Dear All, I come here to humbly ask about puppy crate placement. Ive recently got a Labrador Retriever puppy, whom is now coming up to the age of 9 weeks. We got him when he was 8 weeks old. From day one we left the crate (its quiet big about 42 inches in length) in the conservatory. From day one we have left the puppy alone at night in the conservatory. Sadly in the evenings we get people making a nuisance of themselves at the back of the garage (drunks and boisterous people), their noise filters through into the conservatory even though it is double glazed. For the first few days he whimpered early in the morning, which upon hearing I quickly attend to him, as I have found him to have done his two biological businesses outside the crate (on newspaper). I went to visit him today at around 10.00pm and when I came to his crate I found him lying there looking at me (of which I thought) with sad eyes- this broke my heart . As this is the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] day we've had him Im beginning to question whether where we have put the crate is the best place as I have read on many websites and books that as Labs are very social, the crate should be placed where the little puppy can hear the people of the house. I kindly therefore ask you kind people, if I should be placing the crate within the second room (which is carpeted) at night and whether the crate should be closed. We never have closed the crate on him as we have a pen surrounding crate which is locked. Id really appreciate your thoughts. Kind regards, Rax
Our crate is in the hall downstairs, with baby gates off to the lounge, stairs and kitchen - our pup is only in there overnight (with the crate door open but babygates shut, kind of like your pen) and if we have people over wh dont like dogs or he goes in of his own accord for a sleep. The rest of the time he is in the lounge with us and has a bed in there also. Are you just leaving the puppy in there all the time by itself, bar occasional visits? If so he will Im sure be missing out on valuable interactions with you - and maybe feeling bit lonely. Id def place the crate more within the main area of the house - it cn just sit in a corner or something. In terms of crating (during the day) the puppy should only be left in there an hour per month of age, up to 4 hours max (which is still quite a long time!). Hope that helps.
Is he only in the crate/pen at night for sleeping, or does he spend time in it during the day too? He may be missing the company if he's there during the day and most of the household activity is elsewhere Do you have a cover over his crate? We had ours in a corner of the kitchen/day room and had a blanket over the crate to make it feel cosy and den-like. I wonder if in the conservatory he feels very exposed and covering the crate would make it feel like a safe den for him.
Welcome to you! Yes, I would have his crate where you are during the day and in a quiet place at night. It's up to you if you leave the crate open or not since he has a pen to keep him safe. But, if you close the crate you will need to be prepared to get up once or twice in the night for toilet breaks. I have a 9 week puppy too (Twiglet) and I feel too old to be getting up in the night, so we have a puppy pad in her pen. But I am aware that toilet training can take longer when using this method. An hour a day alone is the maximum at this age, they very much need their people around them. Like us, they are social animals and get lonely when left alone - plus they are not learning when alone. I love the term "biological businesses" !
Juno's crate was in the kitchen so she was free to curl up in for a snooze during the day but preferred the cats bed while she could fit in it . If I was in the living room she joined me and would curl up in her bed there, normally wherever I was she would be and just spent the night in her crate and when I popped out shopping.
Dear All, Thank you so much for your replies. On the basis of which I intend to keep the cage in the kitchen during the night, which will be kept open so he has free reign of the kitchen. I'll also be spending a lot of time away from the cage. I've a bed for him that he takes to veraciously chewing rather than sleeping in. My only two concerns now is crate training, and eating, He never seems to hungry, we feed him kibble (Royal Canine Junior (Medium)) that he only touches if we add a little water to it or we feed him by hand, which I've been told is a big No No! Once again a hearty cheers and cheerio for now
We decided this time we would put the crate in the living room it has one of those tent like covers on it. We put it at the side of the couch so half would be dark and the other half nice light and airy, and he can see everything. Only problem being hubby uses the top for his tv controls and papers! Well today I left him for a minute came back into room to find Baxter on top of his crate looking extremely pleased with himself with the controls in his mouth! Lesson learnt he's a climber
Hello, *Note: I posted this in another thread but found this one to be more appropriate apologies for the duplication* My husband an I are bringing home our first ever puppy - Dexter on 29th August, we are in the process of reading everything we can in preparation. One question we have is regarding the crate. We have one big enough for the bed one side and paper training on the other side however we would prefer to potty train outside. Will it confuse the puppy if we encourage paper training over night/while we are at work and garden training whilst we are in the house? Which leads me to my next question of where do we keep the crate. Our kitchen is not near the back door however Dexter will need to be in the Kitchen whilst we are not in the house so should we keep the crate there? Finally for the first month we will both be working full time then I will be working from home, we have employed a doggy day care lady to come play with Dexter while we are away and also once he has his vaccinations he will be going to doggy day care to play with the other dogs. My question though is for the 3ish hours he is alone at home, should he have free range of the kitchen or should he be in his crate so he cant chew the dining room table to shreds? Thanks in advance for you advice Daniella
We have a crate in the kitchen, which I have the top covered with a blanket to make a cozy den. She sleeps in this at night, up until 4 weeks ago I used to close the door now at 8 months I leave the door open as she has stopped chewing. Mabel rips her beds up, buying a very nice designer bed was a big mistake . 3 various beds later she now has some cozy fleece blankets which she doesn't rip up. I make them into a bed she tends to have one in the hall (which is here favourite place to sleep in summer) and one in the conservatory and at night we move it into the lounge. My house is small so she is never far away from me. She's not allowed in the lounge during the day on her own as she uses the sofa as a trampoline once my backs turned. We have a no jumping policy in our house at the moment. Regarding the feeding I would mix the kibble with a fair amount of water to start with and gradually decrease it over time. I've never heard of feeding by hand as being a problem sorry I can't offer any advice on that. If you are at all worried about his appetite I'd give the vet a call. Best wishes xx
