Hey everyone!
My little guy is 5 months old now and is doing pretty well! He is a golden retriever/german shepherd mix, but obviously he is completely black!!![Loudly crying face :sob: 😭](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f62d.png)
My question to everyone is how you guys worked on leaving your dogs home alone. I go to the gym about 3 times a week, and sometimes after the gym I run errands so he’s been home alone for up to 4 hours before and everything seemed fine, however, he was crated.
I want to know when you guys started letting your dogs free roam at home, and maybe if crating for up to 6 hours is too much? I would like to start working more and I lose shifts because I worry about leaving him crated for 7-9 hours. Hes only 5 months so maybe I just stay part-time until he is older, but want to know how you guys build up from that!
He hasnt has any accidents for a couple weeks but I wont call him fully trained yet since it might all go down when he starts adolescence. But he does let me know when he needs to potty when hes in and out the crate. Our home also has no baby gates so he’s kind of exposed to every open space! We close the doors to our bedroom but access to the basement, living room and kitchen is completely open! We make sure that everything is clean because he loves to counter surf
He doesn’t snt wear a house line anymore, and his recall is good I’d say (he listens, but when he wants to!)
TL;DR: When did you leave your dog home alone for long periods of time (6 hours+), was he crated or free roaming, and how did you train/start that?
Thanks!!
My little guy is 5 months old now and is doing pretty well! He is a golden retriever/german shepherd mix, but obviously he is completely black!!
![Loudly crying face :sob: 😭](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f62d.png)
My question to everyone is how you guys worked on leaving your dogs home alone. I go to the gym about 3 times a week, and sometimes after the gym I run errands so he’s been home alone for up to 4 hours before and everything seemed fine, however, he was crated.
I want to know when you guys started letting your dogs free roam at home, and maybe if crating for up to 6 hours is too much? I would like to start working more and I lose shifts because I worry about leaving him crated for 7-9 hours. Hes only 5 months so maybe I just stay part-time until he is older, but want to know how you guys build up from that!
He hasnt has any accidents for a couple weeks but I wont call him fully trained yet since it might all go down when he starts adolescence. But he does let me know when he needs to potty when hes in and out the crate. Our home also has no baby gates so he’s kind of exposed to every open space! We close the doors to our bedroom but access to the basement, living room and kitchen is completely open! We make sure that everything is clean because he loves to counter surf
![Loudly crying face :sob: 😭](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f62d.png)
He doesn’t snt wear a house line anymore, and his recall is good I’d say (he listens, but when he wants to!)
TL;DR: When did you leave your dog home alone for long periods of time (6 hours+), was he crated or free roaming, and how did you train/start that?
Thanks!!