Did anyone just not bother with the crate/did it not work for you?

[Dieu]

Hi. We have a 4 and a half month old Shih Tzu pup, with moderate separation anxiety (although it seems to be slowly easing over time). He likes to be near us, but is not a lap dog (his choice). On occasion, he is left for up to a couple of hours on his own. I have sometimes put him in the crate, and have done all the usual things to make it a pleasant place to be. At other times I have closed him in the living room at home, where he has a bit more of a run of the place, and access to his food and drink (I obviously leave fresh water and a few treats in the crate though). I have to say that from my own selfish point of view, I prefer the crate as I know he's safe, which obviously gives me peace of mind. He's not really a destructive wee chap, so damage isn't really an issue if left in the lounge, although there's always that element of doubt! Thing is, he thoroughly dislikes the crate, and the runny stools that I find in there on my return are testament to his distress. Puppy owning is new to me, and I tried the crate as it's what everyone recommends/raves about. I daresay I made mistakes at the beginning with settling him into it (to be honest, I've made loads of rookie mistakes along the way!) but I did try, and now I'm not sure if I should persevere or just stick with the living room. I should add that this is a pup who still follows me from room to room, so I daresay ANY form of solitary confinement isn't going to be his ideal ... though he has to get used to it sometimes obviously. Last thing is that I feel I'm having to 'trick' him into staying in the living room, just so that I can get the door closed behind me, which makes me feel awful. Any thoughts? Thanks.

A dog should never be crated for 18 hrs a day. But people

But people also shut dogs on bathrooms or garages while they leave them all day...none of that is ok.

Some people shouldn't have dogs, that doesn't make crates bad in themselves.

My dog is only sent there if there's no-one in, so for a few hours a day at the most - but, he spends about another 5 or 6 in there of his own accord because that's where he naps with the door open.

So, when people talk about crating their dogs, they're latching the crate door, presumably? As in, locking the dog in?

I don't really get it. If the dog loves the crate so much, because it's his 'safety zone', why would you need to shut him in there?

And if he doesn't, isn't it cruel to shut him in there?

I don't want to upset anyone, but it just seems like caging by another name.

Never used one and never will. Dogs are pack animals, so I feel strongly that confining them away from the pack is cruel. More so when you consider dogs don't stay in a tiny space by choice, so it must be physically unpleasant too.
The only time I think they should be used is for the likes of rescues with regular introductions. Otherwise only with the door open permanently covers every eventuality you might need to train a dog to stay in a small place.
Personally I just think they're a lazy and cruel way to allow people to have dogs without any of the hassle. I've yet to have any dog where not training them by locking them in a cage has been detrimental, and I'm not alone in that. Nor have I ever had one that's been unhappy or reluctant about a daily part of its life.

"I don't really get it. If the dog loves the crate so much, because it's his 'safety zone', why would you need to shut him in there?"

Mine chews like a bastard, lol.

He's a large dog and he'll move furniture out of the way to get to electrical cables. He also a bit of a thing for tiny metal objects like coins or screws...the sort of thing you don't notice is missing from a shelf until you see a dog disappear with it.

He's basically a danger to himself, so yes I cage him in if he's going to be alone.

I don't work full time though and there's 4 of us in the house who all overlap a fair bit, so it's never for long periods of time. I had a 2 year gap between dogs so that our circumstances would be right to get this one...even if the crate was meant to be purely until he'd finished teething, lol.

That's what I was wondering, lurked.

And I say that as someone whose rescue dog chewed up thousands of dollars of stuff during the first few months I had her. I'm talking, she chewed solid furniture legs so they had to be thrown out. It was because she was anxious. Now that she feels safe and relaxed, she doesn't chew anything.

Ours hated the crate. Screamed and screamed and screamed. We gave up. She sleeps in our room on the bed and I use dog day care if we are out.

Cross-post, tabula!

I dunno. My dog is a greyhound cross, she can (and did) jump six foot high and steal stuff to chew. I got a wall cupboard installed and learned to be really careful about putting things away!

Am not convinced that shutting a dog in a cage is ever the right answer.

It's not the stuff I'm bothered about, it's his safety.

Some of the things he likes to chew aren't things you can pick up, some are just too easily missed.

I also made the mistake of teaching him to help me with washing to keep him occupied, so now he knows where the socks are kept and how to get them... I didn't really think that one through, lol.

He's had major stomach surgery already - I'm not even sure they could remove a foreign object with what's left, so I shut him in.

He doesn't appear to care, he runs in there, eats his chew and sleeps...I come in and he's on his back, legs akimbo snoring away and if I'm really lucky he'll come out and say hello before going back in to finish his nap, mostly he just opens one eye and goes back to sleep, lol.

