We're trying again...slowly.

[Jill Ramsey]

We've been trying to leave Finnegan loose again, but gated in the kitchen. Of course, we put everything up that he could grab and chew. For those of you who remember, we tried it a few months ago, but he ended up going down into the basement, which he had never done on his own before, and chewed up a pair of my avia walking shoes, and hubby's $150 leather work boots. Finn & I got him a new pair for his birthday in Jan. :lol:
So, we're trying again a little at a time. With the basement door shut. We left Friday to go out to eat and was gone for about 1 1/2 hrs. Every thing was fine when we got home. I think we will try it at that time for awhile and see how it goes. :roll:

[Alberta Hanko]

Hi Jill - I know exactly what you are going through. Linus was over 2 before I felt he was trustworthy enough for any time. We started out with a 10 minute trip to a neighbor's, and very very slowly moved it up. We would leave him a frozen Kong stuffed with cream cheese, and cheese his buster cube, with grain in it--and obviously skipped dinner for him that day. Linus' worst damage was when he found my Dad's $2500.00 hearing aid, he stayed with us on weekends, and ate that. I was really happy there was insurance on it, and was happy to just pay the deductible! We now leave him for up to 4 hours, still with his buster cube, and a frozen stuffed Kong.

Sounds like you re getting there.

Alberta & Linus

[Eric Moreira]

I bet there are a lot of us in that boat:) Our Fozzie is not too much of a chewer so before we leave for a long period we first bring him to the dog park or have him play with a friend. That way he doesn;t have much energy and will just end up sleeping anyway. We go with the frozen stuffed Kong when we leave and leave all of his toys in his box where he can get them. So far we have done 3 hours without a problem. The one night we left him longer than that, 5 hours, was an accident and the only thing he did was go poo on the harwood floor:( He doesn't have the bladder control yet, just goes to show that the age in months+1 hour does not always apply.

[Renee]

I have a dog that has the drive and stamina of a working dog (she is a lab-cattle dog mix). I was able to leave her uncrated at a very young age because she received loads of exercise (and +R training of course). She never chews anything (I did teach her what is appropriate to chew on and what isn't) and mostly sleeps when I'm gone. She gets 1-1.5 hours of off lead exercise every day. I understand many people don't have the time to do this... but if you can find a way to give your dog a healthy dose of exercise each day, it will pay dividends. I also integrate obedience into our exercise time - it is a great way to kill 2 birds with one stone (so to speak).

[Eric Vecc]

I feel your pains Jill! Bailey has an active mouth and, although his is not a strong chewer, he is still a chewer. His thing is strings. He loves the strings that hang off sweatshirts and our mistake was letting him play with them when he was real young. Anyway, he has now discovered that chewing into carpet will reveal a string. And when pulled, the string gets longer. This was wonderful for our berber carpeting in the basement. Anyway, we are also starting out with short periods in a confined bedroom. I use the stuffed kong approach and also throw a handful of his kibble across the room. The room has hardwood floors, so cleanup is easy, but it takes him a while to go around and gobble up the food. We also place his cage in the room to add to his comfort level. He is doing better and we just left a SLEEPY Bailey alone for 2 1/2 hours in the room and he was fine. I would not put him in there wound up. He goes to his cage if he is.

[Chris Smith]

Hi Jill,

As I mentioned in the puppy section recently, I just learned a big and expensive lesson with leaving my dog unattended in the house for less than 10 min. (he's the 7 month old who ate some of my $2000 couch!!)

When I am not home (and now when I am not right with him!) he stays in his puppy proofed area (kitchen). After he ate through my telephone lines the first week I had him, I learned to have a very careful eye looking around the room that he's left in for what was inviting to chew on!! Now there really isn't anything in there that he can do damage to.

He has TONS of energy so every time that I plan to go out for the evening (for a few hours), I MUST take him for a 1-2 hour run on the trails right before I go out to tire him out a little. And he still gets stuffed kongs to work on when I leave. This does work seem to work though. As long as I do a good job at puppy proofing the area and tiring him out, he does a good job at not doing damage! Good luck.

ps. if Finnegan is 18 months old and still not allowed full range, I guess I have a long way to go before my dog is out of the puppy stage (he's 7 months old)...

[Jill Ramsey]

Don't fret, Chris. Finnegan has always been a chewer. I would love to leave him tired in the morning, but we get up at 3 AM. I'm at work by 5:30. Hubby does take him for a short walk/jog every morning, or sometimes, they just play fetch for about 20 minutes. I wish we could have a longer exercise period for him in the morning. :( He does get a frozen kong, and has toys and nylabones. Last time, we didn't work up to longer periods slowly, and I think this may have been the problem. Also, he has matured quite a bit in the last few months. :lol: So, we'll just keep trying. It's hard during the week, as we usually don't go anywhere after work, or if we do, he goes, too. But, we'll keep trying. Thanks, everyone for the input. I'll keep you posted.