[virginia_gsd]

Although it probably varies quite a bit depending on the dog and it's training, at what age did you give your GSD the run of the house? More importantly, the run of the house with you gone? Any horror stories to share?

 

[Gyggles1]

I am curious as well!

 

[elsie]

he was 4 months old.
actually, that was a turning point in his behavior.
seems like when he knew he was trusted, he stopped chewing my shoes ( and biting me

).
no regrets at all !!!

 

[tibvixie101]

Mya got run of the house (when we are home) at around 4 months or so. I didnt give her run of the house while no one was home until she reached almost a year old. She was a "shoe exterminator" for a while, and i thought it had a lot to do with boredom and seperation anxiety, as she would only eat MY stuff! DF's things were never touched! Once i learned to keep the closet doors shut, and pick up things that she could reach, she was fine, and we had no problems since, and Mya is now 3.

 

[big_dog7777]

4 months! Even when you were not home? Wow that's young.

For the two that I have raised from a puppy, my old male Zeus was two years of age before I could trust him to be left uncrated while I was not home. At night, it was about 6 months. My female Lowen was about 6 months old at night, and about 14 months when I could leave her out during the day.

 

[chevysmom]

When we are home (and awake) Chevy, 14 weeks, pretty much has the run of the house with the exception of the kids bedrooms and the bathroom (something about pulling the toilet paper and running is fun for him

). He is usually in whatever room I am in. At night and when we are gone, he is in his crate which he doesn't mind.

 

[GSDLVR76]

Shilo had the run of the house when we were home at around 10 weeks. She was potty trained at 9 weeks and would wake us up in the middle of the night. She was granted house privilages when we weren't home between 5 and 6 months. She has never really destroyed anything.

 

[SunCzarina]

Morgan was 2 1/2, we tried earlier at 8 months - she trashed the kitchen (loooong story involving replacing floor tiles and repainting!). I was home with the baby most of the time after she turned 2 and I tried again for short intervals. Came home to find that she and my older male had been running around scattering rugs and dumping plants. She was crate trained and he was not so it was a non issue which one to crate.

Then he started having seizures so he was crated and she was allowed full run. At that point, I never had any issues with her when he was crated.

 

[Lisa40]

I raised my last two male shepherds the same and both were ready to have the run of the house at night when we were home at around 6 months, but as far as leaving them uncrated during the day when we were not home it was more like 14-16 months. I started by testing them for half hour or hour at a time and then just increased the time gradually.

Lisa

 

[DSudd]

Rocky was about 20 months when he earned free roam of the house with no one home. I think he was probably 9 months when he had free roam while we were there and at night. We have had a few problems with him. First time we tried to leave him uncrated in one room at 6 months was a complete disaster. We had to replace blinds, carpet, vinyl, paint - Complete disaster.

We have only had one issue with him since we have given him free roam of the house, and that was last week. DH went out and came home to destroyed blinds. We are not sure why he did it, kind of thinking another dog or a person came into the yard. Either way DH is probably to blame as much as Rocky for not opening the blinds.

 

[Lola1969]

About 1.4 years. We could leave him alone for hours by then with the run of the house. Of course we would get home and find the couch WARM (he's not allowed on the furniture!)!

 

[JakodaCD OA]

My first gsd, many many moons ago, I was not a "crate" fan )
He had run of the house @ 12 weeks when I got him, and I have to say, he never got into any trouble..The 2nd one, same thing, I was EXTREMELY lucky!!!

The 3rd one, I was crate savvy ),,tho we flunked nite time crating , (she was fine out of the crate at nite anyhow, & I got her at 12 wks)..For a couple of months I did crate her when I left, I didn't want a 12 wk old "bugging" two older males set in their ways.

She however, earned her freedom by the time she was 5mths old and never got into anything..My last male who is now 11, was crated when no one was home again, Iwasn't trusting of 4 gsd's loose in the house ) but also earned his freedom by the time he was also 5mths old..

Right now, I have the one male gsd, one female aussie, they are free in the house, the male aussie who is almost 7, is still crated when no one is home, he's a big time trouble maker, and for everyone's safety, he's better off in a crate..

