Oliver is Maturing

[beth101509]

Last night we decided to bring Oliver's bed into our room and let him have free roam of our bedroom. I was nervous about this...would he be up all night annoying me? Pee on the floor? Well....I put his bed on my side of the bed for him to sleep on. He tried getting on the bed once when we were getting ready for bed. Once the light was off and the fans were on (we always have the ceiling fan on and another one for white noise), his little head popped up in front of me and all I had to say was, "Oliver, lay down" and he did. He did not move from his bed on the floor at all last night. I was so impressed by him. Not moving an inch all night. Hopefully this will continue. Next will be giving him an hour of freedom in the house to see how he does alone to see if he is ready for us to get rid of his crate altogether. He is a smart, mature boy for 20 weeks old.

[Labradorks]

Letting him sleep outside of the crate at night and be outside of the crate when no one is home is absolutely, positively not the same. At five months sleeping outside the crate is not outside the realm of normal. But, IMHO, five months for a Lab is too young to be trusting him alone. Not only do they often regress a bit in behavior and potty training from time to time between now and 9 - 12 months old, but the approximately 8 month old stage can be really trying and leave you wondering, "who is this dog?".

I would be afraid that he'd chew something up and hurt himself. When young and with the urge to chew and boredom and initial stress, will create bad habits to relieve boredom and stress and those habits and coping mechanisms can stay with them through adulthood if you allow them to develop. I feel like the longer they stay crated throughout puppyhood, the more you instill in them what they should be doing and feeling when you're not home, instead of letting them figure it out on their own, which can mean trouble!

I thought 9 months for Linus was young to leave him out with the dog-walker coming, but he did and has done well. He was a really early bloomer both physically and emotionally though, and he doesn't like to do anything wrong. I only had a throw pillow ruined (I'm sure he had help) that I stupidly left out as well as the occasional shredded piece of paper or catalog. However, until recently I worked from home a lot and when I did go to the office, I would be gone about six hours. Sam was a little over a year old with a mid-day break and my commute was less than ten minutes at the time. Had I been commuting and working a full 8 hours, it would have been different. Mine have also always had older dog siblings to set the mood, which may have helped a bit.

What I do, is around 9 months I will start leaving the dog home alone in a controlled environment (as many doors closed as possible, everything put away, and only when the dog is tired -- so after a romp at the park, a hike, swimming, tough training, etc.). I start with 20 minutes where I might run to the store to get one or two items. Then I try a grocery shopping trip. Then maybe going to the movies or going to dinner. I build up over time. But always, especially when I leave the dog for an hour or longer, he is exhausted. If I have a long week at work or the weather is nasty, i.e., the dog hasn't been exercised as much, I crate him. I don't temp fate and always try to set them up for success (which means putting throw pillows in a closet! )

[Moby and Barley's Mom]

My soon-to-be ex-husband left my 8 month old puppy alone in the house for hours when I was away. (He was supposed to be watching the dogs and left instead.) I came home to find pee in eVERY single room in the house. Puddles of it, streams of it, scatters of it - EVERYWHERE. I felt very lucky that he did not eat something he should not have - and that pee was all there was. Barley is smart and a little scamp - and I really like the idea of trying him out in one room for a short period of time after being tired and with everything put away. I don't obviously worry about the 13 year old - but the puppy - well, I worry!!

[Labradorks]

My soon-to-be ex-husband left my 8 month old puppy alone in the house for hours when I was away. (He was supposed to be watching the dogs and left instead.) I came home to find pee in eVERY single room in the house. Puddles of it, streams of it, scatters of it - EVERYWHERE. I felt very lucky that he did not eat something he should not have - and that pee was all there was. Barley is smart and a little scamp - and I really like the idea of trying him out in one room for a short period of time after being tired and with everything put away. I don't obviously worry about the 13 year old - but the puppy - well, I worry!!

The pee can easily be a nervous/stress reaction to being left along outside of his crate suddenly and for too long. Poor guy!

[POPTOP]

Glad he was a good boy. Be careful about the house though.