Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with crate

Puppy in the office!

lunasol — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 18:39:38 -0800

What should I do with my puppy when he's not sleeping or playing with me? I brought my puppy home! So far, it's going really well. The first day was a little rough but we're settling into a good routine. He's peeing/pooping outside, sleeping reasonably well at night, learning really quickly.

Here's the problem: I'm not really sure what to do with him when he's awake and I'm not playing with or otherwise exercising him. I took Friday off so we've been together pretty much constantly for the last three days. I've noticed that if I'm moving around (ie, cooking/cleaning), he's fine for up to a half hour just watching me or maybe playing with a toy. But if I'm sitting down (say, reading or watching TV), then he'll only play on his own for a few minutes before he starts barking, whining, etc to get my attention. At that point I'll usually wait until he stops whining/barking and then play with him.

That's been ok this weekend, since I've had the time to play with him a lot. But I'm going back to work Tuesday (taking tomorrow off) and he'll be coming with me. I definitely plan to take him outside every two hours or so, and give him good walks plus playtime in the morning, evening and at lunch. But in between, there will be a lot of time where I'm, you know, working.

My vet recommended crating him at work, and we are working on crate training, but I'm worried he won't be quite ready by Tuesday. I also ordered one of these "puppy playpens" but it doesn't arrive until Wednesday.

Anyway, what should I do this evening and tomorrow to set us up for success on Tuesday? And what should I do the first few days to make the transition as painless as possible for everyone (including my coworkers!)?

Probably good to know: We're starting obedience classes tomorrow night. I have my own office with a door that closes, and there's a green walk outside for walks and bathroom breaks. I talked to the vet about parvo and she thinks the office set-up is low risk. His personality is bold and energetic but eager-to-please and SUPER food-motivated.

Help our broken dog sleep

jewzilla — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:32:03 -0800

Our dog goes through cycles of at first liking a crate and then not tolerating it at all--whining, scratching, growling, and moaning. When Sparky's unhappy, nobody sleeps. I'm out of ideas and I'm looking for new things to try. Background: We have a five year old miniature poodle who was a rescue. She suffered some unknown maltreatment before we got her. She has attachment issues and is stressed out when she is away from my wife (she will whine or sit in front of the door for hours waiting for her return). She's also afraid of strangers and barks at them, which probably isn't relevant to this question. We have crated her at night for most of the four years that we've had her. Crating usually worked until a few weeks ago.

The problem: She has started whining and growling while in her crate at night, beginning about a two weeks ago. We can't sleep with her making all that noise. Last night she started freaking out in her crate so we had to take her out to avoid injury.

Alternatives to nighttime crating we've tried:
If we take her out of the crate, she paces back and forth on the hardwood floor all night long. That is also too noisy to sleep with. If we put her in a different room she is miserable and whines and howls really loudly, which we (and the neighbors) can't sleep with.

If we sleep with her on the bed, which I know is often frowned upon, she will mostly sleep, but some nights she gets off the bed and paces. It's not a proper or complete solution.

Further background:
I have no idea why she suddenly started hating her crate so much. This also happened with her previous crate. We have tried putting treats, bones, and flossies in the crate. We have fed her in the crate. None of those things help. She doesn't care for toys or get-the-treat puzzle toys. In general, if she's unhappy she won't engage in activities (e.g., eating a bone or playing with a toy), so it's unsurprising that these things didn't help.

A year ago this happened and we changed from a cloth playpen to an under-the-bed crate, and that solved the problem until now. She has never been able to tolerate steel crates at all; she would hide under the bed and shake when we tried to put her in one.

We've worked on her attachment issues, but progress is slow. It could take a long time to get her to tolerate being in a different room from my wife for more than an hour.

I'm at a loss as to what to do next. I need to sleep. She is miserable. My next step is to build an anechoic chamber for her next crate, but I'd really rather do anything else.

Please give me a crate idea!

Pomo — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:48:10 -0800

What type of crate should we use for my sister's very large dog? My sister has a pretty big mutt (lab, not sure what else) weighing just over 100 lbs and standing maybe thigh-high on us average ladies. She wants to take the dog on a road trip in her VW Rabbit and have the dog be as safe and comfortable as possible. If not contained, the dog likes to roam about the car, which seems dangerous and also causes the hair to go everywhere.

We've looked at the nylon crates but they seem flimsy; this dog can be reactive and may try to break out unexpectedly. Wire crates being more square-shaped seem to take up more room than necessary, and don't appear very cozy. Plastic ones are a pain in the butt to store.

Any suggestions? I've read the previous threads on crating dogs and they seem more about long-term crating rather than temporary crating for travel.

I would note that the dog is a rescue and isn't crated around the house. He would be exposed to it gradually in advance of the trip, which isn't til later in the summer.

