Hello all! Larks is 4 months old tomorrow! Some days it felt like we would never make it this far. My question is about how long you all leave your dogs in the crate during the day. I'm fortunate to be able to have Larks come to work with me and I only have to crate her for 15-20 minutes 2 times per day. Should I let her have more time in the crate then that? In other words, am I spoiling her by not having her be in the crate very long? She has been in the crate for a max of 2 hours at a time so far and seems to do just fine, I just know there are a few instances coming up where she will need to be in for 4 hours. Do I need to work her up to that time? I hate for her to be in it if I don't have to, but I also don't want to shock her by popping her in for a few hours one day after being out the majority of the time most days. I feel guilty when she is in her crate when I know she could be out.
I think if a dog is ok with a crate - really ok - up to 2 hours then it will cope with 4 hours without much problem. Certainly, when Charlie was recovering from surgery, and we couldn't risk him jumping up in a pen he was crated for much, much longer than he had ever been before. He coped. I wouldn't say it was a great time for him but he was calm and settled in his crate. If a dog has really been crate trained properly, then they will cope if you have to leave them longer than normal. Charlie's crate behaviour now is exceptional. I can leave him in a fabric crate anywhere, completely confident he will just settle down. Betsy tends to be in her crate during the day quite a bit. Both my dogs are very playful, and I work at home - I can't have an adult Labrador and a 6 month old puppy crashing round when I'm on the phone (they don't always do that, but they do it enough!). She tends to be in her crate 9am to about 11.30am, and then 12.30 to about 3pm. She gets out for lots of little breaks, toilet breaks, and she comes to the kitchen if I get a cup of tea etc. Really, she does exactly what Charlie does - he snoozes in the armchair unless I get up, and she snoozes in her crate (and when I get up, I let her out). So she does about 5 hours in her crate split into two, but with lots of breaks.
This makes me feel better. I know I shouldn't feel guilty about leaving for a few hours but I still do. And she really is very good in her crate. I rarely hear a peep from her once I pop her in and whenever I come to get her she is either sleeping or just laying calmly.
The other thing to remember is that once you are not using a crate for toilet training, and just using it to keep a chewing puppy safe or out of mischief, the crate can be massive. Betsy is in a crate sized for a Great Dane (which is what I bought when Charlie was recovering from surgery, I wanted him to have the maximum space possible, and now use it for Betsy).
If she settles well in her crate she should be fine. It's only quite recently that I've let my two have more freedom by not fastening their crate doors when they're left (but with only limited access to the house!). I still shut them in their crates at night and, as Julie says, occasionally if they're overexcited at the wrong times!
Thanks for this Julie...it's really reassuring for me. I will be taking my puppy to work. I work in a small office on the ground floor with direct acces to a fenced outside area. My 2 colleagues are very dog friendly. So my plan is to have her in a pen area (metal play plen rather than a crate) with her bed inside, next to my desk. The pen is 2m by 1.5m. She will have regular trips outside and small play times plus longer play time at lunch time at the park across the road. But I have to answer the phone at work and don't want her chewing through cardboard boxes of books in the office! My plan is to try and get her to the point where she can have half an hour settled and then 5 mins outside and play and then back in again. I worry she will get bored. But I feel a bit more reassured after reading your post. Do you use kongs/toys whilst you leave Betsy in the crate...or does she just sleep mostly?
She will get bored! Puppies are very bad at being bored. Adult dogs are much better at being bored. So long as your puppy has enough playtime, training time, company, attention and new experiences they just have to get used to being bored in between times. They have to learn that 'oh, it's boring time now, might as well go to sleep'. Both my dogs know that when I open my laptop it's boring time. When I close it, they are up like a shot. Both my dogs get kongs if I leave the house, it's part of my leaving routine and means me leaving is associated with something good. But since I completed Betsy's crate training I don't give her kongs routinely in her crate (I will time to time if perhaps her walk is late or something that will disrupt her happens - builders in the house etc). She did get them a lot at first. Now I use kongs for her settling outside her crate (obviously don't want her to have to be in her crate when I work forever). I never leave my dogs unattended with any toys apart from kongs. They don't play with toys alone, just chew them up and perhaps swallow bits - and that's something I don't really need them to do.
Rolo is crated when with me whilst im in work even when Hey - This is similar to my situation in work - Rolo comes in with me, he has a crate next to my desk, we come in at 8am - have a little play for 10 mins, he goes in for a sleep - sometimes get s a kong or a chew - then comes out at 10:30am for a wee a play and a cuddle then back in untill Lumchtime, has his dinner and another play and a walk then back in untill around 3 same again then home its a bit of a routine for him now so he knows and settles quite well. Sometimes when the boss's dog comes in he tries to get a bit rowdy and get out but he settles quick!
Puppies sleep quite a lot! I would be careful not to let your co workers pay too much attention to her as she will then come to expect it and moither! Perhaps have definite times for play and times for sleeping.
Hi Jyssica thanks for this post....it sounds a bit like what I'm planning. I've said to my coworkers if she is in her pen then no playing with her - I want that to be her "settle down" space. But at first I will take her out every 30 mins for a wee and a play and my coworkers can play then! My boss also has a dog but doesn't work from the office everyday so we shall see what happens when she comes in. I'm just not sure whether to give her toys to play with in her pen or have it as a settle down/sleep space.
Toys won't matter much either way - she might play with them for a little while when she is young, or the toys are new, but after a while she won't play with toys alone.
I also brought my puppy to work when we got him at six weeks he is now 9 months. It worked out great at first but as he got bigger around 7 to 8 months he would bark when people he didn't know walked in and he never got into a deep sleep like he does now that I keep him home. Another issue is that he was so used to being in a crate next to me that I tried putting him away from me in a another room while at work and he would cry until I let him out. I just started keeping him home with a camera so I can watch him and he slepps all day for six hours straight.
