Oscar is almost 27 months of age and my husband and I have been debating if we should start to wean him off of being crated while we are gone. He does fine in his crate while we are gone (gets Kongs or other food-stuffed toy) and actually goes in there by himself a lot when we are home and even puts himself in there when we are getting ready to leave.

We also have a 12-1/2 year old girl who is left out 100% of the time when we are gone. She also gets a stuffed food toy when we leave. Oscar and Fanny have never gotten in a scuffle over food, so I'm not really concerned about that, however who knows what would happen when we are gone? Fanny sleeps the majority of the day and Oscar doesn't get in her hair at all...he will go up, sniff her a little bit...maybe give her a little muzzle lick, but then leaves her be.

I'm wondering from you guys...

- What age did you start to wean your pups off of the crate when you are gone?
- For those with two dogs, did you separate them at first - divided the house or available rooms in 1/2 with gates, etc.?

I know enough not just to all of a sudden try Oscar out of his crate for hours at a time, rather do shorter absences at first...building up to a couple of hours.

So, whatta ya'll think?

Kopper started staying out of his crate when he was 5 months old. Never had an issue. I don't separate him and Rocky, but I do not give food or any high-value chewies when I'm gone either.

Ivy was crated until she was 2. Mason has been uncrated since 18 months without any issues. Sometimes they are seperated when I'm gone, sometimes not. Just depends how long I plan on being gone. But no high value treats or toys...

I guess I'm a lousy one to ask because my boys were crated until last year, meaning they were then 6 years old. We were just not comfortable leaving them out together because - normally - what one didn't think of, the other one did. Turns out we were wrong - the first time we left them out, no problems. Then the time uncrated got longer and longer, and never once did anything happen.

If I had it to do over again, they probably would have been out much sooner, but then again, they never minded their crates and probably thought that was where they were supposed to be.

Onyx and Karlo both were 7 months when I left them unsupervised/free. They proved they were good when I was around, so proofing them for short periods before the daily stretch showed I could hopefully trust them.
Now and then Onyx had some accidents, and they still do every so often(diarrhea) but I guess it is just as easy cleaning the carpet as it would be the crate, and dog if they were crated with the runs. I love my Bissell steam cleaner!!

They never have destroyed anything. On Christmas eve, we left for a family gathering, I left out a cherry almond cream cheese coffee cake way back on the counter and it was eaten when we got home. The only time that has ever happened! Luckily it didn't make them sick.

Most of my dogs were around 2 before I could leave them uncrated and not have problems. DH tried leaving Caleb out for an hour or two a few times when he was about a year, sometimes he would be OK, sometimes he would get in to things - mostly cardboard boxes. Seems that once he hit about 2 years old, he could leave him out with no problems.

Dante was about 3 when I first left him uncrated all day while I was gone to work. I think about 2 is when I would leave him uncrated for shorter periods of time.

Kaos? Heck who knows ask me again in a few years!!

By the way, when I first read the Subject line in the Newest Topics I read "Age to Wean off Coffee" can you tell I'm tired?

LOL! I read it that way too!

I think it really depends on the dog. Grizzly is 10 months and Bison was out overnight for several months by this age, but I just don't have the patience to deal with being woke up by a bored "puppy" every 2 - 3 hours right now, so I have been doing only one night or partial night per week to teach him "bed time" and "off" the bed, but he is very willful.

I am planning to start leaving him out for short periods while I am gone and watching the boys together, I will not need to seporate them.

Benny is 2 and 9 months and Jake is 2 and 1 month. They are uncrated when we are home, but even though they get along great we do not leave both alone uncrated when no one is home. We probably could but I just don't want to take a chance.

Seeing an 85 pound GSD and a 79 pound Borzoi play bowing to eachother in the living room gave me an idea what could happen if we were not there!

why?

I crate Nadia when I leave home without her unless the pair of them are in the kennel outside. But if I take Z and not her, she is in her crate. Switch the two around where he is the one left at home, I can trust him fine to be uncrated, but getting out the door without a fight is hard to do.

Tomorrow I am taking Nadia to a Dock Diving Event and plan on leaving Z in the kennel outside where he can have fresh air, go potty, etc. Hoping he will stay quiet and not freak out but they do need to get used to this happening.

They are both 4 years old.

I started leaving Molly out for a few hours when she was around 9/10 months I think. She was allowed total freedom (other than the room where the cats food is!) by 12/13 months.

Grace has been out of her crate since she was about 6 months old. She just has an innate goodness in her lol.

Kira was at least 3 yo and still sleeps in a crate at night (her preference).

Vigo is just over 1.5 yo. He stays out for short periods during the day, but not while we are gone to work. He sleeps in his crate at night, because he wakes me up too early!

Siena was out of her crate at night only, about 8 months. When that didn't cause any issues, we started leaving her for short periods (1-2 hours after plenty of exercise). Then we just gradually extended it til she was about a year. She's fine in the crate, but she never gave any indication she was a chewer except a handful of times as a puppy --- so we were lucky there. One year old, no more crate (except special occasions). She also will sleep til noon if that's what we are doing (but we don't) and if we are up at 6, she's up with us.

Well, the conversation came up between my husband and I because he might be offered a full-time job after being a part-time contractor for 3 years. So, that would mean longer hours away from home (up to 10 hours). Oscar goes to day care 2x/week and I have a wonderful resource to come and take care of them half way through the day on days DH and/or I cannot. But, my thinking would be that if DH and I are working full-time to crate him in the AM, have the dog walker/sitter come 1/2 way through the day and then leave them out when she leaves for the afternoon.

Oscar has been out of the crate at night in the same area as Fanny since he was about 7 months without any problems and he has never been a chewer...just has his moments of spaz-boy pillow grabbing, but those are few and far between now. And since he goes in his crate on his own when he's tired throughout the day, I would definitely leave it accessible to him at all times (that and we still use it for management when people come over).

During the day, max was crated for a long time - he didn't make sound decisions alond

If the dog was behaving well in the house, I let them wean themselves out of the crate. Layla literally moved out of hers (I mean she took all of her belongings to another room and left an empty crate there) at around the age of 5 months. But my little Jasmine girl, well, she was finally allowed out (when home alone) at the age of 9, although she still loved her special place.