I am getting tired of cleaning poop off the carpet!

triggerfinger — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:08:41 -0800

Dog training, crate training question. I got a new rescue dog a couple of months ago. He is an adult dog, but was never potty trained or socialized. I took the first week off of work to be with him and potty train him. To potty train, I used crate training and the umbilical cord method and it worked really well. I think he caught on pretty quickly that he needs to go potty outside. I felt confident enough that I didn't feel I needed to keep him in the crate during the day anymore within a few days of going back to work.

He was really good and didn't go in the house when I was at work. He kept this up for the most part for several weeks. However, three times in the last week, after I've taken him out, he's run back in and peed and pooped on the carpet immediately. He is getting top the point where he is pokes around outside and doesn't really go potty. At night, it's not as big a deal as I can take him out again an hour later if he doesn't go the first time. During the day I can't do that. I know I should crate him during the day while I'm at work but I am gone for nine hours and I feel super reluctant, like this is too long for him to be confined to a crate. I know he can hold it for that long, but if he doesn't go outside when I take him out in the morning and then is in a crate for 9 hours, he will be going on about 18 hours since he last went potty by the time I get home. This seems cruel?

Another complicating factor: I pay a dog walker to come during lunch time and take my other dog for a walk. She would LOVE to take my new dog as well, but he won't let anyone but me put his leash on him because he was never properly socialized. He also won't let my roommate do it, otherwise my roommate would take him out. We are going to classes for fearful dogs, and he is getting better - he will accept treats from people and even let some people pet him - but it's taking some time. He's not aggressive-scared, just unfamiliar with new people. He's curious and I think he wants to go to people, but is just not sure yet. It is theoretically possible for me to go home during lunch, but I would be pushing it to get home, take him out and get back to work, time-wise. Taking a little more than an hour once in a while is generally not a problem but I can't do it every day.

I am feeding him once a day, at dinnertime, and then I take him for a walk around 8pm so I know that he is able to have a good poop and get it all out of him. He has no other food at other times. I would like to be able to feed him twice a day, in the morning and at night, but with his unpredictability with going potty in the morning, I feel like I can't take the chance that he decides not to go outside and then is left alone all day.

So, two problems I guess: 1) Dog won't go potty outside in the morning and lately has been running right in and going inside. I am thinking of crating him during the day but is nine hours too long to not only be cooped up in a crate, but also to hold his bladder, considering he didn't go outside? 2) Dog won't let anyone else put a leash on him to take him out, so my ability to get help on this is limited.

It should be noted that I do not have a fenced in yard so he needs to be put on a leash and taken out by a person. There is no possible way for another person to just let him out passively (without touching him).

Finally, if I do start to crate him during the day and he catches on quickly and starts to do well with going potty outside, at what point can I leave him out of his crate? How long do I need to do the crating while I'm at work routine? I would obviously prefer to leave him out because I'm gone for nine hours and he and my other dog like to play with each other.

Thank you for your help.

Help me figure out crate training for my new puppy.

Bango Skank — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:44:05 -0800

I'm getting a new puppy next week and need some suggestions about crate training. All the overly-long special snowflake details are inside. A year and a half ago I adopted Eddie my first ever dog. Since he was already a year old and came to us house trained Eddie was never crated. Now we are getting another GSD but this one is just a baby.

Although initially resistant I think that I am sold on the crate idea - I understand that crate training is the fastest, easiest way to house train a puppy; I think having the puppy crated will be a good idea until we are sure that she knows the rules of the house regarding what can and can't be chewed; and to make sure Eddie doesn't constantly harass her to play with him while we are not there to intervene. Basically my understanding of a dog crate is a way to keep a puppy out of trouble until they are properly trained and no longer need the crate - I can get with that idea but what I am not clear on is the execution of it.

1. What size crate should we get? The people at the pet store showed us the giant size $200 crate that has dividers to make it smaller while she is growing which seemed pretty wasteful to me. I envisioned getting a crate that will be big enough for the next five or six months by which point she should be responsible enough to not need to be crated. Travel is not factor for us.

2. What about at night? Eddie sleeps in our bedroom with the door closed, usually he sleeps in the bed with us unless it is too hot in which case he sprawls out directly on the cool tile floor or on a bathmat by the shower. Although bed privileges are something that Eddie earned over time we have come to love having him in the bed with us because he is very polite about waiting for permission to get up, staying at the foot of the bed, not taking up more than his fair share of the bed, and always getting down when asked. Can I just add the puppy to the mix and let her choose where she wants to be in the bedroom or do I have to bring her crate into the bedroom every night? Is there any reason she can't sleep in the bed?

