I was wondering how old my Cavalier King Charles puppy should be before I can let her have the run of the house when I go out? I've got a Border Terrier who's 4 as well and they are very good together but I haven't left them alone together yet as I leave Rosie,the puppy in the kitchen with her treat ball,kong and other toys,as well as water and her bed of course! She's not left for long periods of time and seems quite happy but obviously I'd like her tp have more freedom.She's 14 weeks old.I'd really welcome advice. Thank you.

I never let my dogs have the run of the house at any age.  That way I never have to worry about that one, stupid occasion when they decide to have a nibble at a electric lead I had not thought about or be sick or poo on the carpet when they get taken ill.  In my experience they don't particularly appreciate more freedom infact the opposite mine seem more relaxed when they have a very limited area to "look after" :)

Ours are left in the kitchen if we go out. Very occasionally we leave them the run of the house if we go out of an evening. Neither of them is destructive, but, as Isabel says, there is always the risk that they will 'perform' :( Fortunately this hasn't happened, but it has to be taken into consideration - the lounge door is never left open then as we have a good carpet in there :D

Daisy

Mine have never been destructive either but I would still feel I would need to go round unplugging and removing anything I could not bare to see damaged "just in case" :)

But if we trust them to live in the kitchen which cost more than any other room in the house, why not elsewhere :D :D :D

Daisy

Depends on the kitchen :D

We replaced our kitchen nearly three years ago. The previous one was old and we deliberately got Tara when we did as we knew that we could 'sacrifice' it and, boy, did she know how to wreck a kitchen :D :D :D However, she had stopped being destructive entirely by the time she was 1 and we felt confident later that year to put in a quite expensive kitchen and trust her not to wreck it :) She hasn't destroyed anything since she was 1 (she is now nearly 4 1/2). Bramble has never been destructive since we got him from Battersea. Before we got Tara, he had the run of the house when I was at work without problem :) I believe in the saying 'Know thy dog' :D :D :D

Daisy

lol!  You've just described me leaving the house or going to bed :D nothing is left on, not even the kettle!

Our dog also does not have the run of the house if he is left at all. He has access to the kitchen, conservatory, inner hall and bathroom which all have tiled floors and have been dog-proofed ( hopefully he won't show us differently) . :D

The rest of the house he is allowed in when we are at home but more likely than not he chooses to go out to where his bed is and lie on the cold tiled floor.

I have a stair gate so mine never have the run of the whole house ...not ever! The girls are put in the kennels when we go out and Hudson has the run of the living room and kitchen :)

At 14 weeks it's certainly not safe to give a puppy too much free access - apart from toileting accidents there are much more serious ones to be feared such as electrocution.

My first two dogs had the run of the house in my absence but not until they were around 2 years old.  I think it makes a difference that we are all on one level :)  It suited that particular pairing as they got to go and lie where it most pleased them - the bitch rarely ventured from the bed (I think, anyway!) and the dog settled himself on the sofa watching his domain but liked to ensure the back of the house was free of unwanted visitors too (cleared the neighbourhood stray cat problem single pawed :D )

My current residents are happier in our bedroom where they can snuggle up and if that gets too boring can peruse the park and all it's happenings through the large windows.  I think they would be more stressed to have the entire house to search for Mum!  They watch me leave this way so I reckon are more settled.

Personally I've always felt that we get to know when the time is right (if at all) to allow more access.  I've never had a problem with chewing except in the early days with my first puppy who was confined to the kitchen and dining room (she made short work of the arms on all of hubby's snooker trophies :D :D :D ).  Since then I've preferred to give them more lea way (and binned said trophies - she did me a HUGE favour!)

regards, Teri 

Got a cav myself who is now 15 months old, she has from day one had her crate as her den, one day i forgot to close the door and spent the whole hour and a half at the hospital appointment terrified i would have a near dead or dead dog on the floor when i returned home.

I imagined her opening kitchen cupboards and helping herself to all the toxic chemicals lying in there :rolleyes:. Yes i admit i probably was over reacting but on my return i found her curled up sound asleep in her crate and appeared to have been in there all along.

So for my own peace of mind i would at the moment never be able to relax if i knew she had the run of the house, just my own thoughts and experience i dont want to offend anyone. Better to be safe than sorry.

Regards Julie and ellie.

My Mums dog was found wandering and since she learned to get on with the cats has had the run of the house My cavs are left in the kitchen because my bitch makes a mess otherwise I think it is a matter for you and the dog to decide

I had 2 Cavaliers who as puppies had a play-pen in the hall, as we had a kitchen/diner arrangement. This worked well until at 18 months one learnt to jump out - then they had the freedom of the kitchen/diner. It was OK but although this was over 20 years ago our dining room furniture still bears the scars :rolleyes: They also used to sit on the window sill - oh, how sweet, just like book-ends - which they loved but they also chewed the window sill and barked at every passer-by.
Current labs at 3 & 4 now have the freedom of the kitchen and through lounge (started this after we had the kitchen re-fitted at enormous expense..) and I draw the curtains so they can't see passers-by. But yes,young puppies definitely need to be contained, one way or the other!for their safety and your peace of mind. :-) :-)

Mine is not allowed in bedrooms at any time and as most are on the ground floor (extended bungalow) the doors are kept shut.  The bathroom door is also kept shut because it has a heated floor which is a magnet to my dog.  Unfortunately for her the door is on a rise and fall hinge so she can get in but not out.  She tends to stand and watch out the living room window and bark when people pass so she is shut out of that room when we go out to save her any stress as I have seen little 'erberts standing outside winding her up before now.  Other than that she can go where she likes :D

we let ours have the run of the downstairs hall, living room and upstairs when i'm at work in the morning, and full run of the house if we pop out for an hour or so. Mine just sleep while i'm not here, or chomp on a bone-they were monster chewers as babes, but as good as gold now (one's 17mths and one's almost 3).

