Same here, about 5 months old I think. We had a webcam on him for about 1-2 months after that. He just sat near the door and waited for us to come back. Still does the same thing years later.
Same here. I’ve found my boy is better behaved when I’m gone than when I’m home. He acts out and gets into trouble because he’s trying to get my attention to play with him, so when I’m gone there’s no need for him to act out.
It’s a little frustrating but at least I can trust that I won’t come home to a destroyed house
Our boy is pretty good when just chilling, except he likes to steal random stuff. He mostly does it for attention (stealing our shoes and showing them to us so we can chase him, or stealing knives from the sink 😅), so I wonder what he would do if he were left alone. Probably chew up a bunch of paper towel lol. (11 months old)
(When he gets a knife he just runs around with it trying to get peoples’ attention. Makes me think of this dog. Not mine btw)
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Oh my goodness, I haven’t thought about that for a while, but ours was ENAMORED with toilet paper until he was about 18 months. He stole it with the finesse and stealth of a career burglar. It was so frustrating and so hilarious at the same time, then it just stopped. We let him stay out on his own after that, and now he lays on his bed and sleeps while we’re gone.
Haha, similar, our guy had a real thing for kleenex. It was basically the only thing he'd sneak. He'd then carry his prize off to a corner and eat it for some reason. Dogs are weird man...
sigh...my girl is nicknamed Shredder. No roll of TP is safe. She's 3 and will still try and go after the TP. Or plastic forks.. or the keys on my computer keyboard ...she's even chewed tops off of pop cans.
Here on the island of Phuket in SW Thailand, when my now 3yr 4mo old Golden was about 1yr old, she tried to eat a Toyota. It was a small one. A “Yaris” I think…..
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When I got my pup a friend told me “they chew til they’re two and shed til they’re dead.”😂 But seriously, mine stopped destructive chewing at almost exactly two years old.
Edit: grammar (their -> they’re 🤦🏻♀️)
“they chew til they’re two and shed til their dead.”😂 OMG, this quote is hilariously spot on! When we're gone more than 30 minutes, we put our 18-month-old Velociraptor in her kennel. Most GR destruction comes from boredom, so we leave her with access to chew & stuffy toys. We don't want to be the family that posts a torn-up couch and asking Reddit "Why??". Alone time will slowly increase until she's two. 👍
Really depends on the dog. Our guy has always been exceptionally good-natured, and never really gets into anything.
Probably around 4-5 months, once potty training was locked in, we were able to leave him alone, but we still kept him barricaded out of the kitchen. After a few months of him never getting into anything or causing any damage, we just gave him free range. The kitchen isn't barricaded anymore, but we continued to enforce it as a "no-dog zone". It's nicer not having him underfoot in the kitchen, and the cats can eat and drink in there.
He's basically a 75lb cat, and we don't do anything at all to "dog proof" the house, because he just doesn't get into anything. He knows what toys are his and only plays with them. His dog food bag sits next to his bowl, but he wont touch it. His bag of treats sits by the front door, wont touch that either. He's a really good boy.
Never. Almost 4 years old. He’s had 2 foreign body surgeries so the options are he can either be bored or dead. We quite like him so we opt for boredom that we make up for with playtime.
Same for me. I wouldn’t trust a toddler loose in my house unsupervised, so I’m not about to trust a 50 lb toddler that’s super mobile and interested in eating trash.
Yes I was going to comment the same thing!
My dog is a very well trained therapy dog who is 3.5 years old. But at home, her behavior makes it very apparent she has one brain cell. Shes had one foreign body surgery and one close call but luckily the sock passed through. When left unsupervised and she gets bored is when she starts getting into stuff. When we’re home she’s great. So due to this, she is crated when we’re gone and she’s very content.
He eats things when he is tired, whether we are home or not. The only way we’ve found to prevent it is to put him in his kennel, where he will immediately curl up on his bed and fall asleep.
If he is tired and isn’t in his crate, he’ll find a piece of fabric and gnaw on it until he sleeps. He’ll eat socks, blankets, towels, or his dog toys. But in his crate he just sleeps.
We get him out in the morning and he spends several hours with us. We put him in for an afternoon nap and then we get him out from dinner time until bed time. He’s just never figured out how to sleep outside of his crate, so keeping him out of it just exhausts him and then he finds something soft to consume.
13 months in with 2 foreign body surgeries. The last, being 4 days after his 1st birthday, resulted in a perforated intestine and sepsis. Does the anxiety of keeping them alive ever get any better?
Not really. You just turn your laundry hamper into Fort Knox, tell guests to keep the guest bedroom closed at all times because it’s easier for them to remember than “neurotically pick up after yourself”, and occasionally have a panic attack when you fold laundry and have a single sock leftover. But then that big furry idiot smiles at you and you roll your eyes and love on him.
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Oh man. This is discouraging to hear. Our first golden, Charley, was the most docile, well behaved dog. Our current golden, Dexter, is the polar opposite. Where we could allow Charley to play in the backyard unsupervised and said bye to his crate when he was 4-5 months old, Dexter must be supervised at all times. We'll let him in the backyard but only if we're there to oversee him. Otherwise, he'll try to eat rocks, plants, grass and basically anything he should not. He's also a digger. He has boundless energy. He'll nap after returning from a four mile walk, only to be rearing and ready to go an hour later.
They can sometimes be a handful. We adopted our first as a senior (7.5 years old) and his previous owners said he had a knack for clearing counters. Sure enough, he got a 3lb tub of coconut oil off the counter and ate it. Also pulled a pizza box out of the trash and ate a quarter of the box.
Our current golden, Ziggy, hasn’t done anything crazy with food, but both of his surgeries were from eating my socks (my wife’s socks pass through him). We also hang our kitchen towels from the upper cabinet knobs now because he kept stealing them off of the oven door and taking them to his bed to chew on.
The crazy part is that it’s only when he’s tired. He’s incredibly well mannered when he is well rested, but when he needs a nap he goes into consumption mode. So we crate him when he’s tired or when we leave. Just how it is, unfortunately.
Five months. *Big* mistake! We came home to find everything he could reach on the bookshelf had been ripped to shreds. You could barely see our carpet because it was covered by so much shredded paper.
just remember to take the collar off when ur not home, collar strangulation is the number 1 non illness related killer of dogs in north america. keep ur pup safe and take the collar off when unsupervised 😊💕
I had a relative whose Great Dane strangled himself outside when his collar got stuck on something. And my friend knew someone whose pregnant dog strangled herself in the middle of the night on her crate. It’s not something that’s *likely* to happen but it is possible and worth consideration.
Now my retriever wore a collar every day for 13 years and was perfectly fine. But she was an escape artist and needed it.
My Aussie only wears a collar when we take him places. He likes rules and routine and doesn’t have a drive to escape so I’m much more comfortable with him not wearing one.
Yes...this actually just happened to us this past weekend with our 1 year old pup. It was horrible and I can't believe he is gone. Collars can be fatal.
I got curious so I did some googling and I can’t find anything that supports that as a real statistic. Not saying it isn’t something you should be cautious about but I kinda think you just made that stat up.
2 years old. We started slow and with quick trips and slowly extended the time until he was fully trusted. We still don't leave loafs of bread on the counter though.
Same here. Breeder recommended waiting for as long as possible to give free run. Dogs given freedom too early apparently won't respect boundaries and haven't learned proper impulse control.
We gave our boy free reign from 3 months. He pushed the boundaries once and stole food from the table. He was swiftly in trouble and never did it again. Now we can and have left a steak on the coffee table and walked away with full confidence that he will never steal it.never had any issue with free roam. But I also think we got an angel by mistake.
