Hi I am wanting advice about collars...about to put one on our 8 week old pup. Do I leave it on all the time or only when I want to put a lead on? I haven't left him on his own yet but want to try crating over the next few days. Do I take the collar off whenever he chooses to go in there or just when I close the door and I am not present? And if I'm asking questions I might as well ask this one too...when can I start putting him in there overnight? I am tempted to get a camp bed and sleeping bag and sleep next to him the first night but hubby says I'm taking it too far!
Re: Collars I always took Rileys collar off when he was in his crate and I wasn't there just in case it got caught up. When he was really little I would put his collar on for a few minutes at a time gradually building up the time as he got used to it. Riley was crated overnight from day 1 but he never had any problems being in his crate so we were lucky. For toilet training we'd let him out about midnight and then again at 5 gradually getting later and later until it was our normal wake up time. Then we started moving the midnight back towards our normal bedtime. There's lots of different ways to approach this but that's what we did
Re: Collars Hi Emma, I used to put Harley's collar on for short periods during the day when she was awake. Even now, I usually put it on when going for a walk then leave it on for a few hours afterwards. As for the crate, Harley was in there from day 1 overnight. I lay on the floor outside the cage til she lies down and her eyes start going. I then put the blanket over the cage for her to sleep at night. The first 2 nights I wasup 2-3 times for toilet and !!play!! I wouldn't play and eventually she settled down. Since then, she sleeps through from about 11pm til 7am every day . Good luck x
Re: Collars It maybe depends on your home and garden set up, and whether you have more than one dog. And indeed you might want to use the collar a bit indoors to get him used to it like Barbara said, but I use the collar ONLY when Lilly is out the house on walks etc or in the car. There was a thread a while back about collars and "injuries" particularly when playing with other dogs unsupervised, hence some recommendations for quick-release clasps, but I think most who joined the discussion decided it was collar on only when out the house after hearing some of the consequences of leaving the collar on. I suppose you need to think why you WOULD need it on in the house. I have rarely found the need for it. And we were the same as Naya with regards the crate - in it from Day 1 - it was her little haven, and she settled in in no problem and quickly got the hang of staying dry. Our main problem was that she became earlier and earlier waking up in the morning - for food? for a play? - who knows but we knew it wasn't for a wee so had to be firm and ignore her crying
Re: Collars Thanks guys, yes I reckon we only need it on outside. I've put it on a couple of times just for 15 mins or so around the house. Generally he ignores it but will scratch every so often. I guess when he's out there will be more to distract him from it. As for the crate we will try tonight and see...fingers crossed!
