out for the day

by **rockermom** » March 19th, 2006, 12:26 pm

trustworthy not to get into the garbage? Thats funny!!! Not sure I would ever trust him with that. I would lock the garbage up. And hope he did not learn to open fridge.

by **Maryellen** » March 19th, 2006, 2:23 pm

yep. you can start by leaving him in a gated room and go get the mail.. come back. see if any damage was done.. if none, then slowly increase the time you are gone. still no damage? then give him a bit more area.. keep repeating until he can be trusted .. my gsd wasnt trusted until she turned 2.. rufus will never be free as he cant be trusted to not eat the house.. when leaving rocky loose make sure he gets alot of exercise so he doesnt get bored and try to find something to occupy his time..

by **ParisStreetPitCrew** » March 20th, 2006, 9:01 am

I just wanted to pipe in that even a "trustworthy" dog can act out of character sometimes. A dog that has never gotten into the garbage before could one day decide to take a peek, etc.

Most of my dogs could be trusted alone in the house (obviously not with eachother), but they will never be given the opportunity--- because I need to protect them.

by **luvmyangels** » March 20th, 2006, 9:18 am

I am SAHM too and typically my dogs are out and about during the day. But when I leave the house everyone except my 7 y/o dog is crated. I have an 11 month old Lab Mix and an 8 month old Pit Bull Terrier. If a dog should happen to have separation anxiety or just choose to chew stuff you may come home to something you do not want to see. I know it does not sound like you are dealing with that but since I am home all day too I just wanted to give you my experience. While I was on vacation my dogs were crated up to 4-5 hours at a time with someone coming over to let them out and they were fine.

by **SisMorphine** » March 20th, 2006, 9:35 am

As a general rule I have heard from a few different trainers to keep dogs in crates, whenever you're gone, even if you think they're trustworthy, until at least 18 months.

by **dogcrazyjen** » March 20th, 2006, 1:56 pm

I don't leave any garbage out ever. We put the cans in cupboards. At our old house we had a baby lock on the cupboard, because they could open the door. It makes life a lot easier when they just can't get in the garbage.

I also crate the pit when we leave, but my BT and Dal/whippet can be left out.

by **mnp13** » March 20th, 2006, 3:04 pm

SisMorphine wrote:As a general rule I have heard from a few different trainers to keep dogs in crates, whenever you're gone, even if you think they're trustworthy, until at least 18 months.

No matter what the breed, I would never leave more than one dog out. Too many horror stories....

by **chance's mom** » March 21st, 2006, 10:17 pm

i agree with roman, we started off with kenneling chance first, becuase we were gone, and just bought a new house, no way to break in a new house than with a pup who wasnt potty trained, no way!!! so we kennel trained him, he slept most of the time or licked himself. when i changed my schedule at work, i got home a lot sooner so we started thinking about letting him out. well we were told by fellow pit bull owners that they should not be left out alone until they were at least 1 year to 1 1/2 yrs old!!! chance now is. so we started letting him out at night to sleep in the bedroom with us, then i started leaving him out for 30 mins and i would leave, then an hour while i would grocery shop, gradually i got him used to being out in the house while gone all day!!! he still sleeps all day!! and still goes in his kennel when asked no problem!!
i know this is opposite what you are doing, i am just trying to show, if you work on them gradually, they will get used to it. they sleep so much, and dogs they dont understand time!! so they just know you left, or your home! it will work the other way, make sure when you kennel him, you let him know its not a punishment, dont put him in and slam the door and walk away. give him a treat when he goes in and lays down all the way, then say "good boy", praise him!! he has to know you arent taking away his privilage of being out in the house, and he hasnt done wrong!

by **rockermom** » March 22nd, 2006, 8:27 am

Well I went on the day trip. Had congs frozen and ready to go. Took him for a nice walk. Once he saw the cong he ran right in the crate. He has no problems with crate. I did have my friend come take him out for a walk. If I had the luxury I figured I should take advantage. She left a note he was fine did not even bark when she came in. Went for walk did business and they played for a while. He did fine. I knew I could do it!! The reason for asking what age he could be out is even though he is far from a guard dog. Rarely barks not even at knocks or doorbells. However I suppose if someone broke in and got a look from him and then he jumped on them. Not knowing he wants to just say hello, they might leave.

by **Maryellen** » March 22nd, 2006, 9:20 am

excellent for rocky!!!!

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