Leaving Your Bully at Home

kanoefish

New member
Jan 3, 2014
2
0
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
George
Hi all!

I have poured over articles and forums looking for advice on this, and have yet to find anything that is helpful!

My almost-7-month old Tootsie is such a sweetie pie and we adore her.

During the work week, Tootsie is at home in her crate in the morning (8-12), I am home with her for an hour mid-day, and then she is crated again in the afternoon (1-5), and when we go to bed (10-6).

She is crate trained, and about a month ago we started leaving her alone, with the crate door OPEN in our secure/as-puppy-proofed-as-possible living room for 20-30 minute periods of time (while we ran across the street to the store, etc.) She has been an angel each time, barely moving from the spot where we left her.

My long-term hope for her is that as she is bigger and more mature/trustworthy, we will let her be at home with the crate door open during the day.

Can anyone share how they went about this process, of giving your dog more freedom, unsupervised at home? I would really appreciate it!
 

Bulldozersma

New member
Community Veteran
Jul 26, 2012
1,272
79
Nevada
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Frank "The Tank", Bocephus Watasha Ledoux, Rampage Jackson (RIP) Bulldozer (RIP)
I think you are doing the perfect thing right now - give her small freedoms and see how she does. Control the area she has access to and then increase that slowly. I'm going through the exact same thing with my 8 month old right now. He's allowed to stay in the kitchen in I leave for short time spans - if it's more than an hour, he's in his pen. He's not yet allowed upstairs unaccompanied (that's where Mama's shoes are haha). Eventually he'll have free reign of the house (hopefully).
 

pcchenard

New member
Dec 31, 2013
208
5
Michigan
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Lola McWigglebutt, Bruno (1996-2007)
With my last dog I ended up always crating him for his whole life...for a couple of reasons. All he would do when we were gone was sleep anyhow. And the second reason was because if he wasn't locked in his create he would always decide to go sleep on my bed on my pillow, probably because it was the place my scent was the strongest. I figured since he just slept all day anyhow there was no reason not to just lock him in his create while I was at work so that I would know that he was safe and didn't flip out and do something he shouldn't. That said, had he not always wanted to sleep on my pillow I probably would have left him out during the day.

My current puppy, Lola is now 7 months old. She is on the exact same crate schedule as your puppy (which is exactly what my last dog's schedule was). When I get ready to leave for work she has usually already walked into her crate to lay down because she knows that is where she goes when I leave the house. She will sometimes do the same thing after lunch and at bedtime. I haven't decided yet if I will give her more freedom as she gets older or not.

I should add that my son is supposed to take Lola out to potty and to play when he gets home from school at 3:30. Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't do as he is supposed to...go figure.

I guess what I'm getting at is don't feel bad if you decide to continue to keep your dog crated while you are away. They do usually just sleep when you are away when they have been crate trained and then you will always know that they are safe.
 

Davidh

Head Pooper Scooper
Staff member
Mar 21, 2011
13,407
848
Katy, Texas
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
BeBe, Hazel, Lucy Lu, JLO, Hillary, Henri, & Katie
It is always safer for them to be crated, but is they do fine out, then you can leave them out sometimes, maybe when you are home sleeping. We always crate ours when we are gone, except Buddy will be left out sometimes, as he never bothers anything, ever. The girls, not so much, so they can't be trusted. So just play it by ear and do like you are doing and and let her stay out at short intervals when you are gone to see how she does.
 

KMARINO

I couldn't make this sh*t up if I tried!
Jul 21, 2010
7,219
728
Bradenton Fl.
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
VEGAS and REBEL
I crated Vegas for the first year, I only work part time so he was not crated for long periods of time. After the first year I would give him "trial runs" I would grocery shop etc... leaving him out. I am thinking around the age of 2 I stopped shutting the door and THANK GOODNESS he has been a good boy (he's a little over 5 now) He loves his crate and goes in on his own to go night=night with the door open. I am thinking over the last 3 years of not locking the door the only thing he did was eat a bar of soap :w00t:, I didn't know it and came home to many piles of puke. The only way we found out is when my husband got in the shower and ask me if I took his soap!!
 

adamslater

New member
Dec 6, 2012
133
5
Sudbury, ON
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Winston
Sounds like you are doing well so far. I started on the same routine as you. I bought an indoor pen for when I was gone to work and connected it to the crate making his area larger...putting a treat dispensing toy in with him too.
By about 6 months he was free to roam. Winston knows the drill now and the toy keeps him busy for a bit. He has never damaged anything and sleeps on the couch all day. I like being being able to give him room to roam.
 

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