Hey everyone! So, Ronin will be 11 months next, week and we've been working hard on his training and making sure that he's got the basics down. He's coming a long way. Along with doing very well with his Place command that we were struggling with. So my question.
I have been off on vacation for the past week and I've slowly started giving Ronin a bit more freedom around the house. I no longer check on him every couple minutes when he's out of site like I had to before because he was always still getting into things. Lately he goes in the bedroom and chews on his toys and sleeps, not getting into things. I also no longer put him in his crate if I'm going for a shower like before, and he would go and lay on the bed while I was in the shower with no problems. I want to start giving him a bit more trust, but I'm not sure if I should give him more yet or not. I have a lot of people telling me that their dogs are already home alone all day with no problems at the same age as Ronin and that I should give him a lot more trust and freedom. I'm not ready for him to be out alone all day without us home yet.
You all know how much trouble we've had with him and I don't want to give him too much freedom too soon and regret it.
What I would like to do is to slowly start giving him freedom. Next would be leaving the crate open at night and the bedroom door closed when we're asleep. Eventually I would like to leave the bedroom door open and then start to work on leaving him alone for short amounts of time. By the time he's 18 months I would like to be able to leave him home alone. I don't know if that's unrealistic or not. Any thoughts?
Also Ronin is finally no longer having to be at my side every five seconds, which I've been working hard on as well. He was starting to get SA and I wanted him to realize that me being away from him is an okay thing.
I have been off on vacation for the past week and I've slowly started giving Ronin a bit more freedom around the house. I no longer check on him every couple minutes when he's out of site like I had to before because he was always still getting into things. Lately he goes in the bedroom and chews on his toys and sleeps, not getting into things. I also no longer put him in his crate if I'm going for a shower like before, and he would go and lay on the bed while I was in the shower with no problems. I want to start giving him a bit more trust, but I'm not sure if I should give him more yet or not. I have a lot of people telling me that their dogs are already home alone all day with no problems at the same age as Ronin and that I should give him a lot more trust and freedom. I'm not ready for him to be out alone all day without us home yet.
You all know how much trouble we've had with him and I don't want to give him too much freedom too soon and regret it.
What I would like to do is to slowly start giving him freedom. Next would be leaving the crate open at night and the bedroom door closed when we're asleep. Eventually I would like to leave the bedroom door open and then start to work on leaving him alone for short amounts of time. By the time he's 18 months I would like to be able to leave him home alone. I don't know if that's unrealistic or not. Any thoughts?
Also Ronin is finally no longer having to be at my side every five seconds, which I've been working hard on as well. He was starting to get SA and I wanted him to realize that me being away from him is an okay thing.