# what age did you stop crating?



## kbr (Jan 6, 2011)

my pup is 7 months and while he fits in his crate, he doesn't fit in there with the plastic cone he is now wearing after his neuter. i'm considering getting a bigger crate or trying to confine him in a puppy proof room during the day from now on. he is in there for long stretches during the day when i am at work with a few potty breaks and a lunchtime walk.

is this too soon? should i keep him in a crate for longer? i honestly wouldn't have thought of this had it not been for the dreaded cone!

how long do you all crate your pups?


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## Cathy's Gunner (Dec 4, 2008)

I'm sure you will get many different replies. The biggest thing about not putting them in the crate is do you trust that he won't damage anything or hurt himself. If you decide not to crate him then start with only small areas that you allow him to go when you are not around. 7 months seems a bit early to leave him free completely but every pup is different. Good luck!


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## daisysmam (Sep 5, 2010)

I think it depends on the dog. Daisy gained her freedom at around 18 months. I started small though. I'd leave her out of the crate for short periods of time to see how she did and then gradually increased it to a few hours. I was in the same position as you are with the crate. She just fit in the one I had when she was right around the same age as your pup. I ended up buying a bigger crate. Although I very rarely use it, it does come in handy every once in a while. If you really trust him, I would maybe try a small test of 15 minutes or so to see how he does. Does he chew things that aren't his?


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

I never used a crate. I can understand the importance of keeping a dog safe in particular circumstances (when being transported, when recovering from illness and must be kept quiet, in a motel room where one is required), but never could get into putting a dog in such a small space and closing the door on a regular basis (I'm one of the few who doesn't think it is like a den because the dog can't get out).
So, I personally would work as I would with a crawling baby or young toddler in a house. I would close off doors to all rooms that could not be made safe. In the rest of the house I would pick up everything that could be chewed or swallowed, and just have dog toys out and available.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My dogs use their crates their whole lives - for quiet time, at dog shows and to sleep. After about 8 months, I rarely close the door in the house but they choose to relax and sleep in their crates.


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## hatfieldkgb (Feb 18, 2010)

Every dog is different. I left my 9 mo old out all night one evening but where he could only go in the front foyer, up the stairs and into my bedroom. He slept fine and didn't bother me till 7:00. But after that I had a hard time getting him to go back in his crate at night. I left him in a gated kitchen one afternoon while I took a short nap and he managed to get anything not nailed down off the counters and was playing with it on the floor. With the cone on, though, he might not be able to get into too much trouble anyway...especially if you have an area you can gate or close the door on. (Just not the bathroom. My sister came home to find her dog had gotten a fresh drink out of the toilet and got the cone stuck inside the toilet seat. Hysterical but it could have been deadly.) Myabe you can borrow a bigger crate from a dog friend who doesn't use theirs anymore?


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## Jean_NJ (Dec 15, 2010)

The cone at neutering was the end of the crate for us. Duncan never really loved it anyways. It took some major food enticement to get him in there.

He certainly wasn't ready for the run of the house. We gated off our kitchen and that was where he went when we weren't home and at night initially. He did chew on my chairs for a bit (he seemed to ignore bitter apple). And a Kong wasn't really his thing. But it all worked out.

On the flip side our cocker spaniel was out of the crate for good at 6 months, and had free run of the house. He was no where near as destructive or as "wild" as Dunc. 

Every dog is different.


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## kbr (Jan 6, 2011)

thus far mine has been good - not a chewer of anything but his toys but definitely curious. i was thinking of trying a small dining room which has nothing in it but a dining table and chairs. definitely puppy proof. i just worrry that it would make him go backwards in terms of potty training which was so easy with him. 

the reason i consider this is that he doesn't ever go to his crate as a shelter or comfort place. he doesn't fight going in there (until the cone that is) - it is only the place he goes when i am not home.

it might be worth trying briefly. thanks for the tips!


