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surely a dog that is past the chewing and mischief puppy stage can be trusted alone in the house?

I guess I have slow learners, because they are still in the chewing/mischief stage, and still young enough to get bored. Boredom = mischief = chewing = crates.

Jason,
Digging *can* be a type of frustration behavior. So if you are getting this kind of angst in the yard, it tells me your guys are likely bored and it may go on in the house if they are left unattended. Can you stimulate them more while you are interacting with them, practicing retrieves, down stays, scent work??I think your crating schedule is better (but still on the long side for adult dogs) than what you first portyayed, but try and make sure they get mentally stimulated when you are with them. What about building them a dog run in the yard?

Good luck.

Roger,
Maybe it is the pic messing with my eyes but are there no tops to those crates? If so are you sure they dont have free roam when your not looking lol. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Yea, me too...why not?? Why can't an extremely well-behaved dog be left alone in a house?

I am a novice trainer w/an incredibly well behaved dog. He has been left alone in the house since he was about 10 months old. I started at that point w/10 minutes away then increased it gradually over time. I also started when he was young because he repeatedly proved he was not a chewer and didn't have any "accidents" in the house. He's now 19 months old and has never, ever disappointed me. I return now after 3 or 4 hours and he's never touched a thing.

But, I will say that I won't assume his behavior can't change. Therefore, I put all things away that I might otherwise leave on a kitchen counter, say a coffee cup or something. I don't have lamps and such anywhere in the house that he might chew and I lock the closet where our food is kept. The thing I find most impressive, he's never even raided his own closet filled with treats!

I also make sure to change his collar everytime he's left alone - I change his chain link collar to a day-glo orange soft flat collar. God forbid he were to poke his head somewhere and get the chainlink stuck on something or just as bad if he somehow got out of the house, he'd be easy to spot for someone. My house has an alarm so I would be called immediately by the alarm company if he every did get out so I don't worry to much about that.

So, my experiences w/my dog's alone time in the house to date have been very good indeed!

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Roger,
Maybe it is the pic messing with my eyes but are there no tops to those crates? If so are you sure they dont have free roam when your not looking lol. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Maybe but they know they better jump back in there before I get home.

My GSD is 10 months old today. I work out of my home, and when I'm not out of the house on a customer call, I try to have him out of his crate. Today I was on a phone call and didn't hear him get up and walk away from the rawhide bone he was chewing on and go exploring. After the call I went looking for him and he came trotting to me when he heard me walking around. My daughter came home from work this evening and discovered that he had gotten into her room and chewed up an old shoe. It could have just as easily been a new shoe. My usual practice is that if someone in the family can't have eyes on him, he is in his crate. Today he reinforced that practice for me.

It's great if you can trust your dogs out of crates when you're not home. My dogs are very well behaved too....but I think about their personalities...them loose in my home.....no supervision.....I don't think so <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />I think it depends on the dog/home.

what breeds are these untrustworthy dogs? the only dogs i've owned that i would think i had to keep crated when i'm not home are the terriers i had as a kid. completely untrustworthy, in my book. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

the three i've had over the past three decades have been left alone uncrated since late puppyhood with never a problem. they wouldn't steal steaks off a counter. (though i wouldn't push my trust that far, but they have never taken anything that isn't on the floor).

one dog i have actually left alone all day outside a vacation home we were renting while we were on an all day boat trip, and he lay by the door waiting for us until we got back in the evening. no trouble at all.

did i just get lucky? or is this breed related?

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He's now 19 months old and has never, ever disappointed me.

I think you are looking at this the wrong way!

If your dog did something you really didn't like (disappointing you) then it's your fault for leaving the dog in that position, therefor you should be disappointed in yourself, NOT the dog!

The dog is simply doing what it has to do in any given situation to keep it from climbing the walls. It's not doiong it to wind you up or to say hey look stoopid! I'm bored.

John

For what it's worth, my dog is seldom bored. I work from home and am with him just about 24/7, short of some quick trips and/or not so quick trips where he's left alone. He's walked morning, noon and night with additional backyard playtime w/me and also my 2 teenage sons who take turns playing football with him - on a daily basis.

Of course I get the point that if he did something while loose in the house, one could see it that I "put him in that position".

Nevertheless, I stand by my original comments about disappointment. If he decides one day to chew $12,000 rug in the foyer <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />, I'll be disappointed!

I may even cry <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> !