3. Where in the house should the crate be located? Eddie has a "place" with an old blanket under a sideboard between the kitchen and dining room. This is where Eddie hangs out while we are eating and cooking and where he gets sent when we need him to calm down and not be underfoot. Space-wise this would be the most convenient place for a crate. When we are home the living room is where most of our time is spent and Eddie also has a dog bed there, which is the spot he seems to gravitate to when he is ready to just relax and nap. Although I have read that the crate should be somewhere that the puppy can feel included this would make the living room very cramped.

4. Will it be stressful to one or both of the dogs to be able to see and smell each other but not get to one another? There are no plans to crate Eddie but at the minimum the puppy will be crated when we are not home for the next few months.

I know that this question is very long and I thank you if you have read all the way down here. If there are any glaring omissions that you think I need to know about introducing a puppy to a house that already has an awesome well-trained dog in it please let me know. Also if you have a training program that does not involve a crate I am willing to hear about that as well.

I know that I am supposed to post pictures of the new puppy but Yahoo has locked me out of Flikr, so I cry your pardon till I can get that worked out

Help Me Find the Perfect Teacher Cart

rossination — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:49:52 -0800

I am a teacher who travels to a different school each day of the week (sometimes two). Help me find the perfect folding cart / luggage cart / hand truck system to haul all of my crap around! I teach beginning band and strings and typically carry a bunch of stuff with me each day. On a given day, I am usually hauling several large books (teacher editions of student method books), usually a number of books or sheet music to hand out to students that day, a small instrument repair kit, a laptop bag, and my lunch. It is not uncommon for me to also be bringing in several instruments.

Currently I'm using one of these, and it hasn't held up well - it is breaking in the front and needs to be replaced soon.

Whatever solution I come up with needs to fit in the trunk of my car. Ideally I can collapse the handle and then just put the whole thing in the trunk (with the books and crap still in it).

Some other teachers use rolling suitcases for this purpose, but I like the cart system because it lets me stack instruments (or other flat things) on top. I'm wondering if either a hand truck + milk crate or granny cart / grocery cart kind of thing would work - either way, it would have to be very sturdy.

So -- any ideas? I'm willing to spend up to about $100 on this, for something that will serve me well for at least a few years.

Custom dog crate for my car.

digividal — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:24:51 -0800

I need a custom dog crate for the back of my cage. I have two crates I have bought at Pet smart and they both fit back there.
One is in the front and enters through the gate, the second behind the first and the dog must enter through the side door.
So 2 dogs total and currently two crates.

I would like to have only one crate, with space for two dogs, so a single larger crate, where both dogs could enter in the back (through the gate) would be most appreciated.

Given the confines of my suv, the ones I have found to order online would not fit in the back of the car. It needs to be not to talll not too wide, but deep.

I have found a couple of places online that make dog crates, but most of them seem to be for pick up trucks and the prices are unreal.

I have thought about just "clipping" away the bars that seperate the two cages I have now, and then use steel wire to "mesh" them together.

Barbaric Yawp

SomeTrickPony — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:58:07 -0800

We have a reactive, defensive dog that can be barky during car rides. She is quieter if she's in a crated in the back of the van with a blanket over it. But my husband has been allowing her freedom in the car, claiming she only barks a few times each trip. I think that a few times is too many times, and that she should continue to be crated during trips unless she gets to the point where she stops reacting to stuff outside the car. I discovered a couple months ago that Miss Barks-a-Lot is much, much better if she's crated in the back of the van with a blanket over the crate completely blocking her view of the outside world. She went from being a royal pain-in-the-ass in the car to being a good passenger. She is crated at night at home, and cheerfully hops in her crate at the start of a trip.

Enter husband, who has recently started taking her on trips uncrated again, arguing that she only barks "sometimes" and that if she's quiet, he can reward her for being quiet and hopefully reinforce that behavior. His other argument is that he is using freedom in the car as a reward for being quiet, and that if she gets too barky he would put her back in the crate. Except, of course, he claims she only barks occasionally, and so in these experimental free rides, he's never actually put her back in the crate after she starts barking at stuff.

My concern is that allowing her to be roaming around the car and barking at stuff, even if it's only "sometimes" or "not too often" or whatever metric it is that my husband is using, is just serving to reinforce her barky/reactive/defensive response. I think my husband thinks that she has more "fun" being out of the crate, but from my perspective, she's just stressed out and on high alert the whole time--even when she's not barking.

I should add that she is reactive/defensive/barky in many situations and not just the car, it's been a difficult problem to deal with and we've made only limited progress in situations where we can't shut off the stimulus of things that set her off. My husband is honestly not good at all at getting the dog to stop barking when she gets barky at home and he's not busy doing things like...you know, driving a car...so I can't imagine that he's effective at getting her to stop barking when she's roaming about the car.

