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lovebugs2003
10-16-2006, 11:30 AM
So we have been crate training our pup, he is only in the crate at night. He is now 5 months old and my DH and I were thinking it was probably time to keep the gate opened at night.

IF you crate training your pup, when did you start leaving the gate open?
fuzzy
10-16-2006, 11:35 AM
Ah, not until she was one and a half. And then we babygated her in her room.
Hello Kitty
10-16-2006, 11:55 AM
It definitely depends on the dog. Our pup was SO miserable in her crate, and was doing so much other training and work with us, we started leaving her out at 5 months (I remember posting a thread here asking if I was crazy for doing that). We started leaving her for an hour or so, and moved up from there.
jajacobsen
10-16-2006, 01:08 PM
Our 11 months old pups are still crated at night.
lovebugs2003
10-16-2006, 01:13 PM
Thank you for the replies, he seems to really like his crate, he goes in there for naps, hangs out in there when he needs his time.

my DH just thought that because he was getting bigger, we should give him more room but we have the biggest crate we could get.

Maybe we should wait a bit more.
Jazz
10-16-2006, 01:47 PM
We adopted our dog when she was 6 months, and she didn't sleep outside the crate for another year and half after that (at least). In retrospect, she probably would have been okay a bit sooner than that, but definitely not before she was older than a year and half.
TazLuv
10-16-2006, 04:16 PM
We started transitioning Molly out of her crate at about 1 year old. We left the door open and started increasing the area she had access to until she has the whole level our bedroom is on. It really just depends on the dog, if he goes for extended period of time without an accident there isn't any reason you can't try it IMO.
loving624
10-25-2006, 06:23 PM
We left our shih-tzu out of his crate pretty young. I'd say he was about 6 months old. He did great though. We left him out at nights and then kept him in during the day. Then we finally let him in a room with tile and when he didn't have accidents (About 7 months) he was able to be out full time. He stays in our bedroom now - he considers that his den - when we are at work and he sleeps in there with us at night.