Transitioning from crate-trained to being left in a limited room?

Hi all,

I have a question about transitioning from leaving your puppy in a crate to a limited space. As some of you might know, I lost Corky last year when she somehow got into the trash. I am feeling extremely anxious about leaving Calli alone, but she is getting older and I feel badly leaving her in the crate during the day. My bedroom has two doors which I could block off so that she could have the room which is completely clear of anything. I just don't know if any of you have crate trained a puppy and then started to leave them unsupervised.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Heather & Calli

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Comment by Heather on February 11, 2009 at 11:33am: Thank you very much! I was thinking that I should start gradually like that on the weekends, but wanted to seek some advice. It also helps to know what type of things are ok to leave with them when they are unsupervised. She certainly loves her chewy bones and has some toys that would be ok.

Thanks for your help!

Comment by Rick on February 10, 2009 at 9:00am: I ended up only crating Lucy for a week or two. I already had another dog that roamed free, so I felt bad leaving her in the crate. We do have a doggie door, so I concentrated on her using the door for her potty training. I started with short trips away from home and progressed to all day. Make sure you leave something for her to chew on as Vicky said.
She did very well out of the crate and within a month she is potty trained. (I have doggie door though.)Smart girl. She is 6 months old now and we don't use the crate anymore.

Comment by vicky on February 9, 2009 at 6:28pm: I started leaving Scraper alone in the house a couple of months ago for a few hours at a time. Now when I go to school from 9-6 I leave him to roam the house. I always make a point to close all room doors, and make sure there's nothing that he can get into or chew on. I like to leave one of those really big bone shaped rawhides for him to chew on if he gets bored and a couple of toys as well.

Comment by Geri & Sidney on February 9, 2009 at 5:58pm: Hi Heather,
I remember it being a very nerve-wracking time, leaving Sidney alone for the first few days. There was always the worry about what we'd be coming home to, not only did he destroy anything, but did he get hurt? Eventually we relaxed and everything has been fine.

We would just leave his crate open within the gated-off area. We'd started on a weekend so we could test him out for shorter stretches of time and build up to that first weekday alone. Good luck with your transition!