When did puppy gain more access to your house?

[Anonymous]

This is a bit of a spin-off to what someone else posted recently about puppy and crate training. I have a 5mo. puppy who has been confined to our open-floor plan kitchen/family room/laundry room so far. (This is when we're home; when we're not home, he's gated in the puppy-proofed laundry room). At night he sleeps in a crate in our bedroom.

When can I start letting him roam more around our house when we're home? He hasn't had a pee accident in about 1 month, but we still have to take him out every 2 hours. So I don't have confidence that he's truly housebroken.

[Anonymous]

What kind of dog? I have a lab- he was 18 months when I gave him access. He was potty trained very quickly and only had a few accidents when he was new puppy. I was more distrustful of him chewing things or jumping and grabbing stuff off counters.

[Anonymous]

Golden Retriever. 18 months?! Wow, I had no idea. This is my first dog (obvious, probably!). I feel bad that he has to stay in this area, esp when my family goes upstairs for a little or in the basement for the kids to play, etc. he's dying to get more access.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Golden Retriever. 18 months?! Wow, I had no idea. This is my first dog (obvious, probably!). I feel bad that he has to stay in this area, esp when my family goes upstairs for a little or in the basement for the kids to play, etc. he's dying to get more access.

Well, maybe you could tether him to one of you when you go up or downstairs? Or set up an ex pen downstairs for when you are down there?

[Anonymous]

We are at about 16 months with our (awesome!) lab pup but there is NO chance he gets unsupervised access any time soon! He still chews/eats literally everything. We're honestly not even that uptight about furniture, shoes, etc., but for his own safety we just can't risk it. Hoping he chills out soon, would love to give him more freedom.

[Anonymous]

We adopted our rescue at 1 year. She was crated when we were out of the house and at night until 19 months. During the time we were home she was allowed full access to the house...until....one shredded pillow and comforter later. We have pocket doors so started keeping her in eye sight of a family member - so if we were upstairs she could be in dining room/kitchen/ living room but no bedrooms. If we were downstairs she could be in play area. Around 2 years she was given full access again until she went after the cat a few times. So back to the zone method - she always gets to be where the people are, the cat gets the rest of the house. So I guess I would say its up to your pet really - she rarely had potty accidents in the house her issues have been shredding and the cat.

[Anonymous]

My troublesome spaniel mix was 2 years old before I'd let him have access to rooms I wasn't in and even then he'd still find something to chew on every once in a great while. He's always been a handful and is only just starting to (barely) calm down now that he's 6.

[Anonymous]

We got our pup at 8 weeks and the only thing we blocked off was stairs with a baby gate. We live in a tiny DC rowhouse with an open floor plan so I can see the dog from anywhere on the first floor. Plus, she's a Great Dane so she can't be missed. I did watch her like a hawk during housebreaking (which was shockingly easy) and a few months after until she could reliably hold it at about 4 months. She's also a velcro dog so she is never more than 5 feet away. We didn't give her upstairs access until she was about a year old, mostly because she was clumsy and fell down the stairs. So when we were home, she had access to the whole first floor. The trainer recommended tethering but we never found it necessary. When we were out of the house we crated her until about 2 years old. She never minded going in her crate with a tasty treat and we have a dog walker come every day. I know some people are against the crate idea but my dog used to get anxious if we even left the room and we used the crate to keep her safe. Now at 2 1/2 she is out of the crate all day and the worst thing she does is get in the bed and put her giant head on my pillow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Golden Retriever. 18 months?! Wow, I had no idea. This is my first dog (obvious, probably!). I feel bad that he has to stay in this area, esp when my family goes upstairs for a little or in the basement for the kids to play, etc. he's dying to get more access.

Well, maybe you could tether him to one of you when you go up or downstairs? Or set up an ex pen downstairs for when you are down there?

This is what I did with our dog when she was a puppy. I posted about it on dcum once and got attacked and called crazy for doing it (no big surprise though, right?). But it totally works. I kept the puppy on a leash and that way if I needed to rush her out to pee, I was ready. Also, if I saw her about to commit a crime (chew on something etc) I would jerk the leash, say NO! and redirect her. She's a dachshund and they have a reputation for chewing stuff, but she never chewed anything that didn't belong to her because I kept her by my side all the time as a puppy.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on how expensive your furniture is or how much you've given up. I've given up and expect some things will get ruined, and my dogs have certainly lived up to it, although they aren't too terrible. I'm mostly concerned about safety and making sure there's nothing with string or anything that could cause a bowel obstruction. I have to see that the dog doesn't swallow non food items even when he chews them, for some dogs this may never happen but for most by 1-2 years old. Somewhere between 1-3 years they will be reliable in the house. If I'm home, I let my 18 month old dog go pretty much anywhere, because I'll notice if he seems to be off somewhere he shouldn't for too long or pulling things down. He's generally fine, but I still don't let him have access to certain areas when I'm gone.

Be prepared that for most dogs house training only applies to the areas you generally keep them in. Tethering is fine and the recommended method of training but you don't need to jerk the leash. Leash corrections like this may cause the dog to become afraid or reluctant of being on a leash. Some dogs won't be affected but it's hard to know in advance so I recommend using a more positive and proactive method of training. You should teach the puppy to sit and stay in a sit by giving him small bits of treats and saying good as he reliably stays. Once he's mastered that, then if he is getting into things you can put him in the sit and reward/reinforce calm behaviors in those areas.

[Anonymous]

We have a 7 month old cockapoo who has been house trained forever, but he still is (and likely will be for the next several months) confined to the first floor with baby gates. The few times he got upstairs, he headed straight for DD's room and grabbed some of her American Girl stuff off the shelf to chew and play with I just can't trust that he won't destroy something or kill himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on how expensive your furniture is or how much you've given up. I've given up and expect some things will get ruined, and my dogs have certainly lived up to it, although they aren't too terrible. I'm mostly concerned about safety and making sure there's nothing with string or anything that could cause a bowel obstruction. I have to see that the dog doesn't swallow non food items even when he chews them, for some dogs this may never happen but for most by 1-2 years old. Somewhere between 1-3 years they will be reliable in the house. If I'm home, I let my 18 month old dog go pretty much anywhere, because I'll notice if he seems to be off somewhere he shouldn't for too long or pulling things down. He's generally fine, but I still don't let him have access to certain areas when I'm gone.

Be prepared that for most dogs house training only applies to the areas you generally keep them in. Tethering is fine and the recommended method of training but you don't need to jerk the leash. Leash corrections like this may cause the dog to become afraid or reluctant of being on a leash. Some dogs won't be affected but it's hard to know in advance so I recommend using a more positive and proactive method of training. You should teach the puppy to sit and stay in a sit by giving him small bits of treats and saying good as he reliably stays. Once he's mastered that, then if he is getting into things you can put him in the sit and reward/reinforce calm behaviors in those areas.

Pp here who said I would jerk my puppy's leash. I hadn't thought about that it could make the dog fearful, that's good advice. I guess when my dog was a puppy I did more of a pull to get her attention. She was only a few pounds so I was always gentle, but yeah, what you said makes a lot of sense! If I ever get another puppy, I'll be sure to remember that!

[Anonymous]

I figured that was what you meant, just didn't want novice dog owners to get the wrong idea. Some dogs are more sensitive than others. It's hard to know what could affect your dog when they are still young puppies do I recommend all new dog owners look up positive training and learn how to reinforce calm behaviors rather than reacting to negative ones.