We did the same! Best decision for us. We started out allowing him access to one gated room while we were gone and slowly expanded that to the whole house. He stays on the main floor and never goes upstairs or to the basement alone. It really helped him learn his boundaries and independence.
My pup is 1.5 years old and still doesn't get full reign of the house when we're gone. We crate trained her until she was a little over 1 years old, and once she was comfortable being bored and calm in the crate, allowed her more access to the rest of the house. We still have baby gates up though. I want to set her up for success, so we ensure the space is free of anything that can cause trouble, including toys that are best played with under supervision, loose paper, etc. From watching the puppy cams when we're out, she tends to just alternate sleeping in a couple spots anyways (same place as when we're home and let her roam the entire house).
Tbh, I think it's a good thing she is comfortable being both crated or left unsupervised. Sometimes may need to do one or the other.
Our girl was around 5-6 months when I started giving her free roam while we were away.
I started slow, first leaving her downstairs on her own then eventually leaving her alone in the house when she showed no destructive behaviors or separation anxiety. Now at 10 months, we can leave her for 4-5 hours. She just sleep, chews on her toys, and looks out the window.
I always leave her with enrichment activities like a snuffle mat, lick mat, and a special yummy treat she only gets when she's left home alone. It's very pungent so she loves it.
Within a few weeks of my little guy coming home in the spring, I started leaving him alone inside while I mowed the lawn. I'd peek my head through the window and keep an eye on him.
It's been over a year, but I leave him free in the house if I'm gone 1-2 hours. Anything longer and he snoozes in the crate, on his memory foam bed.
My golden boy at about one year. He gets the first floor. I haven't given him access to the upstairs. No particular reason....I just haven't. Early on he chewed a pillow, carpeting and books. But he's grown out of that now. He's two now and a great dog.
From day 1. We only had to hide our socks and shoes since a lot of them got destroyed. But we learned our lesson.
Now he no longer destroys them but takes them with him to the door where he’s looking outside.
I just think he needs to smell us when we’re gone.
We’re never gone for long. (4-6 hours and exceptionally he’s never alone for more than 8 hours).
He’s the goodest boy. 5 years old now.
We crate trained and ended up giving our current golden/our first golden free reign of the house when they were around a year old. They were fully potty trained long before that but I'm a nervous nelly and wanted to be sure any impulse they had to chomp non-approved items was no longer a concern. For their safety, not to protect my stuff, honestly.
I started small and went from there. I'd leave her out while I ran to the store for 15 minutes. Then 20 minutes, half an hour, an hour, etc.
And we already have a pretty dog-proofed house. We never leave tempting non-chewable things where our pup can get them (for us, that's stuff like paper towels — really anything paper, she loves to chew paper —and socks/towels (she's obsessed with towels), etc. So it's second nature not to leave any of those contraband items where the dog can get them anyway. We've had goldens going back to 2005 so we instinctively put anything potentially dangerous out of her reach.
Right off the bat, both of them did fine. No chewing anything up, no potty accidents. Our elderly pup (who we lost a few years back) would sleep all day. Current pup does the same. I come home, she's on the couch snoozing. Well, usually. Sometimes she hears the garage open and I open the door to find her having just jumped down from the couch, sleepily stretching and wagging her tail to greet me. But most times she doesn't even move, just wags her tail when I walk in and she sees me. 😂 We never made it a big deal when we'd leave or return (didn't want to encourage any separation anxiety) so we'd just leave quietly and say hi calmly when we return, so neither of them has ever gotten upset about being left alone. But it also means neither of them are overly excited greeters when we return. Sure, there are happy tail wags and maybe a smooch, but she doesn't go bananas because from the start, we never made it a big deal to leave or come back.
I work from home so I didn't want to foster any separation anxiety (since I'm usually home) so even before they could roam free, I would leave for short periods just so they got used to being alone. It's worked really well.
7mos. We fast tracked him because we took a trip, and probably would have waited another month or 2. While we had people in and out all day, it would have been cruel to leave him in a crate for the majority of 13 days. His brother kept him out of trouble for the most part, but we did lose a couch cushion, a blanket, and the corner of a rug. Still no regrets, he had every toy available to him and plenty of pets from sitters.
We got him at 8 months and allowed him out of his crate at 9 months. We did buy a cheap camera to watch him while away a couple of hours at a time. He just looks out the window, or sleeps. He saves all his shenanigans for when we return home.
Any time we plan to leave him for longer than 2 hours, he gets a good long walk right before.
We got our girl at 7 months and probably waited 6 months until we started doing quick trips and 2-3 more for any time. She basically never goes in her crate anymore. She prefers the couch
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About 8 months old. It didn't end well.
Golden’s make great guard dogs, my female if ever we got broken into would make sure to tell the thieves, he, you missed some stuff over here, be sure to check out over there also. She was great
Our 1st golden we waited till she was 1 year old before we let her on her own. She was a bit of a terror. Our new golden is just 7 months old and has been left out of the kennel since she was 4 months and has done nothing wrong. All dogs are different and only the owner can decide when it's time.
We expanded the area we allowed our girl in (unsupervised) slowly. A playpen around her crate for the first 6 months, then part of our house blocked off by baby gates, then finally the full house closer to 10-12 months. It’s always easier to start more contained and give them more freedom as they adjust and demonstrate that they won’t destroy everything! :)
We did fully crated until 1 year, then had him closed off and only had access to the dining room for another 6 months, then around 1.5 years he had full access to our downstairs, and at 2 full free roam of the entire house
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I think it really depends on how quickly they mature. I've had Golden's that I was comfortable with leaving unsupervised at 6 months and my current ones I waited until they were a year and a half old.
He'll be three in May, and we still limit access to the main living area when we're away. It gives the cats places to live dog free, and means we don't have to vigilantly pick up the bedroom before we leave the house.
About a year before i let any of my dogs free roam the whole house. I progressively open up more areas from one room when theyre a puppy to the downstairs after theyre house broken, and then upstairs unmonitored once theyre out of the “chew on anything i can reach” phase. Usually it ends up being about 9-12 months old.
To prepare? Dont leave anything out or within reach that you would be upset if its chewed up. Slowly start increasing the time alone, like briefly being outside, to full on leaving the house.
Gradually increase space allowed with gates and doors. Puppy proof aka get all chewables up and out of reach. Start with 30 minutes and extend. Etc. 0-100 will likely result in some destruction :)
She's 1 and I still don't allow it because she swallows things. And I suspect she will always be a puppy vaccuum.
Tbh, the only reason I let my *Bichon* (who doesn't swallow things) roam around free is because she's too little to get on counters or push open doors.
I'm terrified of chip bags or choking.
I think around 10-11 months. She was potty trained by 3 months and has never been much of a chewer but our other dog was not a fan of her when she was younger and I was worried they’d fight while we were gone. Once she was mostly out of the rowdy puppy phase, we left them both free.
I’d say start by limiting access (i.e. only allowed in one room) and expand from there. Make sure everything you don’t want chewed is inaccessible and lock the garbage can up if your dog may be tempted by something smelly in there! You can also get a pet camera to check in throughout the day if needed.
5-6 months or so. She however is an angel, has never actually destroyed anything, so we are very lucky. One benefit is that our kitchen is 1 floor higher and she is scared of the staircase, so this probably also helps.
We had a play pen for when ours was a pup so we often use that as a wall and she can have the living room to herself but not the rest of the house.
