i decided i am going to wean them off the crates! (jm)

When I started leaving Casey out of his crate, I would confine him to my bedroom. That way he had room to roam, but was not all over the place.

Slowly, I gave him more room to roam (still blocked off the front half of the house) and left him alone with more room for longer times. If I was going to be gone for a really long time, I kept him in the bedroom.

I've had him over 1 1/2 years now (I think it's been that long) and he now has full reign of the entire house. I don't have a dog door, so I'm not worried about him getting out and escaping. He hangs out mostly in my room, but will wander out and play with his toys in the living room. He likes to hang out with Carleigh too - so they are usually always together. I'm really glad I don't have to crate him ever anymore. The puppies use his crate now - he never goes in it.

I picked up everything off the floor or surfaces the dogs could reach (desk, coffee table...), closed doors to the bedroom and bathroom (Coke will drink out of the toilet or dig nests on the bed), and started by leaving them just an hour or so at a time. 

Like you my crates are still up, the are part of the decor, lol!  The dogs like them because each crate has a nice dog bed.  Often I come home or come downstairs and find them curled up in a crate (they use them interchangeably).  I like giving them the option of using the crate because there are times when crating is necessary (visitor afraid of dogs, sick or injured dog, dog show rules, etc).

well, the bedroom and bathroom door will be closed (that's it - bedroom, bathroom and living room with open kitchen) and i am not planning on lettin them roam there. even now they arent allowed in either, so it's a non-issue.

yeah, definately have to clean up some things. thankfully they are too small to counter surf, so... :)

and i agree, liesje, i like having the option of the crate. there's just some situations where it's so much easier to just put em in a crate for a second (plus it's easier on them since it's their most solid command ever and they just know what TO do.. )

ok, wish me luck! :)

Make your comings and goings random if you can. Of course you will start out with short periods of time, but as you increase time still sometimes make it short. Ideally, you want the dogs not to be anticipating your return at any certain time. They say that most damage happens right after the person leaves, or right before their expected return.

Sampson is an absolute angel so we never worry to much about him getting into anything.  Maggie, well she's another story.  Oddly enough, she only gets into things when we are home!   We did start out with bedroom doors closed or baby gated.  We actually still use the baby gates so the cats can get away from her when she is in playful mode and tries to play with the cats.  It's a good idea to pick up stuff and clear off any low tables they may be able to reach from the sofa and what not.  Maggie's favorite is shredding magazines and rolls of toilet paper.

well i left them alone for 6 hours. i know way too long for a first time, but i went tofix my computer and it ended up taking FOREVER!!!!!! oh well. i cleaned up everything and just left an almost empty roll of toilet paper on my living room table (i'm classy like that, lol) just to see... well i came home and no problem! i didnt expect it to be. the only thing is i need to find another space for the toy box. moca will raid it, and there a lotta stuff in there that is no good without supervision. for now i put it in my bathroom..

yay!

Yay!  Congrats!!  I started doing this recently, too.  The first time, actually, BF and I were both outside doing yard work for a couple of hours, but we were in and out of the house.  It was actually a perfect situation for a first "test," being outside for no longer than 30 minutes at a time, coming in frequently to check on him, and he knew we were still there, ya know?  Then we started with short leaves, and just last week did the biggest test so far...4 hours.  We tired him out well before we left, and I would bet you anything that he was just sleeping the whole time we were gone.  Our house is pretty much always puppy-proof, but I did close all doors to rooms, and even put the garbage can in the garage, just in case he managed to knock it over.  He does have a lot of room to roam, because of the floorplan of our house, but he had no access to bedrooms or bathrooms, just the living room, dining room, and kitchen.  I was very impressed with him, and I love that I am getting more confident in not having to use the crate.  He just doesn't like it anymore, now that he's hardly ever in it.  When he was a puppy, he was in it a lot, and never complained, but now...forget it, he hates it.  It's still there in the kitchen 24-7, but I never see him go in it, unless it's to grab a blanket out of it to play with, lol.