Dog Community

Free reign!!

Posted : 12/19/2006 10:34:28 AM

Good morning everyone

I was just wondering if anyone had some advice for transitioning between confinment to free reign in the house when you are away. My 4 and 1/2 old chihuahua is very well potty trained and hasn't destroyed anything (YET) hee hee. I would love to be able to leave him to roam free but of course realize he's still tiny and not quite ready. How can I transition, should I leave him for short periods and come back or just start at night when I'm there? Outside in a pen is not an option as I live in a highrise and he's so tiny he'd freeze to death. After reading that thread about crating I see many people trust their dogs to roam in the house when they are not there, what makes you fairly confident they are trustworthy? The reason I ask is I have a colleague who has a 7 mo/old pom who destroyed the house when they left him, and had never done anything even near that before. Thanks for any advice, I really want to do right by him now so he is a well behaved, well adjusted member of my family

Kelly

gayle

Posted : 12/19/2006 10:45:02 AM

if your dog likes the crate there is no reason to allow him to roam when you are not home. i would think such a small dog may feel safer in a smaller area anyway. maybe a larger crate if you prefer, or even just freedom in one room, but i can see a small dog feeling quite overwhelmed by being all alone in the entire house.

if you do decide to allow him to be left uncrated i would start with night time, but leave the crate open so he can go into it if he wants to, some dogs feel it is their "safe place" and need to have it open and available. from there i would leave for about 5 minutes the first time, then 10 and keep working your way up in fairly small increments until you are sure you can trust him and that he will be safe.

i really really recommend limiting to one room, mostly for the safety. it's near impossible to dog-proof a whole apartment, but one room can be easily and reasonably done.

good luck, your little guy sure is a cutie!

Xerxes

Posted : 12/19/2006 11:07:05 AM

I have to agree...what a cutie!

The transition between crate and free reign is a difficult one. The best way to perform it is to effectively manage space. Give access only to a tiny bit more room gradually. IE: babygate or Xpen to give only one safe room at a time. It's not an easy transition in the dog's mind. More space means more decision making: ie: what do I, the dog, do with this extra space?

If the pup is comfortable in the crate, keep him in the crate. That way you won't set the dog up to fail.

labcrab

Posted : 12/19/2006 11:13:25 AM

My 4 and 1/2 old chihuahua is very well potty trained and hasn't destroyed anything (YET) hee hee.

4 and 1/2 years??? or 4 and 1/2 months?

When Slick was approx 6 months old, I started leaving him free for 1/2 days, sort of as a trial. I already had a very good sense of what he did all day based on spending weekend days at home with him. We did morning-in-the-crate/afternoon-free for about 2 months and he was excellent. He's been completely free now for about 8-9 months with no major mishaps. I think you just need to know your dog and start slow - give him some tests and see how he does!

ottoluv

Posted : 12/19/2006 11:29:06 AM

thanks for all the advice

4.5 months, sorry should have caught that. I just called my sister to get her baby gate (my nephew is 8 y/o now) and will puppy proof the kitchen. I'll give it a whirl in there first