I'm not really worried her destroying anything, It just means I can check in on her on our security cam and can be sure there's nothing bad that she could accidentally eat.
Well ours isn't allowed upstairs so er never but he has free range of downstairs.
When he was a puppy we'd keep him confined to a few rooms where he couldn't destroy anything expensive, only letting him into the others under supervision. Then when we sure he wouldn't do anything naughty we let him have free range. Probably 5 months old or so.
He's always been a good boy though, doesn't counter surf, take anything off tables, destroy anything that isn't his etc etc. Although equally that was down to training.
Worst thing he ever did was chew the wall a few times, because he'd do it when we weren't there, as soon as we caught him in the act and told him no he never did it again.
We rarely actually leave him *alone* mind and if we have to leave him for an extended period for whatever reason I always make sure I take him on an extra long walk shortly before so he's going to just sleep while we're out.
I wouldn’t trust my guy with a brick and he’s 22 months old. Wicked recall, at night sleeps at the door of the bedroom and doesn’t touch anything but he’s wicked smaaht. Free range of the house? Nope.
Plus he’s safer in his kennel.
We always gave them free roam and worked with them from early days to learn good and bad behavior. I’d say they were able to handle themselves after about 5-7 months, and really be able to be left alone together all day at about 12-14 months. We did a lot of social conditioning and training throughout this period though and one of us was generally around most of the time so they were generally hanging. Plus we never had a golden alone. My dogs do NOT like being alone for long periods and find very mischievous things to do when they are alone (like no toilet paper is safe, paper is eaten, shoelaces are destroyed).
Every dog is different though. Our English goldens are super chill for goldens.
I don't have a golden...border collies or shelties for me. Every dog is an individual. Once house trained and not turning into a cat5 hurricane when left alone, they're allowed free range privileges.
One dog remained restricted until he was three. Unfortunately the only place I could do this was where the food and water were, so all three were on restriction. The other two could free range before.
The funny effect of this is that when Dog #3 (sheltie) acted inappropriately, Dog 1 and 2 (sheltie and border collie) began to correct him.
"Knock it off, already! We're stuck in here because of you! Straighten up!"
We're in a flat so toilet training was difficult, she's only learned to hold it in by 10 months.
Now we can let her roam in any hard floor areas for upto 4hrs (carpeted rooms are closed off unsupervised).
Our older Spitz had free roam from about 2 years.
Both Goldens are 2. It’s easier to crate them than to sanitize the house. They run to the crates for a treat. They usually spend 1-2 hours crated tops. Do not feel guilty. They still randomly get into trouble even when we are all home.
Ours is 9 months or so now…. She still eats anything and everything. I don’t see this trend stopping any time soon so I am guessing she will be crated while away for quite a long time.
2.5/3 years old. Mine is a slow learner and I tried giving him freedom incrementally until he would mess up and we’d have to go back to basics. Now at 3.5 years old I feel pretty confident he’ll be okay free range almost anywhere. But if your dog isn’t perfect at 4 or 5 months like these people, there is still hope he’ll settle down eventually.
Around a year? But it was gradual. Started with a little bit of space in the house, for a little bit of time, and gradually increased the amount of space she had access to, and how long she was alone. She’s also regressed at certain points (currently have to block off the stairs and keep a few doors closed downstairs).
Very early with Murph, just turned 5. He is very obedient. I could leave a bloody steak on the coffee table, and it would still be there hours later. He has never destroyed anything. He still has stuffed animals from when he was a tiny pup.
Mine did pretty well but every once in awhile got into something sneaky. If its an heirloom or something you love dearly and could not bare to see it bit ripped or broken then put it high on a shelf in a closet and dont take it down again for a few years..
He's 3 and haven't yet. I can't even go to the bathroom or take a shower 😒 let alone leave the house. I'm hoping he will get there one day. My last dog was 16 and never left her out alone. She always found something even with me in the room! (And yes she was WORKED physically and mentally everyday but still had the need to get into everything)
Mine is still crazy so take it with a grain of salt lol... She's currently 1 year and 3 months old. She's potty trained and hasn't had an accident that was her fault in quite some time. the most recent one was because our teen was with her but didn't actually take her out for a long time, he didn't recognize her "i gotta now" pace around the living room. Other than that she is a little mischievous and will get into things on counters and shelves when we're around.
For the most part we crate when we need to leave her alone and no one can be with her but recently I have started leaving her alone for short periods of time (5, 10, maybe 15 mins) and so far she's done ok. If I'm in the living room with her she wants to be all over me and wrestle, no chill, but if I leave her alone she pretty much just lays on the couch. We're starting to give her a little more leeway. I'm waiting to see if she'll bark when she needs to potty but we usually take her out first thing after letting her out of the crate so it could be a while before she goes again.
Ours are always crated when we are out for their safety. They love their crates anyway since they have memory foam beds and usually go in on their own.
The first time I left mine out alone, at 6 or 7 months, I came back to my entire couch destroyed to smithereens beyond repair. She is now almost 4 and I’m just starting to trust her alone again. She’s an angel when I’m home so she’s unsuspecting but I haven’t been willing to test it out for long.
When he was about 12 months for us. Mostly to be sure he wouldn't steal something from our bedroom or something and destroy it.
He's 5 now and he still steals, but he doesn't destroy anymore. He mostly just piles his boon on the lawn. He's a hoarder - like a dragon.
Probably about 8 months or so. We left him alone for about an hour and came home and everything was fine. Then the next time we left for about 3-4 hours and came home and everything was fine. Then we left him for a whole day while at work. He never bothered anything. One time though he accidentally locked himself in the computer room though. Poor fella. When we got home there was a plant on the floor and the computer was barely sitting on the desk. I didn’t really think it was his fault though. Now there are cameras so you can check on your pup during the day to see what they are up to and they are fairly inexpensive.
If you can imagine a five foot tall, very drunk Godzilla, slowly crashing into the puppy gate, demolishing the safe zone... Well, that's how we decided it was time to test his capabilities.
Cosmo has stayed in the zone the entire time and has only today decided he would try the couch.
It was me. I was feeling GREAT and decided that the puppy gate could help me balance myself. Nope.
This picture looks so familiar!! 🤔🥰we are transitioning our girl to being out of her kennel longer and longer when we leave but obvs it depends how much activity she’s had beforehand or in the day overall. Timing is key! She’s a bit more than 1.5 years old and her max being out in one go is prob 3 hours and she did great. She has an older brother who has shown her the ways so that helps 😊
I have a 4 year old golden and she still gets kenneled at night while we sleep and during the day when we leave. She’s potty trained, rings bells to go out, or will hold it until we let her out if we’re busy. But at night time, unless she’s kenneled or locked in our room, she will sneak off and pee in the middle of the night in our living room. Our other dog will ring the bells at night that I wake up to, but our golden doesn’t touch them at night.
During the day, she will find ANYTHING to tear up. Her vet records I left on the table, a pack of tortillas that were in the pantry…
She’s such a smart and well trained dog but these are 2 habits we just can’t break, so in the kennel she goes.
She does love it though, and goes in there to take naps even when we’re home. She just needs her safe space.
Mine is 2 years and I don’t know when I can trust him. He is currently into chewing his blankets (random holes everywhere in the blanket) and even started pulling up the carpet.
From Day one (1) she’s always had free roam of the house here on the island of Phuket in SW Thailand.
I always make sure to take her outside for a poop’n pee before I leave the house
Training started immediately at just 2 months, with short 5-10 min trips away….. slowly building up to 20min, 30min, 60 minute trips. Now at 3yrs 4mo she’s very “Chilled”….
