[Tuesday]

For the owners that did crate training...What age did you stop the crate training? I was thinking that Gwen isn't completely ready to be out of it just yet but just curious. Is there a process that I should start with. At 8 months, should I start trying to leave her alone at night, with crate open and see how she does?

 

[SophieB]

Being a dog owner who has never owned a crate, I personally don't understand the need to 'cage' a dog!
Why do people use these cages/crates?

 

[Scully]

We recently changed Ninja's sleeping arrangements at night from being in her crate to being in her "Pet yard". (She's almost 10 months old.) It is in our bedroom, and her doggie bed fits right in there. She's not quite ready to have her freedom at night either--although she's been housebroken for a long time now--but in a few months we'll probably try her out of the pen with our bedroom door shut.

We still crate her when we are out, and cannot imagine a day when we won't have to! LOL She is very different from how Scully was as a puppy, in that she is very destructive. With Scully, we started at a certain point letting her hang out in our bedroom when we were out, and then gradually expanding her roaming area as she proved to be trustworthy. With NInja, I fear that there would be nothing left of any room we tried to leave her in!

SophieB, I was never a fan of crating either....until Ninja! Unless we ripped up all the baseboards in the house, removed all the furniture, and even knocked all the walls down, Ninja would find something to destroy. For her own safety, we feel the need to crate her when there is nobody around to supervise her mischief. Larsen, on the other hand, is never crated, as he does not have destructive tendencies.


Editing to add: Just to clarify, when I refer to "Pet Yard", it is like an ex-pen, and it is in our bedroom.

 

[Kirska]

Being a dog owner who has never owned a crate, I personally don't understand the need to 'cage' a dog!
Why do people use these cages/crates?

It depends on the family, the dog, and all other aspects of the situation. I don't crate my dogs because they don't need it. They do fine roaming free. Also Anabelle can't hold her bladder all day and needs free access to outside.

However, for some dogs it is really necessary. My sister had a dog that got into trouble constantly and actually ate a hole in their wall one day about a foot wide. It's not fun for owners to come home to destruction and it's not fun for dogs to be yelled at as soon as their owners come home.

Wolves have dens and when trained correctly, a dog will use a crate as its den. If a dog is crate trained right, they will enjoy going in it.

I only think it's cruel if the dog is left in the crate too long.

 

[bubbad]

One person I know who thought crate training was just terrible came home to find their 8 week old beagle puppy strangled by pocketbook straps. You can keep puppies restrained some other way but crate training is ,for me, the most helpful tool I own. I do not have to worry about them getting anything and they usually sleep while crated. As for how long it depends on the dog,is it housetrained yet. If not ,then I would continue to crate him till he is.

 

[bklantz]

Ella is 1 and is crate trained still. We started crate training her when she was a pup for when we were at work so she wouldn't get into things or pee in the house.

In spring we decided that Ella might be ready to stay out of the crate while we were gone so we slowly started leaving her out for short periods of time and then one day my boyfriend came home and she had tore a tile up from the kitchen and chewed it shreds! We rent too so that is not good for us! So we started putting her back in the crate while we were gone again.

She also is in the crate at night. She wasn't for awhile but she wouldn't sleep through the night without getting up to potty and if we didn't let her outside she would pee in our room so we got tired of getting up in the middle of the night. So into the crate she went.

So that is why we still have her crated at times. She hasn't proven herself trustworthy enough to either not pee or destroy something while out without full supervision.

Ringo isn't crated at all, he's pretty much perfect

 

[shallhb]

I'm not quite sure what is meant by 'crate training', but our dogs are trained to go to their crates to sleep, for our peace of mind when we are gone for a couple of hours, and for motel stays, and when I need a break from two active Basset Hounds who would rather go out and do something than hang around the house. They get a 'cookie' for entering their crate, and that's all it takes now. One is 10, one is 6, and it's been an incredible boon for them and for us. When we are home, they are usually out with us, hanging around in my study. Pearl recently injured her back, and was on crate rest for a month. It was a plus that she was happy and comfortable lounging in her crate most of the time.

