So, after the puppy chewed at an electric socket so it came off the wall, tehn chewed up all teh plaster as well,a dn was in teh proces of trying to chew the back off the socket, we decided to buy one of those crates

[saltire]

In an endeavour to stop him being so destructive - which he has been in the past couple of weeks. Also in aobut 6/7 week we are going to my mums for at elast 10 days, and the only place he can sleep in her house would be the kitchen with a lovely table and legs to chew and chairs, so the crate will hopefully give him somewhere safe to sleep
My question is, to those of you who use there cartes, can dogs be left in them overnight to sleep? Or for a few hours at a time?
He has been in it at 10 minute periods today and has whined constatnly

hey there

we always put our puppy in there to sleep, she thought of it as 'her space' and was very happy and safe in there. Whined at first, obviously!

saved our house during the chewing phase too.....

Did she ever stop chewing though? ours hasn't been too bad until the past 2 weeks. he has chewed countless toys - he climbs ontot eh beds to get them, socks, shoes, and his favourite - the furniture
He is about 16 weeks

We've just got a 6 month old terrier cross from the RSPCA. We put him in it at night, because we're worried about our older dog not treating him well ( actually they're fine)
But the crate is his space, he doesn't wander around in the night whining or scrtatching, and he likes it, goes there in the day when he's tired.

He can go in there overnight once he is used to
it. Don't get him put out when he is whining otherwise it will reinforce the whining behaviour-he will think if he whines, he gets let out. Wait until he is quiet then let him out.
Our dogs love sleeping in the crate.

"Don't get him out" even!

He is in the teething stage so this is prime chewing time. Cages are fine for overnight or the hours you need to be out and about. In between he will no doubt be getting exercise. Find things for him that he is allowed to chew - rawhide chews, dental rubber stuff toys (kongs etc) and praise him lots for chewing the right things.

You could also try some "bitter apple" spray from the petshop/vets which is foul tasting to a high percentage of dogs. Some will still chew regardless but it is fab for those it works for. Just spray it on whatever you don't want chewed and it acts to deter them bothering after a quick taste.

Most of them grow out of it in time - lots of reminding and showing them the correct behaviours will help though.

Put your crate up now, make it nice and comfy for him and just let him wander in and out of it.

We do this oocasionally with our dogs and they go in it to hide from the kids.

Can't blame them really.

I disagree Tiggywinkle, we brought one for our beagle when she was 8 wks.

We put a cushion and blanket in and left the door open for a couple of hours so she could wander in and out.

Then we shut the door and stayed in the same room as her so she could still see us. She cried loudly for about 20 mins and it wasn't nice to watch but in the end she gave up and laid sown, went to sleep. Since then she has never cried in her cage.

When she about 7 months and we could trust her, we removed the cage and brought her a big bed and didn't think no more of it.

A couple of months later my dh was clearing out the shed and got the cage out, the dog went and laid in it and didn't want to come out! So we have put the cage back inside and got rid of the other bed. We never need to shut the door now but its her den and she absolutely loves it. She arranges her blankets and cushions inside and I leave her to it, I never go in there!

When we got the cage we made a decision that we would never tell her off, no matter what she had done, when she was inside it and I think this helped reinforce the idea that its her little home

Generally they do get out of the chewing phase, it is a puppy thing. Of course you might just have a natural chewer.....sorry

she certainly did, don't panic! Think this is about the age they lose their puppy needle teeth and the new ones come through, so they chew everything just like babies teething.

am no expert, but what sort of puppy is it?

yes yes yes - we've got a huge one now that we wedge two in when we go visiting. I can mop up most things, but can't repair kitchen cupboards belonging to other people.

we love our crate. Our puppy is 10wks and sleeps all night in it with no whining or barking except if he needs us to get up to let him out for toilet