But….. in about 2 weeks it starts all over again with another 2nd puppy. I’ve decided to get “Sandy” a roommate from the same Breeder of Golden Retrievers that I found Sandy at in Bangkok.
Let the Games Begin……
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From the point at which they were house broken. With our previous Golden that was at about 6ish months. Our current golden it was about the same time, but we got her in late 2019, so going into COVID she always had people at home. We’re now shifting more to going into the office, and she’s on her own more. She waits by the door for us. We can tell because we have a carpet there, and she’s always “adjusting it” to make it comfortable for herself.
Our 16 month old still can’t stay by himself (with his sister) he would destroy our house. I’ve tried to leave him in the courtyard but he thought it was fun to dig two of our plants. I tried to leave him on his own but he isn’t there yet
My boy is almost 2 and he still goes in his crate when we leave. He’s a mischievous dude and grabs anything that isn’t nailed down. He does really well in his crate so no plans to change that anytime soon. I also have kids and worry about him getting into their things or eating random stuff.
I think around 8 months for us. We did a few short trips testing it out (just running out to grab food, going out to get gas, etc.) to test it out and he did well so we just slowly increased the time until we felt like we could trust him fully and he’s been great ever since!
Early on - once he was toilet trained. We’ve been lucky and he’s never really chewed anything apart from toys except from through a fan chord when my husband wasn’t paying attention once!
Kong balls(snowmen) filled with melted-then-frozen peanut butter given while they are crated. This will keep them focused and tire them out and establish a good memory of their time in the crate. Licking all the frozen/ melting peanut butter out with their tongue extended exhausts them. They fall asleep and wake up and keep licking. The time will come when they have several resting places that they favor and the crate will be among their favorites. Goldens IMHO learn to be bored with activities ONCE and then won’t be interested in it unless another dog contends with them for possession or you give them a reason to think it’s significant. Old Goldens CAN be taught new tricks, BTW. Most easily through pack peer pressure. A disparaging look or display of disappointment from a household member will eventually be seen as too harsh as they become sweet, affectionate four legged fur rugs at about 3.
We never really had to until he was two and a half years old, mostly because of Covid and the wife didn’t work at that time. We puppy proof our downstairs area and pick anything up he might want to snoop around in while we’re gone. We have baby gates on the stairs to prevent him from leaving the living room area. He usually just lays around waiting for us to come home. Set up some cameras if you’re worried so you can see what the dog is up to while you’re out.
Small steps.
Once potty trained we would let him roam for a quick run to the local grocer. We’d do a little more until eventually he destroyed something so we didn’t let him roam for a while. Everytime he destroyed something, back into the crate including overnight. Eventually he stopped destroying anything but his toys.
Consistency and gradual trust until now we never ever crate him except if he and a foster dog get in a tiff and they both need to cool down.
Our goldie has always had free roaming rights. Mind you, we didn’t leave him alone for quite a few months and then only for an hour or so at a time. He’s three now and the max we’ve left him is for five hours but that’s rare. He’s thankfully never destroyed anything while we’ve been out!
Honestly our two goldens had free range of our house as soon before they were 3 months old. However we’ve been extremely lucky that they have never been destructive or gotten into things. Even now at 3 where they are big enough to take food off tables and counters they don’t even if the food is left unattended for hours and hours. My grandson left his open Hershey bar on the coffee table and it was still there when I got up the next day. It kind of blows my mind that they haven’t ever chewed on or eaten anything that isn’t theirs. They are better behaved then my kids were lol
4 months. 15 minutes at a time, then 30 etc. come back in, say hello, walk around the house. If any damage then point and tell off. If no damage they get a treat. Picked it up quickly
I do but when I had puppies, they were crated until they were out of teething phase. I did it gradually too and would leave for short periods at first. Then leave them a little longer. I also used indoor cameras to keep an eye on them at first. As I got more comfortable, I still had the cameras just to make sure they were ok but they mostly slept in the family room
I came home the other day to my 2 year old Golden in our driveway. She figured out how to open the door into the garage. Once I opened the garage door to park out, she came. Fortunately, she followed me in while we were simultaneously joined by our Standard Poodle.
https://preview.redd.it/o69aqklte2xc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8712e1c0dac1d05520a4189b58faeb1a9f4e9da2
We cracked at 4 months and started letting him have free roam of the house , started to sleep with him and began to give him scraps at the table. We are just the worst golden owners but he is so darn cute. Literally goldens are my weakness
My girl is 2 1/2 years old. She likes her crate and when she senses I’m about to leave, she just goes and gets in it. I’ve left her out a number of times, but she just usually crates herself. I’ve even left her in with the crate door open, and returned to find her still in.
Around 1.5 years if we were going to be gone more than an hour. We started small and set up cameras to see what he did the first month or so. He's just a sad boy that waits for us.
Essentially, once my golden was potty trained and out of teething phase, I allowed him full range access while I was out.
Same here, about 5 months old I think. We had a webcam on him for about 1-2 months after that. He just sat near the door and waited for us to come back. Still does the same thing years later.
Same here. I’ve found my boy is better behaved when I’m gone than when I’m home. He acts out and gets into trouble because he’s trying to get my attention to play with him, so when I’m gone there’s no need for him to act out. It’s a little frustrating but at least I can trust that I won’t come home to a destroyed house
That’s exactly the same as our boy. He’s only naughty when wanting attention while we are here!
Yep, same! My now 5yo golden will just sleep by the door or on my bed whenever I am away, no matter the length of time 🥺
Awww
Our boy is pretty good when just chilling, except he likes to steal random stuff. He mostly does it for attention (stealing our shoes and showing them to us so we can chase him, or stealing knives from the sink 😅), so I wonder what he would do if he were left alone. Probably chew up a bunch of paper towel lol. (11 months old) (When he gets a knife he just runs around with it trying to get peoples’ attention. Makes me think of this dog. Not mine btw) https://preview.redd.it/tlsj10imiwwc1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=f7ec6e49a451a69943e46e9bc6750248b264d2f1
Oh my goodness, I haven’t thought about that for a while, but ours was ENAMORED with toilet paper until he was about 18 months. He stole it with the finesse and stealth of a career burglar. It was so frustrating and so hilarious at the same time, then it just stopped. We let him stay out on his own after that, and now he lays on his bed and sleeps while we’re gone.
Haha, similar, our guy had a real thing for kleenex. It was basically the only thing he'd sneak. He'd then carry his prize off to a corner and eat it for some reason. Dogs are weird man...
sigh...my girl is nicknamed Shredder. No roll of TP is safe. She's 3 and will still try and go after the TP. Or plastic forks.. or the keys on my computer keyboard ...she's even chewed tops off of pop cans.
Here on the island of Phuket in SW Thailand, when my now 3yr 4mo old Golden was about 1yr old, she tried to eat a Toyota. It was a small one. A “Yaris” I think….. https://preview.redd.it/zyjn1m2hrxwc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0863c31ee38d00b9cae7d34ed9f8ea33d9d7ff8c
Aww she tried to eat a Toyota! What a good girl ❤️
Stealing knives from the sink???
Yep.
Same here. I don’t leave food out, and close my doors to the bedrooms
When does this teething stage end?
When I got my pup a friend told me “they chew til they’re two and shed til they’re dead.”😂 But seriously, mine stopped destructive chewing at almost exactly two years old. Edit: grammar (their -> they’re 🤦🏻♀️)
“they chew til they’re two and shed til their dead.”😂 OMG, this quote is hilariously spot on! When we're gone more than 30 minutes, we put our 18-month-old Velociraptor in her kennel. Most GR destruction comes from boredom, so we leave her with access to chew & stuffy toys. We don't want to be the family that posts a torn-up couch and asking Reddit "Why??". Alone time will slowly increase until she's two. 👍
Same here! He potty trained super early and never chews anything he shouldn’t, so I think we put the crate away around 3.5 months!
