unleashing the hound...

This week Tom and I decided to start leaving Ralph out of his cage while we are at work. A little background information if you are just tuning in....Ralph will be three in December, he's 80+ pounds. He's a friendly, loveable, a sweetheart that will lick you non-stop if you let him.

Each time Tom and I are ready to go out we pop a treat into one of his kongs and he runs into his cage. We toss the kong in, close the cage and away we go. Knowing that our pooch is safe and sound in his cage while we are out and about.

For those that don't have dogs, this is a kong :)

Tuesday, that all changed. Monday night I "Ralph proofed" the house. We have a pretty open floor plan so all the bedroom and bathroom doors were closed. He had free reign of the living room, dining room, hallway and kitchen. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous leaving him that morning. When I went home for lunch (and yes, I work that close to my house - I am very very lucky) Ralph was waiting for me in the window.
I walked in and there was Tom's sneaker. I followed the trail...it lead to our bedroom door being opened and another shoe out of place. I put all the shoes in the closet, closed the doors and closed the bedroom door.

After having my lunch and playing with Ralph for a little while I had to head back to work. Again, I left him out with a few treats in his kong. When I got home Tom was there and said everything looked fine when he came in.

So far so good!

I know this is just the beginning and I'm sure he will have some set backs but I'm really happy to see that our pup is becoming a big boy. I know cages and crates are used for training purposes but it bothers me that he is in there all day. He should be able to have access to his house and now we are working on giving him that freedom. I'll keep you posted on his progress!