How to keep my dog from peeing in his kennel?

sherber — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:42:54 -0800

My boyfriend's dog, a 7 year old beagle, has recently starting peeing in his crate at night. Why is he doing this, and how can we fix it? My boyfriend has had his dog, Dutch, since he was a baby puppy. He has been fully housetrained, with only the occasional accident. He's very good about asking to go out--if I'm home with him all day, he always starts bugging me if he needs something.

When we first moved to our apartment about 7 months ago, my boyfriend had not been crating Dutch at night. In the past, however, he has crated him at night successfully. We decided not long after moving in that Dutch was going to be crated at night again, since he is a bed hog. We did this for a few months with no problems, but then about a month ago started slacking off and letting him sleep with us again. Last week we decided to start crating him again, but the first night we did this, he whined all night and peed in his crate. Then, once we got new bedding and cleaned the crate, we tried again a few days later--same result. The next night he wasn't crated, and he decided to pee on the floor at the foot of our bed. Then last night we crated him again, and he started whining at about 3am and had peed in his crate.

We aren't really sure what's going on. He doesn't need to go out frequently during the day, and can hold it while we are at work just fine. So we don't think that it's a medical problem (although we are making a vet appointment and will be talking to the vet about this to rule out anything). The night that he peed at the foot of the bed, I had taken him out just three hours earlier, and he hadn't signaled to either of us that he needed to out like he always does during the day.

Looking online, my boyfriend says he read something about how changes can cause this kind of "acting out" behavior. It seems like if he was unhappy with our living arrangement, or with the cat who he became roommates with when we moved in together, he would have started acting out much earlier. The only thing we've changed in the apartment is putting some stuff in storage, and neither of our schedules have changed significantly. Also, we don't crate him during the day, as he doesn't need it--he's an old man and pretty much sleeps all day as far as we know. So it's not that he's pissed about spending too much time in his crate, since nighttime is the ONLY time he spends in it.

I hope this isn't too long, but I wanted to include as many details that might be relevant as I could in case something stuck out as a problem to someone. Can anyone think of what might be causing this, and what we can do to fix it?

Purring with rage

torisaur — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:19:51 -0800

Addendum to this question... will my cat become bitter and angry from being crated for so long? I followed everyone's advice on the previous question and picked up a big dog crate for my hurt fuzzball (her sister has been spending a lot of time laying near the cage like that, but they don't really acknowledge each other if we put them in it together; we tried it hoping they'd comfort each other somehow). She was fine in it for the first few days (probably still too sore to do much), but she's started crying to get out. It's heartbreaking to hear, and of course I know I shouldn't let her out (the few times we tried it, her leg gave out after a bit, which scared her and caused her to bolt for the nearest high surface...not good).

Over the last two days or so, my partner and I have noticed that she's started biting more. She was always the type to nip occasionally (we could only pet her on her terms, you see) and, while we tried to curb this as much as possible, we also know it's just part of her personality. However, this morning my partner was cleaning up the litter she spilled in the bottom of the cage, and she tried to bite him. I reached in to pet her, and she bit me. These aren't little nips, either. We've been doing our best to give her enough attention and distract her with toys and such, but I guess that only does so much good when you're locked in a cage 24/7.

So, my concern is that this change in personality may be permanent. We were planning to keep her crated until her vet appointment the morning of September 2nd, but I'm concerned that, when this crate business is finally over, she won't be my (usually) sweet kitty anymore. Does anyone have experience with something similar? Or advice as to how I should handle it?

Possibly relevant information: her painkillers ran out on Friday evening. Could she just be extra bitey because her leg is sore?

Also, before someone asks, we have been gently stretching her bad leg occasionally to keep it from stiffening up, and she stretches it almost every time she changes positions.

To crate or not to crate?

kmtiszen — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:09:29 -0800

Just got a 6-year-old rescue dog. Is it necessary to crate? We recently added a 6-year-old rescue Shih Tsu to the family and we're having some trouble deciding how to handle him while we're at work during the day.

Here's his story: about 6 months ago, he was found abandoned in a park, tied to a tree with a balloon string. Oddly enough, he had recently been groomed when he was found. Seems like someone cared about him at some point, but for whatever reason, he was left behind and never claimed. He had been living at the rescue (a holistic dog spa -- this little guy was living the life) ever since.

He seems to be housebroken and isn't at all destructive. He was recently neutered, so he marks everything in sight, but he has only had one small indoor accident (seemed like a marking, not a full-out pee) in the 4 days we've had him.

Is this the kind of dog we can just let roam free during the day, or is it still preferable to get him used to a crate?

Where to buy a heavy-duty dog crate in the SF Bay Area?

