Crate or Roam?

[tom_kkh]

mine roams freely though he pee/poo everywhere.

comparing to his "waste" to my westie, its peanuts to clear. kekeke.

when i am really mad with his poo/pee, i will lock him up when we go to work and he can hold his pee/poo till we are back, he don pee/poo in the confined area.

so he is just been cheeky by pee/poo everywhere when we are not around. Luckily my westie, already housebroke, did not follow suit, otherwise it be a huge mess to clear.

[BabyGirl Rosie]

I have never used a crate. With Rosie, we started out putting her in our master bathroom. Then she was allowed to stay in the master bedroom and bathroom. Then, once we had her potty trained, we let her have run of the house. It works for us so there was never a need for a crate.

[bobohyde]

I started out crating Columbo and did that for several months. Then we graduated to a play pen when he was home alone. I think at about 2 years old I finally gave him the run of the house when no one was home. He'll be 9 next month and I trust him completely. At night, he sleeps in a little dog bed that is on our king sized bed with us.

[Yorkiemom1]

My set up is a little different....I have 2 "groups" of dogs, the "breeders" and the "pets"....the "pets" are all older, and can be trusted to roam free. These "kids" never do anything stupid or adventuresome....they sleep when I am gone, and when I am there, they are sitting either on my lap, in my chair next to me, or on the floor at my feet. It is like they are the "older, wiser" group....they lay around and watch the "breeders"...also known as "The Youngbloods"......and just shake their heads in amazement! My "breeders" are allowed to roam only when my son or myself are present and supervising....these females are a challenge and must be supervised continously, because one will start talking trash to another one, and then it is on! They all go to their crates for "nap time" from noon to 4pm, and then they can all come back out for supervised play and interaction....I have to separate the females into two groups that all get along well together, and the males, who are also divided into small groups of 2 or 3 that get along with each other, are watched by my son. Then at dinner and for night, the "breeders" are all crated. I tried to let a couple of the younger females roam, and they promptly chewed the corner of my custom cabinets in the kitchen......OMG!!! I almost DIED!!!! Crated for any unsupervised time for the breeders!!! The "pets" only are allowed to "roam"....but even then, restricted roaming, confined to the sunroom area. I am a control freak....kids as well as dogs, have always been supervised and watched very closely....tooo much, some people judge, but it has served me well and kept "screw ups" by dogs or kids, at an emotionally acceptable level!!!!! (I am blessed and Glory/Thanks goes to Him, where it belongs!)

[LILBIT1]

Thank you for everyones feedback. I did a study per say yesterday of Waffles. Video taped her in her crate while I was gone for an hour. She was laying down happy, napped, chewed on her bone, had some water. Then I made another tape of being confined to the kitchen for about 5 mins while I was outside. She paced, stood up on chairs, cubbards, looked very nervous. Layed down for a second. Jumped up and started pacing again. So I guess Even though I think its not nice to crate her. She feels safe and loved being in her bed as we call it. She is only 11 months old. Maybe this is something I should try again in a year when shes a bit older...

[LILBIT1]

Originally Posted by Yorkiemom1

My set up is a little different....I have 2 "groups" of dogs, the "breeders" and the "pets"....the "pets" are all older, and can be trusted to roam free. These "kids" never do anything stupid or adventuresome....they sleep when I am gone, and when I am there, they are sitting either on my lap, in my chair next to me, or on the floor at my feet. It is like they are the "older, wiser" group....they lay around and watch the "breeders"...also known as "The Youngbloods"......and just shake their heads in amazement! My "breeders" are allowed to roam only when my son or myself are present and supervising....these females are a challenge and must be supervised continously, because one will start talking trash to another one, and then it is on! They all go to their crates for "nap time" from noon to 4pm, and then they can all come back out for supervised play and interaction....I have to separate the females into two groups that all get along well together, and the males, who are also divided into small groups of 2 or 3 that get along with each other, are watched by my son. Then at dinner and for night, the "breeders" are all crated. I tried to let a couple of the younger females roam, and they promptly chewed the corner of my custom cabinets in the kitchen......OMG!!! I almost DIED!!!! Crated for any unsupervised time for the breeders!!! The "pets" only are allowed to "roam"....but even then, restricted roaming, confined to the sunroom area. I am a control freak....kids as well as dogs, have always been supervised and watched very closely....tooo much, some people judge, but it has served me well and kept "screw ups" by dogs or kids, at an emotionally acceptable level!!!!! (I am blessed and Glory/Thanks goes to Him, where it belongs!)

