So I've been toying with the idea of not crating the girls for a while now. Did a trial run yesterday while I ran to the grocery store and they did fine, as I expected. They have not done anything distructive in a long time, so I'm not too worried about them chewing or eating things. I know a lot of you have transitioned your dogs from crate users to free roam of the house, so I just want some feedback on your experiences.

Do you think they like having free roam of the house? Luka really loves her crate. Sometimes she just goes in it even if we are not leaving, so I don't want to take the crate away from her. I also need them to still be use to staying in their crates for travel purposes, like when we are staying at our cabin (they try to jump out the windows to chase animals, so free roaming is not an option!), at a hotel, or at my parents house. I worry if I leave them out of the crate most of the time, that they may not be quiet and well behaved when we visit other places. I think my plan is to randomly leave them out of the crate, usually when I know I'll be gone for a little longer, but sometimes have them stay in their crates so they still are comfortable with it. Does it sound silly to do both? Or should I just pick one or the other?

I also worry about them interacting together when I'm not home. They have never gotten into an all out fight, but for some reason I still worry about it happening. I'm about 99% postitive that they would just spend most of the time sleeping on the couch or bed, but that 1% of me still worries about what could happen.

I would appreciate hearing anyones positive or negative experiences, as well as any transitioning suggestions!

I personally think they like the freedom better than the crate, but some dog's prefer being crated (my male Dalmatian LOVES his crate)! I wish I could trust Hayden 100% to leave him out all the time, but that simply isn't the case. His new favorite chew toy is our couch, so he's been crated since he put a hole in it. If you can trust you're dog's then I say go for it. No sense in keeping them cooped up if they don't have to be. Just leave the crate's open so they can go in and out as they please.

I don't think it's going to make a difference in how they behave in other places being crated. You're just going to have to try it out and if they start acting up, start crating again at home.

I don't know, up until Embry was 1.5 he was never crated, but then he started marking the house. All of mine are crated when I'm gone. I know for the most part I could trust Embry out, but I don't want to come home to pee in the kitchen.

I Don't have any answers for you as for mine Blaze is only crated when we both leave the house he has not slept in the crate at night since we got him (at 9 months of age).
Kerian loves her crate she sleeps in it during the day when we are at home and has no problem going into it at night. My husband would like to let her sleep out of her crate but she loves it and has only been with us 2 weeks (she is 2 years old now.)

I'm wondering about this too. Right now both my dogs are crate at night and when we leave, Ruby is 1 and Balon about 4 months, a bit too young for me to trust lol

We randomly let them have free roam of the house at night. Finnick has only had one accident since we started, and prefers to sleep under the coffee table...and snow opens my sons door and lays on his bean bag by his crib all night.

When we first got snow she was a nightmare...she has consumed a grocery list of food before we started crating her. Lol

Melissa, im sorry i cant remember how old Luka and Kitty are...any ways i would not trust a husky under 2 uncrated, well thats what i found out anyways....since we adopted S&J and jack was about 1yr to 1.5yrs old and sierra was 6 we crated them for a good few months before we tested them and they failed, we waited i want to say a good yr to 1.5yrs to test them again, this time we husky proofed the downstairs, well we thought any ways. we have now learned what to remove that they will eat and so far, unless we miss something they are great out of the crate while were at work. they have NEVER had a blood bath and i dont really worry about that happening. i know they just sleep on the sofa all day. we still have the crates up and we feed every meal in there and from time to time i catch one of them in there chilling out. we have only had to crate them once since the free roam and that was at eddys. i think they were only worked up because of the other lose dogs and not so much that they had to stay in the crate. i say do what makes you feel comfortable as far as leaving them out, if they keep proving they can handle it let them stay out. i think they would be fine traveling if you still keep the crates in their lives, will the crates be in the area of the house they have free roam in or you feed in them or you do lock they up ever so often. its up to you. let us know how it goes

You can do both. Mine are sometimes crated and sometime just out on the dog proof porch (where their crates are) when we are both gone. We trust them to sleep in the room with us at night not crated. We still haven't left them in the house free roam with no one home and I'm not sure we will anytime soon, mainly cause we have the porch and it's so easy to put them out there.

