Is a crate a must?

[FuckingHateRats]

We're getting our first puppy this summer.

I know the advice now is to create train. My family have always had dogs and none of them have ever had a crate, and they've always been happy, well-adjusted, well-behaved dogs. Crate-training feels a little unnatural, coming from our experience, but I know it's rated for a reason.

Would anyone be happy to share their experiences of either using or not using a crate, and how they found it?

I've raised a good few dogs from pups and have never, and will never, use a crate.

That’s literally what a crate is for when they’re little though, because most people don’t have a room they can empty and some puppies are like small demolition teams and if you emptied a roo they’d still have a go at the walls and skirting boards.

Its not instead of training them, it’s so they’re safe and relaxed while you go for a shower or to the shop.

@tabulahrasa

I understand your point and I have used crates. I do understand why people don’t like them though. They seem like a cage and can put people off. I find a playpen a good half way point but it only works for small dogs. Even then, some small dogs do find ways of jumping out!

Its really worked for us and our spaniel.....did it from the beginning so knows no difference....dh was unsure but became convinced as the dog is very happy ...
We also got a complete cover and it really helped him nap and get enough sleep which is really important..thought we'd move on but he's now nearly 2 and takes himself off at bedtime..
Really helped with vets/camping/ holiday homes etc as he sleeps in his usual space...

Mine won't eat or drink in his so when recovering from op we had to buy a pen to put round the crate!!!

Yeah, my last puppy was a Rottweiler, he’d have just shoved a playpen round the room, lol. He could also just move furniture to get at stuff if he decided he wanted it...

I do understand why they look weird to people, but used properly they’re good things, whether you actually need one very much depends on your dog and your house sometimes.

my current dog isn’t crate trained, he’s a rescue who tbh could do with having it as a safe space as he’s reactive to visitors and he does sleep in a crate in one room (he has just beds in others) but he panics at the door being shut so obviously I don’t. But I do actually have plenty of rooms, so he can just have a room when I need him out of the way of someone - other people don’t have spare rooms.

F

Had dogs for past 40 years - never owned nor used a crate.

I never have. My youngest is now 13 months and has never chewed or damaged anything in the house.
they only get one ‘toy’ at a time, but I leave plenty of hard chews out-and train that unless they have been given something anything else is off limits.
personally I have dogs for companionship, so like them to be able to pad around the place to keep me company, I don’t like the idea of just shutting them away when it’s convenient.

Never used a crate for either of my dogs and they never chewed or destroyed anything in the house. I think it's cruel to lock dogs up in cages for hours. Ours has a soft playpen (with a soft roof) type of thing, but the door is always open and we never force him inside. He just sometimes chooses to go in (and hide something naughty he has stolen from is 😬). I didn't lock my toddler in a cage when she started walking so I don't do that to our dog. Our current dog is now 14 months and is a lovely and well-behaved member of the household. We even keep guinea pigs in a low-fenced enclosure and he never bothers them.

A crate is definitely not a "must".

My only concern is that we want to fly on holiday with him soon and he will have to be crated for the flight, which I'm very worried about.

My dog loves her crate and sleeps all night in it with a cover over. When she knows it's bedtime she runs into it and asks for her little biscuit. She travels in the car in one and when camping to give her a known safe space. If she hated it I'd rethink it obviously.

Here she is in the camper van when I woke up! The previous night we left it open and she spent the whole night jumping on my bladder 😄. Btw this is her travel one which is smaller than her one at home.

Apparently I can't add a photo....

We found it useful to contain our pup at night to speed up house training (they don’t like to soil where they sleep and we had her in our bedroom until she could go through the night without needing to go out. I wouldn’t have wanted her on the carpets otherwise in case we didn’t hear her wake.

We also found it helpful for the vets, dog walker (dogs are crated in the van), daycare etc as she was already used to it.

We intended to get rid of ours after a year or so but she still chooses to go in it at night so we haven’t had the heart to take it away.

I know a lot of dogs that haven’t had one and done fine but there are definite advantages.

If you do decide to go ahead make sure you read up on how to do it as you’ll find that you can’t just shut them in unless they’ve been crate trained by the breeder. You need to build up a positive association and not close the door until they’re fully happy in it (we used a big cardboard box at night around the front of the crate to form a makeshift pen until she was happy with it closed)

I used a large pen I picked up on eBay when she was a puppy. She used to sleep in her bed in there overnight and go in it when we went out. It had food/ water bowls and kongs etc to chew. Oddly, when she was exactly a year old she decided she was going to cry when put in there. And so we stopped using it! But it kept her out of trouble in her puppy days.

Both of ours love their crate. They willingly go there at bed time.

It was useful when our young spanner needed a nap (like when you put a toddler in bed to sleep because they can't regulate 🤣).

Unlike @justgivein I can't just watch like a hawk all the time.

I think crates can be abused but when used properly can be useful.

We also have to use one for our eldest dog as he has dementia and struggles at night if he has a lot of space, now in his crate he goes straight to sleep.

Both crates we have are big enough though, I think people go wrong when they have a tiny crate. We don't use them to shut them in if we pop out for an hour or so or in the day now our spanner has grown out of his toddler stage 🤣

I think it depends a bit on the dog and what they're like.

Our puppy was small (terrier) and I worried about him having free reign especially at night, it felt safer to have him contained somewhere. He liked the crate as a puppy, slept really well in there and it definitely helped with toilet training.

That said he reached 7 months old and rejected it completely, he now sleeps on my bedroom floor every night!

No, I think they are cruel myself but you do need a contained space like a utility room until they are potty trained

We had one for our lab who was a chewer and had a habit of chewing overnight things that were dangerous for him (such as sofas, skirting boards, kitchen cabinet doors and carpets).

We didnt want him in the bedroom, so a crate was the obvious answer. We only used overnight, got the biggest available and we got rid of it when he stopped chewing at around 18 months.

Done right they are very useful and can keep your dog safe.

I suppose I like to give him the freedom to move around alot because being a Dalmatian he has alot of energy and I wouldn't want him in a cage.He mostly follows the family around and his recall is good so I can call him from room to room and the garden.He has five viewing points/sleeping spots, two beds upstairs and downstairs,a couch,conservatory chair and swing chair in the garden. He uses them all cause my son and I move around alot and he likes to follow so it is not that hard to keep an eye on him.I like him to have the freedom to go where he wants.If he does sneek off yes he soon gets up to mischief but I don't leave him too long and this has worked for all my other dogs.

@gogohm can you say why they are cruel when you are keeping a dog with dementia safe. Are you saying I'd be better allowing him to get hurt at night? When he wasn't in the crate he was behaving very strangely and could easily have injured himself

can you say why they are cruel
I don't think they are cruel in a blanket way but I think many many people misuse them under the guise of them being a good thing. Because it is extremely easy to misuse them and even convince yourself that this is 'recommended by behaviorists'.

People won't admit to here, but dogs being crated for most of a working day and then overnight. Hours and hours and hours at a time.

Some people do, but I don’t think doing the same thing with a bathroom or utility room is any less cruel tbh - and people do that too.

We had a crate for our fog. We used it mostly for dog toy storage. Got rid of it eventually.