 

[Mikey T]

I'm not quite sure what is meant by 'crate training', [/QOTE]

That is because it means different thing to different people. from using a crate in house training to exercises that create motivation and impulse control in perfomance venues like obedience and agility.

At its basic however it is simply acclimating a dog to be calm and accepting of crate confiment. As such I think it is a must for all dogs. Crate training should not be contraversial As in anything how that training is used or missused than can be an issue.

What age did you stop the crate training?

Give the above defination of crate training you never stop training however one can ween the use of a crate as a confinement tool for managing a dogs behavior. As with any weening process it should be gradual. That is something like leave the crate open and giving the dog acess to the whole house for an extend period of time unsupervised is setting the dog up for failure, You need to gradual increase the amout of space the dog has, The time it left unsupervised etc. Never increase two criteria such as space or unsupervised time at the same time, Let the dogs behavior dictate if the desire looser standard and more freedom.

The crate is not simply a confinement tool but can be a basic training tool as well

Crate Games, it is not just for breakfast anymore

 

[Tuesday]

Thanks Mikey for the videos. Thanks everyone for the responses. I only crate her at night before I go into bed and then when I leave the house, which isn't very often. I will try leaving her out, in a smaller part of the house and see how she does. But, I think I am going to wait a little for that. I like those self control exercises, Mikey. I am going to give them a try.

 

[vb3]

I leave Layla and Rosco in their crates when we aren't at home to watch them, and we've just recently started leaving them out during long stretches during the day when we're gone (this is kind of a pain though, it involves dog-proofing the kitchen and blocking the doors in and out with their crates, as well as locking all the cats in the basement, so it doesn't happen that often). They are 2 and 1.5 years old, and Rosco's been crated since he was a pup. Layla we got at 1.5 and started crating her then. Both of them have done great with/without the crates and had no accidents. I have heard that you should start around 1 year of age. One thing that seems to work well for our guys at night is to let them sleep out of their crates but put them somewhere that they can't touch the floor (we pile up 3-4 dog beds along our bed and block them off with the laundry hampers). This seems to have reinforced the idea that they have to wait to go until they are outside - they shouldn't want to go on their beds. Of course every dog/house situation is different.

 

[lvnMattie]

Being a dog owner who has never owned a crate, I personally don't understand the need to 'cage' a dog!
Why do people use these cages/crates?

SophieB, I personally have never owned a crate or done this either. When Mattie was younger we would gated her off from other rooms if we were not home, but we mainly did that so my cats could eat without her helping them. I am not a big fan of it either, I understand why people in some case do crate there dogs while they are not at home. I don't understand why they are crated at night while they are home though.

 

[vb3]

I don't understand why they are crated at night while they are home though.

We crated both our dogs for an hour or two when we were home at first, to help them get used to the idea. We would give them treats to let them know the crate was a good thing. We also leave the crates open during the day and they come and go as they please (Layla likes to nap in hers). When Rosco misbehaves and gets hollered at he will sometimes run for his crate, it's his safe place. Crates are also useful for time-outs when they are playing too aggressively.

One other suggestion (if it hadn't already occurred to crate owners): put a bedsheet over th crate(s) and it helps with some anxiety. We also put the two crates right next to each other so the dogs can see one another. It seems to have cut down on crying with our hounds.

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

We crate our dogs when we aren't home to supervise them. Our 12 week old puppy isn't fully housebroken yet so she goes into her crate at night and when we leave the house. She can hold it most nights but I still get up about halfway through the night to let her out so she doesn't pee on her bed. Our 1 year old is reliable by himself so if we're going to be gone for an hour or so, we leave him out to roam. But he absolutely LOVES his crate so we put him in there to sleep as well. We use the crates for housetraining and when we can't supervise the dogs.