If you really want to give them more freedom, then I'd just let them free roam if I was only going to be gone a short while and crated if longer.

jbealer wrote:

Melissa, im sorry i cant remember how old Luka and Kitty are...any ways i would not trust a husky under 2 uncrated,

Agreed. How are old are Luka and Kitty? I'm pretty sure they're over two, right? We tried leaving Mya uncreated at about 2 years old and she ate through the wall . We didn't give it another try until she was about 3 and it was only in our bedroom. Now she has free roam and does fine. She either sleeps in our bed all day or in the couch. We actually tried leaving Kody loose with Mya (in our bedroom) twice while we ran to Walgreens (were gone for maybe 20min) and he did ok too. No blood bath either and I was EXTREMELY worried because you all know Mya's a diva. I still wouldn't give Kody full roam of the house for the entire day for at least another year. He'll be two in August.

I would try them out little by little. Leaving them a little longer each time and see how it goes. As long you feel confident that they won't go at it then I say go for it!! Just leave their crates open so they have the option to go in there.

MelissaI wrote:

jbealer wrote:

Melissa, im sorry i cant remember how old Luka and Kitty are...any ways i would not trust a husky under 2 uncrated,

Agreed. How are old are Luka and Kitty? I'm pretty sure they're over two, right?

Yep, Luka is 5 and Kitty is 3. Totally agree, would never leave a husky under 2 uncrated or any new addition! Already learned that lesson with my first husky! She was older than two, but was adopted so we had no idea what her personality was like. We decided to try and not crate train her, and boy, was that a stupid idea! First time we left her, I came home to her on the kitchen counter eating a box of stovetop stuffing! And we had only been gone for 15 minutes! I had never crated any of my dogs before that, so I was reluctant to start. But then again I had always had collies or shelties and never crazy huskies! After a few months of dealing with never knowing what our house would look like when we returned, I purchaces a crate. Ironically I never got to use it, she ended up passing away the day after I bought it.

I knew after our first husky experience that the next dog would definitly be crate trained. I feel like Luka spent a good portion of her first year with us in the crate! She was such a naughty puppy! I started leaving both girls uncrated at night time while we slept once they hit one year of age, but they just sleep on the bed or on the floor by my bed, so I don't worry about them getting into anything. Uncrated before 2 years, maybe even 3 for Luka, would have ended in something getting eaten! They have both matured a lot over the last year, so its probably about time I started to trust them just a bit more. Guess I'll never know unless I try!

Lu&Katsmom wrote:

I started leaving both girls uncrated at night time while we slept once they hit one year of age, but they just sleep on the bed or on the floor by my bed, so I don't worry about them getting into anything.

Oh, and all three sleep loose in our room at night. Asia is only 7 months, but does great at night! Kody sleeps in bed with us and the girls sleep on the doggie beds next to me. Mya might jump on the bed throughout the night when she wants to, but they're really good at night!

I'm gonna speak out against this whole "not trust a husky under 2 uncrated" thing. Bella was never crate trained and despite all of the pictures I post of her destruction - her destruction is far FAR less than her well behaved manners. She also hasn't had an accident in the house since she was about 4-5 months old. She's only had probably 10-15 (out of a year and a half we've had her) times where she's destroyed something (paper products mostly) and ~5 of those were actually big messes. MOST of them I can contribute to adolescence and ALL of them I can contribute to my irresponsibility. Even a crate trained dog can destroy things.

I'm not against crating at all - in fact I'm a big advocate of it because I think there are many uses for it.

To this day she is STILL not crated. (though she is acclimated/being acclimated to crates)

I'm gonna catch a little scrutiny for this, but mine are not crated either. They are both acclimated and have been in crates with out a fuss, but they are not typically kept in crates while we are gone or at night. At my parents cottag we crate them if we are going out, but at home there is no need.

