What to put in dog crate for puppy?

[snapdragongirl]

We are preparing for the arrival of our new puppy in a few weeks and we are planning to crate train. But what do we put in the crate?!

Do I need a crate liner plus an actual bed? Looking at donut style beds to begin with for comfort/anxiety but are these good? Can we just put a bed in there (with a blanket to snuggle?) without a liner/mat? Also planning to put toys in as well, but mainly thinking of what bedding etc to go for. Do we start with a smaller bed whilst he is just a puppy and then move to a larger bed as he grows? Want him to be as comfy and feel as at home as can be but don’t want to waste money on unnecessary items! (First time dog owners in case you can’t tell from my lack of knowledge!)

Vetbed is what you need. You'll use it all his/her life. Get the large size crate. Puppy will be fine in it. My dogs only used a crate for the first year. Your dog will grow so fast. Enjoy. Happy days. ( But also hard work the first few months. BEWARE the land shark!)

We have a 6 month old puppy who is our first dog. She just has a blanket in her crate and another over the top of her crate, and access to water. She takes toys in during the day but we don’t leave them in with her during the night.
We didn’t place her crate near our bed, it’s been downstairs from the start. We slept next to her on the first night. For the next few nights we would just come back downstairs if she needed settling. From a week after coming home she was sleeping all night without needing to be settled. I don’t think she’s ever been to the toilet in her crate.

We also make sure to take her collar off if she’s unsupervised in her crate because she once got it stuck on the bars - luckily we were in the room and saw it happen!

When he was ten months old I started leaving the crate door open, then after a week I swapped him to a plastic dog bed with vetbed and blanket. It's easy to buy things that aren't functional, can't be washed and are easily destroyed. This one is dog number four so I know what I'm talking about!

Crate in bedroom - personally I put my puppy in the kitchen had a bed with a collapsible gate around - worked perfectly and could still move around a bit with puppy pads on the floor - I see no reason to lock them in a crate !

I have never created a dog and never will. My dog has full run of the house. Sleeps wherever he wants. He has puppy pads by the garden door if he needs a pee in the night but mostly sleeps on my bed. I fully understand that it doesn’t work in every house and some people need to create their dogs.

This yes with the dog blanket from the breeder. Read Easy Peasy puppy Squeezy book. You can rattle through it in an hour or so. We just got our puppy home on Saturday and she was crate trained within 24 hours. We also sleep downstairs so toilet training is easier. We have not had her pee in her crate at all because all the nice things happen in our around the crate, food etc.

Thank you for all of the replies, it is really helpful to get different perspectives. I am still torn about whether to crate train or not, I can see the benefits in terms of being a safe calm space for the new puppy, but don’t want to use a crate forever. Is it normal to crate train for the first few months then to switch or do you have to stick with the crate once you’ve started?

Yes we won’t be using a crate forever either but it’s a really good safe space for them. Also you can then shut it and go about your business whilst they are sleeping without the worry of them escaping for a stealth poo.

Another tip, short cuts of hosepipe. Brilliant for chewing. The breeder’s husband gave us a cut off and we actually cut some more off an old hosepipe and left some round the house.

What are people’s thoughts on crate size? We are getting a golden retriever (female). Some of the size guides suggest the biggest crate (eg XXL on Lords & Labradors) but if we don’t plan to use it forever, and would prefer not to have a massive crate if it isn’t necessary (in terms of how much space it will take up and being limited on where we can put it) could we get a slightly smaller one? Would a crate 77H x 108W x 72L be ok?

@snapdragongirl My 12.5 kg working cocker spaniel is in that size cage, so I am going to say no.
The dog needs to have space to stand up, move around and fully stretch out.

The Telegraph is quite high brow (and Conservative!) for a dog! My dog can’t read yet at 7, she couldn’t possibly as a puppy!

