reverse crate training? - Page 1

I would like to teach my boy to be left home alone outside of his crate, in the house...... he is not a "chewer" but I think he would get into anything that looked fun. He is only 14 months, so any ideas, suggestions, or experiences? I take him to work with me every day, and he is crated. I figure he is not doing his job if he is not guarding our home while we are at work. How would I go about training him to be inside alone, but not come home to a destroyed house?

we have 2 shepherds, our female is ~ 6months older than our male (they are now almost 3 yrs and 29 mos). i left them out for small bits of time at first - just to make sure they didn't trash the place. when angus was a bit younger than your dog, he (along with claire) decided to eat alot of papers and books that were on the coffee table. that was fun - teeny bits of paper everywhere! i poked them for that one (you'd thought i'd beaten them;didn't even yell!) so i scaled back the "alone time" for a bit - maybe 30-60 min. it helped alot to exercise them before. it's been at least a year or more since i've left them out of their crates. i can even do it when we take them on vacation and rent a cabin - just exercise them first and leave toys. the only thing i don't do is give them raw bones before i leave, mainly because claire will take angus's away from him. i've been lucky tho, neither dog is particularly "chewy" except when they get raw bones. they also have a doggie door to the backyard that they access whenever they need or want. apparently they are not real "barky" either cuz i don't get any complaints. so, after my long story, i'd say to exercise him well, and leave him for 30 min then lengthen his time. also, put up any books you want to keep