How long before your dog had free reign?

[Guest girliejr]

Jack can stay out with doors closed and baby gates in place, but his little sister (a Maltese) can't be trusted about potty accidents, so they both stay in kennels during the day. They can, however, be trusted for shorter time periods. Jack is 4 and I still don't let him have total free rein......maybe when he's older!

[Brody'sMom]

We really don't aspire to let our dogs have free rein of the house. Pre Mia, we left Brody, who will be two at the end of January, unattended in the house a few times (just for short trips to the store) and we'd come home and find him sitting in his crate or ex-pen (he is such a good boy!). I think he likes the security of being confined when we are not around. Like others on this board, we got a second Cairn with a slightly different personality. Brody never chewed anything but authorized toys; Mia on the other hand has chewed a few books, some wooden furniture, and a baseboard. She has never done any major damage and we've done our best to rectify the issue by making sure she has plenty of chew toys available (by the time we got her, Brody was only interested in fetching a few toys and bad mommy and bad daddy had "forgotten" that puppies need a lot of variety and even though we had dozens (hundreds?) of toys, only a few were accessible to her). However, I still cringe at the thought of her unattended all day!

[bubba]

Ours have only had free run of the house a couple times. They are 2.5 and 1.5 yrs old. On the days I work, they know it, and after they go out in the morning, they come inside and go right into their crates. If we go to the store or out to eat, etc...they get left baby gated in the kitchen. The main reason they do not have free run of the house is because they set off the motion detector for the burglar alarm which is always set when we are not at home. The kitchen and back entry are more than big enough to keep them happy and 90% of the time when we come home, Cooper is in his crate and Yoda is curled up on the heat register...both sound asleep!!

pat.

[Guest Eli]

Woof! The Bossy One has started leaving me out and I am 9 months old. She closes off the bathroom and bedrooms. Darn! I like that toilet paper, too. She leaves lots of toys around and the TV on Animal Planet. So far, so good, but she's not gone all that long. She also made sure I knew what how to behave. She's pretty clear about that, I'll tell you. In fact, if I do something naughty, I tend to do it right before her eyes. After all, it's more fun that way. Speaking of being naughty, I must go keep an eye on that silly tree. What was she thinking?

Woof!

Eli