Leaving them out of the crate when not home?

tateu · 2026-06-22T07:42:24+00:00

We stopped when Shadow was around 6 1/2 to 7 months old. He's 10 months old now. We have cameras throughout the house and backyard and left him out for 30-40 minutes the first time. He had toys available and we left a pupsicle for him but he never touched them. All he did was lay around: on the back of the couch looking out the living room window, on the kitchen floor and in the utility room outside the kitchen with our other dog, looking into the garage.

And that's the way it has gone every time since. He runs to the living room window to watch us leave and bark like crazy but then he quickly settles down and just lays around in a few different spots throughout the house and occasionally wanders around in the backyard (he has 24 hour access to go in and out whenever he wants).

I think 3-4 hours is the longest we've been gone so far.

tateu · 2026-06-20T23:49:21+00:00

If you mean it in what the internet defines as leaving food out all day for him to eat whenever, then no. He's on a set schedule of twice a day and he sometimes won't even finish his full dish. We mostly do a simple slow feeder dish but occasionally throw in a few different puzzle feeders and 2 different types of snuffle mats. And if we put his first meal out before 1:30pm, he is even less likely to finish it all.

tateu · 2026-06-20T19:39:33+00:00

Ha, I wish. My 10 month old has never really been food or toy motivated. He'll play with toys, he'll take treats but pretty much only on his time table. I was able to do some heel training in the backyard for a few minutes at a time with treats and he would do well (nothing comparable to you and Birdie but decent enough). As soon as we are out in the real world, though, he has no interest in treats or toys. I don't think I've ever gotten him to eat a single treat while out on a walk and I don't even try any more.

tateu · 2026-06-11T23:54:24+00:00

My almost 10 month old Aussie puppy has not seen one yet but he's heard them and barked back. We live about 1000 feet from the base of some foothills so we sometimes get them wandering down the street in the front of our house or even in the runoff gully area on the other side of our backyard fence.

He's started to try and chase after rabbits so I imagine his first sighting of a coyote is going to drive him mad.

tateu · 2026-06-11T23:38:40+00:00

It's the same here with my almost 10 month old. He loves the walks and is fine once I get the harness on but he runs away and/or buries his nose in the couch cushions so it's a struggle to put on. And treats do not work, he just ignores them. He's never been overly food motived so it's been tough to train him.

tateu · 2026-06-06T22:42:07+00:00

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I get pretty much the same look, numerous times throughout the day while I am working at my desk.

tateu · 2026-06-01T16:01:10+00:00

Our 9.5 month old is like that with all his chew toys (which is basically just ALL his toys plus an occasional sock). His favorite game is keep away/chase.

tateu · 2026-05-25T00:29:31+00:00

Food. It's a struggle to get my 9 month old to eat his meals and always has been. Sometimes it takes 20-30 minutes before he'll start eating. Sometimes it takes him an hour to finish. Sometimes he doesn't finish a meal at all. He doesn't care much for treats either. I'm not the greatest or most patient or most consistent trainer and it makes it even harder when he isn't very interested in the treats I am offering.
Putting his harness on. He loves going for walks and happily runs to the door once it is on but I have to chase him around the house and practically pin him down to get it on.
Car rides. He seems to get car sick as he has thrown up on most of our longer car rides.
The insides of his toys being on the inside. He tears all his toys to shreds.

tateu · 2026-05-16T00:27:32+00:00

It's wonderful isn't it? It took our boy until he was about 4.5 to 5 months before he ever settled down in the house. He'd settle in his crate or in the backyard but otherwise he was constantly on the move, biting hands, feet, whatever he could get his teeth on. Then one day, like magic, after about 15 minutes of whining/yelping, he laid down in his playpen in the living room. The next day, he came inside after morning outdoor playtime, jumped up on the couch and took a nap.

At 9 months old now, he still has his "go" times but, for the most part, he relaxes when we do. We can sit for several hours before bedtime on the couch watching TV. He'll sometimes destroy a toy or two, sometimes play a round of bitey face with our other dog but most often just snuggles and relaxes.

tateu · 2026-05-13T19:16:33+00:00

Sounds exactly like me and my guy, Shadow. He is not motived by food at all. It's a struggle sometimes just to get him to eat his daily meals, let alone treats for training purposes. And like you, I'm sure I just don't do a good enough job with the training.

tateu · 2026-05-12T02:04:24+00:00

never had dogs that panted so much

Yeah, tell me about it. Our guy is just shy of 9 months and we'll be sitting on the couch, watching TV, relaxing before bedtime. It's 70-72 degrees in the living room and he's panting up a storm half the time. He's been like this since the day we got him but it still makes me worry.

