TITAN AND HIS CRATE

[Apreston]

Hi All;
Wondering what is a good age to leave our guy alone out of his crate.
We leave in the morning for 5 hours (in Giant Crate/Run)then are home for a walk play time and some lunch and then we are back another 4 hours and are home for the night.
TODAY is the first day I am leaving him out of crate for the afternoon  They grow so fast.
I think I am just being over protective...b ut I just dont want him to get hurt. I feel bad leaving everyday looking at his sad eyes behind bars!! 
I want him to be free all day... with limitations of course...only allowed in certain rooms. He is 9 months now any comments on the first time they left there big alone at home not in crate.
Thanks oh ya wish me luck!

[Mojo1269]

I would err on the side of caution with a large dog.  Even the best behaved dogs get bored.  When a beagle gets board he chews the tabel leg, when Titan get bored he will eat the table.
I typically go around 1-1.5 years for most of my dogs.  My hound still ate some crown molding after that age and my Dane before him ate some mini-blinds.  Butler, my 15 month old Mastiff speds M-F while I am @ work in a 6'X10' run I have in my basement for him that I have pimped out to look like the Canine Ritz Carlton.

[Apreston]

Well we have left him for periods up to 1 1/2 hour with no accidents so.... that being said we have locked him into the kitchen and hallway...so the potential of missing a table leg at the end of the day could be high!! 
But...he has never been inclinded to eat anything other than his food and bones. We left lots of toys a new big bone and some water... I guess we will never know how he will be if we dont try. I WISH I had a web cam so i could watch him at work and see what he's up too... 
Only time will tell 2 more hours of work and then off to the home...he's been alone now for 30 mins... du du duuuuu 

[Mojo1269]

I would think you will be fine for the afternoon.  All day is where I get creeped out a bit.  I did not care as much when I was younger and my house was full of hand me down, but now I am holder and have some nicer things it is more of a concern for me.

[Apreston]

SUCESS!!!!
No accidents...no table legs missing  .... and best of all I am so positive that he slept on his landing the whole time. We left his toys out and a brand NEW bone and nothing was moved. I dont think he knew what to do!! 
So we are going to try again this afternoon and see if we have the same results! I am so excited nothing happened! He is in his crate this morning and I think for a couple weeks/month we will let him out in the afternoon and if everything is good we can try for the mornings! 

[Mojo1269]

Awesome!!!

[lorim2]

Way to go Titan!!

[lookingfornewf]

Good Luck! I started at 4 month with Clifford. He did great for a few hours at a time, until he hit 6 months old. Now you can't even leave him for 15 minutes or he will chew up something, and he has lots of toys and another dog, so he is back in the crate and we are working on it.

[mastiffmomoftwo]

Hey that's great.
We did not let Beau into the rest of the house on his own till he was over a year old.  Even now, we baby gate the rest of the house off, and he gets the kitchen, family room and small dog room.  Both the dogs are fine now, but they still like to sleep in their crates, so they are still set up.  I just have taken their doors off.  They both feel very safe
in their crates.