When can I stop crating my puppy when I'm not home?
Puppies often behave inconsistently when given free roam, acting like angels one day and chewing up wallets, doormats, or plants the next. This makes it hard to know if a few hours of freedom is an earned milestone or just a gamble that leads to property damage.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 32.5× more often in r/puppy101 than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Using a crate while at work with a partner coming home at lunch to let the puppy outDid this help you?
- 2keeping a strict crate routineDid this help you?
- 3tethering the puppy in the main flat or at a pub with a chewDid this help you?
- 4starting with one room at a time for short stretches (e.g., 10 minutes) and slowly expanding accessDid this help you?
- 5Crating the puppy when leaving the houseDid this help you?
- 6Introducing being alone outside of the crate in gradual incrementsDid this help you?
- 7Using a play pen with puppy padsDid this help you?
- 8Puppy proofing the environmentDid this help you?
- 9Crating the puppy at night or when awayDid this help you?
- 10Keeping the puppy confined strictly to the crate for alone time and settling, using the crate for naps and preventing accidents.Did this help you?
- 11Using a crate for absences longer than a few hoursDid this help you?
- 12Hiring a petsitter for longer periods awayDid this help you?
- 13Slowly building up free-roaming time incrementallyDid this help you?
- 14leaving the crate door open during the day so the puppy can come and go freelyDid this help you?
- 15putting the dog in the crate when leaving the houseDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I want to transition him from being in the crate when I’m gone to having free range in my apartment so he has access to his food and water and just more room to roam. I’ve tried leaving him out before and when I watched him on the camera he was pacing and crying the whole time.”source ↗
“yesterday, we decided to leave him out of the crate for only 3 hours in the afternoon after lunchtime, because we would much rather him have free roam and be trusted rather than him staying in the crate... but he destroyed plants, doormats and destroyed my boyfriends wallet!”source ↗
“we were out all day saturday and left him out of the crate the whole time and he was as good as gold, not a thing out of place! so disappointed!”source ↗
“so i was wondering if anyone has any tips, or if maybe we are trying to let him have free roam outside of the crate too early?”source ↗
“My question is, when did you start leaving your puppy alone for long periods free roaming?”source ↗
“How did you do it and how did it go?”source ↗
“I guess I'm nervous to extend it because I want to extend it past her current crated threshold at some point.”source ↗
“Is it worth starting to shut the door just to really acclimatise to that process even for naps or leave it freely open whilst it’s so positive in the early days?”source ↗
“Didn’t want to start shutting it and him think it’s negative - despite last night him not being bothered”source ↗
“When I came back, she had pooped on the floor (she hasn’t done this in 6 weeks) and my partner had woken up from her screeching downstairs.”source ↗
“Question is when do you think i should try and give her full free roam alone( not locking her crate at night when we sleep or gone for 2+ hours but leaving it open to sleep ) .”source ↗
“if anyone has had a similar experience and how/when they transitioned to free roam?”source ↗
“mine was the same at 5 months, couldn't be trusted alone for 30 seconds without finding something to destroy.”source ↗
“I was wondering what was the common experience/recommandations or protocols for having a puppy settle and be okay on her own outside the crate?”source ↗
“We tried leaving her for 30 seconds in the playpen (with toys she enjoys) alone while preparing her meal or something but it resulted in potty accidents so we didn't reiterate.”source ↗
“I made some research to how we go from there and the timeline but it's pretty blurry, so I thought of asking this gold mine of a sub.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 36How to handle a young puppy alone during sudden schedule changes
- 30How long can you safely leave a dog alone at home?
- 10Groomer won't let me stay with my anxious dog
- 23How to move abroad or travel without leaving your pets behind
- 7Why is my puppy suddenly crying and refusing to sleep in their crate?
- 12Puppy refuses to go back in crate after night potty break