# How old was your GSD when he trusted alone in the house ?



## Firefighter195 (May 23, 2011)

​Hi everyone, I'm really new here and have been reading and reading. Wow, what a lot of info.

I'm just curious when your dog was able to be trusted loose in the house during the day. Truly alone like when your at work. I have a 6 y/o Choc Lab named Brody and he was alone around 7 months old. We had 0 potty accidents although he did chew a cpl things.

We get our new GSD puppy in 3 weeks and I was just wondering what to expect or get a feel for what others had experienced in this matter. I've heard bits and pcs but no clear answers to this specific question.

Thanks,

p.s. I was hoping, as Brody is a very mellow laid back lab that he would be a good influence and maybe even allow this to happen sooner, is that incorrect thinking. I'm not quite sure how to handle the one loose dog, one in crate yet but hope to figure that out with these boards.

Thanks again

Doug​


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Keep the new puppy crated at night and when you're not there to supervise. My gsd was 10 11 mos old before I left him loose in the house- but he had never been destructive or untrustworthy before then.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Rocky was 9 months. Kopper just started being left out of the crate unsupervised at 5 and a half months. I thought my husband was out of his mind for doing it at first, but so far no problems. Yes, I do think that the older, calm, laid-back dog with great house manners is an excellent influence and probably is the reason we were able to leave Kopper out so early.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I think it depends on the dog. 

Both Onyx and Karlo were ok at that 7 month mark, no backsliding and when Karlo was at the age to be free, there were teenagers at home for the summer(though they weren't real diligent on watching him) I had three dogs loose at that time also. My concern was more of the females getting into a fight, but so far after 2 years, they are all just fine together loose in the house when I am gone. I have the garbage containers in cabinets so the dogs can't get to them. And they have chew toys at their disposal at all times.
Karlo was house broke easily and never chewed inappropriately.
Onyx was the same way. 
Not so much to do with my training them, but their personalities.
If the dog has one mistake, though, the crate should win. I still have two set up, and when I leave, the dogs tend to go to them still, just out of habit(or comfort?) I haven't shut them in however, unless we have company over that isn't into my dogs.


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

I left Uschi out of her crate at night first. And then when she was about 1.5 yrs old is when I started leaving her out of her crate during the day. I didn't have any problems with her. But she was a very active puppy. 

My first GSD she was out of her crate before she was 8 months old and alone in the house and shortly thereafter I stopped crating her at night as well. But she had a very calm, mellow disposition.

I think it really depends on the dog and their personality.


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## warpwr (Jan 13, 2011)

Miss Molly has been free for a month or so.
She's 5 1/2 months old now.
We have a large dog door on the back door and both dogs come and go as they please.
She can get up on our bed at night if she wants but she prefers the floor or her dog bed.
Mistakes? Once in awhile she wouldn't quite make it to the dog door at first but she's mistake free now.
She goes all the way out to a special area in the back yard.


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## lisgje (Sep 3, 2010)

Shane was nearly four before I could do that. Started slowly, run to the store for 15 minutes and leave him out and see how he did, gradually increase by 1/2 hour on weekends until I felt comfortable leaving for four hours till I came home for lunch, etc. It took until he was nearly four before we could go more than 1/2 hour without him trying to destroy something. Needless to say, during this time, EVERYTHING I owned was put away. Even the oak coffee table, LOL. Put a gate so he could not go upstairs while I was not home and terrorize the cat and eat cat litter, which I found out the hard way, he loved! LOL During our trials of being alone, figure out that he knew how to open the bathroom door and get to the toilet paper too, hence the gate! LOL


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## AddieGirl (May 10, 2011)

This is a good thread! Addie is only 4 months but she is well on her way to being alone when we leave the house. Honestly, I would do it now if I weren't worried that she might go nuts and chew an electrical cord or something dangerous. She has proven over the past month to be completely accident free and hasn't chewed ANYTHING of ours other that the first week we brought her home. She is a very well behaved girl. I think when she's around 6 months there will be no question.


