Hi everyone, I'm about to welcome my new black lab puppy in 2 weeks and I'm preparing my apartment. From my older dog, a West Highland Terrier I have a small crate which I think will fit the 8 week old puppy for a bit. I also bought a big 42" crate. I want to have a crate in my bedroom for the first couple of weeks, until the puppy feels better in his new home. Problem is, my bedroom is not that big for the 42" crate to fit in comfortably. Would it be ok to have the small crate in the bedroom and the big crate in another room of the house? Or does it have to be one crate that the puppy gets used to?
You can use two different crates. But the puppy should not have too much free space. So, you may need a divider for the larger crate at least until the puppy grows.
Really interesting that you posted this today. We brought Jessie home two weeks ago. A small crate in our bedroom and a larger 46" downstairs. She sleeps so well in our room and has never really cried. I think she sees that as her crate. Even though we move the beddings from one to another, downstairs is a different story. She just won't settle in the day and is almost displaying symptoms of separation anxiety if we settle her for a nap and then walk away. We've today decided that we must leave her to sleep on her own at least twice during the day and then when that is sorted, move her out of our bedroom. We are not experts, far from it. But from from our very recent experience, a smaller crate in your bedroom is fine. Just make sure that new puppy is left on their own in the day crate so that they have some alone time without you.
So linking with questions about crate training. Would be grateful for views on how we get our Jessie (10 weeks) to settle on her own during the day. We are both retired and don't need to leave the house often without her but really want to try and avoid problems with separation anxiety in the future.