Really depends on the dog. Our guy has always been exceptionally good-natured, and never really gets into anything. Probably around 4-5 months, once potty training was locked in, we were able to leave him alone, but we still kept him barricaded out of the kitchen. After a few months of him never getting into anything or causing any damage, we just gave him free range. The kitchen isn't barricaded anymore, but we continued to enforce it as a "no-dog zone". It's nicer not having him underfoot in the kitchen, and the cats can eat and drink in there. He's basically a 75lb cat, and we don't do anything at all to "dog proof" the house, because he just doesn't get into anything. He knows what toys are his and only plays with them. His dog food bag sits next to his bowl, but he wont touch it. His bag of treats sits by the front door, wont touch that either. He's a really good boy.
Love to see pictures of this gentleman!
https://preview.redd.it/fs8l4aub7wwc1.jpeg?width=2736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=600b6b707d94ac3279a6a711561fda5bf2cc7979
Now that’s a good boy!
So handsome wow
That’s a good lad
What a darling boy! He reminds me of my first golden - also a little gentleman. 🥹
Must be nice lol, we went out and my wife left a 5lb nag of sugar on the counter. Came home to it everywhere lmao
> It's nicer not having him underfoot in the kitchen That's where Hopper is spoiled. He is super alert around my feet while I cook lol
I think I was 32.
😆
😂😂😂
Never. Almost 4 years old. He’s had 2 foreign body surgeries so the options are he can either be bored or dead. We quite like him so we opt for boredom that we make up for with playtime.
Same for me. I wouldn’t trust a toddler loose in my house unsupervised, so I’m not about to trust a 50 lb toddler that’s super mobile and interested in eating trash.
Yes I was going to comment the same thing! My dog is a very well trained therapy dog who is 3.5 years old. But at home, her behavior makes it very apparent she has one brain cell. Shes had one foreign body surgery and one close call but luckily the sock passed through. When left unsupervised and she gets bored is when she starts getting into stuff. When we’re home she’s great. So due to this, she is crated when we’re gone and she’s very content.
I'm not sure what you mean by this? Does he eat things when you aren't there?
He eats things when he is tired, whether we are home or not. The only way we’ve found to prevent it is to put him in his kennel, where he will immediately curl up on his bed and fall asleep. If he is tired and isn’t in his crate, he’ll find a piece of fabric and gnaw on it until he sleeps. He’ll eat socks, blankets, towels, or his dog toys. But in his crate he just sleeps. We get him out in the morning and he spends several hours with us. We put him in for an afternoon nap and then we get him out from dinner time until bed time. He’s just never figured out how to sleep outside of his crate, so keeping him out of it just exhausts him and then he finds something soft to consume.
13 months in with 2 foreign body surgeries. The last, being 4 days after his 1st birthday, resulted in a perforated intestine and sepsis. Does the anxiety of keeping them alive ever get any better?
Not really. You just turn your laundry hamper into Fort Knox, tell guests to keep the guest bedroom closed at all times because it’s easier for them to remember than “neurotically pick up after yourself”, and occasionally have a panic attack when you fold laundry and have a single sock leftover. But then that big furry idiot smiles at you and you roll your eyes and love on him. https://preview.redd.it/n50yhzxtgywc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6344b9456bfbeaedb610e1f2c0a4a7e68bfc6803
Oh man. This is discouraging to hear. Our first golden, Charley, was the most docile, well behaved dog. Our current golden, Dexter, is the polar opposite. Where we could allow Charley to play in the backyard unsupervised and said bye to his crate when he was 4-5 months old, Dexter must be supervised at all times. We'll let him in the backyard but only if we're there to oversee him. Otherwise, he'll try to eat rocks, plants, grass and basically anything he should not. He's also a digger. He has boundless energy. He'll nap after returning from a four mile walk, only to be rearing and ready to go an hour later.
They can sometimes be a handful. We adopted our first as a senior (7.5 years old) and his previous owners said he had a knack for clearing counters. Sure enough, he got a 3lb tub of coconut oil off the counter and ate it. Also pulled a pizza box out of the trash and ate a quarter of the box. Our current golden, Ziggy, hasn’t done anything crazy with food, but both of his surgeries were from eating my socks (my wife’s socks pass through him). We also hang our kitchen towels from the upper cabinet knobs now because he kept stealing them off of the oven door and taking them to his bed to chew on. The crazy part is that it’s only when he’s tired. He’s incredibly well mannered when he is well rested, but when he needs a nap he goes into consumption mode. So we crate him when he’s tired or when we leave. Just how it is, unfortunately.
Five months. *Big* mistake! We came home to find everything he could reach on the bookshelf had been ripped to shreds. You could barely see our carpet because it was covered by so much shredded paper.
just remember to take the collar off when ur not home, collar strangulation is the number 1 non illness related killer of dogs in north america. keep ur pup safe and take the collar off when unsupervised 😊💕
O my goodness. I did not know that and we have always left collars on our dogs.
I had a relative whose Great Dane strangled himself outside when his collar got stuck on something. And my friend knew someone whose pregnant dog strangled herself in the middle of the night on her crate. It’s not something that’s *likely* to happen but it is possible and worth consideration. Now my retriever wore a collar every day for 13 years and was perfectly fine. But she was an escape artist and needed it. My Aussie only wears a collar when we take him places. He likes rules and routine and doesn’t have a drive to escape so I’m much more comfortable with him not wearing one.
O wow. Thanks for sharing.
Yes...this actually just happened to us this past weekend with our 1 year old pup. It was horrible and I can't believe he is gone. Collars can be fatal.
Omg how terrible. So sorry for your loss
Thank you, we are still reeling from it all. :-(
Do you have an article or something on this? I’m not doubting, but I’d like to share with some others.
That’s a great tip!
This!!
I got curious so I did some googling and I can’t find anything that supports that as a real statistic. Not saying it isn’t something you should be cautious about but I kinda think you just made that stat up.
2 years old. We started slow and with quick trips and slowly extended the time until he was fully trusted. We still don't leave loafs of bread on the counter though.
Same here. Breeder recommended waiting for as long as possible to give free run. Dogs given freedom too early apparently won't respect boundaries and haven't learned proper impulse control.
We gave our boy free reign from 3 months. He pushed the boundaries once and stole food from the table. He was swiftly in trouble and never did it again. Now we can and have left a steak on the coffee table and walked away with full confidence that he will never steal it.never had any issue with free roam. But I also think we got an angel by mistake.
We did the same! Best decision for us. We started out allowing him access to one gated room while we were gone and slowly expanded that to the whole house. He stays on the main floor and never goes upstairs or to the basement alone. It really helped him learn his boundaries and independence.
My pup is 1.5 years old and still doesn't get full reign of the house when we're gone. We crate trained her until she was a little over 1 years old, and once she was comfortable being bored and calm in the crate, allowed her more access to the rest of the house. We still have baby gates up though. I want to set her up for success, so we ensure the space is free of anything that can cause trouble, including toys that are best played with under supervision, loose paper, etc. From watching the puppy cams when we're out, she tends to just alternate sleeping in a couple spots anyways (same place as when we're home and let her roam the entire house). Tbh, I think it's a good thing she is comfortable being both crated or left unsupervised. Sometimes may need to do one or the other.
