I've been wondering lately, why bother de-crating? Arnie is 10 months old now and such a settled and relaxed little fella. We had a whole house of people over on Saturday for an afternoon party and there were moments where he'd sleep on his mat and then moments where he'd take himself into his crate and just chill. When it's bed time at night all we have to say is "Arnie, go bed", and he saunters over and puts himself in there. Not a single peep or drama. So, he's so content with his crate and it has become such a routine thing, I wonder why some people de-crate. I will add, we rarely use the crate other than having him go to bed in it. When we go out 99% of the time he comes along, and when he can't come we limit the time he spends in there. It's always short periods. Thoughts, opinions, death threats?
Willow would love to have a crate back, given the option. It took up too much room and was ugly, so I don't have it up any more. When we go to my sister's house, she squeezes into the crate there, which is the perfect size ... for a cocker spaniel puppy. If you're happy to have the crate up, and he's happy with it, there's no reason at all to decrate.
I cannot wait until Xena is past furniture/chewing stage so that I can decrate. I have a small living room and her crate is massive and unsightly. She never goes in there voluntarily. Ever. She goes in there happily when I go out because Kong, and when I go to bed because biscuit, but never once has she just taken herself off to rest in there. I see how she likes to move from sofa to floor to other sofa to different floor in the evening, and I'd like her to have that option all night. So for me, small house+dog that's not attached to crate=reason to decrate...when the time comes.
So your main driving factor for de-crating was space saving and aesthetics. That's fair enough. And I am guessing Willow does fine without it. I started with it as a toilet training tool and a management tool for when the crazy's set in. It helped in both of those instances. It's become such a dependable haven for him now that I don't think he'd let me take it away. I have no intention in taking it away, I'm just curious as to why some people opt for it after its main benefits are over, ie. toilet training and management.
I never de-crated Tatze, she loves her crate. It's in the utility room out of the way, so it remains her bed time bed. We have plenty of day beds. All the pups are de-crated at six months, we put chew-deterrent on all furniture, skirting boards etc. It has worked fine with all the pups.
I'm looking at her, spread-eagled on the bed. Yup, I'd say she does fine without It's still a place that your dog can consider "theirs" and a little den for them where they know they're not going to be disturbed. If I had the space, I'd have kept Willow's up indefinitely. Shadow is more than happy to use a crate, but Willow really loves it. Now I feel bad for taking it away! But, looking at her on the bed again .... not that bad
Cooper's huge wire crate is in the kitchen. We put a blanket over it so it is fairly dark and Cooper often sleeps there in the daytime. We haven't closed the door in about a year. There are also two dog beds in the Bedroom and one in the Kitchen, of course we have two dogs too. Sometimes they share dog beds, but Tilly has never gone into the crate since we got Cooper.
Hank loves his crate too. He's so quiet and content in there. We often keep the door closed when he's not in there because he loves to take his bed out and whip it all over the house. We've tried a dog bed in the living room and he keeps chewing on it, so I took it away for a bit. Any tips on that would be great
I decrated Harley because she never liked the crate. The only time she went in there was when I went to work and she would get a Kong. I tried feeding her meals in there but she would eat it so quickly just to get out. At 6 months old we left her in the kitchen when I went to work and by 10 months she had the run of the house. She was never destructive so I took the crate down as it was never used.
I'd like to de-crate Stanley soon but OH is adamant he's not allowed. He chewed the corner of the cupboards a couple of times but I got some anti-chew stuff from pets at home and he's never gone back to it. The only other thing he chews is his bed - annoying, but better than my skirting boards! Stanley likes his crate, it's me who's not a fan! It's ugly and I'd like him to have more space when we're out. Gunna have to keep working on OH
Saba likes his crate for bedtime. He has a day bed in the kitchen, which is where we leave him when we go out, but at night he settles happily in the crate. On the now mercifully rare occasions when he drives me absolutely potty with his bonkers behaviour, I use the crate as a time-out zone for a few minutes until he's calm again. The bed crate lives under the desk in the home office, so it's out of sight and not a problem for us. I see no reason to change this arrangement as we're all happy. Saba also has a travel crate in the back of my car where he's safe, secure and content to be while we're travelling.
I'm really not sure Bessie will ever like the crate. I've been following the crate training protocol but I can't get past five minutes without her crying. She's pretty reliably not chewing anything inappropriate at just five months, but I do like using the ex-pen to keep her busy/occupied when visitors arrive and so that my son can have a bit of space from her. But once she's a little older, I imagine ditching the ex-pen too. If only because my house is tiny and it is currently occupying the dining room space. If I had more room, I'd leave it up.
He seemed fine without and not bothered about it he preferred the sofa so just put it away he didn't miss it at all. I only crated him because we had 2 others dogs and it was easier to crate him with our room set up. We are now down a dog and Rory doesn't eat washing machines anymore.I cleaned the carpets and put it away to do that just never got it back out
Fair enough @SwampDonkey Most people here seem to change based on space restrictions, aesthetics, and dog behaviour. I am just interested if maybe it was to train some other type of behaviour. We have enough room here to leave it up. I will get rid of it only because it is ugly, but I don't think Arnie would be too happy about it. I think if it comes down to it we might need to buy one that's more pleasing to the eye
We decrated at 9 months as Jessie was pretty indifferent to it. She never took herself off there if given a choice. And whilst she would happily go if told to she preferred to sprawl on the kitchen sofa. So once chewing over, the crate was gone! We did have space for it, but I preferred not to have it up. Neither of us have missed it! If I need her out of the way I pop her upstairs. We do also still have the stairgate on the kitchen so she's contained when I'm out.