[user was fined for this post] — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:49:50 -0800

Where can I buy a heavy-duty steel dog crate in or near the San Francisco Bay Area? We have a Bull Terrier mix with separation anxiety -- she will happily stay in her crate for hours as long as someone is in the house, but when left alone she becomes an escape artist. She has broken out of two "air-travel approved" plastic crates, and the wire cages sold at pet-supply chain stores clearly wouldn't last long, so we need something stronger (along the lines of this cage) to leave her alone for short periods.

We'd like to buy locally in order to avoid waiting another week+ for a crate to be shipped. After googling and calling a few places, we've found nothing. Is there a store that sells this type of crate within ~100 miles of the South Bay area?

_{NB: We're working on the anxiety issues, and we know to "den" the crate by covering it and encouraging her to use it as a safe space. Based on her previous behavior, we're confident that she will not injure herself trying to escape an indestructible crate.}

Why does this dog pee in his crate?

tryniti — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:13:05 -0800

How can I keep a healthy, adult male doberman from peeing in his crate 2+ times a day? I'm at my wits end! I am fostering a 3-year old adult male doberman. I have been fostering and rehabilitating dobermans for almost 10 years, but this guy really has me stumped. He pees in his crate constantly. Like, 2 or 3 times a day. I've had him here for about a month, but he was with another foster home before me for about 9 months, so crating is not a new concept to him. He was neutered as an adult, so he is a marker, but otherwise has been given a clean bill of health. I have never in my 10 years of working with dogs had a dog that just couldn't understand the crate training thing. I am all out of tricks here, so I'm hoping someone has something up their sleeve that maybe I haven't thought of.

Things I've tried that haven't worked:
- Putting him on a strict schedule for going outside
- Letting him out as often as humanly possible
- Limiting when he has access to water
- Putting him in the smallest crate he can squeeze into (he's currently in a 500-size plastic kennel)
- Putting him in a larger wire crate (disaster - there was pee all over the walls)
- Taking his blanket out (this leads to a dog covered in pee)
- Leaving a blanket in the crate for him (this leads to 3 loads of laundry a day)
- Giving him a specified amount of time outside (ie. you better do your business now because you won't be allowed out again for another few hours)
- Leaving him outside for up to an hour at a time
- Praising the hell out of him when he pees outside

The peeing is not limited to weekdays when I am at work - he will happily pee his crate on the weekends when he's just been out and I am 10 feet away. He doesn't seem to be a terribly stupid dog, and other than the fact that he (and the area around his crate) stinks of pee constantly no matter what I do, he's a really nice dog that I like a lot.

I am concerned not only because it's terribly frustrating to be cleaning pee as much as I do, but this is a dog that needs a home. It's hard enough to find homes for unwanted dobermans - finding someone to adopt a doberman that can't figure out not to piss on himself will be next to impossible.

Other details:
- He is estimated to be about 3 and came from the local animal shelter. He was initially very thin and heartworm positive, so we can assume he was probably an outside dog that received no veterinary care.
- He has been treated for heartworms and neutered
- The amount, color, and odor of his urine seems completely normal
- He is not drinking excessively
- I have 3 other dogs of my own in the house. Initially he was crated in a room alone so I could see if maybe he was peeing in reaction to nearby dogs. Since that had no effect, his kennel is now next to my 7 month old puppy's kennel (who figured out the no-peeing-in-the-crate-thing in about 2 days).

Help!!

Dog Training Help

InfidelZombie — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:50:27 -0800

Please share your best resources to help me be a better master to my new dog Jake. Also, some questions on crate training inside. I adopted Jake on 3/17/10 from the shelter in San Bernardino. The vet who neutered him says he is a mix of Basset Hound, Pit Bull, and something else small like a Corgie. He’s pretty headstrong, and I made the mistake of being too easy on him at first (letting him jump up, sleep on my bed, giving him run of the apartment when I was gone, etc.) He had started nipping at me, trying to take my spot on the sofa, and other not good behaviors. So I need to show him who in control, and everything I’ve seen online says a crate is a good way to do that.

I had him sleep in the crate for the first time last night and it went pretty well. I put it in my living room and got him in it about an hour before I went to bed, and we sat and watched TV together. He cried a bit when I went to my bedroom to sleep, but I waited until he calmed down then went out and slept on the couch. At one point I got up for some water and he started making noise- low barks and some growling- but I ignored it and he stopped.

This morning his tail was wagging a mile a minute when I got up, but I left him in the crate until I had showered and gotten dressed. Then I let him out, gave him some affection, and took him for a walk. When we got back we played in the yard for a bit, and I had him go to the bathroom. I let him wander the house for a bit while I made coffee, then got him back in the crate and turned the TV on again. I left the TV on when I left for work, and I’m hoping everything is OK.

