New puppy - to crate or not? and overnight location

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Hello all! We are getting a Labrador puppy soon and I have read so many different opinions on crating etc that my head is spinning. 😅

The first couple of books I read were very pro-crating especially for overnight and it made a lot of sense to me. We live in a 3-storey house and in my mind it makes most sense to have pup downstairs at night so it's a short trip from their bed to outdoors for toilet trips... but we also can't leave them uncontained downstairs overnight! Also, whilst there will almost always be someone at home during the day, there will be times when we might have to leave for five minutes (school run) or be able to put puppy in a safe place to exist unsupervised whilst dealing with a kid emergency / bum wipe etc. Finally, with youngish kids around the house there will be times when some rooms just won't be appropriate for a chewy puppy whilst toys with small parts are out and being played with. So in my head having the option of containment makes sense to prevent puppy from getting into mischief when we can't be supervising.

However, I have been reading various posts that oppose the use of crates ("cages"), but I can't get my head round the practical issues of what to do with puppy when you need to keep them safely contained, especially at night.

I'm also wondering whether anyone has any perspectives on dog sleeping on a different level of the house from its humans, I'm not sure if I'm being woefully naive 😅 but it also seems practically easier to have puppy at garden level!

Any thoughts/advice gratefully received!

(I would add that I would in no way anticipate leaving puppy crated for longer than 5-10 minutes other than overnight, and that we are very much prepared for one of us to sleep downstairs near puppy for the first wee while).

We are on our third dog and always used a crate and kept that downstairs in the kitchen. Worked for us and dogs like having a quiet spot that is theirs. Whilst I’ve not had a lab, I know the breed and would have thought it a good idea for them. No doubt others will have differing views though!

I think you could crate for longer than 5-10 mins too. For example, if you are all having a family meal, popping the dog in the crate is a good idea as they are still in the room and part of the family but kept separate from food and the table.

We crated our dogs and it was great. Puppies are like over tired toddlers and sometimes just need to be put to bed!!

Our puppy joined our family 4 weeks ago. We also live in a three storey house. DC are 13 and nearly 6.

We have a crate which puppy sleeps in overnight and is used occasionally in the day for brief periods if necessary. Many of my friends who are experienced dog owners recommended crate training and so far it’s working really well for us and puppy, who clearly feels safe and secure there. Others may disagree but it works for us.

He is on the middle floor which is same floor as our living room and 13 year old DC, if that helps. If he needs the toilet in the night I hear him from there and take him down to the garden.

Also wholly agree with @teacoffeeorpassthegin !!

Our lab is nearly 4 and still loves her crate. It’s her space to get away from family madness when it suits her. She’s just taken herself off to bed as clearly we’re all staying up too late for her tonight. We leave the door open now but when she was younger we closed it overnight and when we popped out.

We have never left her in it if she’s unhappy (although always wait for quiet to let her out - easypeasy puppy squeeze was very useful book for create training).
It is a very big crate so she has plenty of room to move around. TBH we thought we’d have finished with the crate by now but it works so we are sticking with it.

Used a soft crate in our bedroom overnight - it's a young animal taken away from its litter, it needs company at night.

I've just raised a cocker spaniel puppy in a three storey house, living room on top floor, bedroom middle floor, work studio bottom floor and garden accessed from bottom floor. I had a crate on each floor. Pup slept at night in bedroom, in her crate. During the day wherever we were she could be crated for naps and also if we went out and left her. There is no way on earth I would raise a puppy without using a crate. She loved her crate and we made use of it until she was reliably continent through the night. At that point (probably about 6 months) she started to sleep in just a dog bed in my room. At about 8 months old she then started sleeping with our older dog in the living room.

Our lab was crated from day one. He used to take himself in there for naps and when he wanted a break from kids! During the day we had an open door policy and it was definitely his chosen quiet space.

He would also go into to create for school
Run/if we needed to pop out. He wasn't left locked up for any more than 20-30 minutes. We took advice from a trainer and were told the sooner they get used to periods of time alone the better, prevents the separation anxiety later.

He slept downstairs. I slept on sofa nearby for 4 nights. But no interaction after lights out, other than soothing reassurances!