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## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

Freyja was allowed to be loose when she turned 7 months. We had no problems until about 3 weeks ago, when she decided she wanted to be a beaver and chewed off 3 windowsills and a chair. She's in the crate until I feel she can be trusted again. Thus even at 11 months you still have your "delinquents" lol


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## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

Denali was left out at about 1 year old... then she had a "relapse" and chewed something up, so we started crating her. I don't think we let her have free run until she was closer to 2. 
I think when your dog is ready, you just know. 
With Denali, as she got closer to 2, we could just tell that she knew household objects were not for chewing.


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## jmoney (Jul 21, 2010)

Totally dog/owner dependent. I say owner, because if your wrong and your house is destroyed you have to know how much you are willing to risk. I just left mine out for the first time a few weeks ago and she is a little over a year, I still don't trust her out for more than 20-30 minutes even though she has never chewed up anything of mine before. I usually just leave her outside, its better. (if you have a proper fence)


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

Abby has an enclosed breezeway so we let her loose at about 5 months. She did a little chewing on the carpet but no major damage was done. She has a walker at noon and that has worked out very well.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

I still crate my two when I leave the house. They are 16 months and 12 months. I feel I could trust the older one loose, but no way on the little one! I always joke that if I left her out unattended, she'd rearrange the house.


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## WarrantsWifey (Dec 18, 2010)

Mine is 10 months and still untrustworthy.... Troublemaker! LOL!


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## Sigurd's Mom (May 12, 2009)

Sigurd's been out of his crate at night basically since day 1 of us owning him (8 weeks). We keep him in our bedroom with the door closed during the night. He's free to roam the house since about 7 months old. I crate him still because when we are gone we set an alarm (it has window shatter sensors), he sometimes barks when he sees dogs go by the house and it's set the alarm off a couple of times. :-/ Wish we could leave him out! He has been left in the house alone for 3+ hours uncrated with no chewing issues, it's just the dang alarm!


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## missmychance (Jan 20, 2011)

We got Frodo at 11 weeks. He always slept in crate at night with door open in our bedroom. He had free roam of house about 1 month after he came home (about 15 weeks) with no problems or accidents.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Jazz could be loose now but we still crate him at 21 months because were worried about the unsupervised play between the two of them. Once they get going its really rough if no one is there to intervene and were afraid they'll knock a piece of furniture down like the t.v.


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

Since my other 2 furbabies shared my bedroom at night, when we brought Ace home he was uncrated at night on his bed on one side of my bedroom and I gradually increased his area. When I would have to leave over the day he was crated untill 10 months untill I felt I could trust him. 

My lab and my little one have always been good girls when left alone and maybe they helped to influence him. Ace did destroy a throw rug about 2 weeks ago while I was visiting with my husband at the hospital, but that is the only damage he has done.

As others have said, some dogs are more trustworthy earlier than others. Pictures please of your new baby when you bring it home, good luck.


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## JeffM (Dec 19, 2005)

Full run of the house? 1 year. 

It was a very slow progression that started at 8 months. We slowly opened parts of the house to Thor as he got older. When he was bad; we took parts away.


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

I took the crate down before Lakota turned 6 months old and let her free at night. She's about 18 months old now and a few weeks ago we started leaving her loose if we went out to dinner. I have a gate that closes off my puppy proofed kitchen and that is where she spent her time if we weren't home. So far so good, I still don't trust her 100%. But we have noticed her acting much more mature over the last few months.


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## ayoitzrimz (Apr 14, 2010)

Einstein slept in his crate in our bedroom until around 7 months - then he slept on the floor in the bedroom. At around 10-11 months we started leaving him out of the crate when we went for short errands (30 minutes or less). From then it was just progressing more and more. He's 15 months now and is only crated on rare occasions (can't remember the last time) if we go somewhere - besides I'm fortunate enough to have a flexible schedule and be able to take him with me wherever I go which I'm very thankful for.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

Shortly after Sinister turned 2 years old I started letting him have free roam around the house while I was gone at work.


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## Franksmom (Oct 13, 2010)

fuzzybunny said:


> Jazz could be loose now but we still crate him at 21 months because were worried about the unsupervised play between the two of them. Once they get going its really rough if no one is there to intervene and were afraid they'll knock a piece of furniture down like the t.v.


