Transitioning Dog OUT of Crate?

[disneyrun]

Is there a "right" way or best way to do this? I'm ready to try my almost 3 year old dog without the kennel. He's had seperation anxiety in the past but has calmed down a lot and ultimately our goal has always been to give him free reign which is what we are ready for... we think. Any suggestions or tips?

 

[beckmrk04]

Honestly- we were so freaked out about transitioning our dog Jules out of the kennel... She's very needy and anxious anyway... BUT- the baby was coming and we had NO ROOM for that big honking kennel. (She was 1 year old, BTW).

SO- we just left Jules out of it one night, baby-gated so she could only go in the living room and kitchen.

It was miraculous!!! She sleeps in now (as opposed to being up at 5 am when she was in her kennel). She sleeps on the couch. Hangs out. I was so worried, but she loved not having to go "night night" anymore.

She hasn't had a single issue! I was worried about accidents or chewing issues, but... nothing!

So, I don't know if it's a good method, but it worked for us.

 

[disneyrun]

I should add that he is out and about at night with no problem. We did try leaving him out once and it was a disaster but that was a year ago. Basically our neighbor clued us in that he's howling a lot during the day They say they don't mind but it's got to be annoying and oddly enough we come home for lunch at all different hours and have never heard him so we have no idea how to correct him when we never catch him! We have been thinking of doing this anyway and thought it was as good a time as any to try since he's probably driving them batty

 

[CowboyCO]

Other than space issues, why do you want to transition out of a kennel?

Dogs are den lovers and the kennel is a place where they can feel safe and secure. It also keeps them in there proper position according to pack mentality. If allowed to roam and do as they please they will revert to natural urges, which are to be dominant, especially over children, which they see as fellow pack members...

 

[disneyrun]

He's never "loved" the kennel - always went in it but not happily and never took to it like so many dogs do. We have no dominance issues and have another dog who roams no issue so we'd like to ultimately transition him to be able to do so too.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Other than space issues, why do you want to transition out of a kennel?

Dogs are den lovers and the kennel is a place where they can feel safe and secure. It also keeps them in there proper position according to pack mentality. If allowed to roam and do as they please they will revert to natural urges, which are to be dominant, especially over children, which they see as fellow pack members...

Hmm. I would disagree with becoming dominant just because they stay out in the living room while I'm at work . There are certainly numerous other things we do to ensure our dogs know their place and it has nothing to do with crating during the daytime or not.

OP - My goal has always been to transition them to more freedom when they gained our trust. Start with short periods of time- like, when you run to the store for an hour. Then bump it up slowly. See how he does.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Leave the kennel door open. Then he can go in and out. Some dogs realy like a cozy sleeping place, and not being locked in, or forced to do something, is very relaxing.

Same as our doggie door. THey love it. It lets them be in control which is much easier than our getting up and letting them in and out, whatever time of day.

Mikeeee

 

[lizdotcom99]

Hmm. I would disagree with becoming dominant just because they stay out in the living room while I'm at work . There are certainly numerous other things we do to ensure our dogs know their place and it has nothing to do with crating during the daytime or not.

OP - My goal has always been to transition them to more freedom when they gained our trust. Start with short periods of time- like, when you run to the store for an hour. Then bump it up slowly. See how he does.

Agree wholeheartedly with you!!! We did this just recently with our1 1/2 year old Morkie and he is loving his freedom...and behaving perfectly. At first we would let him out for a quick errand, then a little longer thereafter. Now we never crate him. He has a pillow on the floor that he loves to sleep on when we are gone. He will still at times go in his crate....but usually is on his pillow when we come home. I am very excited about the prospect of putting the crate in the basement. Our little furry boy has grown so quickly!!

 

[disneyrun]

Thanks for the replies everyone! We are going to try a quick errand or two this weekend and see how he does. After we thoroughly dog proof of course Wish us luck

 

[Dodie]

Is there a way you can gate the room where the kennel is? If so, I'd start as some have recommended... keep the kennel in there, but leave the door open, but confine Fido to one or two rooms with a baby gate (or gates). Run a quick errand or two. See how he does. Next time, be gone a little longer. If that works, try taking the gate(s) down and leave for an hour or so, and so on.

