Roxie roams now, but it took us a little while to get there.
When we first got her she was nearly 3 years old and came with a crate. We crated her while we were out because her previous owner said that's what she did. But, then I felt bad being out for so long and having Roxie in the crate with no water or anything. Then she got weird about her crate and would bite if either of us tried to put her in there. We ditched the crate. We then gated her in the kitchen while we were out. Her food and water were in there. She did well with that, until we got tired of climbing over gates and the walls were damaged from them. We finally decided to try leaving her to roam free while we were out. First for small amounts of time, and then working our way up to the whole work day. She stays on the main floor where the living room, kitchen, and front hallway are. She does not go upstairs where the bedrooms are. She is afraid of the stairs.
We've been lucky. Roxie doesn't chew or scratch anything, and she's only ever had a handful of accidents (usually when she's not been feeling well). She generally sleeps on the couch the whole time we're out. However, we do always make sure that we don't leave anything out that she could possibly eat or chew or get hurt by.
__________________  Roxie |