LOL Omgosh Id have died too if it was my cabinets! Thanks for sharing.

[Teegy]

Roam...
A friend of mine put it to me this way, if you give them access to your home they learn to respect it as their home.
Made sense, I've pretty much doggy proofed the place, they only have access to the bedroom when I'm home but all the rest is theirs' to explore when I'm not home.

[Teegy]

When I got Teegy I had the expen and he was confined to that for 2 months when I wasn't home, then gave him free run.
Tufty has never been penned because how fair would that be, his brother and him separated from each other.
They have a trazillion chew toys and stuffies to keep them occupied as well as each other. Teegy is fully toilet trained and will not go inside the house. Tufty is almost there, good boy, I think a month or two longer and I can remove the pee pad.
They play with their toys and I know this because I put them away and come home to toys all over.
I believe too there is a lot of napping that goes on during the day.

Like I said completely doggy proofed the place, there is nothing within their reach that would hurt them. This is also good for the peace of mind of friends who bring their dogs over.

[alishasmom]

Originally Posted by chachi

I would crate her untill shes old enogh not to chew cords. I did that and still mine would destroy things out of boredom when we left so it was back to the crate. So really it is a little bit trial and error but you definitely dont want to let her have free roam while shes in the puppy chewing stage

I agree.

[Wallee]

Wallee gets roam of "half" the house during the day if we are home. He uses the pee pad we put down so if I am not watching for signs to go outside, I don't have to worry. Our house is not set up for very easy access to the front door and he seems to not want to go down the stairs to the door unless he has his leash on..lol...When we are out, he is gated in the kitchen and a pee pad left. He doesn't seem to be using the pad in the kitchen much any more which I am happy about. As for night, he is in a crate in m bedroom and sleeps until I kick him out of bed (usually an average of 9-9.5 hours).

[southernbelle04]

We just now have started leaving KS alone for periods of time. She has never been left alone more than 3 hours. At first, I would keep her enclosed with her potty training puppy apartment, her bed, and x pen. I'd put her food/water and toys in there. I also left on the tv. But this did not work very well for us. She always would shred her potty pads. Now we let her roam free and she does great. I still leave the tv on. If it is daylight and a nice day, I raise the blind just a tad so she can see out.

[lovespandp]

Peanut is in his crate when I or DH isnt home, Peanut also sleeps in his crate.

I know some dogs LOVE to be in their crate.. If I leave Pnut out at night, he wont sleep- He will be up all night roaming through the house.. The crate works for us and he loves it, I can't ever get him out in the morning LOL.

[GeorgiesMomma]

Georgie has always roamed the house. We put him in his crate the first night home he whined I caved and 7 years later he still gets what he wants lol. Our Boxer Coco loved being in her crate and would go in voluntarily as a puppy.

[Milly_Munchkin]

Milly has been roaming free since about 4 months old. She was in a pen when I couldn't supervise her up until then. She didn;'t take too well to being gated off or being in a pen. Luckily she is fully trained to go on her pads which works great for me. When I am at work she is roaming free, naps all day mostly, has a mad hour with the dog walker. The key is also to get some great chew toys and if you are like me get a remote camera and watch your baby while you are out and about or at work

[MikaTallulah]

Once housebroken mine get limited house access when I am not home. If not housebroken they get crated/confined.