My only thought is that he's still pretty young and if it wasn't the carpet, it probably would have been something else! I still crated Rookie at that age, but when I did start to leave him out of the crate, I did it gradually. He was gated in the kitchen and only left for very brief periods at first. Then we worked our way up from there. He's 2-1/2 and he still doesn't have access to the entire house when I'm not here. The bedrooms and my office are still off limits unless I'm actually in the room with him. That might sound extreme, and I'm not necessarily advocating that you go that far. But maybe start by giving him access to one puppy-proofed room when he's alone. Then see how that goes.
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If the bitter apple doesnt work, try a different brand. There are different <awful> flavours (if you can call it that!) and hopefull he hates one of them!
I agree with mdoats, try giving him acess to 1 puppy proof room at a time. Start with a room that does not have carpet... the kitchen, laundry room, etc. or let him sleep out of his crate in your room with the door closed at night.
Every dog is different. Molson hasn't been crated since he was 5 months old when he broke out of his crate/pen one day while we were at work!
doh Once every few weeks we come home to something new that he discovered and destroyed, but for the most part he is great out of the crate.
I agree with mdoats, try giving him acess to 1 puppy proof room at a time. Start with a room that does not have carpet... the kitchen, laundry room, etc. or let him sleep out of his crate in your room with the door closed at night.
Every dog is different. Molson hasn't been crated since he was 5 months old when he broke out of his crate/pen one day while we were at work!
doh Once every few weeks we come home to something new that he discovered and destroyed, but for the most part he is great out of the crate.
I had to comment because I jinxed myself, too! I've been bragging to everyone about Harley since we got him on what a great puppy he was. For awhile I even wondered if there was something 'wrong' with him because he was so good! Well, at 20 weeks it hit - and his new nickname is "The Destroyer"
I'll admit it could be worse. We stopped crating him around 12 weeks because he was so good every time he was out. I felt he had earned the right to be out of his crate. He's 22 weeks now, and every workday for the last two weeks he has found something new to do when we aren't home. When we are home he's still his perfect little self! We used to let him into 2 different rooms, then we had to back down to just the one room, and we've slowly had to take things out until now it's basically just him, his toys, and a carpet to lay on. He never hurts his toys, only the items in the room that he can get to (pulling pieces from the throw carpet, knocking over plants, chewing the windowsill, ripping a curtain...). It's really amazing how he went from the perfect little puppy to "The Destroyer" practically overnight! From what I'm reading this sounds normal, although I really hope it passes soon! I keep threatening that his next step is back to the crate but I'm just not sure I have the heart to do that now that he's been out for so long. He just really doesn't like his crate and he never did.
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