Reg: 10-14-2011
Posts: 66
Loc: NE Washington, the State
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Our GSD is now 5 mo., completely house trained, is our family dog (we have 2 girls, 8 & 12) and he wants to be with us 24/7. I do lots of obedience with him every day and he has become a great, well mannered addition.
Since he is our "Watchdog", it doesn't seem to be a great idea to have him locked in a crate all night. If he needs to go potty late at night, I usually just let him sleep the remainder of night on the dog bed in our bedroom, and he does well.
Am I asking for trouble by giving him run of the house during the night (even if I wait until he has matured more)?
I would consider trying an experiment to see how the dog does with leaving the crate door opened and see how the pup does?
The only way to know is to give it a try. In all likelihood, the pup will continue to go into the crate anyway because it is usually their space and they like it.
Or, the pup with lay on it's dog bed. Most of the time, the dog just wants to be near you anyway.
I say give it a try if the pup is completely housebroken.
Tracy Collins Webboard User Reg: 10-09-2008
Posts: 1917
Loc: St. Louis, Missouri
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5 months is pretty young to be trustworthy, based on my past experience. At that age, I've had pups sleep in the bedroom (out of the crate) with the bedroom door closed to prevent wandering around the house at night, but I wouldn't trust a pup that age to wander all over. He might be housebroken, but he's still at an age when chewing inappropriate things would be a big temptation.
Reg: 10-14-2011
Posts: 66
Loc: NE Washington, the State
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Thanks for the feedback. The one thing I noticed from both of your responses is that you didn't say "Stop right there, that is just crazy talk"!
Tracy -
I do keep the bedroom door closed when I take him to the bedroom, but I would like to get to the point where I can trust him when the door is open. And since you mentioned it, he is still teething and chewing, although he hasn't yet chewed up a single thing that wasn't his (but I don't doubt he would if there wasn't someone to take away the prohibited items)!
Joyce -
He actually isn't a huge fan of the crate. He will go in there and sleep until about 5AM, but if I don't take him to his crate, he usually won't go in on his own. He prefers to lay at/under your feet and rarely goes in the crate on his own (not sure why). At night he will follow us into the bedroom and plop down on his dog bed and go right to sleep.
I think I will wait another couple months until the teething has subsided and give it a try.
Tracy Collins Webboard User Reg: 10-09-2008
Posts: 1917
Loc: St. Louis, Missouri
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No, it's not crazy. I'd trust all but our youngest to roam the house at night. But even if I left the bedroom door open, none of them would leave the room.
Trust is something he'll earn. Don't push it. With every one of mine, I've let them out of the crate (daytime while I'm at work) too early. Invariably, they'll behave just fine for a couple of days with the new freedom, then I'll come home to find they've had a party involving mail, magazines, throw pillows, or baseboards. So the pup goes back into the crate for a few more months. Then we try again. For mine, for daytime freedom, 2 years old seems to be the magic age of trustworthiness.
Reg: 10-14-2011
Posts: 66
Loc: NE Washington, the State
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Luckily I work from my home shop where he gets to spend the day in an ex-pen. He also gets to get out for lunch time excercise, so he doesn't have a day's worth of energy to blow off at night.
I will take it slowly, and if it takes until he is 2, I will be fine with that
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To crate or not to crate at night??
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