I think it all comes down to the individual dog. We leave roxy out all the time and she touches nothing and basically sleeps all day. Now milo on the other hand since he is a pup he is crated when we are not home.

Ahhhh no. Uh-uh. Not my dogs, not in my house! While they have mellowed, the one time I didn't latch the bedroom door all the way, it was paperback-book-confetti all over the room, and that was just with Nanuk & Isis. Now with Mika added, I cannot imagine letting them out into the rest of the house when we're gone. We do give them free reign at night, cause Mika likes it best in front of the A/C. They have chewed up the corners of a few cabinets in the kitchen, which is where they stay during the day. Other than that, not too much damage.

we can leave blaze with full run of the house and he wont chew anything - however skyla has cost us soooooo much money when shes been allowed loose she is now crated

I know this probably isn't ideal or doable for many people, but for my husky I was worried he would destroy our house which we rent on post in the army... we left him in one back room with a baby gate up and came home and he had chewed my baseboard and scratched up my wall. After that I kept him crated. Then I felt so bad that I decided to try something like a baby monitor situation with the camera like someone said It's Me or the Dog uses... I set up my husband's computer with the webcam on facing somewhere that I could see my entire downstairs. (our kitchen and upstairs are baby gated off at all times) then I took my computer with the video chat on and acted like I was going to leave. I took my car and parked it around the block and sat there and watched him. Whenever he would go to chew or scratch something I'd yell "NO" through the video chat... He'd look around like "what the heck? where is that coming from?!?!" ... I did that for about a week everytime I had some down time. Now he is free in the house 24/7 and we have never had a problem with him.

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I have also been wondering, at what age can you start trusting your Husky to not destroy everything in your house while you are gone with out having to crate him or her?

Well, I'm going to say never. The reason? because accidents happen; baby gates get left open (or knocked down/jumped over), crates get chewed out of etc etc. It's too much of a risk(for me) to try and trust the huskies alone in the house. I have no reason too really cause they prefer to be outside anyway.

I've never actually heard of someone being able to leave their husky loose in the house while they are out with out something getting damaged but if you can do it, more power to ya!

Piper wrote:

I have no reason too really cause they prefer to be outside anyway.

I crate Kale outside as well I would NEVER trust him alone in the house unattended.

Chili - yes - but he's a fake husky. The unhuskiest husky in the world.

Frosti - no - only if I wanted to force hubby into a complete remodel.

hollywoodhuskies wrote:

only if I wanted to force hubby into a complete remodel.

Damn, this thread is scaring me lol. I was thiking of leaving Sylar out of his crate soon, but now idk. Imma have to use some advice here. Hope I won't be putting up any pics like the sofa lol

We recently made the porch (or FL room. it's connected to the central A/C) "dog proof" or so we thought. It was going to be a room totally dedicated to our girls and after a few days I let them loose out there on their own for a few hours while I took a nap. Woke up and went out there to find piles of throw up everywhere with little white pieces of wood in them. They decided to eat the bottom of the huge cabinet we had just installed! I'll have to take pictures, but they ate a good 3 inches off the one corner. I didn't yell at them at first, but I watch them after that. Elara started to chew on it again and I screamed at her! I think that plus yelling at them any time they even looked at it got them to leave it alone for now. We'll see how long that lasts. Oh and they pulled down a muzzle I had left out for the rescue boy (so he could bite one of my girls) and they chewed that to pieces too.

I'm going to count my lucky stars with Ginger and Storm. Ginger didn't like her crate at first, but then we got her crate trained, and then started leaving her out of her crate when we left the house. No issues. Then we adopted Storm April 2011, and we thought he liked his crate but when we left the room, he'd start off. He would be fine, but not even 5 mintues after we closed the door and left the room, he'd get stressed, and in turn stressed Ginger.

A friend of mine said, 'You have 2 good huskies - you can trust them alone in the house. They'd be fine!' And another friend said, 'You have 2 good huskies! You've trained them well to know it's their house too and to respect it!'

So, we bought a web-based baby monitor, and we took the plunge. That was around June.

We've had no issues since...we sold Ginger's crate and kept Storm's crate (the bigger crate) but haven't had to use it since the summer.

I count my blessing with my 2 everyday!