We also didn't do puppy pads. Out after every feed and every hour during the day. Very few accidents.

Enjoy the puppy cuddles, labs are the best.

Stair gates will also be useful to keep puppy from accessing rooms where the kids leave toys around or keep her contained in one area.

Our dog slept in the crate in our bedroom until toilet trained, settled perfectly from the beginning. Also had a crate downstairs for naps which we still have as a place for her to go for peace and quiet. The door to it is rarely closed though, only if for example we have workmen in, so don’t want to risk her getting out of the house.

My dog has had both a crate and a playpen type set up. He always slept in the crate from day one, and has never been allowed upstairs. He seems to quite like it, or at least find it reassuring as part of his routine - on holidays he visibly relaxes when he sees his crate go up - as if he realises he has somewhere to sleep! The playpen was useful when he was really little in the daytime when I was cooking or doing something where I couldn’t follow him about supervising.

I honestly don’t know how people manage having a puppy with free range of a whole house - mine isn’t destructive, but picks up anything and everything if not closely watched and could definitely do himself some harm by accident.

I do think it’s very dependent on the individual dog and the home set up but I’m fairly happy with how crate training has worked out for us and think it’s worth trying unless you’ve somehow ended up with a perfect puppy!

I am likely a lone voice in this but we didn't crate our (spaniel) puppy when she came home two summers ago, and she slept downstairs (in a two-storey house) from the first night on her own. She was and remains a very happy, balanced dog. No separation anxiety, no dramas, and she was still quick to toilet train. I'd do exactly the same again now with another pup.

I found that not crate training meant I didn't have to teach her to settle twice. Lots of people encounter their dogs being unable to settle outside a crate if/when they take it away. My girl learnt that her bed was her space in the same way that a crate is and that she would be rewarded for being in it. When she was hyper and bitey she went in her bed like she would go in a crate. There was no door to shut to enforce the naps, but that didn't matter because me telling her to 'go and lie down' actually had to mean something: if she got up I put her back so she learned super quick, and I suspect quicker than if I'd just shut her in a crate.

I started leaving her on her own – for work calls/to rush round Lidl – from around 14 weeks in a baby-gated kitchen. I didn't puppy-proof to death but did lift shoes/dangling cables overnight or when I went out. Otherwise she had to just grow up in a normal human environment and learn what wasn't hers, and she did. For example one of her beds in the kitchen is near the pot stand which has on it wooden handled pans and she has never once put her mouth round them – probably because they have always been there and therefore aren't exciting. Everything we did with her to start with was to make her a resilient little dog that could do anything and exist anywhere without fuss.

This is interesting to read, particularly about teaching settle twice. Definitely good to hear how others have managed!

I'm with @brushingboots here. Over the years I've raised four pups (also spaniels) without ever using a crate, and managed them similarly. They've all turned into well behaved, relaxed, happy dogs. I used to confine them to one room when necessary, but never crated them because I am deeply uncomfortable about putting a dog in any sort of cage. It's perfectly possible to raise a well balanced dog without one. The dog's bed is its quiet spot, out of the way of young children and where everyone learns to leave the dog in peace. We taught the verbal command 'bed' for use when we needed to put the pup or dog in a safe space for a few minutes. It takes a bit of effort to teach them but has always worked well for us. It's actually quicker and easier than getting a dog into a crate when you need to get them into a safe place in a hurry.

We had a pen for ours, mainly for when small toys were being played with. I slept in the living room for the first three weeks rather than have our pup sleeping in our room. The pen was gone by about six months when he would reliably leave most things alone and drop if asked.

I did not crate my puppy took mine into my bedroom where it was safe and knee I was there in a dog bed - nothing in the room to chew - put down puppy pads etc - no need to imprison them somewhere else in your house that’s cruel in my opinion

@DramaAlpaca V nice to hear that I'm not alone! I feel the same way about keeping them 'in' something.

Interesting what you say too about kids and dogs. People talk about giving dogs crates to keep them safe from wandering children and I get that, but surely – and I say this as an as yet childless woman, thus with limited experience of small people – you just teach your children what to do around the dog and what not to do.