Same here Frank at 13 months is loose whenever we're home to stop the play between him and Indy the border collie, but if no one was here I'm afraid the 2 of them would do a major remodel on the house, So Frank has to be crated while the other 2 or loose. Indy is ok loose with King because King has never play wrestled with another dog in his life, I think he thinks he's above all that stuff. 
I know they're not GSD's but Indy was loose in the house at 2years and King at a year. On the other hand I had a lab/bc mix that was never loose in her 10 years of life she proved too many times I just couldn't trust her.


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## bradco (Jun 13, 2011)

Kaizersoza is now 14 months old, I started leaving him free downstairs in our raised ranch with a gate leading upstairs, he jumped over it one night when I changed his food and made a couple of mistakes, I do believe it's the change as he has never made mistake in house and we have had him since 8 weeks, now he seems to be trying to dig hole to outside as in his room he has made a hole in Sheetrock now he is back in crate most of the time unless we are home and let him outside in our yard, I will be attempting to try and trust him again but I think it will not be for another couple of months, I should have named him chewy instead of Kaizersoza


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

I guess I am one of the odd balls too. Indra with 6 months. Judge even with 5 months.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I started leaving Nikon alone at about 8 months or so. He was 2 when I left him all day. Probably could have been earlier, but we went on a vacation while he turned 2 and when we got back I didn't feel like setting all the crates back up.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

I don't trust any dog under 2 years to have free run of the house unsupervised. My pup is 6 months old and we're now at the point where I can leave for 5-10 minutes and trust her not to do too much damage.


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## SamTheDog (Apr 4, 2011)

I figure Sam is going to be a year old or more before I give him freedom when I'm gone. A friend of mine has one of Sam's litter mates. They are only 5 months old, but she decided to leave the pup loose during the day. The dog chewed open the hose going from the wall to the toilet last week which then sprayed for 8 hours and flooded the entire second floor which then flooded the first floor. Destroyed floors and ceilings, major insurance claim coming.


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## msturgid (Jun 11, 2011)

Aubrey has slept in our room, crate free from 12 weeks on. Since we just got our new puppy, we just started leaving her out when we leave last week. She is 12mnths.


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## cta (May 24, 2011)

i posted a similar thread not too long ago because i was wanting to leave my 15 month old dog out of his crate during the day, but felt like i couldn't completely trust him because he's a bit of a "wild child" if you catch my drift. i tried leaving him, with limited access of course, a few months ago and he chewed the drywall in the kitchen  so after that he spent his days in his crate and it has only been since last week that he has been given the limited freedom again. he only has access to the kitchen and the bedroom and knock on wood, he has been pretty good. he chewed up a few pieces of mail and busted into a cabinet to get at his treats, but hasn't done any significant damage to the house/furniture, etc. others may think differently, but for me this was a huge success considering his previous behavior. i think it all depends on the dog personally, but you should definitely ease into it.


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## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

If I remember correctly, Bison was allowed out at night at 9 months and while we were at work at about 1 year. 



> I'm not quite sure how to handle the one loose dog, one in crate yet but hope to figure that out with these boards.


Crate the puppy just like you normally would if he was an only dog. Keep your adult dog's routine the same. Just keep an eye on them to make sure that the older dog isn't taunting the puppy.

It has been my experience that my older dogs appreciate the break from the puppy as much as I do. It also makes the transition to a multi-dog household easier for the adult dog because he still gets his alone time with you and the puppy gets his much needed nap time without being disturbed by the older dog.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I have had shepherds I have trusted as young as 6 months. My female at 12months - Grim....well he is 8 years old and will find "something" to get in if I leave him loose.
He just walked up to me with a sock.


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## SiegersMom (Apr 19, 2011)

I would say Sieger was around 8 months before he was loose from his crate and/or tether at night. He never had accidents I just did not trust him not to eat all our shoes and socks at night before that. During the day had has the run of the back yard...but I would trust him alone If I had to put him inside. He is never tethered in the house anymore now unless he is dirty and I don't want tracks on my bed!!! He is now a year and three months old. We did a lot af training to get to a trusting place. I think you just have to play in by ear. There is no magic age...just see what your dog is like.


