Run of the House - When did you take the plunge?

[Harrysmum]

Good afternoon everyone!

A question please for you all? Harry is now just one year old. He goes into his crate in our room at night about 10 p.m., goes to sleep, then wakes up whenever we do the next morning, he's always done that and we don't hear a peep from him.

He doesn't like going in there during the day (can't blame him, he's probably bored of it!), but I'm home most of the time and he's usually with me anyway, so it doesn't matter. If I have to go out where he can't, he goes in the kitchen with his bed and his things and that's fine too.

What I would like to know please is - what age did you start letting your littlies have run of the house? And how did you approach it? I'd love to have your input on this please! Thank you. Sally + Harry x

[Ladym]

Hi, The only time mine have run of the house is when I am home. During the work week they are each gated in their own area. If I have to run a quick errand I won't gate them but if it's going to be more than a few minutes they are gated. I feel better knowing that they are safe and out of harms way.

[yavenay]

It took me about 2 and half yrs before I let Brandi have run of the house. But she is older. I got her when she was 7 yrs old and she's 11 now. I kept her in the exp-pen until she got used to the potty pads. Now she uses the potty pads exclusively (she still goes outside too when weather permits). She even gets up in the middle of the night to go use her potty pad so I'm comfortable with giving her the run of the house. What's really weird is now the fricking cat has start to pee on the potty pads (not sure why now after all this time but she still poops in her litter box).


Also she's older so most of day is spent lounging so no worries with her getting into something. Actually for me I was more worried about her hurting herself when she was in her expen all day because she spent most of her time trying to escape it. Now that she is out, she mainly just sleeps in my bed most of the day.

[RileyDC]

Riley was about 13-months old when I gave him full run of the bedroom..... and then about 14-months he had full run of the place.

Here is my threads on it:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...n-bedroom.html

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...run-place.html

[KazzyK810]

ZoE got the run of the house at about 16 weeks. She was fully potty-trained by 12 weeks, but it took me an extra month for me to gain the trust in her needed to let her run free.

[chachi]

Originally Posted by KazzyK810

ZoE got the run of the house at about 16 weeks. She was fully potty-trained by 12 weeks, but it took me an extra month for me to gain the trust in her needed to let her run free.

wow that is great she was potty trained at such a young age. Either she was a very smart girl or you were a very dilligent owner or both

[katirob]

Gracie is almost 7 months old. We have a small, single story home that she has the run of when we're home, except we do keep the bedroom doors closed. That way we can keep a better eye on her. She's pad trained, but is doing a little 'marking' (I know - she's a girl, what can I say!) when my DH is home but not when she's home alone with me. Don't know what that's all about. When we're not here, she's gated in the kitchen.

We spend part of our year in AZ and part in WA - we can to AZ when we'd only had her for 6 weeks, and didn't have the run of the WA house when we left, so we'll have to re-train some when we get back to WA.

[RileyDC]

Originally Posted by chachi

wow that is great she was potty trained at such a young age. Either she was a very smart girl or you were a very dilligent owner or both

Riley was also potty trained at about 12-weeks old.....
I told the Vet I didn't know how I did it but that he was using the litter box/peepee pads every time. She said their bladders aren't fully formed until they are about 16-weeks old and that he was doing that, because he was very Smart.

[AmyD102]

Kiwi had the run of our first apartment at about 16 weeks, the reason being he was escaping from every pen/area we put him in! So we figured why not! He had a few accidents but was actually pretty good, we closed the bathroom and bedrooms doors, so he only had the living room and kitchen. When we moved into our current home we still closed the bathroom and 2 bedrooms doors, but he had the rest of the house and was fine by then.(he was just shy of a year when we moved)

Little Lola is now around 14 weeks and has not yet escaped her pen so she still only has her little area. The current plan is to wait until she is 16 weeks and then give her the whole kitchen since she is doing awesome with her potty training and see how she does. We will then probably slowly increase her area as we feel comfortable with her training!

[LDandPasquale]

Pasquale is 3 and he only gets run of the house IF i'm home. If i'm not home, he is in his crate. To me its not a matter of potty training, its a matter of safety. It puts my mind to rest knowing he is safe in his crate. If he wasnt, Id be thinking ..."Oh is he stuck under the couch? Or the bed? Or somewhere else he shouldnt be?"

[Britster]

Jackson was pretty young.... well, we were staying at my dads house about two nights a week at the time, and he was probably 4 1/2 months old when he got the whole downstairs with their dog. The upstairs has always been blocked off so the cats have their safe haven away from the dogs.

At our regular house (my moms), I have a whole "apartment" to myself (bedroom, living space and bathroom). Originally, he was kept in a crate when I left and at night but that only lasted a few weeks. Then he was kept in an expen for a bit, then went to being gated in my bedroom, then got full run of my entire side of the house, then by 7 months he had the full house (my side, plus the rest of the house which is fairly big). He spends most of his time in my bedroom though.

I think it depends on the dog. Jackson has just always been very trustworthy and he does not get into things when we aren't home (when we ARE home, it's another story LOL) but when left and no people are home, he just sleeps. He's now 3 and it's never been a problem.

[Maximo]

For safety reasons, my 2 and 3 year old boys still don't have run of the house. I keep them confined from the stairway and rooms that have things that are dangerous to them. They are mostly in the "great room" (kitchen, breakfast, family room) or in my large bedroom/bath area.

When I have opened the doors to the front rooms, they will go sniff and come right back.

[Namor]

He likes to sleep in his crate in the bedroom at night and we gave Deuce run of the house during the day at about a 10 months. I retired so I was home quite a bit and he tends to follow me around. I left a pee pad out when I left home but noticed that he just slept in the front window until I came back. Occasionally he would get into mischief like chewing on a window sill - We stopped that one quickly! His mischief hasn't been anything dangerous. We have one bathroom with a low toilet paper dispenser that he likes to unroll to get the cardboard center so I usually close the door so he can't get into that. The mail coming through the door is a constant challenge we are working on. Other than that he's a good boy as long as we keep underwear and socks off the floor!!!!!

[Lil Ladies]

We let Soph have full run at about 3 month old. She was potty trained (or at least we thought -until we found a poop graveyard under our bed!) and we had puppy proofed. She mainly was beside me anyway. When we left, I hid treat everywhere to see where she went, and she didnt get even one! Just sleeps while we are away. Good little girl!

[DvlshAngel985]

I think it was 18 months for me. Kaji has free roam of my bedroom, living room, and bathroom where his potty pad is. The only place he is not allowed to enter on his own is the kitchen. At 3 years old, I don't trust him not to get into the kitchen trash.