# Crating



## Koa (Oct 11, 2005)

Whenever I leave the house for 3-8 hours, I put Koa in his crate. He has some treats, dogfood, toys, blanket and water in there. I read that this will make them feel safe and will "calm" them. He is now almost five months old. How long should I continue this for? Is it a good idea to crate them their whole lives when I leave the house? My parents never crated our lab and he seemed socially fine.


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## Scoobydoo (May 26, 2005)

We started off leaving Scooby in his e-pen when we left him, even though we never left for more than a couple of hours. He had everything in there, bed, toys, water and pee pad and a little room to move about. He never used the pee pad and never pottied in that e-pen, probably because we had trained him to go outside from the beginning.
Eventually we would gate him in the back room while we were gone, still with a pee pad and still he never messed in there either, so from about 6 months onward he has had the free run of the house and has never done anything wrong. We always take him out potty before we go and offer when we return. We have been very lucky I think. Most of the time we are gone I am sure he just sleeps in his bed till he hears us come home. We have never crated him because he hated being shut in anything and I prefer he not be upset if we are not here. We only leave him home alone maybe once a week and he seems ok with it.


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## Sylphide and Shrek's Mom (Dec 4, 2004)

We have three and they have never been crated since they came to our house as puppies. They have the full run of our three story home. They mostly sleep on the couches when we are not home, but we have seen evidence of play when we got home.


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## cinders (Dec 7, 2005)

I only crate Murphy when he is sleeping at night and during the day he is free to run around the first floor. I can't let him go to the second floor without me, because for some reason, he thinks the upstaires is his second litter box and he always pees up there.
But he doesn't seem to mind the crate and he even goes in there to nap during the day time.


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## abbey (Apr 4, 2005)

Abbey still cannot be trusted without confining her to 1 area. She still chews on everything! She chewed through a ceramic christmas decoration cord the other night!







Thank God she didn't get shocked! So, I know what she can get into when I'm right here so I don't trust her to have free run of the house. I leave her in our biggest bathroom with pee pad (which she doesn't go on so I always have a mess to clean up), her bed, water, toys, and food (the food if I'm going to be past one of her meals). I used to leave her crate in there because she loves her crate but then one day I came home & she had managed to climb on top of her crate & was stuck!  

By the way, Abbey is almost a year old. She seemed to chew more after she had her baby teeth extracted!


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

For some dogs, 6-12 months, for others, never. If you want to try leaving him out, try a smaller gated area (like the kitchen) first and just for a short time (10 minutes). If he does okay, extend the time period there. Once he proves reliable, you can expand his space further. Some dogs require the confinement for their own safety not to get into things that can harm them. There is nothing wrong with that.


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## kab (Apr 11, 2005)

I let both of mine have free roam after about 9 months. They have never had an accident at night. I even let my foster dog sleep in our room at night now. He pooped and peed in his crate every night. I realized though that it was an anxiety thing about being crated since he was a puppymill dog.


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## Koa (Oct 11, 2005)

Agh. I tried confining Koa to the kitchen when I went to work yesterday and he managed to get into the guest bedroom by knocking the barrier down and peed everywhere. I spent two hours today washing the carpets. My own fault for not realizing his strength. Silly puppy. 

Today he was confined to the kitchen again (with a reinforced barrier) and my neighbors said he barked for a couple hours. I think this means he was scared so maybe I will go back to the crate for another few months.

Thanks for all of your comments. I've been watching Koa closely around the Christmas tree lights but I am always so scared anyway. If I turn my head for a second he starts chewing on something new. (Usually my ankles.)


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## MaxMommy (Nov 1, 2005)

I don't crate Max at night, he doesn't go through the night. I put him in the kitchen when I go out because it is small and no cords anywhere. Max loves cords which is the only thing that really worries me.

This morning I took him to his pee pad and he wouldn't go so, I took him to the bathroom with me (so, he couldn't we the rugs)...while I am doing MY morning busiiness on the thrown, he is right on my right peeing on the tile. I was like, wow...he went at the same time as me. I just wiped it up and laughed...gotta get the training stuff right sooner or later.


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## scottchelf (Sep 25, 2004)

I had never like the idea of crating when I first became owned by a malti baby. It seemed cruel to me. Schuster was so easy to train we just let him have full run of the house.

Then we got Grace. We still didn't do any crating when we got her. But, she would pee anywhere she wanted and I would get so mad. After lots of patience and work with her, she finally got the idea. I was at the end of the rope when she finally picked it up..... didn't know what I was going to do..... hadn't thought of crating, but I was getting very upset.

So... here we are... no problems with Schuster and didn't have any problems training Schuster.

We'd got Grace trained.

Then.... Cheyenne's 9th birthday = Brittany.

