Would it be ok to put the crate in the downstairs loo ??

[TheOriginalNutcracker]

We got an 11 week old staff cross puppy last week. Everything is going swimmingly so far

Currently, the crate is in the living room, which is ok, but it's a large crate as I wanted her to have plenty of room and it is in the way a bit.

I have an oddly large downstairs toilet and the crate would fit in there fine, and not be in anyones way, plus the floor in there is tiled, so if any wee escaped through the holes in the bottom of the tray that would be fine.

She only goes in the crate at night and if I go out, which is never more than 2 hours at a time. Would it be ok to move the crate into there do you think ?? She never cries or anything of a night currently, and I am a bit worried of upsetting the applecart, although she was from a large dogs home, so I think she is fairly used to be moved about.

[cathpip]

Don't see why not, I would leave the door open though unless you have a window in there.

[LEMisafucker]

Wont she be cold?

[TheOriginalNutcracker]

Yeh was going to leave the door open.

Iv'e never noticed it be cold in there tbh. There is a radiator, and she has a blanket over the crate at night.

[Booboostoo]

Ideally the crate should be in the family room so the dog can go in and out when she wants to. This is the best way to crate train and to be honest if it has all been going well so far I wouldn't change a thing.

[Booboostoo]

Sorry just noticed the commend about wee escaping. Is she weeing in the crate? That is a bit unusual. Is the crate too big for her? If a crate is too big they establish one area for sleeping and one toilet area which negates the toilet training advantages of the crate. She may also be too young to be able to hold her wee in all night (8 hours?) and you may need to give her an opportunity to wee outside in the middle of the night.

I don't know the size of your pup, but a staffy at 11 weeks would need something like a cat box as a crate. You will need more than one crates as the puppy grows. As a rule of thumb the crate should be large enough to allow the dog to stand up, turn around and lie down spread out.

[littlewhitebag]

I only ever had one fairly large crate for my lab. She is still in it now and is fully grown. She never ever peed or pooed in it despite there being a large bit of extra space when she was tiny.

My crate has a plastic bottom and she would have had to do a fairly gigantic pee for any to have escaped. I assume yours has a bottom like that too? If she is prone to peeing in it i assume you put newspaper or a pad down to soak it up a bit?

I think the bathroom will be fine. My dogs is in a really quiet corner of the kitchen and she retreats there when she wants peace. I suppose it may be annoying for it with people coming and going to the toilet and may be off putting for guests to have the dog watch them go!

[Booboostoo]

The whole idea of the crate is that it recreates the den space dogs are naturally used to sleeping in. As dogs don't like to pee or poo where they sleep they will avoid peeing or pooing in the crate. If the crate is too large then they can establish one corner for sleeping and the other for toilet without being bothered by the pee or poo.

Of course all this is a generalisation. There will be dogs that will happily sleep in their pee and poo, as well as dog who won't soil even if left loose in the entire house. However, if the OP is having problems with the puppy soiling in the crate, the size of the crate is an obvious thing to look at.

[milkybarsrus]

I think that the crate in the loo will be fine. Regarding the puppy weeping in the crate, it shouldn't do, unless the crate is to big? We bought a large crate for when our puppy got to full size, but when little we had crate dividers to keep it the right size.