Delilah was crated the first fees months and she never complained. We did that because of the cats. When we moved into the new house, we sectioned off the basement for the cats and Delilah has free roam of the upstairs. She is just now two and all she does is lay around. Cato doesn't get free run yet, he is confined to the bed room, but that is his space, and at times it feels like he is "room" trained because its his safe spot. He has never had an accident there, he will gladly go there and take naps, he doesn't wine or anything. He is only 5 months.

I might have odd huskies, I can admit that, but as long as we clean up anything that could be paper we are fine..lout even that has gotten better. Ever since wwe have gotten Cato Delilah has stopped shredding. I honestly think she was just lonely.

FWIW, when we decided to let Delilah have free run, we did a bit of a trial and we left her alone and watched here through the kitchen window. She nevere once realized it because as soon as we left she fell asleep! She likes her alone time on the couches.

I tend to believe it depends on the dog.... they let you know when they are ready to not be crated.

I'll be the first to agree that we got lucky with Tika for a lot of things. She isn't destructive, she isn't a chewer, she doesn't food fixate, and she's good with cats. I know most of these examples are the exception and not the rule.

Tika is close to 15 months old and we don't crate her at all any more. Travel time + lunch + normal shift means I'm not home for 10 hours a day. When I get home she NEEDS TO PEE.... but apart from that she is just happy to see us.

Mistakes happen, I come home every now and then to see a bunch of Kelly's cloth on Tika's Doggy bed... I don't why she drags them there and doesn't tear them apart but she does.... things are knocked over here and there but nothing is broken.

We did alot of testing before we left her for the full 10. and we do our best to tire her, and now Ripley, out before heading off to work. Kelly and I take turns (argue) with the morning (6am) jog / blade.... The more they get out of their system the less destructive they can be.


To me it comes down to how comfortable your pup is being alone and how well they know your rules WHEN YOUR NOT THERE TO ENFORCE THEM. Some never get out of their crate (they like the security) and some get out early.

in short..... Dogs are like a box of chocolate...... You never know which one is going to be hard and break one of your teeth forcing a root canal.

~Chris~

Agreed Chris! We got lucky with a lot..too bad we didn't get to skip the digging lol

No the digging is ever present


I built a sandbox a couple of weeks back and Tika seems to be taking to it.

We've also had success burying Tika's excrement in holes she has dug and then covering them back up.... I was told by our breeder that "a Healthy animal will never dig through their own faecal matter"

Those two things in tandem seem to be giving Kelly's plants a chance to grow this year

~Chris~

My dogs sleep loose in the kitchen. Cheyenne, Mishka, and Mickey will sometimes sleep free in the house but for the most part everyone is in the kitchen during the times I'm not home. Rodeo has good and bad days but the crate is an important tool which we have always implemented. They are all crate trained and enjoy their crates.

Niraya wrote:

I'm gonna speak out against this whole "not trust a husky under 2 uncrated" thing. Bella was never crate trained and despite all of the pictures I post of her destruction - her destruction is far FAR less than her well behaved manners. She also hasn't had an accident in the house since she was about 4-5 months old. She's only had probably 10-15 (out of a year and a half we've had her) times where she's destroyed something (paper products mostly) and ~5 of those were actually big messes. MOST of them I can contribute to adolescence and ALL of them I can contribute to my irresponsibility. Even a crate trained dog can destroy things.

I'm not against crating at all - in fact I'm a big advocate of it because I think there are many uses for it.

To this day she is STILL not crated. (though she is acclimated/being acclimated to crates)

Agreed.
Neither of my dogs have ever been crated and I've had both since they were 8 weeks. Nothing really destroyed and no accidents... all depends on the dog, your training abilities and how much you tire them out before leaving if you have crazy energy dogs.

Heather! wrote:

depends on the dog, your training abilities and how much you tire them out before leaving if you have crazy energy dogs.

Very true!

Tried going crateless again last night while we went on a bike ride for about an hour. Both did fine. We did pull up some of the blinds for Kitty because she likes to look out the window. She was there when we left and there when we got back. I hope she didn't stand there the entire time! I