Brittany was scared.... would pee anywhere....
Grace was excited and mad.... would pee anywhere
and 
Schuster would pee simply because the other two were peeing. Then they started pooping. All because the little baby.

So, I decided to start a crating program.

They are crated in the morning when we leave...... various reasons. safety, don't pee in crate (not now), etc

When we get home, we take them out... let them play / eat & drink, and once they've finished, we take them out again. Only 1 at a time, and I can tell by their actions who has to go to worst.

Then when they've gone, they have house/family time. They are allowed up to 3 hrs w/o being bothered to go back outside unless they ask to go.... yeah they ask.. schuster props his butt against the door and gives you a sad look, Grace lays down in front of the door, and little Brittany just sniffs around with her tail curled upward.

At the 3 hr time block, they are let outside again.

Then they have their family time again. until supper time.. when they are taken out again, let back in to eat, and then they go out again once they've finished eating supper.

Right now, I crate them at night, but since they've quit peeing during the night, we're getting ready to start letting them stay in the kitchen during the night. And if they can please me and do what I expect, or shall I say not do what I don't expect them to do, then they can have full run of the house even at night.

It's worked out well for us... they ALL are 98% of the time on the same eat / pee / poop schedules. every now and then one will have to do one or the other at a time the others don't have too, but it is very unrare.


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## shasbury (Nov 10, 2004)

My lilly is over a year old now and still needs to be crated at night and whenever we can't keep an eye on her. She doesn't urinate in the house but she will poo where ever she wants. She never barks or lets us know when she wants out when she is loose in the house. She will if she is in the crate. She also chews everything!! That is my main reason for keeping her crated as much as we do. I tried again to leave her out and she chewed threw my computer mouse cord. UGH It is lucky I am home during the day so we crate her at night and then she goes outside for her business and then back in to run. If we leave or if I am making a meal she has to be crated or she gets in trouble. 

I have never had a dog that would poo in the house like her. I don't know how to get her to stop. She is 15 months old now and I am also wondering if the chewing on everything will ever stop or not. I have had dogs all my life but never one that chewed or pood like she does. 

We love her so much though we just clean up her messes and crate her when we have to so she is safe.


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## steponme (Aug 26, 2004)

I was really fortunate that Macy was really easy to potty train. Her only problem was chewing on things. We had just bought our first home last year and in that time being by grandma had gotten really sick so I was traveling alot and when I would get home she would have the whole house tore up. I mean she was chewin on the floor boards and just everything she could get her paws on . So after that we decided to crate train her. She did really well. She did that for about 5 months. Just recently we got a new dog (not a maltese) named Dakota. Now Dakota stays in the crate and Macy has the run of the house. She does not chew on anything. She is being a good little girl, she does not got to the bathroom or chew anything up. Holds it all day.


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## TheButtercup (Mar 3, 2005)

the buttercup was crated at night and when i was gone, up until her 6month birthday (for which she received her "girly operation" as her gift), and being a paranoide mommy, i let her up on my bed that night. as "out of it" as she was, she STILL knew she was NOT in her crate LOL. and she has insisted on being up on it every night since









when i leave, she can be confined in her crate, but if anyone else is there to witness it, she WILL act like i'm trying to kill her (the joke is that she's been confined to a cell at Sing Sing, is that how it's spelled? i never know), but calms down as soon as i leave. now, she is confined to the kitchen where she has a bed and a potty pad, and her food/beverage du jour. she's fine there, she usually just plops up on her bedpillow and snoozes. at one of our old apts, my bathroom was big enough to fit her crate (under the counter), a pillow bed, a potty pad, AND her food, AND still she had room to walk around and play (I KNOW!!!), and she loved that. it was cozy for her. now, she'll only go in her crate on her own terms, and rearrange the pillows. she's a designer at heart, i know it!

ann marie and the "leopard print is SO 2004, mommy!" buttercup


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## Haven (Sep 22, 2005)

<span style="font-family:Georgia">I plan on crate training JackCodyZack. My breeder does this with all of her dogs so I think it would be in my best interest to continue the tradition. </span>


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## Boobookit (Dec 3, 2005)

I have never had a problem with Pacino being housebroken..he adapted extremely quick to that...However, he is quite the little devil and cannot be trusted to be left out. When we are home he had free reign under our watchful eye and when we are not home he is crated for safety.

I guess it is up to the individual pup and when YOU think it is safe for him to be roaming free. You know the old saying...give an inch and take a yard?? Well, that is my little boy if we are not watching him!!

