Hello! This is my very first post on a forum... ever. Leave it to my spunky rescue lab to have me trying new things!! I rescued my chocolate lab in the beginning of March and she is roughly a little over a year old. She currently is crated during the day between 8am and 5:15pm. She is happy, healthy, and always asleep when I get home. Her personality is spunky, curious, and fun loving. She has bursts of energy but overall is actually not very active. I usually have to force to walk with me multiple times a day to get her exercise. She would be a couch potato if I let her. The Vet continually tells me that I am doing great and not to change a thing, however other dog owners of large breeds are telling me she is crated for way to long. She truly loves her crate, it is her comfort zone, and on the rare occasions I leave her out to run errands (3 hours tops), she is asleep in the crate when I get home. My question to you all... do I try and phase the crating during the day out... or do I leave it be since she is very content with her routine. Any and all advice would be great!! Thanks so much!
Re: Crated during the day? Hi there, welcome to the forum! Would love to hear more about your dog. Many people would think this too long to crate, but being a working mum I have been there and done that and it worked well for me. We didn't get rid of our crate until Lilly was 3. Any opportunity she goes back in it though! If it was me, I would gradually extend the time that I left her "unsecured" in the house but not remove the crate completely if she regards it as her den. Have you left her free in the house whilst you have been out at all? jac
Re: Crated during the day? A warm welcome from me Helen, Hattie 6 years and our rescue boy Charlie 3 years. Personally I feel 9 hours crated is way too long for a dog of any age or size. Do you have any friends or relatives that could pop in and let her out for a run in your garden, or maybe a dog walker to take her out a few times a day, a few people on the forum use dog day care, maybe you could consider some of these options? She may be going to her crate when she's out because that's what she's used too and maybe that's what happened to her in her previous home and rescue centre. I don't use a crate now but when I did my dogs crated for upto 4 hours and never more than that. I hope you can sort something our for your girl. Lots more advice will be offered
Re: Crated during the day? Hello and welcome to the forum! I am another working Labrador mum and my lab was crated from 8:45 to 5:15. Like you my dog had no issues with this and loved her crate, as I gt her used to it from day one. I only stopped shutting her in when she got speyed and because of her cone of shame she wouldn't fit in there!! We got on so well with leaving her out that we have continued to do so now that her cone is off and she is fully healed. We have left her crate there and she is often lying in it when we return home from work, but also have a regular bed on the kitchen floor for her and a baby gate across the door. The only issue we have had is Penny jumping the baby gate some mornings to try and get to us! We bought a taller one and we seem to be breaking that habit. Now that she's out of the crate I don't think I would want to go back to having her in it all day again unless absolutely necessary. Obviously it is personal choice what you decide to do - I didn't see an issue with it as Penny is a tiny lab and has a crate more suitably sized for a Great Dane so she had plenty of space to move around and get comfy whilst in it but I think in the back of my mind I did worry that it was a long time to be confined like that. It's different overnight as the dog will be sleeping, but during the day they will want to move around and stretch their legs a bit more.
Re: Crated during the day? Hello there! A very warm welcome to the forum - we'd love to hear more about your girl, and LOVE photos if you can figure out how to post them (see technical help, unless you are a technical whizz of course). I'm a working labrador mum too - and passionately supportive that people who work can have dogs (surely we don't have to wait until we retire!). But I think crating a dog all day is far too long or indeed all day - every working day - is too long for a dog to be alone at home. I completely appreciate that all dogs are different, and different dogs adapt to different routines though. I had my dog on crate rest for a long time (because of injury) and it did have an impact on him. It changed his behaviour, in undesirable ways, I think. If it's possible for you (and I understand that it might not be) I would try to find ways in which she could have more stimulation through the day - dog walkers, day care and so on. She might be a couch potato because that's her way of coping. It might not be a normal state for a young, fit labrador... Please don't think I'm overly critical, or don't appreciate that you know your dog best. If you are sure she is fine, then I'm sure she is.
