# What age can he roam alone at home?



## Moka-papa (Jan 30, 2006)

As a new chi owner and a person new to dogs, I am wonding at what age I can start to let my puppy roam alone in the living room? 
Now, whenever I leave home, I put Moka in his babay pen that has his house, pee pads, water. He hates being penned up. Now that he is potty trained, when can I start thinking about letting him out to stay in the living room area (where his pen is) when I am gone? He's 4 months.
The living room is pretty puppy-proof already. I let him play there when I am home and he is good to run back to his pen to do his duty.

Maybe he's still too small, but he is bored in his pen.


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## nikki0077 (Feb 3, 2006)

i have never left my pup at home seeing as i have a puppy bag and i take him everywhere if they dont want him in there even in his bag i dont stay lol hes very spoiled but id say if u have to leave him home dont pen him up make sure he can get to all of his stuff leave lots of toys and maybe a little noise music or tv on and puppy proof again just my opinion and make sure theres no cords he can bite into all that good stuff


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## Courtney (Jun 2, 2005)

I think Diesel was probably 5-6 months when we left him in the house alone. He's never been a chewer, thank goodness!!  I think I just realized that he wasn't going to do anything and left him for a short amount of time the first couple of times. When we came home and nothing was destroyed we realized that he was able to stay home alone. 

Though, we do have a 2.5 year old Cocker Spaniel that still sleeps in his crate at night & while we are gone. If we left him out of his crate when we were gone it would look like a tornado came through our house. :?


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## LadyBelle1 (Sep 10, 2005)

I think it all depends on the dog. Fudge and Belle can be left out with no problems but Flower and Stormy are either in their crates or gated in the kitchen because they both chew up everything.


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## dlambertz (Nov 13, 2005)

start off with your pup left in a enclosed room. say the kitchen and for a short period of time the first time. when you find that is ok than expand the area to encompass more of the home. mia, our afghan hound was not housetrained when she arrived. she has been in three weeks and free in the kitchen overnight and while we run to the store,etc for on week now. when she exhibits she can be trusted (she doesn't potty but she is chewing) she will be allowed more area.


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## rach (Jan 12, 2006)

I don't leave tilly alone. she either comes with me or goes in her cage.
as i have two big dogs and i'd be so worried in 1 of them hurt her. although they both love her accidents happen.


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## Nine (Mar 29, 2005)

Milo is hardly ever left alone. On the rare occassion he is, we gate him in the kitchen with his food, water, pee pads, bed and his toys. I don't think I would ever be willing to let Milo just roam freely in the house. I just don't feel that it would be safe. I guess I am just an over-protective chi mom. LOL!


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## foxywench (Feb 7, 2005)

with mine they have free run of my room and have done since vixie was 6 months when i got her and dodger was 5 months. they get thier pottypad, food and water, and have a ramp onto the bed (no worries about them getting up on the bed then huritng themselves getting down, they have all thier toys in there and its a well puppyproofed room, all cables are well up and luckily they have nevr chewed the baseboards.
id give them free run of the house except my parents have a cat that would happily eat them if given a chance.

so long asyou feel hes safe with the potty training, id probably limit him to a single room, (living room if thats the room hes used to and your not worried about messes) depending on how your house is laid out id try and block off any main rooms.
(were a raised ranch so we have open plan living room dining room and kitchen then a hall leading to the bathrooms and bedrooms all on one level, and a set of stairs leading to the downstirs. in our set up id close all the bedroom doors and the bathroom doors, and put a gate at the top of the stairs so they cant fall down and hurt themselves. then let them have free range over the upstairs living room dining room and kitchen. makesure food and water is available and make sure potty pad is always available in an easy access place. id leave either the tv on low volume, or the radio on low, just as background noise. and make sure he has all his toys there to play with. good toys to leave him with are puzzle toys, balls filled with kibble peices that fall out when he knocks the ball around, or a kong, filled with kibble then cover the opening with a thick layer of peanut butter, these will keep him from geting bored. and make sure of course he has his bed.
if he can get on the furniture look into making some kind of ramp or leaving cushions on the floor around the base of the furniture he can get on, just so he wont hurt himself if he jumps down.

and then my other suggestion is with this being a new setup for him, start with leaving for short times...and as you feel more secure build up the time hes alone...

while its great to be able to take your dog everywhere with you, its very impractical. theres ALOT of places where dogs arnt allowed that you have to go to reguarly...like the grocery store... so getting him used to being alone even for short amounts of time is very much worth while.
i cant wait to get my own house, as when i do the dogs will have free run of the house.