Marie & (Aw, Mommy, I am just curious, oh hey, can I have that sock??) Pacino


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## NewMommie (Jan 19, 2006)

I was wondering about crate training, but most people say to leave the crate where the family is... but what I want to do is leave the crate in my Bedroom so that its a place where he can sleep, and its also the place where I am most of the time, but during the day I would like to leave him in the kitchen where his peepee pad and food and toys would be... I was thinking of putting of those gates and make like a play pen for him.

would that confuse him? Or make him suffer from Seperation Anxiety, I really dont want to have to move the crate from my room to the kitchen everyday... Or maybe I should have two crates? One in the Kitchen and one in the bedroom? Any ideas? 

I definately want to keep him confined to a small area in the kitchen for his safety... 

Thanks for any ideas.


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## lcr (Mar 4, 2006)

> I was wondering about crate training, but most people say to leave the crate where the family is... but what I want to do is leave the crate in my Bedroom so that its a place where he can sleep, and its also the place where I am most of the time, but during the day I would like to leave him in the kitchen where his peepee pad and food and toys would be... I was thinking of putting of those gates and make like a play pen for him.
> 
> would that confuse him? Or make him suffer from Seperation Anxiety, I really dont want to have to move the crate from my room to the kitchen everyday... Or maybe I should have two crates? One in the Kitchen and one in the bedroom? Any ideas?
> 
> ...


Did you even get an answer to your question. I was wondering the same thing. I have a new puppy coming this Saturday and can't figure out where to leave the crate.
Thanks!


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## Joann (Apr 1, 2005)

would that confuse him? Or make him suffer from Seperation Anxiety, I really dont want to have to move the crate from my room to the kitchen everyday... Or maybe I should have two crates? One in the Kitchen and one in the bedroom? Any ideas? 

I definately want to keep him confined to a small area in the kitchen for his safety... 

Thanks for any ideas.








[/QUOTE]

Did you even get an answer to your question. I was wondering the same thing. I have a new puppy coming this Saturday and can't figure out where to leave the crate.
Thanks!
[/QUOTE]


We have the crate in the bedroom and the family room/kitchen for play and family time. We started him this way so he knows the "quiet room" is for sleeping. He goes in there when we leave the house or around 11 PM for bedtime. It's worked beautifully since he was 14 weeks old. He's now 18 mo. He doesn't snore (unlike hubby)


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## Dutymum (Jan 3, 2006)

I have crated all my dogs, Madeline is crated at night she sleeps right beside my bed and when I go out, I do not put any food or water in there as this may make her have to go to the bathroom all she usually has in there is her blanket and a toy. I always put her out to the bathroom before I put her in the crate and when I get her out. All my dogs have been crated, I think it is an excellent thing, Madeline and my other dog will often just go in and lay in their crates when they want some peace, or I put them in there when I want some peace







When I go visiting relatives I like to take Madeline with me, I take her crate along too so I can put her in there at the persons house while we are eating etc. My poodle is 13, he has been crated most of his life I stopped putting him in there when he was about ten as he had a health issue, now he is nearly blind and doesnt seem to like it as much, but it is still in the corner of the bedroom and he goes in and out of it when he wishes. It is nice to be able to go out and know they are safe and sound and cannot get in to anything or get harmed. Alot of people dont like the idea of a crate, but I think it is wonderful, in the wild, dogs have a den and that is what a crate is like to them, somewhere they feel safe.


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## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

Jolie was crate trained and it worked wonderfully. I had 2 crates. One was downstairs in the den and she could see us go and come through the garage door. The other was upstairs next to the bed. Jolie was not allowed upstairs by herself until she was at least a year old. I kept the downstairs crate door open at all times and she quickly learned to go in there to nap. I only closed the door when we left the house. When she was about 8-9 months old I started leaving her in the crate with the door open, but confined to one room. Gradually the amount of space was expanded. She is 11 and to this day she spends many hours in her crate, though we haven't shut the door in years and years. It is HER place and it is important that she have this space. If she were to ever be ill or need confinement she would not be afraid of the crate and I think that is the beauty of using the method. Even if you personally don't favor crating, there are sometimes reasons that a dog must be willing and able to be confined.

My maltese sleep in crates at night, but they had individual x-pens when we left the house. Now they are allowed to be in certain areas of the house when we are gone. They haven't ever really chewed on stuff so they graduated pretty quickly out of confinement.


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## NewMommie (Jan 19, 2006)

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I ended up having a crate in my room and a play pen in the family room, where I leave him during the day and at night he sleeps in the crate. So far everything has worked fine, he holds his pee and poo until the morning when I put him in the play pen. THe only thing is, is that when he's in the play pen during the day, I come home during lunch and he's pulled his peepee pad (with peepee and sometimes poo on it) to the other side of the play pen. I'm not sure why he does that. Maybe he likes to chew the paper part of it? I dont know. I'm going to try spraying some of that bitter apple stuff on the edges, maybe that will make him not want to bite it... we'll see...


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