Crate or Roam?
 

We very rarely leave Waffles home alone. But when I go grocery shopping she is home alone. I put her in her crate and she takes a nap.

My question is do you crate or let your dogs roam? Id like to let her roam but Im scared to see what she will get into.

How do you train them to roam and behave? She doesnt do anything wrong all day but shes with me. I would think if left home alone she may get bored and get into something.

Also I really do like her in her crate at bed time next to my bed so I know where she id and that she is safe.

Fill me in on what you do with your dogs.. Crate or roam? And how do you train them to roam responsibly?

Thank you in advance for any advice..
:animal-pa

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 am generally a fan of crating. My Moka is now 5 years old and she's so laid back and mellow that she's fine being left out. I'm sure she mostly sleeps when I am away. When allowing one more and more freedom we just started for short periods of time and gradually got longer and longer. We also blocked of several rooms so her freedom was somewhat restricted. Then we got Mylee. She refuses to be crated and has always done well being left out to roam with Moka. Moka is the ideal babysitter dog. Mylee feeds off her ques anyways, so if Moka lays down to sleep, so does Mylee. LOL. If anything ever happened to Moka, poor Mylee would be so lost. What works for one seldom works for everyone though, so you have to experiment until you find what works best for your situation.

I kept dodger in a spare room, but now I let him roam, althoughits not
Really roaming when he's passed out in the closet!!:)

My two are confined for half of the day while I'm at work and then my husband lets them out for lunch and they have free roam for the rest of the day. If we run errands and the pups don't go with us, they have free roam. I like them having freedom, but have found that too much freedom causes them to find things to get into :p

When I go out I crate the big dog(12yr), ex pen Abby(1 yr), and let Ziva(3yr) roam free, I don't think I really need to separate them but this way I don't have to worry about what they might get into. I crate all three at night because I am a light sleeper and I wake at the littlest movement.Abby is rebeling at the crate at 3:30 am for the past few days:( I hope she soon realizes it isn't going to get her out!

I wouldn't trust Emy as far as I could throw her roaming free.....she chews
on everything while i'm watching her, we have too many chackees that are
on low lying shelves, and too many electronic cords, and when she decides
to poop, she leaves a string of little poohs in a line....nah, think I'll wait till
she's older...much older..she stays gated in kitchen and gated in front entryway and crated at night next to my bed.

I think it just depends on the dog(s). Jackson has been left free since 5ish months old. He just always proved that he never was going to get into anything.... he stressed out being crated, and I'd rather not put him through it. He's very easy and just sleeps anyways.

My girls are 6 so they have free roam, but they had to earn that priveledge. I used to gate them into the kitchen where they had their water, pee pads, toys, and kibbles. When they got to the point where all the pee and poo was on the pad and they got free roam. Start with short periods and work up, when you feel confident that she won't chew things. My house is pretty much pup proof and geared toward their comfort:laugh: Beds in every room and blankies on the sectional sofa for them. Just make sure to get down at her level and see what there is to get into and chew, and remove or secure those items. I no longer keep a box of tissues on my coffee table because Izzy would jump up there and shred them all:laugh: What a mess, but funny as heck:p

Mandie is just over 5 months old now and while I'm at work, I keep her in an empty spare bedroom with all of her goodies and pee pads (although she hasn't peed or poo'd on them in 3 weeks now). I only keep her in there because I have an much larger dog that loves to play with her and could hurt her (without meaning to).

I crated her at night for the first week that I had her but she started seeing how her "brother" wasn't crated and wanted to be with us so she started whining and waking me up every night. After 3 straight nights of getting up to the whine and taking her outside to pee and poo (with neither occuring), I realized that she just didn't want to be in the crate. So now she's free at night and she sleeps very well all night long with no issues.

I crated my little girl the first few two months. Then she started the crying thing at night, she wanted on my bed with my hubby and my other fur baby. Now she's happy and sleeps all night. I first had her in a playpen till she figured out how to climb out of it in two weeks. Then tried baby gates, with failure as well. She climbed over those too. So since three months old she has free roam of house. Does still have accidents, potty training her indoors and outside. She's six months now. I think she's confused! But overall, she just sleeps when were gone!

Zhoie will be 4 yrs in Jan and if I go out...she goes to her house (crate). She is very laid back and wouldn't bother a thing. All I have to do is say, "mommy has to go out and you can't go this time" and she goes to her house. For her, it's her safe place, she goes there sometimes while I'm working in my office (I work from home) and sleeps with the door open.
For me, she will never be left out if we aren't home, not because she would get into anything, but for my peace of mind. I feel like if there is a fire, they will get to her in her crate with the sticker that flags them on the sunroom where her crate is. I know many dogs run and hide in the event of a fire and would not be found. But, maybe that is just me being over cautious.
My daughter leaves her little Chi out all day long and she's a good girl.

Mine have access to the kitchen and family...the rest of the house is gated off. Miss Jersey is a chewer, so she needs to be watched like a hawk! Fiance and son are here, they are only on their own for about an hour...crated. I am home by early afternoon, so they are let loose then...still gated though!
I expanded their area to the foyer, just to give them some extra running room.....nope! Complete failure...Orion decided the front door entrance would make a good washroom!! So back to the Kitchen/family room! The two older ones sleep in a large crate in the family room and Jersey sleep in her smaller crate facing them...all sleep though the night with no probs.

Maggie is a roamer, but I think she spends all her time in her bed thats on an ottoman in front of the window so she can see out. She's never chewed anything since we got her as a puppy. The only thing I had to do was get wastebaskets for the bathrooms that have lids. She would pull out q-tips to chew on. yuk. I remind my boys (big young men) not to leave stuff out that would hurt her if she ate it. She does sleep in her crate because I am afraid of her wandering around in the dark, or waking me up early. She goes in around midnight and will often stay there until 11am if she had a pee around 10pm or later. She comes up and starts to snooze around 10pm, then I put her away when i go to sleep.

If I had a chewer she would be crated for her safety and the safety of my things.

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.

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.

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.

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!)

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...

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

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.

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.

I agree.

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).

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.

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.

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 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:)

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