I come home for lunch for an hour or so everyday, so I’ll be able to walk him then as well as an extra long walk after work. I’ve left him some toys to play with and some bedding—should I have put some water in there too? Following the measurements they gave at the pet store has things pretty tight, and there didn’t seem to be room.

Does it sound like I am doing this right? It’s weird to me to keep him cooped up like that, but he did seem pretty happy in there. I really want to make this work, and I can use all the help I can get.

Help make our Pomeraninag feel at home in a new house.

spacefire — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:52:33 -0800

How can we make a nice, safe and attractive area for our dog in the new living room? We just moved to a new place, yay! It is a first floor one bedroom apartment. We have a Pom doggie who has issues (rescue). He like to bark and sometimes pees inside (he was neutered very late, at 3, just beforew e got him from a shelter).
He is a little too hyper and shouldn't be so because of collapsed trachea. Thus he needs to be in an enclosed area for his own safety when we are out of the house. At the previous apartment where we had more room, we had him in a baby pen with a heavy duty rubber mat under. Now, place being smaller, we halved his pen by removing some segments and also cut the rubber mat in half.
We would like to purchase a new pen and a more attractive mat for him, that would look better than what we have right now and also would be easier to move around. Products ideas are welcome!
Also, any suggestions for alternative indoor sheltering options are welcome! We haven't tried crating, I am unsure if that helps at all. He is also developing arthritis and likes to stretch sometimes.
Ideally something that would be easy to clean too, and that would prevent his hair from spreading everywhere.
Doggie is bigger than toy Pomeranians, he is about 17 pounds.

Am I Going to Break My Puppy?

duckus — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:52:32 -0800

I just took my ~13 week old pit bull puppy to get spayed. The post-operative say to keep her indoors for 7-10 days . Right now, she's outside during the day with our other dog, and she's crated at night only. Can I expect this to go smoothly? She's been sleeping in the crate since she found us at ~10 weeks old. She's only had a couple of accidents in there, one due to me not waking up fast enough, and nothing over the last week or so.

Normally, she's outside with our other dog (2 year old neutered male beagle/lab mix).

Based on the crate threads I've read, I plan on giving her some activity toys, frozen Kong, etc. But is it unrealistic to expect her to be crated for the same amount of time during the day as at night? Especially when she's used to being outside? And in a single day?

Need a Better Crate for my Doggy?

fozzie33 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:26:12 -0800

What type of dog crate would you recommend for a 50lb Staffy (pit bull)? She currently has a wire crate that she has bent up and broken multiple times. It is being held together by caribiners and wire. I want to get her something that is both strong and won't hurt her if she becomes scared. She did the damage during late night storms and twice broke out of her metal crate. She also hurt herself by chipping her teeth on the crate. Any suggestions for a stronger crate would be great! Would a plastic crate with metal door be better? Should i just try steel?
please help!

Cratification

a womble is an active kind of sloth — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:56:15 -0800

Looking for sturdy cheap plastic crates in the Boston area Does anyone know where I can get something like this? I would like to get 10-15 of these types of crates, and ideally spend a few dollars per crate. Any searches I have done typically show the crates as costing ~$15. I want them for storing books, folders and clothes. I have 3 and they work very well in the space that I have.

Soft-sided dog crate for large elderly dog? Will my dog be safe?

valannc — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:56:06 -0800

Who has used a soft-sided dog crate for a large dog? Will it provide secure confinement for short periods? We are moving from NJ to the west coast. Our elderly dog is too frail to travel by air, so we will drive a 6-day road trip. For the road trip, I need a portable crate that will stow in our car trunk. We need the crate to set up in motel rooms. I want dog to have his "den". We do not plan to leave him alone, but there could be situations where he has to be kept confined for his safety. Dog is 70 lbs. He's a slim shepherd mix, tall and long-legged. At home, he sleeps comfortably in a 48 inch metal crate.

This is the crate I want to buy.
I would order the 43" model. The carry weight is 27 lbs.

I spoke with the vendor. This is considered a light duty crate. She said a motivated dog can chew through the nylon. Our dog has never been a chewer. If he feels threatened, he would lunge and struggle.

My concern about confinement is if we have to admit someone (housekeeping, etc.) to our motel room. Or if we are moving stuff in our out of the room. I don't want my dog to escape out an open door. I want a crate that will keep him safely in place for short periods.

Any opinions on using this soft-sided crate?

How do I get my puppy to stop peeing in her crate?

MsChanandlerBong — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:32:59 -0800

Housebreaking is going great...except my puppy keeps peeing in her crate! Help! Two weeks ago I brought home an 8 week old black lab puppy. So far, housebreaking has been going pretty well (she's begun to use the bell to signal when she needs to go outside). I am also using crate training, but am not having the best luck during the day.

