To crate, or not to crate, That is the question

Okay I have read 3 basset books so far, and they really all say the same thing, they cover different topics and what not but most of them say crate training yet hard is VERY effective.

How do I explain this to my STUBBORN girlfriend. She is an animal lover, and thinks its really inhumane to leave a pup in a crate all the time. I have talked to my friend that owns a basset, and the couple works full time (both of them) and when they first got there pup, they would leave it in its crate all day long until they got home from work. They said it was hard to do, but they got her potty trained in about 2-3 weeks. Which I think is amazing

Is this something you recommend? Im not sure if Im going to have the nerve to keep him locked in a crate all day while im at work, and my girlfriend thinks he shouldnt be in a crate at all.

Anyone? :mellow: :huh:[/b]

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Crate training in not about leaving the puppy in the crate all the time. Puppies have 2 speed. sleep, and 100% balls to the walls all out. It is for the sleep portion that makes up 90% of a puppies day that the crate is for or those times you can't suppervise. Too much crate time is not good for the puppy. It does need to be out in the world socializing. See the Links provided earlier.

On of the biggest mistakes made in crate training ( teach your puppy to love it's crate distinctively different for using a crate to help housetrain) is it is best to crate train the puppy before using it for any housetraining purpose. see

clicker training

Creating a night time ritual

Crate Training

Keep in mind dogs have ben house trained for hundreds of years before anyone ever thought of using a crate for the purpose it can be done without a crate. It just requires more dilligence.

they first got there pup, they would leave it in its crate all day long until they got home from work. They said it was hard to do, but they got her potty trained in about 2-3 weeks. Which I think is amazing[/b]

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So amazing that it borders on impossible. I have yet to see, own or ever hear of a 8 -12 wek basset puppy that could even in a crate go more than 4-5 hours without having to eliminate. If you plan on using a crate to confine the puppy during the day acpect to have to come home for lunch or hire a pet walker to do so. The fastest and quickest way to eliminate the advantages of a crate for house training is leave the puppy in the crate longer than it can hold it. Often times it only takes a couple of time and the dog no longer views the crate as a den but as a bathroom. Betsy and many others use a modified techinque of puting a crate inside an xpen. This gives the dog more space than a crate but still confines them.

It is a myth you can housetraining a puppy in 2-3 weeks, regardless of breed, and this does not even take into consideration that bassets are one of the more difficult bred to house train. Many owners often make a huge mistake in thinking their dops are housetrained when the accidents stop in the house. This does not mean the dog is house trained only that you are poperly managing the dog. A house trained dog is not merely manged by humans but signals humans when it needs to releave itself and has developed self control in order to hold it when there are no humans to honor that request. It has been my experence that basset at the earliest gain that kind of sphincter control approx 5 month but many others much later. typically it takes nearly a year of dilegence before a bassetr puppy can be said to be reliably be house trained.


A book review of "How to Housebreak your Dog in 7 Days " which got the lowest rating possible by the rater

On the other hand, some of her suggestions are questionable, not the least of which is the title itself. Certainly a puppy can begin to grasp the fundamentals of housetraining within a few days, but it is overly optimistic to suggest that a puppy can be genuinely "housebroken" in a single week. I've heard more than a few disappointed owners express unhappiness with themselves and their puppies for being unable to achieve such rapid success.

Of greater concern are Kalstone's sample schedules which propose leaving the untrained animal in a crate for as long as 10 uninterrupted hours (8am-6pm) while the owner is at work. These schedules, according to the author, can be used for puppies as young as 12 weeks of age - a suggestion that I find disturbing. Leaving a puppy crated for that length of time virtually guarantees that the pup will be forced to soil its crate, thereby undermining one's efforts to crate-train and housetrain. Kalstone acknowledges this, "It's normal to find a puddle or a mess when you first begin... eventually you will return home one night to find no mistakes."