My dogs have the run of the house, all apart from the bedroom where the gerbils live :D My collie pup was restricted to the kitchen with a pet gate for the first 8 months. Now the gate is in the spare room and she has the whole house to wander round too. She tends to sleep at the top of the stairs, her Mum sleeps in the bathroom, One borzoi sleeps in the kitchen and one on my bed so my lot seem to appreciate the space. I have to say this is just while I'm sleeping, I've no idea what they do when I'm out and when I'm awake and in the house all 4 are always near me :)

My dog used to have the run of the lounge and we would come back to ridiculous amounts of damage.  Her separation anxiety was so bad that the minute she got a hint we were going out she would start getting distressed.  After we came back one day and she had eaten the TV remote we decided that we were going to crate her when we go out (we don't leave her for more than 3 hours and she was used to the crate as she'd slept in it from day one).  She is now very calm when we start getting ready to go out and just gets into her crate and goes to sleep.  Having the freedom to run around was simply making her wound up and distressed.

Misty stays in our hall way when we go out.  It is a fair sized area really, (thinking about it, its actually larger than my sons room :rolleyes:) and she has settled really well in there.  All the doors leading off it are closed when we go out but my OH accidently left our lounge door open once and we came home to find all our settee cushions on the floor (not ripped thankfully) and all our newspapers/mags completed shredded :rolleyes:.  So we are now extra careful that all the doors are shut before we go out :P.

My dogs don't have the run of the house, ever, regardless of age. And that included my old cocker spaniel whose idea of hyperactivity was to walk slowly from food bowl to dog bed ad back again for another long snooze.

I'm lucky to have a large, dishevelled but "dog proof" safe kitchen and that's where I leave Nips when I'm out. He's never caused any damage other than a well chewed leg of the old pine table which I'll eventually turn around so the chewed bit isn't visible. However, the rest of the house simply has far too many potentially lethal temptations that I can't be certain that he won't, one day, be tempted to indulge in. Dogs have a wonderful habit of proving assumptions wrong too - I thought we were well and truly over the chewing (chewing that hadn't involved things with wires either!) until the day my OH walked into the bedroom carrying the the telephone handset. The working bit of the phone now being quite separate from it. :rolleyes:

I'm sure there are dogs who are safe with the run of the house. Mine might be one of them. But I'm not planning to find out since I'd have no peace of mind if he had the right to roam in my absence!

My dogs all have the run of the house, luckily they have never chewed or broken anything, they all just settle down as long as they get left with their biscuit treat.  However, I don't let a new puppy have the run of the house until they learn to settle.  They are usually crated but in a room where they can see the older dogs.  Because the older dogs are in a routine and settle the puop learns what is required.  However I am also lucky in that our working routine is such that I come home approximately 45-60 mins after my husband leaves. Mind you the dogs can be left a lot longer than that without getting into trouble.

It depends on the dog! Luckily mine have never really been chewers, and I've left them with the run of downstairs as soon as they were reliably housetrained - usually around 6 months.

I wouldn't trust my 4 year old Yankee alone as he's a paper thief and would destroy any tissues / books lying around. My 22 month old girl has been left for a few hours and has been ok, but I don't often leave her just in case she does one of her 'I can't be bothered to walk 10 steps to wee in the garden' tricks. But my 4 year old Cavalier boy is entirely trustworthy, you can leave him the whole day if necessary (not that I do that more than once a year!) and everything will be left as it was. The only thing with him is I have to remember to close the bedroom door or he ruffles up my quilt and makes himself a nest. :-)

Thank you all very much for your advice. Poppy has always had the run of the whole house from being house trained so I felt mean shutting Rosie in the kitchen but as I said she seems perfectly happy and doesn't seem to miss me at all! She's more interested in getting the treats out of the kong and ball! She hasn't damaged anything at all,not that it would matter as it's an old tatty kitchen anyway!! She's very clean too as she always goes on the newspaper I leave by the back door if I'm out for a while.You've made me feel a lot happier now that I know it's not cruel to leave her shut in one room.Maybe in a few months I'll try leaving her for short lengths of time with Poppy,shutting doors upstairs and see how she gets on!

Jazz has the run of the house when we are out but having filmed him for behavioural problems in the past he generally lays on the spare bed watching tv :D I kid you not lol. 

When we first got him he was very destructive, but like other have said this depends on the dog some never chew others chew/destruct for england.