To consider using a crate for puppy

[Barnybrown]

We are buying a miniature golden doodle puppy who will join our family in March. We lost our much loved 16 year old dog just after Christmas and never used a crate for him - he was just given the run of the house. A few people have recommended using a crate with the puppy but I feel reluctant- I don’t like the idea of putting him in a cage. Can you share your experience of using a crate - was it good for the puppy ?

I personally know a clinical animal behaviourist and five dog trainers - all using positive reinforcement methods - who all recommend crates and crate training. The word ‘cage’ is emotionally loaded because it implies the dog is forced in there while trying to get out and locked and left. That’s not how crate training works at all! Vets use crates, the RVC uses crate-sized small enclosed areas, even the police force uses crates alongside kennels.

If you take an untrained puppy and cage it, it will obviously be miserable. But if you do it right, your dog will seek out the crate voluntarily as a safe space. Some smart dogs even close the door behind themselves.

Crate trained dogs are easy to take to other houses, on holidays, to stays at the vet etc etc. You may choose to stop using a crate with a puppy at something like six months anyway, or offer it as an option to an adult dog.

@Mollypolly2610

some help here please. a friend of a friend died suddenly and we have his 2 miniature dachshunds. one is 9 and the other is 3. we have had them a week.

i take them out all the time but every night they shit on the carpet. its driving me nuts.

my friend gave me a crate which they've been in before but my DH isn't keen.

do i put a blanket in the crate for them or will they just shit on it.

they sleep in beds in our bedroom because they must be scared and traumatised with what has happened to them.

i would put the crate in our bedroom.

Line the floor of the crate with a towel or ideally ‘vet bed’ which is a fluffy material that vets use as it’s warm and hygienic, plus machine washable. Get a crate mounted water bowl which can’t be tipped over.

They shoul be taken to the toilet very last thing to poo and possibly fed earlier or later to make sure they don’t need a poo in the night.

I hate crates because they are so easily misused. Fil has one of his dogs in one, it's not big enough, got a scrap of thin blanket on the floor which gets tangled up into into a ball that the poor thing tries to lay on, the door is ALWAYS shut and the dog spends at least 60% of the day in it. ILs are convinced it's his "safe space" and that he's really happy in there (but funnily enough don't give him the opportunity to get out).

@SirSamuelVimes

I hate crates because they are so easily misused. Fil has one of his dogs in one, it's not big enough, got a scrap of thin blanket on the floor which gets tangled up into into a ball that the poor thing tries to lay on, the door is ALWAYS shut and the dog spends at least 60% of the day in it. ILs are convinced it's his "safe space" and that he's really happy in there (but funnily enough don't give him the opportunity to get out).

I'd be talking to the RSPCA

My dog has a crate but it's more a nice comfy space ( I wouldn't shut her away and go out for hours). It's handy because she travels in a work van sometimes and it's safer than having her loose in the back. I take it to hotels and it gives her somewhere comfy to sleep.

I have an 11 month old German Shepherd. Puppies are hyper but this breed is particularly highly energetic and a crate was a god-send when she was very young. We no longer use the crate now but we had two - in the bedroom and in the living room.

The bedroom crate was extremely useful for night time toilet training as they do not like to mess where they sleep so she would whimper in the night if she needed toilet and we would then let her outside. Otherwise we'd have woken to urine and poo soaked carpets in the morning. We toilet trained her in two weeks. It also helped her learn that she is not allowed onto our bed and is to stay on her own bed or elsewhere on the floor (her favourite spot is on the landing atop the stairs).

The living room crate was useful for forcing her to settle down and nap. People underrestimate how much sleep puppies need and become overexcited, bitey and naughty when they are overtired. After lots of play and exercise every couple of hours we would put her in the crate. At first she did whine and it is awful to hear but she would then quickly fall asleep as she was so tired. Over time she associated the crate with nap time and she quickly settled down for a sleep. Now she is older she stops playing when she's had enough and lays down for a nap in the hall of her own accord.

