Well, that was unexpected
 

I've been crating Amy while I'm at work since the week she pooped on the floor a couple times and destroyed a chaise lounge in her room.

Today I came home and she came sauntering down the stairs to greet me. She was MUCH calmer than normal when I come home and immediately tucked her tail between her legs and has been prostrating herself in submission since then.

We did have a pretty severe thunderstorm this afternoon so I'm wondering if she freaked and escaped. But she didn't destroy anything that I can see.

Should I maybe start letting her out while I'm gone as a trial if she can handle it without being destructive? I think she just hung out on my bed all day.

It's worth a shot. As long as you dog proof beforehand. One day I decided "you know what? Willow doesn't need to be in her crate anymore!" and started leaving her out and she has been perfect so far. We tried that with Raj and he tore up the house (and he's older...:sighhttp://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/smile.png

I'll have to find the picture of the day she tore the chaise lounge into a million little pieces. I hope she's over that. Maybe I can leave her in my bedroom if she just wants to hang on my bed.

I'd start with short periods of time and work up to leaving her out all day. With Bentley, I initially started with letting him hang out when I went out to grab the mail. Then to when I went to the grocery store or to run a quick, close errand. Gradually, I worked up to being able to trust him for 6 hours, then 7, then 8. He's good now. I don't crate him at all except if there's going to be delivery guys here. He spends his free time in his crate anyway, even if I don't force him in it.

When my dog was 1.5yrs old or so, my brother decided he would try leave him out of his crate and let him stay in the living room while no one was home. For a couple weeks, he never tore up anything. But one day when I got home he tore up my parents expensive leather couch. I had to pay $700 dollars to fix it.

That's what it was like when Amy attacked the chaise lounge. She had never torn anything up and then BAM one day she just DESTROYED it.

I wasnt even mad at my dog. I was pissed at my brother because i told him something would happen. But he insisted in leaving him out because there 2 houses on our street got broken into within a couple days of each other and he was a little worried. My dog wouldnt hurt anyone, so it wouldnt matter anyway.

o, come on, garbage, it's not that bad! Lol.

My very first dog tore up my entire frigging mattress. I came home and it was in pieces.. Small pieces. He was lucky I didn't believe in punishing after the act has already happened.

Rita came to me at 1.5 years old. According to my brother, her previous owner, she never got into anything or tore anything up. We had her for months without crating her and without a problem. One night she randomly decided to eat a couch cushion. The bad part is that we were home! In fact, my husband and son were actually in the room with her when she did it. They were at the other end of the room with their backs turned and very involved in what they were doing. Had no idea anything was going on until one of them happened to turn and see her laying on the floor ripping stuffing out. She got crated for months after that. Since it's been so long since she's done anything bad, I reduced her sentence and she now only gets crated when we leave for an extended period of time. Haven't had any problems since.

If you want to give it a try then go for it! Just make sure you dog proof the house first, close the doors of any rooms you don't want her in and maybe tire her out a bit before you go.