesn't mind it in there. he will occasionally go in for no reason, and doesn't always rush to get out when I get home. But I've never used it as punishment. I'll probably never get rid of it but I imagine in a couple years it will rarely be needed. My childhood v never had one. And he was perfect! Blaze on the other hand... I love him to pieces but the first year he was alot of work!!

 

[Blaze]

P.S. At night we don't use the crate and have not since "forever" perhaps since he was 6 months I'm guessing?? He is a great sleeper. Sometimes he migrates from one of the 3 boys beds to another but usually sleeps on his big comfy LL Bean bed in our room. They are all different..like kids I guess!!

 

[Big Rick]

Dexter just turned 1 on Valentine's Day. We have been leaving him at home out of the crate since he was about 9 months old and he has been perfect. Of course, we don't go out for very long and are home all day most of the time since we are both retired. When we go out we leave Scarlet (4 mos.) in the crate with a few toys and Dexter probably sits next to the crate the whole time. We left them both out a couple of weeks ago and they were fine but we were only gone for a couple of hours. I guess it depends on the dog.

 

[vizslandobes]

I'm a firm believer in waiting until 12 months to try out of the crate. Our dobe we couldn't trust out until just recently, and she's 3!!! (oh the stories about the times before when we tried *sigh*)
Grady is quite the chewer, and I imagine it will be quite a while before he can be out and about while we're away from home. He is just a baby though, and I won't really cross that bridge for some time

 

[Vincent]

Vinnie would not stay in the crate when we were not there he would break out even with both latches across! we then put a stair gate in the kitchen but he chewed the door frame and scratched at the gate. until he could jump the gate. we tried lots of different things height extensions on the gate, we could go out for 1/2 and hour and there would be wood everywhere and just before Xmas we gave up and gave him the house which was a very scary discsion to make, but fingers crossed he has been absolutely fine since the day we done it. i am still waiting though