Re: Crated during the day? personally i think being in a crate so many hours is way to long, fortunately when i got my boy i was in a position to give him 24/7 care an attention, i only had jasper in a crate for 2 month, he as been fine, apart from cushion munching, i spend 24/7 with my boy, putting 100 % into training, he is now 19 month old, i am now getting out of him what i have put into him, he is now a pleasure to walk, recall was a long hard struggle, he as now got a 99.9 % recall, lea walking was horrendous he pulled like a train, with a lot of hard work i now have a loose lead you will only get out of them what you put into them
Re: Crated during the day? Thank you ALL for your replies! Riley is about 15 months old right now. When I adopted her in March they said she was a year but she definitely wasn't. So I estimated based on what the VET said and came up that she is now currently 15 months. She really only has bursts of energy.. maybe 10 minutes of running around or hard playing, but then she's done. We do a 2 mile walk in the morning, and 2-3 shorter walks in the afternoon/evening depending on how tired we both are. Weekends are of course free game, besides the morning walk, we always do that. She is a very well behaved dog for being so young. I believe she is mixed with something else, maybe hound? She only likes to destroy her toys and doesn't eat the contents, just displays them around the room. She gets VERY excited when seeing people/other dogs, and is very jumpy. But other than that she really is very well behaved. drjs@5 - I don't want to get rid of her crate completely, but my boyfriend had a large male golden and thinks Riley shouldn't be crated all day. I have left her out of her crate if I have errands on the weekends. Most recently she was alone for three hours and was fine. She clearly didn't touch her bone or toys though. Plus she seemed out of whack when I got home, almost as if being out of her crate caused her more anxiety. This is what makes me nervous about leaving her out all day. I want to gradually leave her out longer, but that would require me to be away from her on the weekends (which I don't want to do) or somehow come home early from work.. which probably won't work either. I have had her in her crate since the day I got her, she really does love it. Charlie - Unfortunately I do not have anyone who can let her out during the day and all the dog walkers I've looked into need to have certain amount of days to take her on. I live in a condo so she would need to have a leashed walk or a walk to the local dog run where she could run loose. Penny+Me - She really seems to have no issues. I have asked the VET and he said she is doing so well and to not change anything if I didn't think it was necessary. I truly believe she is okay and happy... but if she could be happier being out, I would love to do that. I said it before though... it seems that she was more anxious after I came home from leaving her out. Could this be because she is not used to it?? Julie T - I am going to try and load some photos when I am done responding... we'll see how it goes!! Crating her all day definitely doesn't seem to have and adverse actions in her behavior. I did speak to the VET about her in regards to not wanting to exercise too much and her being a lab, could that be possible?!?!? He said, that it could be. Especially if she truly is a mix, perhaps her mix is a more mellow type of dog. He assured me, health wise, she is good to go. I play with her in the morning and usually until 10pm when we go to bed. I mix in some fun mind games for her too... she is hysterical. She will be go go go going one minute and next just plop exactly where she is. lynnelogan - Riley has graduated from 2 six week training courses. The trainer loved her and has taken photos of her during classes as an example. She is 95% of the time great on a leash, and with drop it/leave it. She has turned around from picking up ANYTHING on the floor to leaving almost everything except the occasional sock. So I might be able to go to work earlier, come home on lunch and let her out. Then not re-crate her and go back to work. I'll be gone longer, but it could be a good way to slowly get her used to not being inside her crate all day. Any other suggestions? The only other thing I can think of is just trying it a few days and see how she does. I guess another general question I have is about water. Riley and I were near a creek and she clearly had never been near anything like it. She was very hesitant about the water and she did swim for a second, but then wanted to get out. I tried taking her into the lagoon down the shore, and she was terrified. She is super curious about the water and I think will love it. Any suggestions on how to get her used to it and willing to jump in? This would be another reason I think she is a mix of something else. I have never met a lab that wasn't instantly in the water when it could be. Thank you for all of your advice so far! It is definitely helpful!! Okay I can't post any pics unless get an online photo base which I don't think I'll do. I'll work on an avatar!