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## Jamm (Mar 28, 2010)

Joey is 10months old and is still crated! I wouldn't have it any other way, he loves his crate and can not settle with out it. Im also a deep sleeper so i probably wouldn't wake up if he were to get into anything. They are still puppies, and your pup is just about to reach adolescence when the real bad behaviour comes out.


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## TomCat'sGirl (Aug 27, 2010)

Cash is just a little over 8 months and we just recently started to let him "rome" free while we are away for a few hours. I started gating him in our kitchen and laundry room and he did great no accidents didn't get into a thing. Now we have tried letting have the basicly the whole house except the bedrooms and we "puppy proof" to make sure he can't chew on anything. He has done great. No accidents at all and he has not chewed up a thing while we were gone. I have left him up to 4/5 hours with no problems. We have a 46 or 47 inch soft crate and I still use it. I don't want him to not want to not use it. He still gets a time out every now and then  sometimes he will just go in it and lay down. I also leave him with a ton of toys,water and his kong puzzle.


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## Bell (Jan 23, 2010)

When he was 55 days old-when we got him  
If i have to be honest-almost nobody uses a crate here.I've heard of 2 dogs that are sometimes in crate,and that's all.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Sasha is still crated at night and when we are gone which is no longer than 3 hrs. I worry about what he might ingest (even though our house is puppy proofed ) if he were left out. He still eats sticks, etc outside. He has been housebroken since three months but I don't know what he would do if left loose. If he had to go, he might out of the crate.

We don't plan to neuter till 18 months and I don't plan to use a cone. We have never used a cone with any of our dogs but I understand needing one when he is alone while you are at work. 
Good Luck!! Hoping he does well out of the crate!


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

I stopped crating mine at night starting around 6-7 months old and worked up to letting her have the whole house from there. However, I do still crate on occasion. It is very useful to have a crate trained dog and maintain it through its lifetime. Mine rides in a crate in the car (safer), and can been in her crate when visiting family, or at dog shows. I was sick at home the other week and having a wild/happy little dog was very difficult--voila stick her in her crate, she settles down and is quiet while I try to get better.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

My dog was 9 months old. But it was only because of circumstance. 

I lived in a top floor apartment with no air conditioning and we were in a crazy heat wave. One night, it was probably 35-40 degrees Celcius in my apartment. I thought, I just can't put her in that crate. So I left her out (I had a totally puppy-proofed place, plus barriers up to limit her) and just figured, well, if she destroys something, I'll clean it up. I woke up in the morning with her sleeping on my bed, and that was that! I left her out that day when I went to work, and she was a dream. Never chewed anything - but I also had NOTHING around she could get into, and exercised her thoroughly before I left so she just slept. 

I left her crate up until we moved out of that apartment a year later. She would go in when she was sick or needed quiet time.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Flora was allowed free range of the kitchen and sunroom when we were not at home by the age of... oh, around 8 months. She finally graduated to full roam of the house at 2 years, but since she has stomach issues SO often I generally keep her confined to my part of the house.


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## Tuckers Mom (Nov 12, 2010)

Tucker is over a year old and crated. He sleeps with us at night, ( very recent to this) but is crated when I am not home, or cannot fully watch him. He is not destructive, but gets into things like socks, underwear, paper towels etc..... Plus he really likes his crate "apartment" he has a nice orthopedic pet bed, and all his favorite toys are there. It is great quiet time for me too when I need to chill out or nap. I totally think crating is a matter of personal choice and preference.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

The dogs like the crate, so I don't feel a lot of pressure to give them free roam of the house. One thing I wouldn't do is start a dog outside the crate in the 7-12 month window. They go through a second teething phase as the teeth set in the bone of the jaw, and that can spark new chewing behavior in some dogs. So they do great from 7-9 months, and then one day in the 10-11 month range, they suddenly feel jaw discomfort and chew something inappropriate and potentially dangerous.

