Kaylee is almost 1.5 years old, but still sleeps in a closed crate and is gated in the kitchen when my husband and I are at work. I was wondering at what aged/maturity level other owners allowed their pups too "graduate" into few roaming the house (within reason) and dog beds at night.

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Abbey still sleeps in her crate, but she is allowed to go into kitchen and living room when we are there to watch her.  Abbey is 7 months old

We allowed Asta (our first corgi) to roam in the kitchen during the day after about age 2, and free reign of the whole house at about 2 1/2. We always kept her crate with the door open in the kitchen so she could go in there to sleep. She still had a few chewing incidents after that. We allowed her on the bed at about 1 1/2 or 2 if I remember correctly.
We still keep Sophie confined to the kitchen when we are gone but that is due to her seizures. We don't want her to climb up onto the back of the couch (which she loves) and then have a seizure while up there and fall and get hurt. They are pretty well controlled but it's just not worth the risk. She doesn't seem to mind it. She gets a kong full of treats when we leave so she's a happy puppy. In fact, she barks at us to hurry up and get going in the morning so she can get her kong!

We gave Gilby free roam of the house at 6 months while we are at work.  We started with shorter excursions, leave the house for ten minutes, then half hour, and then hour, and just built him up through that.  

Becca is almost two. She still sleeps in a closed crate at night as well. It gives the cat time to have the house to herself. I tried her out of the crate overnight, but gated from the bedroom, last month. The bedroom is the cat's safe room. Becca was good, but would woof under her breath at the neighbors. When she became ill last month the vet said no stress, so I started her back in her crate. Becca feels very secure in her crate. I think I will try out of the crate at night again after school is out for the summer.

Becca has most of the house during the day. The bedroom and laundry room are gated as cat rooms. I had to add a gate to the spare room when Becca learned how to take books off the bookcase. She has not destroyed anything since that book killing spree.

Linus is 14 months. He was never crated, but was penned when he was small. We always had him in the bedroom with us at night, but he always slept on the floor (either penned, or in his own bed). Lately he has started sleeping in the bed with us. When we go to work he used to be penned in the kitchen. Slowly we let him have more and more space. He started with just the kitchen and now, without incident, he has the kitchen, hallway, bathroom and office room. He can't have the bedroom because he will chew whatever has our scent on it in the bedroom, not sure what makes this different than the other rooms.

Max was 5 when he came to us.  We crated him at night and while we were at work until he got settled which didn't take him long. He was with a loving family so other than adjusting to a new home he didn't have any issues.  He has full run of the house and sleeps upstairs with us, sometimes on the bed.

Katie came to us at age 4 and she was use to a kennel with other dogs.  She needed a little longer crating because she was less trust-worthy when we weren't home.  Now she has full run of the house but is still crated at night.  Not because she is bad but because she wants on the bed, which really isn't a problem except if you so much as move a leg in your sleep you will get your face washed.

Brody is 2 and we crate trained him as a pup... We actually ask him to come on the bed and he will cuddle for about 5 mins and then jumps off to go to his crate.... He loves his crate! That's his save place!

I have 3 corgis and 1 mix breed, they do not have full run of the house even though they are older. 8, 4, 3, and 1.2. They do have full run of the dining room/kitchen/doggie door at all times, and are allowed access to other parts of the house when we feel like snuggle time and have access to the living room at night. ( I just feel safer with my dogs having access to my front door and back door when I go to bed) Mostly this is because 1, I have a disability that makes it sometimes hard to walk, and while they are very well trained to not be underfoot of Mom at anytime, as clumsy as I can get it just works better this way, and 2, Corgis, while being the most awesome dogs ever! Have this amazing coat that picks up ALL the dirt, then sheds it all over the place. >.> Its easier for me to clean 2 rooms than 6 :D

I have 2 dogs that LOVE their crate, and sleep in them without asking. 1 that has his 'basket' for sleeping and refuses to sleep elsewhere, and one that prefers to sleep in our bed, but will settle for his pillow.

Anyway, to answer your question, if the pup is through with the terrible teething stage(tables and cords and shoes beware!), is house broken and has not shown signs of separation anxiety, then its at the right age to allow freedom to the home. This of course, is different per dog, per household and per owner. Trust yourself to know whats best. <3

 Jeff is now one, but a few months ago we started leaving him out of the crate when no one was home. He would be in the spare room with the door shut- not ready for full house roaming yet! For awhile, he would just bark and bark and get really anxious. I think he was just confused? Scared? Not sure. Now he is fine in the room with the option of going in his crate, but he tends to chew on a rug in there. Until I can feel comfortable that he won't chew on any more expensive items in the rest of the house, I'll keep him contained. 

He has slept on my bed ever since we brought him home. Now that he's a little older, he sits on the edge to protect me until I fall asleep. Then he goes to the floor and leans against the wall on his back :) 

I started letting Ellie have free roaming privileges during the day when she was around 8 months.  She only chewed her toys and hadn't had any accidents inside for months before I decided it was time to try.  She's been doing great.  I still close crate her at night.  I'll try leaving her out at night in another couple months.  I don't want to rush anything.

Jack had free house privileges when he was about a year old.  Maddie came to us at 4, so she needed a few weeks to settle in and then was let loose.  


They are gated out of the back two bedrooms, where the cat can go to get away from them (but never does as far as I can tell), and also to keep Miss Madison out of the litterbox....

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