Josie gets left with free run of the house up stairs and down stairs. No baby gates nuthing. Been that way for about 13 months now. And she shares the house with Hailey my Chihuahua. And there both still alive lol. Yea sure Josie tore up a few rugs (she dont like rugs at the front door :/ all the other rugs at the other doors are fine) a couple her toys, an $85 doller wii style remote for my new tv :/, and just the news paper, magzines, paper towel, and tissues. But other then that nuthing to serious. Never ate anything jusr shreds it. Found out tho if she doesnt get her excrsie daily that is when she will destory something the next day. Or if we take Hailey away from her then she gets really bad no matter what. And when we got Josie last year at age 3. She was 100% all outside dog never inside till i got her and now shes 4 and been livin the dream for the past 13 months. I dont know out of all the messes i had to pick up from her i never thought twice at all from letting her have free roam of the place. Plus i look at it as my fault cause 90% of the time i came home to something destoried she never got her daily 4+ mile walk or 1 1/2 - 3 mile run within a day or two.

I'm just curious what he does when I leave, think imma leave my camcorder recording to see if that helps me in any way (maybe knowing that calls his attention so I won't leave it laying around).

When I first got Mylo, he pretty much destroyed a sofa, that looked like the pic that Ed submitted one time. The other time was I left the room for 2 minutes and he counter surfed my scrambled egg mixture which ended up on the counter to the floor. He learned quickly after my poor attempt at french that many certain things are off limits. Never had a problem after that.

Adobo, has been an absolute princess alone in the house not once has she misbehaved.

Biko, after all these was stories I'm leery of leaving him in even with in the house unattended. But were working up slowly the time amounts. I'm hoping the behavior of Adobo rubs off on to him and not the other way around.

My 3 boys are free in the house while we're at work, about 6 hours. We have a dog door and lots of toys but mostly they entertain each other.

I've been testing Willow, leaving her out of her crate in the breezeway to see how she does. It's an 8 x 7 room where I crate her and Piper. I started out testing her for about 15 minutes and I worked up to 4 hours this past week. She has done great! I want to start leaving her out of the crate full-time in the breezeway only. She can still get into things on occasion so I know that I can't give her full access of the house. I was going to wait another year but I'm being a bit selfish and want to try it now so I won't have to buy a bigger crate for Piper. She could easily break into the basement from this room but she has NEVER even tried to go to the basement even when I have gone down there for laundry. I'm teaching Piper to wait at the top of the stairs for me as well cause really there is no reason for either of them to be down there. Am I crazy for trying this so early? She is only 1yr and 4 mos.

Awesome job Mindy! They can be trusted eventually, I have 3 boys that have the house and the yard via a dog door. So far we've had a few issues but mostly if they get enough attention and exercise they're good while we're at work.

Thanks Brian! I don't want to push her if it's too soon but I feel that if she can do 4 hours, then she can go full time. Fingers crossed that I'm right!

Dumb question but what the heck this is the internet................. With a doggie door don't you ever worry about someone trying to break into your home via the dog door?

I have such a hang up about that even though they would have to climb my 6ft. kennel to get into the door area. Adobo & Biko have a well insulated dog house that I rehabbed this summer but at times I think they should have the choice of staying out doors or coming into the breezeway where it might be a few degrees warmer. Plus it would be a great training ground for Biko as there is less stuff for him to damage if he should decide to do so.

Len, not a dumb question. I too have a six foot fence and a camera on the dog door that detects motion and emails me. The biggest concern is the muddy paws. It also can be tough when we stay somewhere that doesn't have one because they aren't in the habit of asking to go out.

Well, Roxy has pretty much ruined her good streak. For over a year she was ok not being crated. But since we have moved to our new place, she has been acting out... she started chewing on the blinds, started pooping and peeing inside, just general bad dog behavior. I'm concerned though because she seems to not like our backyard, and doesn't seem to want to go outside or use the potty outside half the time.

Max ever since I first adopted him at year and 1/2 I have never had to crate him. He is 5 yrs old now and have never had an issue he has never had any accidents in the house and never has chewed up anything he wasn't suppose to. He has never been big on the whole chewing thing. When we got my female at 8months I crated her but I think she was about 1 and 1/2 as well and haven't crated her anymore she is 2 years old now.

Ive had Sadie for 5 months and she hasnt chewed anything up. Except for some carpet when she got bored, and it wasnt much. I take her to a dog park at least once every 2 days if not every day. After all i read about how destructive they are before i got her, I expected much more to get destroyed. I think the excersize takes care of it! Maybe I still have much to learn... lol.

Oh and she has never been in a crate.

I tried crating Keimo when he was little, but he never got used to it. Just howled constantly. I'm sure I did things wrong, but finally I just allowed him to be in the house when I was and he's outside when I'm gone. He loves it. We haven't had any major issues in years. I think the last major one was when he chewed a hole in the sheetrock next to the door and that was when I was still trying to crate him. He loves being outside... Bella is right the opposite, she'd stay inside all the time if I let her.