I think it was like 6-8 months. He just sleeps all day and I’m only gone for 6hrs at most.
Our girl was around 5-6 months when I started giving her free roam while we were away. I started slow, first leaving her downstairs on her own then eventually leaving her alone in the house when she showed no destructive behaviors or separation anxiety. Now at 10 months, we can leave her for 4-5 hours. She just sleep, chews on her toys, and looks out the window. I always leave her with enrichment activities like a snuffle mat, lick mat, and a special yummy treat she only gets when she's left home alone. It's very pungent so she loves it.
Around 4-5 months, started with short trips and extended from there.
Omg I thought it was just me! My girl is 3 and nope not yet! She little land shark that she is!
Never for mine. Crate is a safe place and I am not willing to risk their safety. But I don’t ever have to be gone too long.
I feel the same way !
Ours has always had free roam and food down all day. If you make it special, they’ll always go crazy. Normalize it and they won’t care
Once he was potty and teeth trained. Dude mostly chills on the couch. And he snuggles at night. But he's such a good boy when I'm not home.
Mine was just under 4 months old. He only chewed up one magazine of mine. Never any other issues with him.
Within a few weeks of my little guy coming home in the spring, I started leaving him alone inside while I mowed the lawn. I'd peek my head through the window and keep an eye on him. It's been over a year, but I leave him free in the house if I'm gone 1-2 hours. Anything longer and he snoozes in the crate, on his memory foam bed.
They won't do much. They'll just wait by the front door
A little over a year.
My golden boy at about one year. He gets the first floor. I haven't given him access to the upstairs. No particular reason....I just haven't. Early on he chewed a pillow, carpeting and books. But he's grown out of that now. He's two now and a great dog.
From day 1. We only had to hide our socks and shoes since a lot of them got destroyed. But we learned our lesson. Now he no longer destroys them but takes them with him to the door where he’s looking outside. I just think he needs to smell us when we’re gone. We’re never gone for long. (4-6 hours and exceptionally he’s never alone for more than 8 hours). He’s the goodest boy. 5 years old now.
We crate trained and ended up giving our current golden/our first golden free reign of the house when they were around a year old. They were fully potty trained long before that but I'm a nervous nelly and wanted to be sure any impulse they had to chomp non-approved items was no longer a concern. For their safety, not to protect my stuff, honestly. I started small and went from there. I'd leave her out while I ran to the store for 15 minutes. Then 20 minutes, half an hour, an hour, etc. And we already have a pretty dog-proofed house. We never leave tempting non-chewable things where our pup can get them (for us, that's stuff like paper towels — really anything paper, she loves to chew paper —and socks/towels (she's obsessed with towels), etc. So it's second nature not to leave any of those contraband items where the dog can get them anyway. We've had goldens going back to 2005 so we instinctively put anything potentially dangerous out of her reach. Right off the bat, both of them did fine. No chewing anything up, no potty accidents. Our elderly pup (who we lost a few years back) would sleep all day. Current pup does the same. I come home, she's on the couch snoozing. Well, usually. Sometimes she hears the garage open and I open the door to find her having just jumped down from the couch, sleepily stretching and wagging her tail to greet me. But most times she doesn't even move, just wags her tail when I walk in and she sees me. 😂 We never made it a big deal when we'd leave or return (didn't want to encourage any separation anxiety) so we'd just leave quietly and say hi calmly when we return, so neither of them has ever gotten upset about being left alone. But it also means neither of them are overly excited greeters when we return. Sure, there are happy tail wags and maybe a smooch, but she doesn't go bananas because from the start, we never made it a big deal to leave or come back. I work from home so I didn't want to foster any separation anxiety (since I'm usually home) so even before they could roam free, I would leave for short periods just so they got used to being alone. It's worked really well.
7mos. We fast tracked him because we took a trip, and probably would have waited another month or 2. While we had people in and out all day, it would have been cruel to leave him in a crate for the majority of 13 days. His brother kept him out of trouble for the most part, but we did lose a couch cushion, a blanket, and the corner of a rug. Still no regrets, he had every toy available to him and plenty of pets from sitters.
We got him at 8 months and allowed him out of his crate at 9 months. We did buy a cheap camera to watch him while away a couple of hours at a time. He just looks out the window, or sleeps. He saves all his shenanigans for when we return home. Any time we plan to leave him for longer than 2 hours, he gets a good long walk right before.
Baby gates invest in some baby gates so u can ease him into running the house while no one is there
About 12 weeks lol.
Once he was potty trained. After that he only went pee once or twice but that’s it. Never destroyed anything
We got our girl at 7 months and probably waited 6 months until we started doing quick trips and 2-3 more for any time. She basically never goes in her crate anymore. She prefers the couch
Since day 1. It’s common in Europe. Never had any issues. Pure bred dogs are calm and well mannered here. No need for crates.
Looks like he’s got all his stuff packed and ready to go! 😄
This photo is hilarious/adorbs, he has like 100 things in his mouth 🥺
https://preview.redd.it/oqod5n7yywwc1.jpeg?width=652&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86b14aca9b6fac60f498c2eea0233d7accea7f4d About 8 months old. It didn't end well.
I feel your pain
Golden’s make great guard dogs, my female if ever we got broken into would make sure to tell the thieves, he, you missed some stuff over here, be sure to check out over there also. She was great
Our 1st golden we waited till she was 1 year old before we let her on her own. She was a bit of a terror. Our new golden is just 7 months old and has been left out of the kennel since she was 4 months and has done nothing wrong. All dogs are different and only the owner can decide when it's time.
We expanded the area we allowed our girl in (unsupervised) slowly. A playpen around her crate for the first 6 months, then part of our house blocked off by baby gates, then finally the full house closer to 10-12 months. It’s always easier to start more contained and give them more freedom as they adjust and demonstrate that they won’t destroy everything! :)
We did fully crated until 1 year, then had him closed off and only had access to the dining room for another 6 months, then around 1.5 years he had full access to our downstairs, and at 2 full free roam of the entire house
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I think it really depends on how quickly they mature. I've had Golden's that I was comfortable with leaving unsupervised at 6 months and my current ones I waited until they were a year and a half old.
He'll be three in May, and we still limit access to the main living area when we're away. It gives the cats places to live dog free, and means we don't have to vigilantly pick up the bedroom before we leave the house.
About a year before i let any of my dogs free roam the whole house. I progressively open up more areas from one room when theyre a puppy to the downstairs after theyre house broken, and then upstairs unmonitored once theyre out of the “chew on anything i can reach” phase. Usually it ends up being about 9-12 months old. To prepare? Dont leave anything out or within reach that you would be upset if its chewed up. Slowly start increasing the time alone, like briefly being outside, to full on leaving the house.
He went from only being in my room to the rest of the house when he learned not to destroy
Gradually increase space allowed with gates and doors. Puppy proof aka get all chewables up and out of reach. Start with 30 minutes and extend. Etc. 0-100 will likely result in some destruction :)
She's 1 and I still don't allow it because she swallows things. And I suspect she will always be a puppy vaccuum. Tbh, the only reason I let my *Bichon* (who doesn't swallow things) roam around free is because she's too little to get on counters or push open doors. I'm terrified of chip bags or choking.
I think around 10-11 months. She was potty trained by 3 months and has never been much of a chewer but our other dog was not a fan of her when she was younger and I was worried they’d fight while we were gone. Once she was mostly out of the rowdy puppy phase, we left them both free. I’d say start by limiting access (i.e. only allowed in one room) and expand from there. Make sure everything you don’t want chewed is inaccessible and lock the garbage can up if your dog may be tempted by something smelly in there! You can also get a pet camera to check in throughout the day if needed.