To speak to a point made above about dogs being free-ranging – my girl has to have something in her mouth 99pc of the time and that's fine because she's a spaniel. But the only things she can pick up in this house that don't belong to her are shoes or bits of laundry that I haven't got round to putting away yet, as I'm not in the habit of leaving batteries or chocolate buttons, say, on the floor anyway! Instead of getting stressed about it, I use it to my advantage and get her to carry things for me when we go up/downstairs or outside.

I do wonder to what extent breeding/genetics plays into this as well, I know people with well bred gun dog types who seem to have had a much easier time training ‘house manners’ than I have (rescued a bull breed cross as a puppy, I love him and he’s excellent at some things, but I do think they take longer to mature in some ways and are more focused on the ripping/chewing part of exploring the world instead of gently carrying things!). Good to hear other’s experiences.

We didn’t cage our dog , he had a huge pen that we could pop him in in the lounge during the day if necessary before he was house trained and he slept in half the hallway and we fenced it off with a divider . Once house trained he slept where he liked , mainly upstairs .He was perfectly happy on the odd occasion that he needed to go in a cage at vets etc . I don’t get the ‘safe space’ argument as surely any space will do , ours had several beds in different rooms - nobody messed about with them . The way I see it there were very few nights when my dog started sleeping and finished sleeping in the same place because he had the ability and opportunity to move to where he wanted had he been in a cage he wouldn’t have that .

@Macey9 I'm sure it has a huge impact! Just think what different jobs our respective dogs were bred for. It makes total sense that your boy would explore the world that way – just as it makes total sense that my girl is super soft mouthed, because she's got generations of game shooting behind her. She's only ever destroyed one toy and that was the week before she came into season, so I put it down to hormones!

@brushingboots yes, I agree. It's important to teach children how to behave around dogs, to respect their space. Spaniels love having something to carry around, don't they? My current boy adores socks, and my DH's sweaty cycling gear

I echo this! Never crated my labs. I did have one when the first was a pup but we didn't use it at night, she slept with us for the whole first year until we rescued a second lab, and they then slept downstairs together.
We tried the crate for short periods during the day with the idea that we might use it when we popped out but she never took to it and I personally didn't feel the need to continue. She's was left in a puppy proofed area of kitchen/hallway and was totally fine. Second rescue lab arrived and we followed the same process. Neither have ever chewed anything major, and if they have nibbled a shoe or something then I have blamed the person who left their shoe with them!
Enjoy, lab puppies are amazing! So many people say puppies are a nightmare but that honestly wasn't my experience, I loved every second.

Dog training advice and support is on FB. Run by qualified trainers and behaviourists. Free advice and files on everything from toilet training to crates and pretty much everything else. Great resource.
I think it depends. One of mine was too anxious to be separated from me. The other two love their pens. I have a 6 month old pup who takes herself there if she’s tired. It’s a safety thing for me. If you crate I would have it downstairs for toilet training but that means you’ll need to sleep where you can here pup if it needs the toilet in the night.

It depends on your house. If you have a safe space, then you may not need a crate. A friend has a utility room where they can safely leave their pup. We’ve always used a crate.

When the pup was little, he used to get overtired. We’d pop in the crate for a nap. Worked a treat.

Our lab is nearly three and no longer sleeps in his crate. However, we still have it.and he will take himself off there and doze in the evening. Also, we’ll pop in there if we all have to leave the house.

Dogs can cause damage. We’ve all seen clips online of floors and sofas ripped up, bins emptied etc. You can’t really blame the dog if you leave them alone .

Also, I agree with the poster above. You need to train your children around the dog, especially when they go through that bitey stage. It’s horrible when your cute little darling becomes a monster.

Agree with @brushingboots

Personally, I think far too many people go into puppy ownership thinking a crate will solve their issues (likewise with bloody kongs and snuffle mats). It won’t. Crates aren’t somewhere every dog will want to be, and some dogs get incredible distressed in them.

Crates can be useful. But not always. Even if you want to use one the chances are your dog may not.

So what’s your backup for keeping your dog safe when you’re not around, OP, or to stop it chewing?

Edit - to add, you should talk this over with the breeder. They should be offering advice on this sort of thing, particularly to novice owners