Hi OP,
we have a golden retriever puppy (boy) who is now 4 months. We have the XL lords and labradors crate as felt the XXL would take up most of the room! It’s huge and hopefully will last until he doesn’t need the crate anymore.
we weren’t sure about crate training but our breeder strongly suggested it - it’s been hugely helpful to have a safe space for him to go at times and he sleeps really well in there at night. I slept on a mattress on the floor next to the crate for the first few nights, then the same room and then the next door room. By a week or so he was fine sleeping in there through the night. X

@SpanielsGalore Twatdog outgrew that size crate at about 5 months...he doesn't even really fit in the XXL one. The girl's just about fit in the XXL one, but even then it's a push

@snapdragongirl I'd get the XXL one to be safe. As Spaniels says, dogs should be able to turn around. Don't forget - crates aren't just for puppies. Adult dogs can need them as well (i.e. spay recovery, serious injury that requires crate rest). The last thing you want is to get a smaller one now and then have to buy a replacement one.

Did you get a L&L crate liner too? If not what do you have on the base for him? Not sure whether to get a crate liner or just vet bed or a thick mat… Does he have a bed in the crate?

Yes I think we should probably go for the largest one as can’t be sure how big she will grow (although mum is not massive) and would be annoying and expensive to replace! She will have plenty of room as a puppy!

On the advice of some friends with a retriever, we crated our lab at night until we were through the chewing stage so well over 1 year old. Their dog destroyed chair legs, a corner of skirting board and the rest so they'd learned the hard way by the time they got a second dog.
Some other friends have labs who have been left unsupervised and taken corners off rugs, dug a hole in carpet.
It also protects against the dog eating something in the house it shouldn't which is a nightmare if you have kids around. Beautiful dogs but oh so stupid.

If the dog is happy in the crate and you have the space keep it there. It's very handy for visitors [elderly, young and the fearful] too when young dogs [up to 2.5 years] can get very overexcited and they are such a large dog, having somewhere to settle them is sensible.

We used a small donut bed so we didn't have to wash the crate liner in case of accidents but didn't swap it out fast enough and it was torn to shreds when our puppy was about 18 weeks old. Sponge everywhere so we were really lucky she didn't swallow any.

The L&L liner is really thin but no sponge. If you can find something thicker to do the space I'd invest in that.

I think that's probably the best option. @TheHungryHungryLandsharks made a good point about crate rest as an adult. My spaniel is currently on her fourth period of crate rest following operations.

Thanks everyone! Those that use/have used crates - do you use a crate cover or a blanket over the top?

No crate covers or blankets for me - but I never used a crate at night (puppies on the bed from day one to allow for me to have a good night sleep), so I can't say if they would be useful or not.

But puppies overheat easily, so if the puppy is due in summer I wouldn't use one (personally). Also it's just not needed IMO.

I view crate covers/bumpers the way I view people who have those aesthetic books on their living room table on Instagram - it's for show rather than practicality. If you want the dog to be comfortable, just given them a blanket/cushion and water. If you want functional (or interesting) books on your living room table, stick on a Tolstoy (perhaps not Tolstoy, but you get the drift) 😁

Crate cover at night yes but it’s well ventilated.

Only used a blanket over the top and one side in a spectacularly cold spell as crate in a dark corner of the utility room which is also near an external door.

As long as the crate is in a cool location generally and the blinds are down you should be fine. Puppies need to wee early though. The 5am starts were a shock to the system for a couple of months albeit it was a productive spell. Had some visitors arrive with toddlers and parents anxious about waking the whole house up early only to find we were up before them entertaining a puppy 😁

Also worth considering where the crate goes so in the event of a full diarrhoea incident that you can get it outside to hose it all off..... <tell me how I know this>

We ditched the crate entirely around 1.5-2yrs if memory serves. They are just enormous and at some point you do I think have to consider that you may want to take the dog on holiday in the UK and not take that with you.

I am thinking we will do similar, use it for the puppy stage/first 12-18 months and see how we go, but I don’t plan to use it forever.