So I'd probably wait until after a year, just as a safety issue.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

I stopped when Ranger was over a year. He wasn't crate-trained til I got him at 9 months of age. I hadn't been expecting to have to crate-train him (my family had never done it before with our other dogs) until I left him by himself for 3 hours and came back to a destroyed house. So, he was crated during the day whenever I was gone for about 3-5 months after that. I started testing him and letting him have his freedom. I'd give him a frozen kong, leave him loose, and then go to the store for 15-20 minutes. Then I'd do it for an hour. Then two, but always with a frozen kong. Then I stopped the frozen kong and just smeared peanut butter on a nylabone and went back to being away for only 15-20 minutes at a time and gradually building the time back up. 

His crate has been in storage now for the last year and he's rarely chewed anything while everyone's gone during the day. I'm so glad he's more trustworthy now because he's on his own for about 4-8 hours 4 days a week and I'd feel bad if he had to be crated. There's still some things he can't be trusted with but that's more maintenance for me. Like not leaving out cardboard boxes or styrofoam packages...like I did last week and came home to 2 styrofoam packagages chewed up all over the living room. Mr. Sneaky Pants had grabbed them out of the recycling!


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## tessalover (Nov 29, 2009)

Saadiah was about 5.5 months. 
I went on Christmas breack on the 23rd of Decmebr and went back on January 11th. And throughout the breack we slowly gave her more time out by herself when we went out. And now she is out of her crate while i at school. She doesn't even sleep in it anymore. Everyonce in awhile I might come home to some paper form the paper box for the fire ripped up on the floor, but other then that nothing.


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## iansgran (May 29, 2010)

How puppy proof can you make the area you want to leave him in? I am not really worried about Jaro destroying my things but eating or chewing on something that could hurt him, like an electric cord or something small, or too much paper. He is big enough that it it hard to put everything out of his reach. So I crated my last one until I was sure he could be trusted when we were gone, which was over 1 1/2


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## tuckerbailey (Feb 3, 2011)

We would typically stop crating around 5-6 months for out last two guys. We at first closed off a mudroom for them (with a baby gate)...but frankly that lasted only a month or so then we gave them free run of the house other than closing off the upstairs bedrooms. Never an accident....and only the occasional bit of damage (chewed remote control) probably in the first month. But each dog is different as others have said.


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## jweisman54 (May 22, 2010)

Jamm said:


> Joey is 10months old and is still crated! I wouldn't have it any other way, he loves his crate and can not settle with out it. Im also a deep sleeper so i probably wouldn't wake up if he were to get into anything. They are still puppies, and your pup is just about to reach adolescence when the real bad behaviour comes out.


I agree with Jamm here. Izzy is 10 months and also still crated. When she is out of her crate when I am home, she gets herself into major trouble when I turn away for just a second. Example.....she went into the toilet and took out a tissue that I had thrown in there and forgot to close the lid. She just pooped it out 24 hours later. Even at this age, they are certainly not trustworthy. I don't know if I would let a 7 month old out of the crate yet. Teenage hood rebellion is terrible and yours is just coming into that time!


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## GNmom (Jun 15, 2010)

When Nemo was 6 months old, we started to gate him in a narrow hallway together with a crate. There's nothing in the gated area he can damage. 

He has more space and always choose to go to sleep in the crate at night. In the morning he would come out of the crate and wait at the gate to be let out.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

My dogs are usually crated during the day until about 1 1/2 -2 years. I have seen too many foreign body surgeries to do it any other way. They actually stay crated at night longer... it's just too easy to crate them. We have 2 (now 8 1/2 year old littermates) dogs that as young adults, turned into velociraptors when we took them out of their crates at night. They would chose 1 AM to jump on the bed. Then they would get in our faces and "dart and lick." Our 18 month old triever is still in a crate partly because, we got her back at 8 1/2 months and she was definitely not house trained(and she is a wood chewing machine). So at 8 1/2 months, we had to treat her like 8 weeks. We have one crate upstairs and one in the dining room. At least 3 of the 7 dogs sleep in the crate thru the day.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

I think it depends on the dog and should be done gradually not suddenly - i.e. try them for 5 mins then 10 mins then 30 mins then 1 hr etc.