We also put her in the crate when we left the house (no more than 1-2 hours max) so she couldn't chew anything and also to aid with the toilet training. We never used puppy pads - they are useless and encourage the puppy to mess in the house all the more.

@FlasherMcGruff

I personally know a clinical animal behaviourist and five dog trainers - all using positive reinforcement methods - who all recommend crates and crate training. The word ‘cage’ is emotionally loaded because it implies the dog is forced in there while trying to get out and locked and left. That’s not how crate training works at all! Vets use crates, the RVC uses crate-sized small enclosed areas, even the police force uses crates alongside kennels.

If you take an untrained puppy and cage it, it will obviously be miserable. But if you do it right, your dog will seek out the crate voluntarily as a safe space. Some smart dogs even close the door behind themselves.

Crate trained dogs are easy to take to other houses, on holidays, to stays at the vet etc etc. You may choose to stop using a crate with a puppy at something like six months anyway, or offer it as an option to an adult dog.

Great post. Our puppy loved his crate and saw it very much as his safe place.

It's humans that see crates as cages. When used correctly, dogs see them as their basket where they go when tired, or just to get away from the kids or other dog.

I should also add that I don't have children but I have heard that a crate covered with a blanket is useful for giving the puppy a quiet place to nap away from young children in the house who may get the puppy over excited with play and can create a boundary where the child knows when to leave the puppy alone. Otherwise the overwhelmed puppy will react the only way it knows how - biting.

Our dog has a crate which he basically uses as his bedroom or a safe space if he wants a bit of peace. The door is never locked and while he can come and go, he always puts himself there at night. He loves it.

Sorry, me again, but I just wanted to also say that people who responsibly use crates don't just put an untrained puppy in there and leave them. You have to slowly introduce them to the crate and associate it with nice things through positive reinforcement. Begin with feeding the puppy their meals in the crate with the door open. Gradually work towards them comfortably sitting in the crate with door open, encouraged by food/toys, then with door closed and gradually increased the time the crate is closed.

As my dog is large breed and we hand fed her all her food - never from the bowl to build a bond, I sat in her extra large crate and fed her in there. The crate wasn't so scary if mummy was sat in her crate with her

It's humans that see crates as cages. When used correctly, dogs see them as their basket where they go when tired, or just to get away from the kids or other dog.

I agree with this. Mine disappear off to it when they just fancy a quiet chill away from the chaos of a busy house.

I was massively against using a crate and have had several dogs over the years.

Then, last year, my dog had serious spine surgery and had to be crated full-time (apart from regular, very short, supported walks) for a month for his own safety. He then spent the next two months gradually reducing his time in the crate.

He now just sleeps in it at night (he can never jump on or off furniture again, so this keeps him safe when we're asleep) and is very happy doing that. Luckily for us, he took to the crate very readily - but I can only imagine how hard it would've been if he hadn't, as it was essential that we kept him in it as directed. I think for that sort of reason alone it';s well worth crate-training a dog.

''I don’t like the idea of putting him in a cage''
If you are using the crate as a cage you are doing it wrong. You might also consider how your dog will react if his first experience of being confined is at the vets.

Pen and crate arrangement in our house. The dog sleeps in the crate (with the door open) at night but the pen means he is contained but has the option of moving about a bit more. It’s really useful - he goes in the pen if we need to contain him (if the plumber is going in and out of the house and the front door is open a lot, for example) or when we go out. He likes it. Most of the time he’s rampaging about the house.

I would never use one, it's too restrictive and if he behaves himself why would you need to.

Because... It's the same kind of choice as lead and collar or harness.

It's only too restrictive if the individual dog perceives it that way.

Our puppy came home from the breeders in his crate, in the car. We made it very comfy with blankets and toys and he seemed happy enough to curl up during the longish journey home. We stopped once so he could have a wee and then he went back into the crate. This sealed the deal for him really. His crate remained his place of comfort and safety from then on. He subsequently sleeps in a basket in the same spot as the crate occupied.