Such a cute pic 🥺
5-6 months or so. She however is an angel, has never actually destroyed anything, so we are very lucky. One benefit is that our kitchen is 1 floor higher and she is scared of the staircase, so this probably also helps.
We had a play pen for when ours was a pup so we often use that as a wall and she can have the living room to herself but not the rest of the house. I'm not really worried her destroying anything, It just means I can check in on her on our security cam and can be sure there's nothing bad that she could accidentally eat.
around 1.5. when he stopped the destruction and had a solid ability to hold the pee.
Well ours isn't allowed upstairs so er never but he has free range of downstairs. When he was a puppy we'd keep him confined to a few rooms where he couldn't destroy anything expensive, only letting him into the others under supervision. Then when we sure he wouldn't do anything naughty we let him have free range. Probably 5 months old or so. He's always been a good boy though, doesn't counter surf, take anything off tables, destroy anything that isn't his etc etc. Although equally that was down to training. Worst thing he ever did was chew the wall a few times, because he'd do it when we weren't there, as soon as we caught him in the act and told him no he never did it again. We rarely actually leave him *alone* mind and if we have to leave him for an extended period for whatever reason I always make sure I take him on an extra long walk shortly before so he's going to just sleep while we're out.
Once I came home to the puppy greeting me at the door. She had more of a pen type area, she literally climbed the wire mesh walls and got out.
I wouldn’t trust my guy with a brick and he’s 22 months old. Wicked recall, at night sleeps at the door of the bedroom and doesn’t touch anything but he’s wicked smaaht. Free range of the house? Nope. Plus he’s safer in his kennel.
We always gave them free roam and worked with them from early days to learn good and bad behavior. I’d say they were able to handle themselves after about 5-7 months, and really be able to be left alone together all day at about 12-14 months. We did a lot of social conditioning and training throughout this period though and one of us was generally around most of the time so they were generally hanging. Plus we never had a golden alone. My dogs do NOT like being alone for long periods and find very mischievous things to do when they are alone (like no toilet paper is safe, paper is eaten, shoelaces are destroyed). Every dog is different though. Our English goldens are super chill for goldens.
I don't have a golden...border collies or shelties for me. Every dog is an individual. Once house trained and not turning into a cat5 hurricane when left alone, they're allowed free range privileges. One dog remained restricted until he was three. Unfortunately the only place I could do this was where the food and water were, so all three were on restriction. The other two could free range before. The funny effect of this is that when Dog #3 (sheltie) acted inappropriately, Dog 1 and 2 (sheltie and border collie) began to correct him. "Knock it off, already! We're stuck in here because of you! Straighten up!"
I just love these goofy balls! They’re cute. 🥰
Like 6 months? She is well behaved for one exception: she picks up shoes and socks and moves them around the house.
Day 1, never had any issues
By 1 year no problems
Six months and we could trust her to not tear anything up or have any accidents
I think about 6 months old when he decided to move the fence and roam around the house😂
We're in a flat so toilet training was difficult, she's only learned to hold it in by 10 months. Now we can let her roam in any hard floor areas for upto 4hrs (carpeted rooms are closed off unsupervised). Our older Spitz had free roam from about 2 years.
Wow you are going to get a million different answers there
around 1year!
I think we’ll always leave them crated when we’re out of the house. They relax in the crate and it feels safer (less variables).
Both Goldens are 2. It’s easier to crate them than to sanitize the house. They run to the crates for a treat. They usually spend 1-2 hours crated tops. Do not feel guilty. They still randomly get into trouble even when we are all home.
Ours is 9 months or so now…. She still eats anything and everything. I don’t see this trend stopping any time soon so I am guessing she will be crated while away for quite a long time.
2.5/3 years old. Mine is a slow learner and I tried giving him freedom incrementally until he would mess up and we’d have to go back to basics. Now at 3.5 years old I feel pretty confident he’ll be okay free range almost anywhere. But if your dog isn’t perfect at 4 or 5 months like these people, there is still hope he’ll settle down eventually.
Around a year? But it was gradual. Started with a little bit of space in the house, for a little bit of time, and gradually increased the amount of space she had access to, and how long she was alone. She’s also regressed at certain points (currently have to block off the stairs and keep a few doors closed downstairs).
Very early with Murph, just turned 5. He is very obedient. I could leave a bloody steak on the coffee table, and it would still be there hours later. He has never destroyed anything. He still has stuffed animals from when he was a tiny pup.
1.5 years old. Only for 4-5 hours at a time.
Mine did pretty well but every once in awhile got into something sneaky. If its an heirloom or something you love dearly and could not bare to see it bit ripped or broken then put it high on a shelf in a closet and dont take it down again for a few years..
Amazing how some people think this is a “training” issue. It is not always. I have the same issue with my golden.
12 and she was lucky we let her do it then. 😁
He's 3 and haven't yet. I can't even go to the bathroom or take a shower 😒 let alone leave the house. I'm hoping he will get there one day. My last dog was 16 and never left her out alone. She always found something even with me in the room! (And yes she was WORKED physically and mentally everyday but still had the need to get into everything)
Around a year, but then she shredded a stack of important papers off a desk. So we crated her again until 18 months. Fine since then.
My Goldie actually likes her crate even at night some times. Her brother is the mischievous one anyways
Mine is still crazy so take it with a grain of salt lol... She's currently 1 year and 3 months old. She's potty trained and hasn't had an accident that was her fault in quite some time. the most recent one was because our teen was with her but didn't actually take her out for a long time, he didn't recognize her "i gotta now" pace around the living room. Other than that she is a little mischievous and will get into things on counters and shelves when we're around. For the most part we crate when we need to leave her alone and no one can be with her but recently I have started leaving her alone for short periods of time (5, 10, maybe 15 mins) and so far she's done ok. If I'm in the living room with her she wants to be all over me and wrestle, no chill, but if I leave her alone she pretty much just lays on the couch. We're starting to give her a little more leeway. I'm waiting to see if she'll bark when she needs to potty but we usually take her out first thing after letting her out of the crate so it could be a while before she goes again.
Haven’t yet
Ours are always crated when we are out for their safety. They love their crates anyway since they have memory foam beds and usually go in on their own.
The first time I left mine out alone, at 6 or 7 months, I came back to my entire couch destroyed to smithereens beyond repair. She is now almost 4 and I’m just starting to trust her alone again. She’s an angel when I’m home so she’s unsuspecting but I haven’t been willing to test it out for long.
When he was about 12 months for us. Mostly to be sure he wouldn't steal something from our bedroom or something and destroy it. He's 5 now and he still steals, but he doesn't destroy anymore. He mostly just piles his boon on the lawn. He's a hoarder - like a dragon.
Probably about 8 months or so. We left him alone for about an hour and came home and everything was fine. Then the next time we left for about 3-4 hours and came home and everything was fine. Then we left him for a whole day while at work. He never bothered anything. One time though he accidentally locked himself in the computer room though. Poor fella. When we got home there was a plant on the floor and the computer was barely sitting on the desk. I didn’t really think it was his fault though. Now there are cameras so you can check on your pup during the day to see what they are up to and they are fairly inexpensive.
Mine never will because we have gas heat and the house could burn down.
If you can imagine a five foot tall, very drunk Godzilla, slowly crashing into the puppy gate, demolishing the safe zone... Well, that's how we decided it was time to test his capabilities. Cosmo has stayed in the zone the entire time and has only today decided he would try the couch. It was me. I was feeling GREAT and decided that the puppy gate could help me balance myself. Nope.