Forcing a puppy to sit in a cage - quite possibly in its own waste - for 10 uninterrupted hours is tantamount to cruelty. A wiser author would assert that the working person must, at least temporarily, come home to let the pup out at lunchtime, contract with someone else to do that, make arrangements for the pup to soil in a way that he need not be trapped with it, or simply not get a puppy until their lifestyle allows for it.[/b]

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FWIW because of the time requirement and constant monitoring require to house train a puppy I have only taken on puppies when I own my own business and had the ability to be with the puppy all day. That is not to say you have to do it that way only that is is much easier. You also need to be realistic Is would not be uncommon for a 8 week basset puppy to soil its crate if left for four hours. As it gets older the length of time will increase. It was typical for me to set the alarm clock for the middle of the night to take the puppy out to avoid overnight crate soiling because again 8-10 hours even sleeping was just to long a time period until the dog was at least 16 week old some times longer. Keep in mind ages an times are just quidelines and individual dogs vary widely. BUt is far better to error on caution in preparing a housetraining schedule. because each accident retards the process.

We didn't crate train at first, but quickly realized that, anything was better than pee and poop everywhere!!! and i mean everywhere!! Mind you, My husband works at home and i'm on shift work so someone is always here. We really only put him in his crate at night and when we went out. I also read that you're really not supposed to leave a dog/puppy in his/her crate for longer than 6-8 hours. If we leave Louie in his crate for any more than 5 hours there's poop everywhere (and not the solid kind...ewww), he has a nervous stomach. The crate did work wonders for house-breaking and now we're working on leaving the crate door open and having him roam around in the kitchen area where his crate is when we're not around and we put up baby gates to prevent him from roaming around too far.
If you do go with a crate, put a blanket over it. We found it help create a "den" and he didn't whine or complain when the cover was on his crate.
I felt horrible about the crate too, but since we didn't leave him in it for long he got used to it. Make sure you don't use the crate as punishment!!
good luck!!

So what do you all suggest, I have read all the articles and they say similar things, but what do YOU guys do?

I'm at work all day, and I plan on coming home everyday on my lunch to walk, play and feed Wrigley. But what about at night? Should I keep him locked in the crate and in the middle of the night take a potty break, then play then back in the crate until morning?

I was planning on leaving him in a play pen (its the kennel looking gates made into a large square) with his bed, food, and water until I got home on my lunch break, or should I leave him in the crate, but still come home on my lunch, that way hes only in there for like 3-4 hours at a time?

Any opinions on my suggestions?[/b]

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The less he poops and pee in the house the faster the house training. That will mean coming home in the middle of the day to let him out. I would also recomend feeding 3 or more time a day but not when you are not there for a while. Generally eating will stimulate the bowels. What every you do you want to be able to do it consistently a schedule is criticle to housetraining as well. For ninght time a grate next to your bed worksgreat if you are a light sleeper the dog whines will wake you if not set the alarm for half trough the night.

Since a schedule is critical to house training I would not allow the pup to free feed it bust a schedule. Feed 3 or more time a day. Free feeding also tend to create overweight puppies and dogs which creates health problems and reduces lifespan over those with more calorie restricked diets. So there is no need for the food bowl in the x-pen. Water however is a trickier matter. They do not need acess to water 24/7 it is ok to ristrict acess to water periodical like after 10 pm and such. Restricting acess to water during the day however can be dangerious.

play pen (its the kennel looking gates made into a large square)[/b]

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FWIW general referred to as an x-pen which is short for exercise pen.

So what do you all suggest, I have read all the articles and they say similar things, but what do YOU guys do?

I'm at work all day, and I plan on coming home everyday on my lunch to walk, play and feed Wrigley. But what about at night? Should I keep him locked in the crate and in the middle of the night take a potty break, then play then back in the crate until morning?

I was planning on leaving him in a play pen (its the kennel looking gates made into a large square) with his bed, food, and water until I got home on my lunch break, or should I leave him in the crate, but still come home on my lunch, that way hes only in there for like 3-4 hours at a time?

Any opinions on my suggestions?[/b]

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Nick is older (9 mos.) than your little guy, but like your girlfriend we really didn't want to create him all day even though I understand it's their safe place and I'd be going home at lunch everyday. That being said, we do restrict how much run of the house he has. He spends his days in a well puppy proofed, fairly large kitchen and at night he sleeps with us. He came home mostly housebroken and create trained according to the SPCA. He had a few accidents at the beginning until we and he got things figured out. He sleeps thru the night with few exceptions and then someone gets up and lets him out. If you choose not to crate him, you really do have to expect some things to get chewed you didn't expect and to clean up some messes. But honestly, that's just th gig with any young puppy you can't be with all the time. Just make sure he's safe.