advice please on crate training. jacks 8 months, i think his previous owners left at home on his own quite a bit, the longest hes been left with us is about 2 and a half hours. hes eaten a few things he shouldnt, yesterday opening a brand new pack of nappies and spreading them around the room! im worried hell get bored if left any longer and eat more things he shouldnt, the crate would give me confidence he cant chew up stuff but im not sure its fair on him to cage him! pros and cons and general advice please on crate training?
Re: Crate training - do i need to? Crate training was great for us but we only used it in the early days (first 6 months) and then we moved to a baby gated room(kitchen) as I felt leaving him over an hour or two in a crate in the day was too long. We've had very little damage, a couple of nibbled skirting boards, but Riley's never been a big chewer.
Re: Crate training - do i need to? I use a dog gated room (an odd room off the kitchen that I don't have another use for) which is completely empty apart from things he is allowed to chew. The floor is tile, and i have a metal pen that I can expand with panels, or make smaller by removing panels. This pen is now arranged to line the whole room so he can't even get to the radiator. He IS a chewer.
Re: Crate training - do i need to? i took a massive gamble by just taking jasper out of the crate at 4 month,.......started just evenings to test the water,....he was house trained at 2 month so no problems in that department then i worked at 30 mins a day, increasing daily, only going up stairs, leaving him free run of the down stairs,......i am lucky just a cushion muncher,...........i save the bust cushions, when i go out just leave them, he has been fine i guess its just how much of a gamble you are prepared to take paid off for me
Re: Crate training - do i need to? I started to try leaving Amy out more often but she has wet twice and nibbled the door! We just put her in the extra large create! I added up the time she was locked up including my shower time, dressing boys, bed time routine. And I felt awful! So now just one of us is seeing to the boys while the other is on puppy watch. Will still try leaving her out more on her own now she getting older.
Re: Crate training - do i need to? jade you are doing well , with 2 young children to juggle with don't forget i am on my own all day, so far easier for me
Re: Crate training - do i need to? enjoy jade,......relax the kids will play with him .......my grandson breaks up next friday
Re: Crate training - do i need to? I think that a crate is useful. A dog trained to be relaxed in a crate will also be more chilled if s/he has to spend the day or night at the vet's or even go on a plane someday. Obi was 9 months when we got him and we trained him to a crate. Once he was comfortable in it we worked up to leaving him in for up to 4 hours (only on a few occasions but it allowed us to go out to dinner without worrying that the house would be a pile of matchsticks when we got back). We only used the crate for a few months but it was a real help to have a safe place to put Obi if we needed it.