Molly sleeps in her crate every night with no problems. She can hold it for about 4-6 hours in the night, cry when she needs to go out and then go right back to sleep, with no accidents in the crate. Daytime is a different story. She will not poop, but will pee in her crate almost every single time she's left alone.

I have a large wire crate with a divider. She has just enough room to turn around, a few toys, and a blanket covering the sides of the crate. Overall she isn't crazy about it but goes in without trouble and doesn't cry or bark anymore. I started with soft blankets for her to lay on, and kept coming home to wet blankets. I moved to a single towel, but after doing a ton of laundry and speaking with my vet, it was recommended that I remove the bedding and have her lay on the plastic bottom for a couple of days. I am now coming home to a wet puppy laying in her own pee on the plastic bottom. I leave work throughout the day so she is never alone for more than 2-3 hours at a time in the crate, which I think is an acceptable amount of time for her to hold it at 10 weeks (plus, she holds it for much longer at night). Each time I clean her crate with an ammonia free cleaner and use vinegar to remove the smell. I'm just not sure why she keeps peeing, and why she has no problem laying in it. I have been reading that a dog's natural instinct is to not lay where they soil, but this doesn't seem to be true for Molly. I've housebroken dogs with the crate method before and have never run into this problem.

If it's relevant, I think the breeder's home was kind of dirty, and I've read that this may have something to do with a dog not being too concerned with being clean. I should also point out, my vet has checked her out and she doesn't have a bladder infection or UTI. Basically, I just want to know if anyone else has experienced this. Is she just too young and will grow out of it? Does anyone have any other advice or tips to get her to hold it during the day? Please tell me this won't become a bad habit that I can't break!

Shh puppy, shh.....

mjcon — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:18:28 -0800

After 4 months of living with me, my puppy's barking in the kennel issues haven't improved much. I am looking for suggestions for things I haven't tried that might make him quiet down. I have a 6 month old small dog who still barks in his kennel EVERY DAY when I leave him alone. I don't want him to do this. I have tried everything I can think of and am looking for some fresh suggestions. I apologize in advance for the long back story, but here goes.

I have had the dog since he was 8 weeks old, and he's never been super fond of being alone. When I leave him in his kennel, he barks/howls off and on for a while, often as much as a half hour. Then he seems to settle down and fall asleep for the rest of the time he is in there. From my extensive google-ing, it appears that his deal might be a mild form of separation anxiety or something similar. Other details:

1. The dog does typically follow me around throughout the house, but sometimes he will go and play in another room for a little while when I am home
2. He gets anxious and whiny when I leave the house even if other people are home. Sometimes my roommate has to grab him to keep him from darting out the door when it is obvious I am going to leave. He whines for a bit after I am gone, but not nearly as long as when he is alone in his kennel
3. He does not get anxious and whiny when my roommate (who the dog is very very fond of) leaves the house.
4. Before he was housebroken, he slept in his kennel in my bedroom and had no problem with it. He was pretty much completely quiet and would go in without a fight. So I don't think the issue is that he hates his kennel.
5. When he is in his kennel and barking, he will still eat any easy to access foods in there (he won't fight for an hour for something that is frozen, but he will spend a couple seconds gobbling something up) He never hurts himself or tries to get out or pees in there or anything. When I come back, he is totally quiet and sleeping. Its really just that first little while that he is upset.
6. He is a moderately barky character. He doesn't bark to huge excess, but he does seem to bark or whine when he is frustrated (toy trapped under the couch, bark. Water bowl empty, bark, cool person or dog out the window, bark)

Things I have tried to calm/quiet him down in the kennel

1. tons of awesome food items in a kong toy, frozen or unfrozen. He will eventually eat them, but seems to understand they aren't going anywhere....He isn't as food motivated as most other dogs
2. DAP spray and rescue remedy
3. playing music
4. Spraying him or spraying in the room he is in with a squirt bottle to distract him from barking (this actually has cut down the barking some....)
5. one of those ultrasonic noise things that makes an inaudible beep when he barks. This had some impact, but it wasn't good...made him bark less, but for way longer. And he was a neurotic mess when I took him out of the kennel. I returned the thing.
6. Exercising him tons before he went in the kennel so he was dead tired. He still seems to find the strength to bark for a while.

I know about the whole building up the time he is alone thing, and after the holidays I am going to work toward moving him out of the crate and gate him in the bathroom. We will work up the time he is in the bathroom from nothing and hope that he has a more positive association with the bathroom than the kennel. I think for his own safety, he's still too young to have free run of the house when I'm gone, but I hope that someday he will. What other things have you wise dog owners done to keep dogs quiet that I haven't tried? Has anyone used a citronella bark collar to any success? Did your dog eventually just grow out of this problem?

