Best place in the house for a puppy’s crate

[Autumnlover24]

Where is best to locate puppies crate when we bring him home?

The options are living room, kitchen, dining room.

Most used areas are living room and kitchen but we eat in the kitchen. Dining room doesn’t get used so could almost be his own bedroom if this is helpful for him?

Is it better for puppies to have a quiet room with no distractions or to be amongst the hustle and bustle of the family? I’m keen to ensure plenty of rest.

Please no suggestions not to crate train.

Thanks

You shouldn’t really leave young puppies unsupervised - particularly in a crate. I’ve known dogs dislocate their jaws trying to get out of them. I don’t even think it’s a good idea to do it overnight until the puppy is fully settled. So living room is probably best and then someone downstairs with them at night.

But I hope you understand crate training, when done properly, can take weeks if not months? It’s not a quick win

Living room and you sleep on the settee for the first few weeks.
Puppies are like babies and shouldn't be left while settling in and getting used to your household. Luckily they grow up a lot faster than children

In the bin. Not sure why people are so fond of crate training. I've never done it and don't agree with it.

I don't understand why you'd get a dog and keep it in a cage! I've had dog's all my life and never done it it's cruel 🙁

You got it all wrong!

There’s nothing wrong with crate training if it’s done properly.

I always think it’s best to have it close to an outside door so easy to get pup out to wee. Always had mine in corner of kitchen so when I’m in and out pup can see me which is comforting but they have a full cover - when the cover is on it means nap time and I’ve never had any issue with that. Puppies need lots of sleep!

Just to add - I use the crate to keep them out of mischief for short periods and for overnight, they are not in there just for the hell of it (for the “I don’t understand people who get a dog and keep it in a cage” crowd)

Puppy’s like to have a safe place they can retreat to when it all gets a bit too much - it is not in any way cruel to provide this

teaching a dog to have a safe space to retreat to, a space where you can enforce naps as a puppy to avoid overstimulation, to feel comfortable when placed in one at the vet or when travelling, is VERY different to ‘keeping a dog in a cage’.
Ive crate trained every dog I’ve had. Not one has ever been kept in a cage. She takes herself there and sleeps with the door open. She sleeps there overnight. She will be placed there if there is a visitor and dogs are not appropriate (estate agent was an example). Your blanket assumption that crate trained dogs are simply locked away for hours, is ridiculous.

Came here to say the same.
Dogs should not be in cages.
If you can’t train it or don’t trust it, don’t get it.

What did you do with them if you had to go out?

People saying don’t crate train, what do you do if you need to go for a hospital appointment or to the shops? My dog would not be safe if he wasn’t in a crate, he eats furniture and becomes so distressed. He calmly goes to his crate if he sees me getting ready to leave. He feels safer and chooses to go there to sleep too. My partner left him in the living room and the dog thought he was on his own however I was upstairs and he was howling in distress, he doesn’t do this in his crate. If you have a dog who would destroy furniture and hurt himself from being distressed then a crate is needed and not cruel.

I'd put it wherever it best fits.

In my first house the cage was in the dining room. It was next to the French doors, so the dogs could come out of the cage and go straight into the garden for the toilet.
The next house, it was in the kitchen, because it was a massive room with lots of empty space.
I currently have one set up in the living room. My dog has had to do crate rest following surgery and this means she has company.

There is no right or wrong answer. It's what works best for you and your puppy. Mine all managed to sleep around family noises. In fact, a lot of people find they have to sleep near the crate to begin with or else their puppies cry.

Nothing. It's their home just as much as it's ours. Make sure they have been for a wee outside. They can have a nap on the bed or their favourite chair, roll about on the rug, chew a bone, play with their toys, or snuggle up in their basket. It's up to them. If the weather's nice they can stay in the garden. Keep a kennel in a shady place, a bowl of water and some toys. Maybe we've been lucky having well adjusted dogs but crates were never a thing when I was a child so as an adult it's something I'd never thought about. It genuinely came as a shock when I first heard about dogs needing to be crate trained.

My dog is well adjusted but as a puppy he will bite through things that can be dangerous and wreck furniture. My home is his home but if we need to go out the crate keeps him safe and he feels secure and more settled.