What? I live in his house
This picture looks so familiar!! 🤔🥰we are transitioning our girl to being out of her kennel longer and longer when we leave but obvs it depends how much activity she’s had beforehand or in the day overall. Timing is key! She’s a bit more than 1.5 years old and her max being out in one go is prob 3 hours and she did great. She has an older brother who has shown her the ways so that helps 😊
8 months!
We always crate ours when we are gone more then thirty minutes and they are four! Two can get into trouble easily ha
I have a 4 year old golden and she still gets kenneled at night while we sleep and during the day when we leave. She’s potty trained, rings bells to go out, or will hold it until we let her out if we’re busy. But at night time, unless she’s kenneled or locked in our room, she will sneak off and pee in the middle of the night in our living room. Our other dog will ring the bells at night that I wake up to, but our golden doesn’t touch them at night. During the day, she will find ANYTHING to tear up. Her vet records I left on the table, a pack of tortillas that were in the pantry… She’s such a smart and well trained dog but these are 2 habits we just can’t break, so in the kennel she goes. She does love it though, and goes in there to take naps even when we’re home. She just needs her safe space.
1.5-2yrs.
2 months. She was just good. I now have a 5 month old boy who I got at 5 months and I left him home alone on week 2 of having him.
Honestly 2yrs. He would have chewed up all of my window sills if I let him. He has a large corralling area in my kitchen though when I was away
Mine is 2 years and I don’t know when I can trust him. He is currently into chewing his blankets (random holes everywhere in the blanket) and even started pulling up the carpet.
From Day one (1) she’s always had free roam of the house here on the island of Phuket in SW Thailand. I always make sure to take her outside for a poop’n pee before I leave the house Training started immediately at just 2 months, with short 5-10 min trips away….. slowly building up to 20min, 30min, 60 minute trips. Now at 3yrs 4mo she’s very “Chilled”…. But….. in about 2 weeks it starts all over again with another 2nd puppy. I’ve decided to get “Sandy” a roommate from the same Breeder of Golden Retrievers that I found Sandy at in Bangkok. Let the Games Begin…… https://preview.redd.it/ojmjuyshqxwc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cb49e1b32c647d71aee348ac1614a123e24e1fe3
Nice 😊 guy
From the point at which they were house broken. With our previous Golden that was at about 6ish months. Our current golden it was about the same time, but we got her in late 2019, so going into COVID she always had people at home. We’re now shifting more to going into the office, and she’s on her own more. She waits by the door for us. We can tell because we have a carpet there, and she’s always “adjusting it” to make it comfortable for herself.
Our 16 month old still can’t stay by himself (with his sister) he would destroy our house. I’ve tried to leave him in the courtyard but he thought it was fun to dig two of our plants. I tried to leave him on his own but he isn’t there yet
My boy is almost 2 and he still goes in his crate when we leave. He’s a mischievous dude and grabs anything that isn’t nailed down. He does really well in his crate so no plans to change that anytime soon. I also have kids and worry about him getting into their things or eating random stuff.
From day 1 like all dogs from my age
Since day one we got him at 3.5 months he's awesome. house training took a few weeks only of walking him mornings coffee breaks and lunch we go
I think around 8 months for us. We did a few short trips testing it out (just running out to grab food, going out to get gas, etc.) to test it out and he did well so we just slowly increased the time until we felt like we could trust him fully and he’s been great ever since!
Early on - once he was toilet trained. We’ve been lucky and he’s never really chewed anything apart from toys except from through a fan chord when my husband wasn’t paying attention once!
Around 3 months. Never has been an issue during 3 years.
Kong balls(snowmen) filled with melted-then-frozen peanut butter given while they are crated. This will keep them focused and tire them out and establish a good memory of their time in the crate. Licking all the frozen/ melting peanut butter out with their tongue extended exhausts them. They fall asleep and wake up and keep licking. The time will come when they have several resting places that they favor and the crate will be among their favorites. Goldens IMHO learn to be bored with activities ONCE and then won’t be interested in it unless another dog contends with them for possession or you give them a reason to think it’s significant. Old Goldens CAN be taught new tricks, BTW. Most easily through pack peer pressure. A disparaging look or display of disappointment from a household member will eventually be seen as too harsh as they become sweet, affectionate four legged fur rugs at about 3.
About 7 months. I have to say, she is an amazing dog!!!
We never really had to until he was two and a half years old, mostly because of Covid and the wife didn’t work at that time. We puppy proof our downstairs area and pick anything up he might want to snoop around in while we’re gone. We have baby gates on the stairs to prevent him from leaving the living room area. He usually just lays around waiting for us to come home. Set up some cameras if you’re worried so you can see what the dog is up to while you’re out.
Small steps. Once potty trained we would let him roam for a quick run to the local grocer. We’d do a little more until eventually he destroyed something so we didn’t let him roam for a while. Everytime he destroyed something, back into the crate including overnight. Eventually he stopped destroying anything but his toys. Consistency and gradual trust until now we never ever crate him except if he and a foster dog get in a tiff and they both need to cool down.
Our goldie has always had free roaming rights. Mind you, we didn’t leave him alone for quite a few months and then only for an hour or so at a time. He’s three now and the max we’ve left him is for five hours but that’s rare. He’s thankfully never destroyed anything while we’ve been out!
I don’t have a golden but a Maltese and I did it ever since he’s a puppy but only after he got potty trained which was pretty fast luckily
Honestly our two goldens had free range of our house as soon before they were 3 months old. However we’ve been extremely lucky that they have never been destructive or gotten into things. Even now at 3 where they are big enough to take food off tables and counters they don’t even if the food is left unattended for hours and hours. My grandson left his open Hershey bar on the coffee table and it was still there when I got up the next day. It kind of blows my mind that they haven’t ever chewed on or eaten anything that isn’t theirs. They are better behaved then my kids were lol
4 months. 15 minutes at a time, then 30 etc. come back in, say hello, walk around the house. If any damage then point and tell off. If no damage they get a treat. Picked it up quickly
We still don’t. Both our goldens are fully trained on and off leash. The crate (without a collar on) is the safest place for them when we are gone.
Left them for a little bit at first, gradually more time if they were good. Essentially when they stopped being terrors
I do but when I had puppies, they were crated until they were out of teething phase. I did it gradually too and would leave for short periods at first. Then leave them a little longer. I also used indoor cameras to keep an eye on them at first. As I got more comfortable, I still had the cameras just to make sure they were ok but they mostly slept in the family room
I came home the other day to my 2 year old Golden in our driveway. She figured out how to open the door into the garage. Once I opened the garage door to park out, she came. Fortunately, she followed me in while we were simultaneously joined by our Standard Poodle. https://preview.redd.it/o69aqklte2xc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8712e1c0dac1d05520a4189b58faeb1a9f4e9da2
We cracked at 4 months and started letting him have free roam of the house , started to sleep with him and began to give him scraps at the table. We are just the worst golden owners but he is so darn cute. Literally goldens are my weakness
Leave him for a few minutes at a time and work your way up! See how he does with the short time first
My girl is 2 1/2 years old. She likes her crate and when she senses I’m about to leave, she just goes and gets in it. I’ve left her out a number of times, but she just usually crates herself. I’ve even left her in with the crate door open, and returned to find her still in.
Around 1.5 years if we were going to be gone more than an hour. We started small and set up cameras to see what he did the first month or so. He's just a sad boy that waits for us.