Un-crate our dog?

traceymariel — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:52:37 -0800

I have a bichon frise/shih tzu mix dog named Beatrix who is a little over 1 year old. She is crate trained and has no problem with going into the crate when my husband leaves for work. She spends no more than 5 hours in the crate a day while we are at work. Next week my husband's work hours will be changing and this will mean that Beatrix will be at home for 8 hours alone while we are at work. Unfortunately we cannot afford to hire a dog walker. We are thinking about leaving her out of the crate since it seems like a significantly longer time to keep her cooped up. Is this the best thing to do? If so, how should we go about it? When my husband starts to get ready to leave for work, she automatically goes and sits in her crate without being told. She does have slight separation anxiety with me, maybe because I am the one who always lets her out of the crate when I get home from work but hardly ever am the one to leave her in the crate.

How do we keep our dog from making a big fuss in the morning?

geeky — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:02:22 -0800

DogTrainingFilter: How do we keep our dog from making a big fuss in the morning? We adopted an 8 month old border collie / beagle mix last weekend. We were told she was crate trained and she does seem to be. For now, she sleeps in her crate in our bedroom. (She was sick when we got her and we wanted to keep a close eye on her. She's doing better now.)

While she isn't overly eager to go in her crate at night, she goes in with a little guidance and no shoving at all. We reward her with a treat. She's quiet or mostly quiet when we're going to sleep, and sleeps through the night without any fussing. However, twice this week my husband has had to get up early (4:45am) to go to work. He wakes up and leaves the room. A few minutes after he leaves the room, the dog starts whining, which eventually elevates to full on barking.

What is the appropriate response in this situation? My husband and I often wake at different times, so we'd like her to stay quiet even if one of us gets up and leaves. I'll admit I made the mistake of taking her out of the crate the first morning she cried, but only because I was afraid she had to pee. The second time I used a different tactic and tried silently waiting out the whining and barking. No comforting words, no yelling at her, no acknowledgment of her whatsoever. My husband did re-enter the room a few times, but also (mostly) ignored her. She barked and whined until 5:30am (45 mins) when my alarm went off, at which time I turned on a light, used the bathroom, and after making sure she wasn't making any noise, let her out of the crate.

Is this the right thing to do, or should we be doing something else? 45 mins is an awful lot of barking to endure at that hour of the morning. Should I try telling her "quiet", or should we move her crate out of the bedroom? Oddly enough, she's fine if we leave her in the crate during the day, and if only one of us is around, she doesn't mind being left alone in a room. She does, however, cry and scratch at doors if both of us are home and one of us goes into a room with a closed door (for example, the bathroom). In those cases, we can usually distract her with a toy or something.

Litterbox issue when traveling by car with cat

kathleenl — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:43:11 -0800

I am getting ready to move 1000 miles with my cat. I have a crate for him, and a litter box to travel with. But I'm concerned about when he might have to use it during the trip because I would like to keep him in the crate (as recommended by just about everyone I've talked to.) Is it ok to have him in the crate for 8 hours and give him occasional food and water and then let him use his litterbox when we arrive at our destination each night? Around the house he often goes that long without using his litterbox...but I'm just not sure if that will be ok. I don't really want to get a larger crate that I can put a litterbox in b/c I don't think he'd like laying next to a litterbox for 8 hours a day.

Some have suggested putting a harness on him and having him go outside, but he's an entirely indoor cat, and I honestly don't know that he'd know once outside (and probably freaked out) to do his business.

I'm also wary of taking him out of the crate in the car because it can be challenging to get him back in.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Help me and my dog with our anxiety issues.

NikitaNikita — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:43:16 -0800

DogFilter: Help me and the dog get over our individual separation anxiety-type issues. Yesterday I started fostering a sweet, generally quiet beagle who is about 2 or 3 years old. The rescue says she is crate-trained, and she did fine overnight in the crate (next to my bed) but she positively freaks when I leave her in the crate and go out of sight. (Barking, howling, etc.) I forced myself to leave home and let her 'bark it out' ... it seemed to be lessening as I left, so hopefully that was the right thing to do. Any additional advice would be welcome. I've done many of the things suggested in this thread ... we went on a huge walk this morning, and i'm pretty sure it helped get a lot of energy out since she naps happily while I'm there.

I guess the bigger problem is that this foster is my first dog, and I'm pretty anxious about it too. I've had plenty of sitting experience, both long and short term. However, since yesterday, I've been really emotional, literally crying over whether or not I'm treating her correctly, worrying about the dog's happiness, as well as worried about getting the neighbors pissed off (town house style apts) as well as my roommate. I've gone from confident dog-sitter and excited foster/caretaker to neurotic (overattentive?) mother in less than 24 hours. So, any words of advice for me, likewise, would help.