Just like Sunrise said, my Gladys likes to put herself in the crate sometimes, so I leave crates up and open on both floors in case she wants to use them. I like to always have at least one functional crate up and open for immediate use because I also use them as a training tool for the 3 minute time out.

Around 1 year and 1 month of age I started trying Gladys allowed out of the crate at night. 

Around 1 year 4 months I totally puppy proofed my office and gradually tried leaving her in there with the crate open blocking the doorway while I'm at work. (I tried using a baby gate but she hopped it. She didn't damage anything, but I don't want her playing with Boomer all day due to his age)

She does ok but I just want to reiterate the office is completely puppy proofed, and my house is too for the most part, as she still steals things like papers, socks, underwear, gloves, if they are left lying around. She counter surfs too, so I would never give her free run of the house. 

Bottom line I think it depends on the dog but I wanted to give you ballpark figures of the ages I tried Gladys. Good luck with your cone


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## ghuss37 (Nov 27, 2010)

I am planning on letting Kobe have free roam of the house between the 1-2 yr timeframe. We'll see how much he matures around then and if he can be trusted. Right now he is starting to chew a lot more and I sometimes leave him out when I take a nap and he has chewed up around $200 in valuables.


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## jimfaster (Feb 9, 2011)

I stopped about 5 months because the puppy was whining like crazy.
They are still locked in his cage when I leave the house for over an hour, though.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

I've started to let Gibbs out for about 4-6 hours max. He is still babygated in our family room and anything that could be chewed it put up or moved to another room. He does really well, I usually give him a frozen kong to keep him occupied for a little bit. I don't think we'll begin to let him out at night for a long time. He is a snoop.


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

I think it depends on the pup/dog...I have 4 golden and 2 arent crated and havent been for years and my other 2, that are 3 and 4 have to be crated if Im gone for more than 3 hours.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Depends on the pup. Most of my dogs pet quality, out of the paper, I was able to get out of the crate during the day between 6-9 months. I would look for a few hours here and there, graduating to 1/2 days... just see how they did. My dogs were all out at night, by the time they were 5 months, but they confined to our bedroom by a gate so they do not wander the house at night. 

Quinn my coming 16 month lab pup, and I highly suspect Gabby will be pretty old if I ever leave them out. First of all they LOVE the security of the crate. However their energy is so high that if they got bored and started rough housing when we were not home, I don't know what damage they would do to the house or themselves. We have left Quinn out for short errands, and she is not very comfortable, she likes her crate. She is not in it when we are home, but she loves the security she feels when we are not there. It was very bothersome to her to not be in her crate. We did it when we first got Gabby and were short a crate for a short period of time. 

You can also just confine them by means of gates in a specific area if you want to graduate that way. 

My non crated dogs, just go sleep all day when we are not home, my crated dogs do the same thing, only in a crate.


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## kbr (Jan 6, 2011)

thanks for all the feedback!

just to be clear, i am not considering free roam of the house for my 7 month old pup. just thinking about that makes me nervous for him!

this weekend i started to gradually increase the amount of time i would leave him in a small room of mine that is completely empty with only his dog bed and a few toys to occupy him. he is gated in there. i also leave the gates to the side during the day so he can go in and out as he pleases. 

i really only considered confining him in this room due to the challenge of his rather large plastic cone not fitting in the crate. we will see how he does and then determine whether or not to leave him in the crate or just leave the crate in the small room so he has the option to go in if he wants. i highly doubt he will, it is just not of interest to him. he doesn't fight it but is not interested in it.

i got an update from his dog walker (my mom!) that he was calmly lying on the floor playing with a toy whne she relieved him this morning - phew! it makes me happy giving him a bit more space and more importantly, that he is comfortable and feels safe that way.


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## Mandie (Feb 16, 2011)

Our Aussie had mistakes with the potty until 18 months so we kept her crated until this age. Now she rarely is put in the crate by us, though she does go in there to sleep and to take naps (she likes being in her crate.)


