Roaming while Home Alone

[Coachnmom]

I let Coach roam free. When I first got Coach (at 6 weeks) I lived in a small apartment and he was trained on newspaper (would go outside w/ me, but if needed to go while I wasn't home from work he would go on newspaper). When I bought my first home, Coach was 18 months. I didn't want to have pee pads or newspaper at my new house and he went to go outside cold-turkey. At my new home, I have a fenced in yard and he just sits in front of the sliding glass door whenever he needs to go. He's done great and had no accidents, unless he was sick. I kept him in the crate when I was at work for the first year in my house, but last year I got really sick with the flu and was home for over a week. Coach was stuck to my side, so I felt terrible putting him back in the crate after not being in it for 10 days. Now he roams free (I just close the doors to my bedrooms/spare bathroom) while I'm gone and does great!

[Wallace]

For the most part he does really well with the run of the house--but if he has to go, he is pretty good about doing it on a little area rug that I can wash. They are like tootsie rolls, so not a big deal for me.

[lucky999]

Originally Posted by lvgirle

1st off my pup is not crate trained, he is pee-pad trained so this may be unrelatable.

I used to gate my dog off in the kitchen area... then when he got older I decided he can roam where he wants. No longer a puppy so he's not interested in getting into things he shouldn't so it works for me! I would say my dog was 2-3 years old when I stopped gating him off.

Great advise!!!