# Crate Training - At what age can you start trusting them outside the Crate



## MelMcGarry (May 2, 2010)

How old is Franklin now? Tucker got to start staying at home out of the crate at about 7 months on a random basis during the day of an hour, couple hours or even more. He was just a bit younger when we let him stay out at night. For the most part, he hasn't destroyed anything but newspapers and some magazines - well, except for my pair of glasses he found on the desk in the middle of the night! I would advise that Franklin be nice and tired out at night when you let him sleep out of the crate. Good luck!!


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

When we first got Ben, he stayed in the crate at night and every time we left the house. There were a couple of accidents (due to our lack of response to his then very subtle cues - he's learned to be more obvious about it now) and he did some chewing on clothes the first couple of weeks. (He hadn't spent much time indoors and was testing limits, I think.) 

At first I kept a very close eye on him and was really careful not to leave anything portable within reach. If he was in another room and quiet, I would go look every 10 minutes or so to see what he was up to. After a while, I saw that he was no longer looking for things to chew and I relaxed a bit. When he had gone for a couple of weeks with no problems, we started leaving the crate open at night. After a few days, he chose to move into the bedroom with us. When that worked well, we would go to the grocery for an hour, then come home and see what had happened. After a couple of weeks, our trips away lasted longer. We still haven't left him alone for more than a few hours at a time - but I wouldn't be worried about him destroying things anymore, just the problem of needing to go out. 

IOW, we let him earn our trust by increasing his time out of the crate little by little. After giving him a couple of weeks to show he was comfortable with each stage, we allowed him more freedom. 

Ben was an adult when we got him, so past the teething stage, but I would think it would work for older puppies as well.


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## Nath (May 12, 2011)

I have create trained my Goldens for different lengths of time from 6 months to a year when I would leave the house. My pups have always slept in my bed. My first Golden was the worse with chewing. My father had to redo his kitchen when I left for college. I still have chew marks on my sofa and numerous lost flip flops. Expensive shoes are always off the floor. Somehow, they manage to get the closet door open when you are gone.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

I started letting Ranger out of the crate when he was about over a year old. When I had adopted him at 9 months, I hadn't bought a crate yet and he was so calm and never showed any interest in anything that I thought I could leave him without being crated. BIG mistake. 3 hours later, my house was destroyed. I went out and bought a crate the next day!

Eventually, I started trusting him with little 15-20 min time by himself while I walked to the corner store. I left him with a marrow bone or a stuffed kong so he'd be occupied. Then it was 30 minutes, then an hour and so on. Then I started leaving him with nothing and went back to 15 minutes and built up the time again. I went slowly enough that nothing ever got destroyed in my absence and i always set him up for success by taking him out on a looooong walk before leaving him, even for the shorter lengths of time.


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## Lilliam (Apr 28, 2010)

Max is so calm that he has been sleeping outside the crate for a couple of months. I have been leaving him outside the crate with Billy in the house for a couple of hours at a time on the weekends. Bob and I go to dinner and we leave him and Billy out, chewing on a kong with frozen yogurt and kibble. He's really into that now.


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