# how did you know when to stop crating?



## Lilliam (Apr 28, 2010)

I've always stopped crating my dogs when each one in turn has shown me that they're trustworthy. For me, there hasn't been a particular age, more like an observation of that dog's maturity and trustworthiness.
I would observe and see how mentally mature she is rather than how old she is.


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## Nicole74 (May 30, 2009)

I stopped crating when Bailey was fully potty trained with no accidents. It was around 4 months or so. Bailey has been really good to only chew her bones and toys. She does not destroy the house like some Goldens do.


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## beccacc31 (Aug 17, 2009)

I don't force Wilson into his crate and he is welcome to sleep anywhere in our room at night. He always opts for his crate. He may start out on the floor or behind the chair, but he seems to gravitate to his crate by morning. Sometimes we will find him and Sophie (the cat) sleeping together in his crate.


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

Gunner was probably 6-7 months old when I put the crate away. He never went in it on his own but never gave me a hard time when I put him in it. He wasn't destructive and was fully potty trained. I put a few baby gates up and closed some doors to limit him where he went till I felt comfortable. He has been wonderful and I love him sleeping with me.


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## rappwizard (May 27, 2009)

Lilliam said:


> I've always stopped crating my dogs when each one in turn has shown me that they're trustworthy. For me, there hasn't been a particular age, more like an observation of that dog's maturity and trustworthiness.
> I would observe and see how mentally mature she is rather than how old she is.


Agree-agree-agree.

Is your crate in the bedroom? If so, you might want to shut the bedroom door, and leave the crate door open and see how your pup handles it; but let your pup's behavior be your guide.

My golden, Mac, was also about 4 months or so when we stopped crating her at night, but we did not put away the crate--sometimes she enjoyed sleeping in her crate, sometimes on the bed with us, and sometimes in one of the corners curled up. Now, when my husband and I are not at home, we will crate her (she is just over 2) because she still hasn't quite demonstrated she is fully trustworthy. Still rather mouthy and still a bit too curious for her own good. So better safe than sorry. Let each dog, and each dog's behavior, be your guide (IMHO).


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## zephyr (Sep 29, 2009)

Oscar is definitely not yet trustworthy in the apartment by himself, but even he has earned free night roam of the bedroom (ONLY!), mostly because (1) he seems to be less active at night and doesn't go hunting for things to chew, and (2) because our bedroom is more easily kept 'puppy-proofed' than other areas.

I guess we decided to give him a freedom trial LOL because he was no longer having accidents and he seemed to calm down much more in the evenings. I think we started this around 8.5 months old (he is just 10 months now). I do still bolt upright and shine a flashlight in his direction in the middle of the night if I hear suspicious noises... But for the most part I find he only gets actually destructive (like chewing the blankets on our bed!! :doh:) in the morning when he is restless and wants you to get up, but by then I probably should be getting up myself anyway... :

I should say the main reasons this arrangement is nicer for all of us than having him crated at night (in the living room) is because I find he will want to get up for the day (whine or bark) much earlier than if he is in the bedroom with us. I think he just wants to be with us anyway, so if he is already in the bedroom he will sleep much later -- I like that!  Plus it's comforting to have him there with us at night rather than in another room, and he sleeps on the floor or his bed so he doesn't bother my sleep (light sleeper).


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## Lilliam (Apr 28, 2010)

@zephyr - you may want to be careful about chewing the blankets....perhaps you can freeze a kong with peanut butter so that it thaws out during the night to keep him busy.

A friend of mine had to take her puppy to emergency surgery because of a distended belly and vomiting. Turned out he had almost an entire baby blanket he had dug out of the laundry basket!!!


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

I've never tried no crating with Tess yet...I'm much happier knowing she's safe in her crate at night and so far, she goes there happily. She is not in our bedroom, maybe that makes a difference.


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## d4nz0 (May 1, 2009)

Seabiscuit only gets put in her cage at nighttime, its in the kitchen, we have kept all doors open and as we're only two rooms away its easy to hear that she's ok.. can hear her breathe lol

C ouple of nights ago was far too warm and she was enjoying lying on the kitchen floor, I think her bed was just too warm for her, so my girlfriend got up and let her out her cage and just shut the kitchen door, seabiscuit was fine

Last night, we never bothered putting in her cage and just shut the kitchen door, again fine.

The only pee problem we have now is the excited when seeing someone kind.

She doesnt ask to get out for toilet visits, but she gets 2 walks a day and we let her out usually before dinner and before bedtime, so theres never any real need for her to ask.