We used a crate with our puppy. We had it in the living room to start with and took turns to sleep on the sofa. We were exhausted and were advised just to move the crate to our bedroom. We all then slept! Eventually puppy settled in and stopped eating everything, and now sleeps on the sofa downstairs with the cat! He was always quite happy to go in the crate when he was smaller, and just seemed to naturally out grow it.

Our crate is in the main open plan living room. The door is open all day and they go in and out of it as they please but we close it at night. They know the routine and go in without being asked. Dogs like routine like humans. They know it’s theirs and they go in it throughout the day.

My dog is ten and has used his crate overnight since he was tiny. He was introduced to it carefully by his breeder (who still keeps in touch now) and we’ve used it successfully ever since.
we had some teething problems as to where to place it in the early days as I wanted him to sleep downstairs but he’d start to bark in the early hours. So he’s in our bedroom with a dark cover over the top. He never stirs.
We don’t use it in the day at all, he prefers our bed!
But it really helped him have his own safe space in the early days.

@Autumnlover24 two crates, one in the living room and one in your bedroom. The puppy will arrive crate trained- it will have been used to spending lots of time in a puppy pen which is very similar. Make sure both have comfie bedding, water bottles or dishes that attach to the crate side, special soft toys that stay in the crate. Sheets or blanket to cover the crate when you put puppy in to sleep for naps in the day and at night. Our puppy is 4 months old now and toilet trained, sleeps all night and so we've started leaving crate open at night. We've stopped shutting her in her living room crate during the day, she has free access within.our open plan living space. We plan to get rid of the crates soon and just let her have a bed.But she's a Shih Tzu and small dogs grow up fast. My cocker spaniel took much longer to migrate to open crate/no crate.

About 20 years ago,we had 2 border collies. I worked nights,DH days, suddenly one at a year old,who was left on her own about 90 minutes while we shopped,started demolishing the kitchen cupboards, then the plaster walls..a friend who incidentally worked for the local RSPCA, said Crate. We left the door open initially, she happily went in,then closed while we shopped.. she outgrew the chewing. With the 2 borders we got a phalene. He was in the utility room with them, then he started chewing wires, electric heater in there,other electrical wiring and my hairdryer. Crate, for his own safety. He lived to 18, his crate was in the living room when we moved here,he went in there to sleep,it went in the car. Another border now,we slept on the sofa,a small 2 seater,I say "slept". As I had worked 30 years plus nights I volunteered (retired now) got COVID and long COVID,so her crate was by our bed in the bedroom, whoever woke up quickest did the night shift. When we go shopping we say crate,in she goes,it's the same one she goes in in the car.

never ever had to crate train any if my dogs youngest one if three is now 2 he has safe places but not crates. dogs beds in every room when he wants peace and quiet he goes upstairs. he sleeps on bed with us along with the two other oldies. no issues. he has had two surgeries one being neutered and one when he had an accident with a car. that's the only time we have had to cage him and you know what he was fine no issues with it at all. I just don't believe them at all. they are part of my house no need to lock them away. you are going to have chewing you just put stuff away you make sure you are training correctly and give them plenty of toys etc to play with

I couldn't agree more. They're cages and absolutely awful to lock up an animal in. If they're ALWAYS used with the door open as a little den etc etc, then that's a different matter but to lock a dog in a cage is truly awful.

Truly awful ? I mean you can have a difference of opinion with being dramatic

How on earth can you put everything chewable away! I can't move my dining table,chairs ,coffee table, kitchen units,doors.I've had dogs my entire adult life, some chewed some didn't. You cannot be with them every second night and day,I couldn't physically remove all the visible wiring from my house, the phalene would have either electrocuted himself or caused a fire. As for leaving puppies with toys,chews,I think that's dangerous. Dogs are like people, different personalities. What works with one, doesn't work for another..if we go out for a few hours,they get a long off lead run,they have a dog flap and 50 feet of garden safely fenced off for them,so they can pootle in and out.

Seeing it from the potentially very distressed dog's point of view, no, it's not dramatic. I'll write however I want thanks.

The bin. I don’t like animals in cages.