Searchwhen to gate instead of crate
My girl is now six months old and my husband has been suggesting that we start leaving her out of her crate when we leave the house for short periods - like a trip to the supermarket or gym. I spend a lot more time with her, so I know how mischevious she can still be and I really worry about her chewing up or eating something that may hurt her (not to mention something I might not want damaged). She is a great dog and has just finished her second round of obedience (intermediate level). She still likes to grab shoes, hats and other items that are not for play though. I'm thinking of puppy proofing a bedroom and gating her there for short periods to start, just to see how it goes. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, as this is my first Dobie and it has been a long time since I've gone through the crate transition with my other dogs. I can't even remember how old they were when we did it with them? By the way, my girl is an only dog, too, which I imagine does make a difference.
Like Wolfgirl says, short trips, like 5 to 10 minutes to start. If she's still chewing on things she that she shouldn't be, then I wouldn't until your pretty shure she won't eat the flat screen TV.
The way I got it done was to have plenty of raw hide and bones that are hers. If she puts something in her mouth that's not hers, jerk it out of her mouth (don't be gentle, her teeth will stay where they belong) bark at her NO! replace the banned object with one of her bones or rawhide chews, and then a attagirl. Before too long you should get results. Now your house WILL look like a cattle rendering yard but she has hers.
Remember when you do start leaving her "baby steps"
Puppy proofing is very important in will increase the chances of success no doubt!!!! A big help anytime I make the move with puppy clients is to introduce raw knuckle bones. The Knucs are the best baby sitters EVER hahaha!!! The safest bone by far they a have abit of beef, fat and marrow and the bone itself is dense and won't chip or chip the floorings. Now I've never used cages for pups I always felt it was easier to train house manners when they are very little guys because they follow you everwhere (heel) when you stop they sit (obviously sit) and so on..... I used a gated area to start them off when leaving and the Knuc bone it was very successfull. Try it for short durations, make sure the pup has been out and exercised and has relieved themselves. When you leave do NOT make a big deal of it and do very little talking. Close their gate and leave right away. Don't close the gate and continue to get things thats how anxiety gets going. Just close it, say be good and go!!! Try lets see what happens, proof the area really well DAYS before you try it. Von
Knucs are Beef Bones Frozen & RAW!!!! give them to the pup frozen and halves & quarter cuts are fine. You need to find Butcher Shop most franchised stores don't buy them any more. Those stores will over soup bones (marrows) there no way as good as Knucs they do splinter if dropped on hard surfaces and their only real use is sharpening teeth. Its worth it to find the Knucs.
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I think that puppy proofing a room is a good idea... but you should make your first trip out a short one because dober-demons have ben known to cause some MAJOR damage. You also have to think about what kind of mischeif she gets into... is it destructive, or just a "catch me if you can" thing? Hope you have some luck!!