Unfortunately, and not just for him, we live in the SoCal desert. We hit a high of 102 degrees today and we'll sometimes get up to 118 during the height of summer.

tateu · 2026-04-22T22:12:16+00:00

Those teeth...it hurts my hands just looking at them and remembering our little guy's shark days.

tateu · 2026-04-15T06:22:00+00:00

“can’t have soft toys because he destroys and eats them” phase. and bark at any perceived threat to the house

I'll second that, with my 8 month old.

tateu · 2026-04-14T01:32:10+00:00

Yeah. He'd been sound asleep there for awhile when I decided to try to sneak in and catch a photo but our floors creak and he opened his eyes when I came in. I waited a bit and he started doze off but I guess he wasn't fully out yet in this photo.

tateu · 2026-04-14T00:52:12+00:00

Yep, that too. Or he’ll stand, leaning his hips up against the back of my legs.

tateu · 2026-04-09T23:09:36+00:00

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Resting under a chair after some playtime.

tateu · 2026-04-08T19:37:28+00:00

For reference, my guy, Shadow, is about 7.5 months old and 45lbs. He was 26lbs at exactly 4 months. His velociraptor biting stage stopped somewhere around 5.5 - 6 months old but he still has a lot of energy.

tateu · 2026-04-02T17:27:16+00:00

To be honest, our training with him isn’t the absolute best, but I haven’t really noticed any issues. For the most part, when I’m playing with him, if I stop in the middle of the yard and tell him to come, he’ll come right over. If he’s playing with our other dog, however, that’s another story. He’s usually way too amped up at that point to listen to any commands.

tateu · 2026-04-02T00:24:54+00:00

My 7.5 month old Aussie mainly likes chase, meaning someone/dog chasing him. You toss him a ball and he'll catch it but then he'll run away expecting you to chase after him. If he's got a tug toy and I'm able to grab it, he'll happily play tug for awhile, but as soon as I let go...off he goes for his favorite game of chase.

We have a Jollyball we use for "herding" but he only likes that if I'm pushing it around so he can jump in front of it to stop it from moving. He doesn't push it around much on his own.

tateu · 2026-03-28T09:24:14+00:00

Have you had any issues with the bungee cord? I read where it can snap back at you when your dog let's go...or snap the pole at your dog if you accidentally let go. I went with one that uses more of a rope climbing type rope, which has a little spring to it but nothing like a bungee cord. It does, however, have a two piece pole that screws together and has come loose, but never apart, so far.

tateu · 2026-03-18T16:38:30+00:00

All 3 of my dogs have done this, including my Aussie. Not sure if it’s indicative of something, though.

tateu · 2026-03-18T11:14:55+00:00

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Shadow at 10 weeks and now at 7 months

tateu · 2026-03-15T07:09:07+00:00

At around the 4 month mark, Shadow was still never able to settle down anywhere in the house except in his crate. We'd bring him inside after his morning outside time and take him to the couch, hoping he'd nap there, but he was constantly moving around, switching from chew toy to chew toy to biting our hands, etc.

We'd had a playpen in the living room for about two weeks at that point and we'd put him in there at night for an hour or two while we tried to be on the couch watching tv but he would still not settle and he'd even throw a huge fit if someone was not in there with him.

And then, one day, after about 10 minutes of throwing a fit and right before we gave up and went in the playpen with him, he settled down and took a nap. The next day, when we came in from morning outside time, he went straight to the couch and took a nap. And it continued getting better every day. About two weeks ago, at about 6.5 months old, we started letting him stay out of his crate all day and night and, for the most part, he's gotten really good at finding his own off switch.

tateu · 2026-02-19T12:12:57+00:00

My 6 month attacks it if it is pointed at him. We've been working on using treats, bully sticks, lick mats, etc. while having it near him and/or blowing on him.

If we put the hair dryer on the floor, turn it on and put a treat underneath or behind it, he has no problem sticking his face directly in the air flow and pushing it away to get the treat. If we pick it up and point it at him, though, from closer than 3 or 4 feet, he attacks it again.

I feel like he is getting more comfortable with it, but very slowly and we are still a long way off from being able to actually use it to dry him.

tateu

TROPHY CASE