How do you go about de-crating a dog?

[EccentricaGallumbits]

small dog still sleeps in his cage. and has his meals in there too. but it takes up such a chunk of the kitchen i'd like to ditch it. i've tried leaving the door open but he just yaps and scratches at the kitchen door for hours until i crack and put him back in it.

Am i doomed to having a cage forever? or should i go cold turkey? or have him in bed where he'd like to be?

TBH the benefits to you and the dog probably outweigh the disadvantages. IMO, anyway!

My small dog has a cage in the kitchen too - I actually find its a more efficient use of space than having a dogbed there because I can put things on top of it.

no lid so can't use it as extra dumping space.

when if i were to get some more would they need a cage each or can you bung them all in the same one?

I'd advise a crate each (unless they're whippets, in which case they fold up for easy storage ). You can't bank on them wanting to share space. My two are best buddies but would never share a sleeping area.

Dogs with their own "safe haven" are more secure and happier to be left, and IME tend to be more relaxed as they always have an out if they need to get peace and quiet.

What do you mean by no lid? Doesn't it have a mesh top? You could sit a piece of wood on top and use it for storage.

it's more of a playpen than a cage.

and i'm planning my future pack of sausages - one in every colour. although the one i've got is a bossy little so and so and may need some persuasion to share. although i could partition said playpen into little boxes.

Just remove the cage and put a bed in its place. Dogs must have their own area to sleep so you can not get rid of the crate and not replace it with something else.

If you want to reposition the new bed put the crate in the new location for a week then put the bed in the place of the crate.

Never crate two dogs together

Oh, I know what you do for a whole set of sausages! You get stackable crates and make 'flats' - honestly, its what DH said the breeder of our boy did, and her dogs all seemed very happy.

(just looked at your profile - she's gorgeous. )

isn't he just

Pah. How do you de-crate a 7 year old boy? ds1 has decided he likes ds2's lower bunk, and has hung towels all around the sides and evicted his poor little brother to the top bunk...

for sausage dogs

sorry, I called him a girl, I do apologise. - but he's sooo pretty. ( my boy is handsome rather than pretty)

that would be perfect pronoia.

He is very handsome also.