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## County JR (Sep 26, 2010)

I stopped using a crate almost right away. Don't know why I got one in the first place. I spent enough time with him from the beginning to train him and he's never destroyed anything. Spent some time getting him housebroken, but it was worth it of course. I can't imagine having a dog I have to crate at night or when I leave the house.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Ticket is crated when we go out, mainly because he pesters the crap out of the cat and I have to step in to break up their fights when I'm home. I'd hate to see what would happen if I wasn't here (it's not unheard of for him to come flying down the stairs retreating from a very annoyed cat who is right behind him). Already had to go through the vet bills for a scratched eyeball with another border collie. He's usually not bad loose otherwise but it's easier to pop him in a crate. He's also good in the pen/dog run most of the time too. If not for the cat he'd be loose.

Storee..... well she does not have the ability to lie down and sleep uncrated. I've tried. In the house she's usually very busy getting into everything she can get a hold of, just to be told 'no'. She's an expert at the trading game for sure. Plus she opens cabinets, will fetch pillows and blankets and so on and loves to eat toys even if they are not hers. So she's also crated at night or if we go out or if I've had enough adventures for a while.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

I have experienced such a variety, and is so individual.

Joplin & Raleigh- No crates
Acadia, Finn& Tally- 6 months
Tango- 12 months
Copley- 6 months for nighttime, 12 months for daylight hours


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Sometimes it is not always that they are untrustworthy, but that they seek out the crate... Libs has been crating herself at night again....her usual bedtime spot is on the floor next to the bed.


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## MittaBear (Mar 9, 2010)

Chester has had free roam of the house since he was about 10 months old. We first started to let him out of the crate at nighttime when he was about 7 months. We closed the bedroom door so he had free roam of the bedroom during the night.

When I worked from home, I would also leave him out of the crate. We started with short time periods - like leaving him home for about half an hour when we went to run an errand. He did very well the first couple times we left him for about an hour and finally gave him free roam of the house during the day when we weren't home. We're actually really proud of him since it's been about a month now that he's had free roam and he's done really well.


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## harrym (Nov 13, 2010)

Our adult dog found her crate stored in the basement. The door was unlocked, so she opened it and took a nap in it -- at least, as much of her as would fit inside. After that, if we didn't see her with us, we would usually find her napping in the open crate.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

wow, my dogs must be really really bad LOL. I didn't trust any of them unsupervised in the house until they were six years old. Annabel still puts herself in her crate every morning before I leave for work. 

Flip unattended in my house uncrated? OMG!!! He's 20 months and there is NO WAY that is going to be happening any time soon.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

It really does depend on the dog, I think. Some are much more likely than others to go looking for trouble! 

We were lucky with Riley - he was such a good pup. We stopped crating him overnight when he was 14 weeks old. He never liked his crate to begin with and he was just so good about sleeping through the night, we didn't see the need to carry on with it any longer than that.
He was still crated for about another month or so when he had to be left home alone. At that point, we were confident that he was trustworthy and wouldn't chew or get into anything. And we still put away any dangerous temptations (shoes, throw pillows, candles, potpourri... things like that) before we left the house. Just in case.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Loisiana said:


> wow, my dogs must be really really bad LOL. I didn't trust any of them unsupervised in the house until they were six years old. Annabel still puts herself in her crate every morning before I leave for work.
> 
> Flip unattended in my house uncrated? OMG!!! He's 20 months and there is NO WAY that is going to be happening any time soon.



I told you we should start a support group! Storee loose in the house would be a nightmare too. She's good with supervision but it wouldn't shock me in the least to come home to her standing in the fish tank digging for worms with every stuffy in the house dragged to a central pile and gutted along with the contents of all the cupboards removed, opened and sprinkled all over the house. And that would be a five minute run to the school and back:doh:


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I sometimes leave the dogs in the backyard when I'm at home (never when I'm not home). You should see the state of my backyard since Flip has come into the household - it looks like a war zone!


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