So I just looked over at Harley while I'm working on the couch, and he's curled up on my big chair in the living room. He's changed so much, and I started thinking, ya know maybe some day he'll have free rein of the household.
So when did you know and how old was your baby?
Here's some of his history, I'm interested in your opinions.
I semi-crate trained him as a pup, he more was hallway trained. he had an 11'x3' hallway and his giant crate, complete with his indoor toilet system. Eventually he got his own room (the master bedroom to be exact lol of our first apartment).
When we moved he got his new room, and was kind of trapped in his room for 2-3 months, because we had a huge problem with our move. The rest of the apartment could not be properly puppy proofed because I had electricians, pest control and god knows who else in my apartment, not to mention the fact that it took me 4 months in the new place to finally get the place unpacked. (we went out for walks daily though).
Well he's now 18 months, has grown and changed a lot, and now most of the apartment is puppy proofed (never will be allowed in the kitchen, it's not safe for him, and he can still get under our stupid bed despite my puppy proofing attempts). I've been making a conscious effort to let him out of his room more and more (he stays in his room when we're not home or when we're eating, and that's where he sleeps).
So what do you guys think, when is it time to let him be free? or am I better off having him on a "free when mom's around" rule? We have one small carpet in our apartment, the rest is hardwood. it's an old carpet, so I'm petrified if he's left alone that he'll pee on it, he used to mark blankets so now he only has his one bed in his room.
Sorry for the long old ramble, I'm just discovering that he's actually capable of not getting into mischief ALL the time (now for those of you who remember the TV stand incident two weeks ago
.. lol)