Depends on the dog, and i have to say I have been extremely lucky, the only thing I've "lost" is a pair of 90$ sneakers, (the aussie),,and a 10lb tub of dog biscuits,,(the first gsd who was a theif and a pig)).

diane

 

[DocBrown]

I was gona post a question like this, but ya beat me to it!

I can't remember exactly when we let our pup have run of the house when we were home. He was an extremely destructive chewer, so I know it wasn't a very young age.

Between 12 and 18 months (which is now!) we have been letting him have run of the house, with bedrooms and bathroom door closed. There have been a handful of incidents where he has chewed up some things, but we have been the ones to blame for those incidents, cause we either left him alone for too long or he hadn't been exercised before we left him alone. I always make sure to throw the ball for him in the backyard for about 10 minutes before I know that I am leaving for a couple hours. That helps him get a blast of energy out so that he will nap for most of the time we are gone. I will also leave 1-2 bones or tasty treats that take a long time to eat. I also will play the public radio station (which is mostly talking and classical music), since I've heard that leaving a radio on will keep them company. So, the combination of exercise, leaving a bone, and the radio seems to be working!

All of that said, we don't trust him to be alone for a whole work day yet. Luckily, I work evenings and my roommate works days, so the majority of the time he isn't alone for more than a couple hours.

 

[Kayla's Dad]

Originally Posted By: chevysmom(something about pulling the toilet paper and running is fun for him

).

I thought that was a GSD trait! I would try to get everyone to close the bathroom doors. Kayla loved to remind us when we left house with the bathroom doors open.

Kayla was given freedom in the house with us there and for short periods at around 6 months. She extended periods with us gone at around 1 yr.

 

[BowWowMeow]

I didn't have a crate for Massie, my first gsd. After she was housebroken I started taking her to work with me. I started leaving her home alone with free roam in the house at about 4 months. I lived with a lot of people and they sometimes forgot to keep track of where she was! One night I came home from work at 2am and couldn't find her (she was probably a little over 3 months old) and I woke everyone up asking where she was. No one knew but finally someone remembered letting her outside. She was asleep outside on the upper porch of our house on some old couch cushions. It was winter and well below freezing but she seemed happy as a clam! Yikes!

Chama was left loose at about 3 months old. I did have a crate by then but she never really needed it. She was housebroken at 7 weeks old and she was never a big chewer.

Rafi is about 1.5 years old and he had separation anxiety when I adopted him. The guy that had him told me that he left him loose one time and Rafi ate the couch cushions. I did the separation anxiety protocol with him and after 7 weeks was able to leave him home alone, loose. Now I leave him for 5-9 hours a day without a problem.

I don't think Kai could ever have been trusted left loose. He was not great with Chama and Cleo and was very high strung and anxious about being more than 2 inches away from me. He was one of those dogs that probably would have rearranged the house while I was gone.

 

[Timber1]

Timber, my GSD probably got the run of the house at about six months, once I was comfortable he was house trained.

As for funny stories, I let my Ex take Timber, for a few nights while I was out of town. Timber stayed at my home and she would come over to play, feed him, etc. When I got home the dog had removed the cushions from my leather couch and took all the padding from the couch.

The padding was neatly piled up in the middle of the living room. He never hurt the leather.

If there is a dog shrink out there that can explain what Timber did, I would appreciate a response.

As an aside Timber has never done anything like that again.

 

[Timber1]

Timber, my GSD probably got the run of the house at about six months, once I was comfortable he was house trained.

As for funny stories, I let my Ex take Timber, for a few nights while I was out of town. Timber stayed at my home and she would come over to play, feed him, etc. When I got home the dog had removed the cushions from my leather couch and took all the padding from the couch.

The padding was neatly piled up in the middle of the living room. He never hurt the leather.

If there is a dog shrink out there that can explain what Timber did, I would appreciate a response.

As an aside Timber has never done anything like that again.

 

[Barb E]

While I'm gone to work? 3 years old

At night and short shopping trips/etc? 1 year old

Now he spends his day while I'm gone to the office under my desk, I really need to get this boy's new crate set up

 

[Shandril2]

About 2 1/2 to 3 years old.

 

[wrenny]

Mine's 8 months and still doesn't have run of the house. He's locked in the rooms we are in. Some random nights when we go to bed late he sleeps wherever he wants but 95% of the time he's in his crate at night and while at work.