Escape Artist!

Our puppy Rex got out of his crate on Friday while we were at work. We have no clue how he did it... Our friend goes in to look at him mid afternoon to let him out to pee and to play and walk him and just visit with him for about an hour. She opened our door and there he was greeting her, haha, must have taken her by surprise... Well, every single door in our house was open so he had complete freedom to roam the house for god knows how long! And to our delight the only thing he got into was the garbage in our bathrooms, there were tissues everywhere, but other then that he didn't touch a thing! We were very surprised especially that he didn't touch my daughter's room, with all her toys on her floor he could have had a ball in her room... But nope, he took the tissues out of her garbage but thats it! We couldn't beleive it! Goes to show how training works! Since we first brought him we said the word No from day one when he went to chew or nibble and about a few weeks after that he never chewed on anything, we've been so lucky! And it's a good sign b/c one day when he's an adult we'd like to be able to leave him out of his crate, so now we know to just close the bathroom doors and we should be fine:) Now we keep the doors closed just incase he gets out again! It seems to be impossible to us that he got out, but if he learned something that we don't know about I don't doubt he could do it again, so better safe then sorry! Would have loved to have had a hidden camera on him though just to see what he did, he probably spent most of the time sleeping on our couch:angel:

Just goes to show you that he doesn't have be an adult for him to not be in the crate....:D

He just wanted to let you know he's a big boy now....;)

Seems like you have done a great job with him on the not chewing things when he was younger....:thumbs up

All my dogs have had free run of the house by 6 months old.

Alot of times people wait till they are adults for them to do this...But you really don't have to....

Yes I can understand if they are destructive or chewers....But if they are not,all you have to do is give them a chance to prove they can be trusted.:)

See with me,I just don't like hearing a dog that is well trained,not a chewer,not destructive and house trained being left in a crate..Yeah I know I hear the "he likes it",well if he likes it then just leave the door open and he will go in it when he wants.....:D

But I am so glad to hear that you have someone coming over to let Rex out for an hour....:)

I always loved coming home and having their wagging butt great me...And I still do...:D

Mind you,I never crated either...I just blocked the kitchen.

Hmm now you have me thinking maybe we should test it out... He's only 7 months old though, we're more worried he'll pee in the house b/c we have carpet. He never does it at home but we're gone all day, so he'll have more of a chance to do it when we're out. Do you still think we should give it a try? We work 9 to 5, and our friend comes in everyday around 1ish for an hour...

He got out of his cage again today so looks like we may have no choice but to just keep him out! We can't understand at all how he's doing it.. I mean we know what he's doing but to do it is really hard for even us to do so its just boggling us.. He did a bit more damage this time round. We had the bathroom doors closed but the upstairs bedrooms were still open, and in our spare room is where our computer is and he got to a holder of pens and pencils, chewed them all up and there were lots in there... he got some glue, doesn't appear to have eaten it, there's still about the same amount left but that was downstairs and on our floor... Also when he gets out of his crate he knocks the whole crate over which puts the water everywhere, so our floor was a pool... So we will now be closing all doors, so he's left only with our living room and kitchen area.. not much he can do, i've take away all my candles incase he gets to them.. he hasn't touched anything in that room yet, but if he's left with nothing else to do he just might, so I'm trying to make sure there isn't much mischeif he can get into... but wow, we can't beleive he keeps getting out... too smart for his own good, lol... see to your response Mona_B he's a great dog, but thats b/c we're always there watching him and training him.. left alone he could be a totally different story..

thats b/c we're always there watching him and training him.. left alone he could be a totally different story..

Exactly...You have been on your toes training him...I am soooo sure if this wasn't done,then there would have been a HUGE mess at home....:D

What you can do is when you leave,leave him some of "his" toys out...Better yet,a Kong filled with treats..This way he has something to do...Also,get your friend to tire Rex out a little more...A tired puppy is a happy puppy...:D ....See how this all goes.

And yes,keep all doors closed and just puppy proof the areas he is allowed..:)

I agree with Mona. Why don't you just gate him to one area of the house with bones/toys,and gradually give him more freedom.

I sure wouldn't like to sit in a closet all day!

Well we decided to let him out of his crate today and see what happens. We've anticipated for anything, so we baby proofed the cupboards, he's never gone into them before but being alone all day im sure he'd try.. I've moved anything he can get that would hurt him or anything he could do damage to. He can't get into any food... So there isn't much he can do wrong, that we could thing of, I say that b/c I never underestimate him, he's very smart, lol... we've left him out all his toys, and he always plays with them, so hopefully they'll keep him occupied. We closed all our doors upstairs. Our friend is going to call us when she visits him to let us know how he did, I'll keep you all posted, lol... It's like reality tv on Rex, haha... I wish I had a web cam to see what he was doing right now, every 5 minutes im thinking, I wonder what he's doing right now? haha, he's probably still sitting at the door wondering when were coming back. We tried baby gating him in the kitchen but that doesn't work at all, he gets out of a solid steel crate, baby gates would be nothing to him, plus the gate put awful marks on our walls. Our bathroom is smaller then his crate pretty much so wouldn't make a difference putting him in there... It will be so wonderful though if he's a good boy, he's done so much so far and been so good, we're such proud parents! I have faith he'll do well:) I'll post when I hear from the friend, lol...

Well it didn't go so good today. We had a real nice mess when we came home. Keep in mind he has never done any of this when were home, he's never even attempted to do any of this, but goes to show what they'll do when left alone... He pooed and peed on our carpet, stepped in the poo and treaded it through the hall... He got every single door upstairs open, we have 3 bedrooms... I give him credit for being so smart, but too smart for his own good. He scratched our front door up like crazy... He tore our blinds down off our window and they were in pieces. He took our lamp and chewed it to pieces. Was on all the beds which he's never even been on before... My daughter has one of those big bottles that you put coins in, in her room thats almost full, so god knows how he tipped it over but had coins everywhere, and chewed the plastic bottle. I think thats about it, he had some things on the floor but they didn't look chewed or anything.. We still can't beleive he got the doors open.. So we won't be trying that for a while longer. We've also tied his crate up at the corners so there's no way he'll get out of it now during the day. But I guess 7 months old is too young to trust. He's still a puppy, but alteast we tried...:sad:

I'm soooooooo sorry buffytwin.

I was hoping he would do just fine...I guess I was wrong.....:(

Guess he got his taste in freedom and decided to go nuts....LOL

I think you need to start him off slowly then...:)

See with me I started when they were about 4 1/2-5 months old.And like I said,they had free run by 6 months.

What you can do is try blocking the kitchen.If you can..I didn't use a babygate..I measured out the doorway.Then I had a piece of plywood cut out.Bought some hinges and a latch...What it ends up looking like is a half door.The latch was put on the outside...Mind you I'm not sure you want to go this way..But it does work....:)

This way he can have this as his room....Take it from there and see how it goes.:) ...If you come home and everything is still in one piece,then make sure you praise him like crazy.:)

Ya well exactly we tried.. Definitely have to do it slowly.. we cant board off the kitchen b/c the walls are too far away from eachother, and to do it anywhere else like our hallway or something it would be in the middle of the house, and we love our puppy to death but just aren't willing to do that... Especially since we know we'll be moving once we're married... But he's only 7 months, so we'll try him again when he's over a year old, which was what we had agreed on in the first place, but we just got too eager.. Live and Learn, lol... maybe if we go out for an hour or less we'll try him and see how he does, and if he does good like you said praise him like crazy.. I have total faith that one day he'll be free as a bird in our house, lol... just not now:o