We're happy to leave her out her cage at night now, but leave the cage open and let her decide, but planning on phasing the cage out and putting it away until next year when Seabiscuit might get a little brother


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## zephyr (Sep 29, 2009)

Lilliam said:


> @zephyr - you may want to be careful about chewing the blankets....perhaps you can freeze a kong with peanut butter so that it thaws out during the night to keep him busy.
> 
> A friend of mine had to take her puppy to emergency surgery because of a distended belly and vomiting. Turned out he had almost an entire baby blanket he had dug out of the laundry basket!!!


Oh how scary!!  I could imagine Oscar doing that, if given enough time... he shredded a corner of the blanket we used to drape OVER his crate so now we leave it bare. Fortunately the blanket on our bed he only shredded a little edge and didn't actually ingest much of it (which is good! though I still wasn't happy :doh

I should have added he only did that when he was up ON the bed, again in the morning (and our bed is really high so fortunately, actually, he doesn't jump on and off without a prompt from us). But YES you are totally right it can be really dangerous!!! I should have also said something about making sure people's laundry baskets are put away in closets and there are no loose clothes anywhere... I'm particularly thinking of socks because they are such tempting targets for dogs. I never let him play with socks (although he really really tries!) because people have such scary stories about their dogs swallowing them whole... :uhoh:

PS. Unfortunately there are no more (filled/unfilled) Kongs for Oscar, at least until if/when his chewing habits change... because those he DEFINITELY ingests! Even the Black one he started to chew pieces off the edges of the big hole, so we had to retire it... :doh: So he only gets the durable Nylabones... yes even those "die" eventually, but they take much longer time to wear down and (at least not yet!) no big pieces will come off like from a Kong.


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## Retrievers Rock (Apr 4, 2010)

zephyr said:


> So he only gets the durable Nylabones... yes even those "die" eventually, but they take much longer time to wear down and (at least not yet!) no big pieces will come off like from a Kong.


God bless Nylabones! Those are the only 'toys' that Piper can't destroy. They're expensive, but they last forever.

As far as crates go, I know Piper was still in hers when Hurricane Ike hit here, and she was six months old then (I remember this, because I remember praying that she'd stay in it, until the storm passed). I'm glad she was still in it, because that controlled when she got let out. Thankfully the storm was mostly over by 9am.

We were without electricity for 11 nights, so it was also during that time, that I left her out of it for the first time, because it was so warm.

We have new carpet now, so I'm not sure when I'll allow Molly out of hers, but now is too soon. I'll probably try it at six months again. I'm pretty sure that's when I let Chloe out of hers too.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

Like some others have said, it's a judgement call you have to make based on your dog's trustworthiness and maturity. With Brady, we stopped crating him in our bedroom when he was fully housebroken and was good about chewing only his toys and not everything else, so around 4 months. We continued to crate him when we went to work until he was around 9 months old. Many people told me 9 months was too young to try letting him have free reign when we weren't at home, but I really thought he was mature for his age. But I'd like to think I did it smartly. We closed off his access to the basement and 2nd floor, and gave him access to only a few rooms on the 1st floor. I also went around and moved/picked up things that I thought would be the greatest temptations. And the first time we tried it we were at a neighbor's house across the street so we set up a web cam to watch him, and if he went out of sight of the camera, we'd pop back over to check on him. He wound up sleeping on the couch the whole time. Gradually we lengthened our time away and he did prove to be trustworthy. You know your dog best, so trust your instincts.


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## SylviaB (Jul 5, 2008)

Tundra came to us at 11 months already crate trained. He still goes in his crate when we leave almost 2 years later. If we even look like we're getting ready to go somewhere, he goes and opens the door on his crate and goes in! We never leave him in there more than about 4 hours. I don't work so he's only in there if I have to run a few errands. I just don't think he'd do well if he was loose in the house....his crate seems to be his safe haven. We only put him in a crate the first night he was with us, but after that he just slept on his blanket. We did have to put a baby gate up for a while because sometimes he'd get up and wander around. But he doesn't even do that now. He's such a slug! He will have been snoozing on the couch all evening, go out for his last potty break and head straight to the bedroom and plop down with a big sigh. We're thinking about finding him a friend, but it'll need to be one with about the same energy level! I'm too old for high energy dogs!LOL


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## Honey (Jan 20, 2010)

Id make the crate available still to sleep in since your pup has always slept there I never forced Honey into her crate but she likes to sleep in there. Its there own little personal space and sometimes they need that like us.


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