I do think people are either pro or anti crate ,personally I just think that they are too open to abuse and I'm sure ( because I know of some) that there are lots of dogs that are shut in them for much of the day whilst the owners are at work and then shut in them again overnight - quite honestly it makes owning a dog as convenient as owning a guinea pig .

tabula, he does sound pretty relaxed!
Not sure how much it depends on the breed. I instinctively know my dog would hate being crated. (Maybe because she spends most of her time tearing around the garden or stalking me around the house )

Different for different dogs I'd say.

DDog1 was a land shark, chewing furniture kind of puppy and my youngest DC was only 4 so the crate was essential! These days I only get it out for fireworks (cover it with a quilt and fill with cosy bedding) and she's diving in it before I've even put it up.

DDogs 2&3 were much less trouble and their crate was barely used.

Koala - he's a rottie, so pretty lively most of the time, he just likes his sleep, lol.

I'm not interesting when I come in because I tend to sit down for a bit, if I go and do something he's right there investigating.

He was crated as a puppy because well firstly his breeder had used one, so he's always been quite happy in one and they are known to be particularly chewy as puppies...but my plan was to get rid of it.

Sadly he then developed a lot of medical problems which meant being crated for hospital stays and periods of recovery involving crate rest and he's never grown out of chewing.

So I'm now kind of stuck with a 48" crate in my living room.

It works for him though, so I put up with it.

As others have said, pretty breed dependent. We went against all advice with our lab and didn't. Put a stair gate on the utility room - he's chewed skirting boards in there and went to brick LICKING the plaster off the walls but that's it really. I feel happier we didn't.

We've trained him not to come upstairs. And he's not allowed on sofas. Although fur in a new one makes me think he's doing his own thing away from prying eyes, but that's another thing.

Btw, he started jumping gates a couple of months ago so now have free run of downstairs overnight and when we're at work. Well often leave the backdoor open as well.

He's 18 months btw. Oh and some of the children's toys have been chewed. But I've always said that's our fault as he shouldn't be expected to discern between his toys and theirs if they're both on the floor

Tbh my opinion isn't breed dependent, over the course of my life I've had a pretty large mix of types, and experience of loads. Never had any lap dog types but tbh nothing that size can do as much damage as a large breed. And some past puppy age with already firmly ingrained chewing habits. Still never crossed my mind to ever use a cage.

I have a crate is now left open so he can choose go in and out as free roam from 6 months been luck as was not to much of a chewer considering a lab
but at first yes for own safety he go in when had to leave the room as my house is open plan so no option for stair gate was not left very much
I agree can be abused but that is down to people I have friend (let's say not as good friends as was ) whose dog is crated overnight then out for hour and crated all day for 12 hrs bar hour when dog walker comes in

My youngest is older than yours but we have never crated. In the beginning we closed them in the kitchen at first, then we opened them to the house but closed off rooms that we deemed either unsafe or that would've been a pain to clean up, but once they got used to the house and we got to a point we could trust them we began leaving the house opened up as we would normally. We have the ease of mind of knowing they can roam about and look out of windows and they are well behaved, only once getting into the recycling to chew on the goodies there. Lesson learned as there were some tins that would have caused some damage. They had some separation anxiety but I did very active training with them and nowadays I try to make sure that they have at least a moment with us out of the house each day so as not to set them back. The clingy-est one has developed a lot of confidence and will even take herself upstairs to go to bed when she's ready! I know a lot of mners are keen craters but there are a lot of us who don't like to keep dogs that way and it is very easy and enjoyable for us and the dogs!

I have never had to use a crate because I have never had a puppy , only get rescues , so usually a year or above old. My old dog was a bit of a nibbler when I first got him, plus I would listen to him wandering up and down the stairs until he settled on the sofa , in his dotage he wheedled his way onto DD's bed so was very happy .

I don't like the idea of them , but can see how they can be useful for very short periods of time or if you have a toddler who won't leave the dog alone , allowing it some space and quiet time unfettered .

I've never used a crate, I don't like the idea of confining a dog. We always have at least two dogs at a time so they have each other for company. They have the run of the kitchen & the utility room if we have to leave them for a few hours. They have comfy beds in there and we always leave them with something suitable to chew. It works fine for us.

We didn't use a crate because dh thought it looked like a cage and he didn't want to lock the pup up in such a small space. However we have pretty much always shut him in a room with a hard floor at night just in case of accidents (he otherwise has free run of the house). When he was very small we took him out for a pee every time he whimpered and then sat with him until he settled and went back to bed. I always did the late shift and dh the early, and I did quite often wake up to find dh and pup asleep on the sofa!

We've never used a crate and never will (medical reasons aside). Our dogs sleep on their own mattress at the bottom of our bed, but they're our guard dogs as well as pets and they wouldn't be much good at protecting us stuck in a cage. Plus I want them with us and near us, and they want to be near us too.

Ddog2 went through five fifty inch TVs in the first two days of having rescued him (he thought we were under attack from the TVs ) and damage wise not much can rival eighteen stone of raging dog leaping across the room to get to a TV. It was devastation. So we did extensive training and all is now well.