Leave Oskar Out During the Day??

[Oskar's Mummy]

Oskar turned 5 months old a few days ago. He is a beautiful. intelligent, healthy boy. He finished all of his shots, graduated puppy obedience, and is anticipating beginner/advanced obedience classes.
Oskar is out with us all night, uncrated, in the bedroom with the door shut, but has the option of going into his crate where his dishes are. He never whines to go outside in the middle of the night anymore, and sometimes when we try and urge him to go out to pee in the middle of the night, he'll raise his head then go back to sleep as if to say "are you joking? i'd rather sleep." He has atleat 2 dozen toys, 2 good ropes and a big kong. He has NEVER destroyed one thing we own, as he is always monitored and/or entertained when he is with us. He is currently crated in our room when we work, and has only messed his crate once, when we moved homes. I'm deciding whether to let him out during the day with all the others rooms doors closed, his only having access to the kitchen and living room. When someone IS home, he sits in His Chair infront of the huge livingroom window watching the street, so I'm thinking when we arent home, he may do that as well as sleep and have fun with his toys, since we have not had any problems with chewing/wrecking our posessions and hasnt peed in the house for just over a month.....any comments/advice/critisicms welcome.

[Shelby427]

We didn't start leaving Shelby out in the house on her own until she was over a year old. Even though she gave us no reason to, never chewed anything (really) didn't get into anything, didn't have accidents, we just didn't fully trust her until around a year. And we started very slowly, let her have full run of part of the house for 2 hours at a time to see how she'd do and we'd lengthen the time as she got older. Now at almost 4 years old, she's got full run of the whole house all day - no accidents, no problems whatsoever.

[brunie's mom]

I would not leave a 5 month old puppy out alone all day.
He still has not finished teething...there are so many things he could get into trouble with.

The best way to start is to leave them alone for a few minutes at a time and work from there. Pop out to get the mail, or run to the store for a few minutes and see what happens...and work up to 30 minutes, an hour,etc.

Do not give him too much freedom this early...you are only setting him up to fail.

Could you live with yourself if he chewed through an electrical cord? or chewed through your doorframes or drywall?

Gina

[Oskar's Mummy]

thanks for the comments you guys :) much appreciated. will "attempt" leaving him out an hour or so at a time....

[rottcrazed]

Yes, and hour or so at a time is best to start but there is no way on Earth I would leave a puppy that young unattended for extended periods of time. I don't even leave my pups out at all when we are not home until well after a year old.

Maybe I am paranoid, but I would rather KNOW they are safe then wonder what they might be doing at that moment.

Kristi

[JemarsSerena]

We started with short periods of time at about six months. From that point we added more and more time. This week, I started giving Serena free run of the house at night while we are sleeping. She starts off right outside my bedroom door and when I wake up she is in the bed. She's earned and deserves the freedom she has. At this rate, by the time she is 2 she will have complete freedom of the house. We still crate off and on to keep her used to it.

[AngelBunny]

I wouldn't take the chance of leaving such a young puppy to his own devices. Sure, he may be great at night, but at least you're there and can step in should he get into something he shouldn't. You have a puppy. Being young, they usually don't know any better. You're an adult and his caregiver. It's your job to keep him safe. Crate him when you can't watch him.

[Static'sMum]

Our pup is mainly an outside in the yard dog. We only had him inside for the first three weeks we had him, and he has been outside ever since.
He never once cried when we put him outside - but he only cried for about ten minutes the first night we ever had him and that was it.
We have had him chewing a few things - sticks (which the vet said was fine and completely normal) and an outdoor chair - wooden.
But with his kongs, rope, dental bones, tennis balls, squeaky ball, rubber rings and his Eeyore, he has been fine. He actually throws his own balls in the air so he can chase them, when he thinks we arent watching ....
i would never leave him inside for long periods of time, as he loves rubbing his belly on the grass, sunbaking, running through the bushes, lying in his wading pool when its hot - and even when its raining, he stands in the open, face up to the sky with his mouth open to catch the raindrops. He's definitely been here before (dont think i'm crazy for saying this) but he knows things that we've never taught him, and does things that are un-puppy like. Hes amazing ...
they need space to live in and enjoy (providing there is no danger for him)