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## Ory&C (Mar 20, 2005)

I too think it depends on a dog, but i don't think any dog will ever be 100% safe. Specially a small Chihuahua that can get hurt easily. I wouldn't let him roam around unsupervised till at least one year of age....


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## lalaNlucky (Jan 10, 2006)

i don't think ever, i think the importance of crating them while you are not home for long periods of time prevents them from getting into things they shouldn't & it also gives them a sense of security, dogs are den animals, they like feeling as if they have a place of their own.


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## CM Katie (Sep 28, 2005)

Carl's not a chewer- I've never really had a problem with him chewing on things he shouldn't. (My old dog used to chew on shoes, chairs, books, etc.)
But Carl's been difficult to potty train. Two months ago we started letting him run around the house more when we're home. He's 5 months old now and still has an accident fairly often. He's getting a little better....but I can't wait for him to be 100% trained!! 
Then he'll be able to have run of the house more- like if we're gone to the store for an hour, not if we're at work, etc.


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## Tucker-N-Jasper (Aug 6, 2005)

Tucker is in a small closed off area. He's reliably potty trained and doesn't usually chew but he seems to be more nervous when he has the run of the house. I work during the day, my son has a varied schedule so he is in and out throughout the day. Tucker can be alone for up to 8 hours but more often its less than 4. When I've let him have the larger space (say include the living room and hallway) he barks and barks the full time we're out.. check with the neighbors with that. If he's left in the kitchen/dining area he's fine and only barks occasionally.


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## SkyDreamer777 (Jan 6, 2006)

I allow Sara to roam while I'm at home but she goes in the bathroom while I am gone. She's still missing the puppy pad every now and then so it easier.


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## bullsgal12 (Nov 13, 2005)

At this point in time I don't feel comfortable leaving Gidget alone to roam the house. There are too many things he can get into. I might gate her in the kitchen and let her roam there but she chews alot. I'm afraid she'd chew on the cabinet corners and the kitchen table legs. 

In the laundry room, she's already chewed a part of the wooden blinds, pieces of the base board around the floor and the door, chewed up a large piece of baseboard that goes around the window. :x

She is definitely a chewer. I would hope that might change if we spayed her and/or if we get another chi to keep her entertained during the day.


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## NaliaLee (Jul 16, 2005)

Ok me being the freakish paranoid person that I am will probably not leave Pedro roaming until he is wayyyyyy older. He is eight months old and still chews occasionally on things like plants etc. I am to afraid he will break his legs jumping off stuff (he's a little crazy sometimes!) or eat something that he shouldn't. I prefer to just leave him in his crate where he sleeps comfortably.


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## Kari (May 13, 2004)

Mr. Peepers is 2 and Buster turns 2 next month and they don't have free run of my house and I'm not sure if they ever will. I have them enclosed in my kitchen with their toys, bed and water. They seem happy in there, so I don't think I will be changing that any time soon.


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## Moka-papa (Jan 30, 2006)

Luckily so far Moka isn't a BIG chewer, (but that doesn't mean he won't start) so for right now it isn't a big issue since he leaves the table legs, furniture, slippers alone. 

Whenever I'm home I always take him out of his pen and let him run around the living room and bedroom. I block off the kitchen. 

I've observed him quietly from the kitchen that when he gets bored with being with me he usually finds a cozy place to lie down and sleep in the living room. His "living-room" house or a blanket, a cushion--even the laundry when it's not put right away. Maybe hs is still a little young and I can wait. But a good idea as somebody said was to block off part of the room and then give him more space as time goes on and really make that area puppy proof.

I have 4 dog books and none of them mention much about the age he can maybe be left out of his pen alone.

Thanks.


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## rlu929s (Sep 23, 2005)

We've thought about letting Lily stay home with run of the kitchen and living room. Or maybe the kitchen if I can find a way to block it off. We have tile so messes wouldn't be too bad if she messed up. She goes on her pad when she has to but here lately has been waiting till we get home. 

The only thing we feel bad about is we gate lily up and she's alone for 9 hours a day. She does great but we still feel bad so we are looking into a new CHI. We're hoping to get one a year old or so somewhere because we dont' have the time to go through the puppy thing right now.


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