When is freedom allowed?

[Ashleym]

Our 6 yr old Lab and Fergus has had run of the house once they turn 5 months old occationally we will find a shoe with love bites but he normally sticks to his bones and treat filled kong. I am pretty sure they sleep most of the time we are at work. Just in case we do go around spraying bitter apple on wall corners chair legs and anything we think Fergus might might be tempted to chew...better safe then sorry lol

 

[Kross225]

Before going from crate to no crate we used intermediate steps. After the crate phase We set up a doggy fence around the crate so Luca had a little room to putz around outside of his crate. After that phase we let him have the whole kitchen. After that, the kitchen/living room. Soon he will have the whole apartment. It's all about earning trust. When Luca would be a bad boy and chew things like the couch corners we would downgrade his space back to the previous phase. Eventually he realized that he needed to behave in order to get more room.

 

[brutus77]

Thanks for all the great advice. I think I will start small see how it goes. Wish my house and belongings luck!

 

[Lokismom]

We had some issues when we first started letting Loki stay out during the day for the same reasons. We allowed him to only be on the main floor and for a few days he did really well then when we thought everything was going ok we opened the door to the bathroom... bad idea! We came home and he ripped apart the clothes hamper completely destroyed it. So we put him back in his "house" for a week or so thinking that is was a punishment of some sort. After some time went by we started letting him out again for shorter periods of time working up to the longer times, went really good till I came home and her ate the fronts off of 4 chairs and used Sean's flashlight as a chew toy hence the bunny ears picture, back to the kennel he went. We waited a month or longer and started again. This time we did it differently, the last attempts failed for a few reasons I think 1. We never brought his "house" out of our room and left it locked away from him. Why we never thought about the fact that he loves it amazes me. 2. He had no access to his toys except the ones that I left out for him (the ones that I knew he would rip to shreds when we were at work) 3. There was nothing for him to look at since we kept the blinds closed and 4. It was sooooo quite in the house. So we started leaving on the radio for him so he didn't feel so alone during the day and we left a light on for him too.
We changed all of those things (even bought him a bird feeder for the back deck so he can watch the birds all day), I sprayed the wooden parts of the furniture with some pepper flake and vinegar solution since he already ate them, he licked it once right after and never touched the chairs again.
Knock on wood he now roams the entire house with no problems! He has been out for almost 8 months and seems to be doing great )

Good luck to Brutus )

 

[Gfitz911]

We started out by pushing Koozer's crate (with one end open) up against the doggie door so he could come inside where it's cool, but he would have the side yard to stretch his legs. As he got to be around 9 mos, we let him have the house for short periods, like a grocery run. He is now 16 mos and has almost full run of the house for lengthy periods while we are at work. We slightly Bullie proof the house before we leave, like taking the throw pillows off the couch and closing our bedroom door (where he likes to chew the rug when unattended). He has had full run of the house now since about 11 mos old and has done really well. Good luck!