It's always worked with our dogs. However, we've never "gotten rid of" the kennel completely because we've never had a dog who didn't still want to go in there and hide/sleep/get away at some point.

 

[daisax]

I start with little things -- loose when I'm in the shower or in the basement doing laundry. If they behave then, loose when I snooze on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon. Loose when I go out to get the mail or shovel the front walk. Loose when I go out to vacuum/wash the car. Loose when I run next door to chat with the neighbor for 10 minutes. Loose when I run to the bank. Loose when I run to the bank AND the post office. Loose while I go to the movies or the mall for a couple of hours. THEN loose when I'm at work.

Of course that's the whole transition from baby puppy (when the crate doubles as a playpen equivalent) to young adulthood. Generally speaking, my dogs are loose at night for a year or so before they're loose for the work day, and that can be as young as 2 or as old as 4, depending on how "adventurous" they are.

Since your dog has separation anxiety, he may ultimately prefer having the crate for security/familiarity reasons, but you never know.

 

[cristit14]

We got rid of our kennel a few weeks ago. Our dog had stopped going in there about a year ago all on his own. You would have to force him in there. I didn't want to do that. He usually sleeps in the middle of the family room floor at night. When we leave him inside all day and we are gone, we close all of the doors. He does really well, he is 5 now.

 

[disneyrun]

I like the idea of limiting his space. Our problem is that the area he'd need to be in is an "open concept" so large "openings" between the kitchen and livign room. I'm going to look and see what the longest baby gate is and see if I could keep him just in the kitchen temporarily. Feel free to share any other ideas. I'm planning to do the little here, little there for a while. He has free rein of the house at night but we don't 100% trust him all of the time. We usually just call him when we hear him get up so he'll get in bed with us and then we can relax. Mainly because I don't think it's dogproofed enough right now. I know we'll have to come at it from his perspective and as a basset mix. He's LONG and can get to a lot if he puts his mind to it!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Is there a "right" way or best way to do this? I'm ready to try my almost 3 year old dog without the kennel. He's had seperation anxiety in the past but has calmed down a lot and ultimately our goal has always been to give him free reign which is what we are ready for... we think. Any suggestions or tips?

We left kennel door open and the dogs (Butters and Gracie) were free to come and go.

However 1 dog LOVED his kennel. We moved the kennels to a different spot and the kenneling loving dog preferred to stay in the room were his kennel was.

Anyway both of them sleep in 2 big comfy chairs now....they look like "Archie and Edith"....

 

[Dr Pepsi]

Leave him in a dog-proofed room with his kennel. After he's shown that he can handle it for an extended period of time (a couple of weeks), you can start adding more rooms until he gets the run of the house.

 

[nataliela]

I agree with the people who suggest the gradual move.

Such as, free while I’m taking a shower, checking something outside
Then going fill up the tank, drop something off
Then grocery store, oil changes


This will also be able to tell you if he is able to handle himself alone. My dog does great during the shower and really quick outside tasks…but more than 10 minutes and he is getting into something. So he is not ready for the next step yet. In another couple of months we will try again.

 

[Aimeedyan]

One of my dogs was transitioned from crate to bathroom. We stripped the bathroom of anything he could possibly tear apart, put a big dog bed in there, and he stayed in there about a year. Then we started transitioning him slowly to the larger area of the house.

None of our dogs have complete run of the house. The upstairs is off limits, we close off the bedroom and bathroom as well. As good as they are, kleenex and toilet paper are just too tempting for any of them to resist.

Good luck!

 

[nataliela]

One of my dogs was transitioned from crate to bathroom. We stripped the bathroom of anything he could possibly tear apart, put a big dog bed in there, and he stayed in there about a year. Then we started transitioning him slowly to the larger area of the house.

None of our dogs have complete run of the house. The upstairs is off limits, we close off the bedroom and bathroom as well. As good as they are, kleenex and toilet paper are just too tempting for any of them to resist.

Good luck!

Yep....My min schnauzer came in the bathroom with me last night when I took a shower...I get out and the roll of toilet paper is torn up...Its his favorite toy!