Hi All, Bit of a difficult ask for an internet forum ... but can you solve an argument for us? My husband and I have a six month old silver lab named Max. He's a good boy - smart, very trainable, kinda distractable but workable with. But I'm concerned about the life he's leading and whether it's really enough for him: 08.45 - out of crate for breakfast and watching humans drink coffee 09.30-10.30 - trip to the dog-park 11.00-15.00 lunch and in his crate "for a nap" 15.00 - 16.00 another walk (also usually the dog-park) 16.00 - 20.00 another crate "nap" 20.00 unstructured time with humans in the kitchen while we eat dinner 21.30 15 minute evening walk and then bed in the crate. We settled into this pattern when he was a little puppy and slept for 18 hours a day, but he is older now and I wonder if he needs to spends more time learning to be around humans. At the moment my husband and our lodger (neither of whom work) just leave him in there for up to four hours at a time while they hang out somewhere else and read/watch TV. I am concerned that he is living a binary life - just boredom in his crate and then mega-exciting play and walks when he is let out, with nothing inbetween. It certainly seems that way as his energy levels are way high when he is out. Will he ever learn to live a pleasant chilled out life with humans if he's locked in the box when they're not directly being entertained? Or I am being unreasonable and he will learn to chill when he is more emotionally mature?
Yeah that’s about 19 hours of crate time I would say that is far too much. Especially at 6 months, my dog was out of the crate by about 8 months completely. He was never really in for more than 2 hours a go through the day, and definitely not 11 hours overnight.
I agree with @JenBainbridge , that’s too much. From 4pm until 930 pm he’s only out for an hour and a half, then back in for nearly 11 hours. Why can’t he learn to hang out with your husband? Meg was only crated at that age if we were out. He will learn to settle out of the crate, particularly if well walked and stimulated. Dogs are part of the family. I love watching TV with Meg by my feet
Rusty is coming up to six months now and will only be crated when noone else is home. Otherwise he can be trusted to relax with a chew on one of the rugs or the sofa if there is space. There will always be someone in the room except for a few minutes (toilet, check on cooking food, answer the front door, etc.) At first he would stand by the door and huff but now he has learned to relax and get used to the comings and goings. If you husband and his boy have a little patience they will quickly learn to enjoy the pups company once he has adjusted to being treated like one of the adults. At night Rusty sleeps in his crate but the door is left open so that he can pace around when he gets the urge. I think 21:30 is very early for a sleeping schedule though especially if he isn't getting up until 8:45... Rusty sleeps overnight from midnight till 8am.
I think that is way too much time in the crate. But I wouldn't see that as the problem, the problem is that he is in the crate and sleeping because he is absolutely physically exhausted after rough play at the dog park twice a day. Dog parks really are pretty poor ideas for the vast majority of dogs. They are the result of ever-reducing number of places where dogs can be walked off leash and an increasingly litigious society. You might want to read these links: https://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/too-much-of-a-good-thing/ https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/blog/dog-parks-are-dangerous/ http://theiscp.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Linda-Cooper-Thesis-2a.pdf https://dogsnet.com/over-friendly-dog/ The idea that a dog's day should consist of complete exhaustion after periods of running about in an out of control full-on way with other dogs, is just a poor existence on many levels. You are taking the short cut of relying on other dogs to physically exhaust your own dog, so that you can then just have peace and quiet at home. Learn to train and engage your dog. Take up a dog sport. Attend training classes. Teach your dog skills like tracking and nosework that involve use of the nose and brain and calm sniffing behaviour. Work on achieving focus on you in the presence of other dogs, instead of the expectation that the presence of other dogs means crazy play. There are problems around excessive exercise at too young an age, excessive boisterous rough play putting pressure on joints, predisposing to hip dysplasia. Problems around arousal levels and basically teaching the dog to have these extremes of either being asleep in a crate or crazy - unable to manage arousal levels around other dogs and distractions. And basically the risk of growing an 'over friendly dog' (aka - bully)....
By 6 months our pups were not crated. They occasionally got into some mischief but we mostly were able to keep things our of their reach. Cooper still goes in her crate in the kitchen when she wants to be quiet, but we never close the door. We still have a pet gate at the kitchen door, but only because occasionally we want to keep the dogs in or out of the kitchen because of something going on in the house.
That is my gut feeling. But this is my first dog so I have been deferring to the members of the household with more experience. I will broach the subject again. To be honest it begs the question of why get a dog if you’re going to spend most of your day ignoring him ...
Yes the dog park is less than ideal for many reasons. Unfortunately it is part of being a dog in (my) city. Dogs are required to be on a leash on no more than 6 feet anywhere else, banned from parks where children might be playing, banned from human spaces where food might be (you can’t enter a shop, buy a bottle of water etc) and space is at a heavy premium so v few people have yards. Dog sports are an idea, but they are hard to set up for exactly the same reasons. We go to a good puppy school, so I will do some more research through them
You might want to look into something like agility, which will give your dog a chance to run and use their body whilst also being in a safely contained area. You may not be able to do the jumps with a 6 month old pup yet, but a good agility class will have you learning lots of fundamentals and the other equipment... There is also tracking, and nosework. Both of which can be done on leash. Tracking can be done on grass verges on public streets and even across tarmac. Nosework can be done anywhere in public, on leash - you hide the odour and bring the dog out to find it. And then there's parkour, which again is done on leash and utilises any kind of object you come across - benches, lamp-posts, walls etc etc. You can learn to do most of these sports via the online Fenzi Dog Sports Academy: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com
