Rather than crate, which I fully understand is a the recommended answer to your question (so no lectures needed I just don't believe in it) or investing in cameras so you can watch your house get destroyed, you could enclose him into a single "safe room" while he's small and you're gone. When mine was 8 weeks, I kept her in our enclosed shower or a VERY large great dane sized crate until I had her trained. Both options offered enough room for play and accidents didn't destroy any flooring. My first response to people wanting to control in house problems though is you need to invest time in your dog; training and exercise solve so many problems.

Puppies are never too young to start especially with simple commands. Training and adequate exercise for his breed is almost a sure way to have a dog that does not destroy. It helps with bonding, it helps you keep the dog safe from harm, it helps the dog understand your expectations AND it helps to make sure all of your possessions stay intact. After the puppy stage, most dogs destroy due to boredom, exercise relieves that.

Also just a tip many folks don't realize: don't use anything like socks or old shoes as tug a war toys, they don't relate between socks or old shoes that are allowed to be chewed and the new 100.00 shoes you may have just bought. It will all be fair game.

DS has Motorola Blink which is the same as Scout pet monitor and likes it. I just puppy-sat her 10-wk old Australian Shepherd and was able to have the puppy wave at her and DBIL fishing in Canada. :-)

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Blink-Wi-Fi-Remote-Monitor/dp/B00DF8KN7O

DS crate trained her dogs when they were puppies, as they do agility competition and need to be in crates at times during the events. The dogs view it as a safe room. Saw this a few weeks ago, another dog was being obnoxious and DS's dog just walked away into her own crate.

The puppy (not completely "potty" trained) sleeps in it at night, in the bedroom and seems to view it as her own bedroom that the other dogs don't go in. She has it elevated on a table next to the bed, so you wake up with puppy staring at you, saying "time to go out and breakfast."

mdin,

My current dog - Track Retired Greyhound - sleeps in her crate when she naps and goes in there on her own if there is too much going on. I haven't latched the door since Christmas time.

If any camera is going to be effective as a full time monitor when the owner is away, the dog is somehow going to have to be kept in the field of view of the camera. Your suggestion works.