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## TriadGSD (Feb 19, 2011)

i started at late 3 months- 4 months i would go on short trip to the store. or to the movies but, when the days work i crate him for now. since im gone for 14hrs


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

My gang …

Winnie – she was probably about 5-6 months old when she received house privileges. She is a Corgi mix.

Tazer – when he was about a year up until the middle of last year. Now that he’s getting on in years his bladder control is not what it used to be. He is a Cocker mix.

Kaynya – since she was about 8-9 months old. She is a Chinese Crested.

Sasha – never has and never will. She’s a GSD mix rescue dog that will jump up to see what’s on the counter just as you step out of the kitchen.

Spike and Fuego – never. Both boys are intact and ‘forget’ their training sometimes when we aren’t home.

Mauser – he could be left out but he prefers to sleep in his crate.

All of them are allowed to sleep with us at night – except Sasha. She just won’t settle and if the cats come up on the bed she thinks it’s playtime. Tazer gets a belly band when he sleeps with us as he leaks at night.

Tazer, Winnie and Spike share one x-pen while Kaynya and Fuego share another. Sasha and Mauser both have Great Dane sized crates. All of them are set up in our basement with rugs or blankets (for those that don’t try to eat them).


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## Stella's Mom (Mar 8, 2011)

I hope to have my girl with total freedom in the next 2-3 months. She is just about 5 months old now and is very calm and non destructive.


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## Stella's Mom (Mar 8, 2011)

I tether my girl at home with a very long lead when I am not able to watch her too. She only goes in the crate at night. She has a good routine in place already, crate, walk, doggy park and nap, so she has been doing very well.


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## Germanshepherdlova (Apr 16, 2011)

Both of my dogs at about a year old.


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## suzzyq01 (Feb 15, 2011)

about a year old....

most of the time he was fine, but one time I came home and part of the cushion on my couch was killed. Thank god it's old, but I wasn't too happy. So we went back to basics and did the crate for a couple of days, I think he got the picture!


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## goatdude (Mar 3, 2009)

Not till she was two years old. Ruby was gradually allowed freedom based on her behavior. Up to one she was always crated when we left the house and then from 1 to 2 confined to the basement. Now has full run of the house. So far so good.


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## jackinstuff69 (May 4, 2011)

i have 2 gsd a male going on two years old still cannot trust alone when i am asleep he will sleep on my bed or the puppy couch but not alone without adult supervision he is still very immature in his mind and my female shes 8 months no way in the middle of the night she would chew things(tennis shoes,purses,bathroom toilet paper) while i was sleeping so she sleeps in her crate

both know when there tired and will nudge me its nite nite time they will head to there sleep spots

i went away for an hour and gunther the male had tore up things so its a slow process for me

while home they are in door dogs but go outside to play and do there business not the neiborhood for them to be out to long like hours on end because people will hurt them too many aggressive neibors with guns...

i tried hard with bella she defies her training she is a real handful have to watch her constantly she tries to pee in the house at 8 months old just to do it to push your buttons....believe me and my carpet cleaner machine have gotten to know eachother very well

gunther gets bored very easy i have over 100 store bought toys and bones and he loves squikee toys but left alone he desires to get even with me and my things he likes his crate he feels safe there

my life is different than most i am single with no kids and work odd shift so there behavior can be based on my life style


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## ashylove (May 14, 2011)

precious is about 15 weeks, and i have started letting her sleep in bed with me, and in the kitchen gated while i go out, for about an hour. but she has figured out how to open the crate so it wasnt really a choice. lol.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Hubby shocked me last night by saying that he thinks we should start leaving Jazz out. Just the week before he was saying absolutely not! I think since Jazz passed the CGC my husband is starting to see him for the good boy that he is. Funny how things go sometimes . I'm on holidays next week so I'm going to leave him loose in the apartment when I run some errands and see how he does. I'm sure he'll be fine.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

anyone have working line pups in this thread ? mine is 18 month still cant trust her alone she will get into something eventually but shes okay for an hour or so then she will find trouble


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