Freedom

BuggaJuga · 05-20-2008, 09:52 AM

Hey everyone – my girlfriend and I adopted a one year old pit mix 3 weeks ago. So far everything has been going good. We start an 8 week obedience course tonight. I

have a question about Kennels vs freedom:
We both work during the day so the dog is the Kennel anywhere from 4-7 hours alone. My ultimate goal is to allow him to have free reign of the entire house and eventually hook up a doggy door to my back door so he can also go out and into the yard as he pleases.

I am reluctant to let him out un-supervised because I am unsure what he will get into. How do I gradually give him access to more and more rooms in the house – should I use baby gates and allow him one room at a time, maybe one room per week?

Also – any positives and/or negatives on dog doors?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated – thank you

rosemaryninja · 05-20-2008, 12:34 PM

You should definitely be keeping him in his kennel while you can't supervise him. This includes at night, when you guys are sleeping. It's really for his own safety, so he doesn't get into anything that could be dangerous (chocolate, poisonous plants, electric wires, sharp plastic bits of furniture that he chews off, etc.)

During the 4-7 hours he will need to relieve himself (wouldn't you?) so you should consider getting a neighbour, friend or family member in to let him out and maybe toss a ball around with him for a bit during that time. Doggie daycare may also be an option you could look into.

As for eventual freedom - once you are sure he knows what are toys and what aren't, you can slowly start allowing him freedom. Don't suddenly give him the whole house to reign over. Do it a little bit at a time, one room at a time. Baby gates will be very helpful here. As for pace, it's really contingent on the individual dog. As with everything when you deal with your dog, move in slow baby steps. He will let you know when you've moved too fast, and then just take a step back and remain there for awhile more before moving forward again.

Good luck and keep us posted. He's a beautiful boy!

Cobalt · 05-23-2008, 08:23 AM

At one year Mia has her crate in the kitchen open and the kitchen is gated off when we are gone. She has a large area and that makes me feel better leaving her. You can use the crate until you think the pup is well on the way to being potty trained. We don't let her go anywhere with carpet when we are gone and I sprayed the legs of the chairs and table, cabinets with bitter apple just in case every few days when she was little.

We still come home at lunch time to let Mia out.

Good luck