Re: Crated during the day? I was worried that Penny would be anxious because being out of the crate was something she wasn't used to. She suffers from anxiety anyway and I was very apprehensive about how this would be affected with a change of routine. Unfortunately we had to throw her in at the deep end and just do it and it turned out fine. Maybe getting her used to it gradually (if you decide it is something you want to try) is the way to go.... Perhaps if you have to go somewhere on an evening or when you go to the shops on a weekend would be a good place to start? For the first week or so I left classical music on for Penny which is supposed to help relieve stress levels. If you wanted to go down this road perhaps you could also look at getting an adaptil collar or diffuser which release a pheromone that helps relieve stress.
Re: Crated during the day? I might be stating the obvious here but could you just leave her with the crate open then it's her choice if she stays in it or not. She can sleep in her crate where she is obviously happy and feels safe but if she wants a stretch and a bit if a wander she can get out. Sorry should have started with hi and welcome. ;D
Re: Crated during the day? I am sorry but I just have to say it, in my opinion a dog should not be crated for that length of time. Jen has a good idea which I was also going to mention, leave her in the room with the crate open so that she can go in if she chooses but can come out to stretch her legs.
Re: Crated during the day? Best of luck with it, your girl sounds just lovely. [quote author=CheshireC2 link=topic=7005.msg95465#msg95465 date=1405646351] all the dog walkers I've looked into need to have certain amount of days to take her on. I live in a condo so she would need to have a leashed walk or a walk to the local dog run where she could run loose. [/quote] I know there are practicalities - budgets and so on, and finding someone you trust and I quite appreciate that's it's not the answer for everyone - but this can be an ideal arrangement, and lead walks are just fine. She could have a lunchtime walk out a few days during the working week. This is what I do. My boy has a dog walker come morning or afternoon (I know I'm lucky, and can arrange things so he is only on his own half days, but he still gets an hour's lead walk in the middle of those half days on his own).
Re: Crated during the day? Thank you ALL for your responses!! I appreciate that a lot of people believe crating a dog that long is not healthy, but I assure you my Riley is a happy and healthy lab! For the short amount of times that I have left Riley out of her crate while home alone, her crate door is open and I find her in there when I return. She always seems very anxious though when I return. Normally, when she is crated, I am waking her up as I come home. I believe I will try to continue leaving her out while I run errands (if it's too hot out I leave her home, otherwise she comes with me)... and then when she seems less anxious I will try while I am at work. Thank you all again for your advice and help... I will be definitely posting again!
Re: Crated during the day? sorry how rude of me not to welcome you, welcome from me and jasper black boy 19 month old
Re: Crated during the day? Don't have anything else useful to add but just wanted to welcome you, too! I think a slow introduction to crate-less life is a good idea. Let us know how it goes!
Re: Crated during the day? Hello there,welcome to the Forum,I'm so pleased you have had so many suggestions.We did wait to get Dexter until I wasn't working so he never needed to be crated for more than a couple of hours at a time during the day.Around 7 months we started leaving the crate door open day and night although he was still contained in his 'room' ( the utility room off the kitchen behind a child gate) sometimes he would be in,sometimes not.he is nearly 2 now and is allowed free run of the house during the day if we are out,he knows he doesn't go upstairs unless we let him .At night he goes behind his gate but I've just had new beds delivered ( I'm away at the moment) and I know they aren't going to fit in his room.....there might be some fun and games if we let him settle down in the lounge when I get back.For us,we will always leave the crate available to him as it is in a spot that's not getting in the way of life in the house....plus it's handy to pop all his stuff on top! ;D Sounds like you have got to know each other very well and your dog sounds lovely x Best wishes Angela x
