My dog is home alone and crated during the day. At least 8 hours sometimes 9. Then she is crated again overnight when we go to sleep. She's only been with us a couple of weeks but I feel like she's in the crate too many hours of the day. I want to experiment with having her out of the crate but fenced off in a specific area of the house. My fiance thinks she'll start chewing and destroying the house and that she has to be crated for at least a year. Who's right?
2006-12-06 08:04:22 · 7 answers · asked by Dan A 1 in Pets ➔ Dogs
We have a shepherd/malamute mix that we crate when we are at work, try to be gone no more than 9 hours. If we are doing stuff after work, I go home over lunch and let him out for awhile.
He has separation issues if we leave the house, but if we are home, and just go into another room, he's okay. Therefore, he is out of the crate at night when we are sleeping, and he sleeps in another room.
The crate is not evil, and most vets recommend that you do that rather than beating up the dog for what it does to your house when unattended.
2006-12-06 08:08:35 · answer #1 · answered by Jerry J 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How old is she? Where did this arbitrary 1 year come from that she has to be crated? Yes, she's definitely in her crate too much. This dog isn't getting a whole lot of companionship (and probably not training or exercise either). Unless she's a young puppy not past the chewing stage or not housetrained, you've got to try leaving her out!! Leave her out for just short periods of time at first and see what happens, increasing the time if there's no problems.
I've never had a dog who's housetrained and not chewing who's ever been penned up. They all have the run of the house when no one's home.
2006-12-06 08:37:21 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The generally accepted rule is that a dog can be left in a crate 1 hour for every month of age (like a 6 month old puppy can stay in a crate for 6 straight hours). I know that this isn't very workable for most working adults for daytime crating. I crate my puppy longer than this while I'm at work and he seems to do fine (as did my older dog when he was a puppy).
But, you may want to look at an alternate situation for the puppy at night. Its not a very rewarding life to have to sit in a crate for over half of every day. Regarding chewing...simply don't include anything in the area that can be chewed on and leave the puppy plenty of SAFE toys that can be enjoyed without supervision. Most rawhide chews are not safe for unsupervised use.
The bottom line is that you must teach the puppy what is OK to chew on and what isn't. There isn't a "magic" age when they will wake up and automatically know not to chew on the irresistible table leg.
2006-12-06 08:12:09 · answer #3 · answered by Heather 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm on your side. she is in her crate way too long. i've had many puppies and have crate trained them all. she is fine for about 7 or 8 hours but not much more than that. at night when you guys go to bed just walk her right before you do then let her sleep with you. she probably won't move a muscle or get off the bed so there's no worry about her messing anything up. i have to be completely honest and tell you that there is a chance that she may pee in the bed but it's only because her bladder is so small. if you have plastic sheets put them on your bed and then if she has an accident no harm done. if you guys don't want her in the bed you should at least fence off the kitchen or bathroom with baby gates and put wee wee pads down and let her sleep in there. her crate should be her happy place not a place where she spends just about all her time. it's not fair to her.
2006-12-06 08:11:50 · answer #4 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have to crate my dog as well so I know what you're going through. However, I'm lucky in the fact that my boyfriends daughter comes home from school midday to let him out. I would try the option of blocking him into one area like the kitchen. I did that too but my dog learned to jump the fence eventually so be cautious of that. Otherwise just puppy proof the kitchen (or blocked off area) and give her a toy to play with. Also, kitchen is a good idea so if she has an accident it won't be all over the carpet.
2006-12-06 08:13:55 · answer #5 · answered by Heather 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are right!! The dog spends most of its time in the crate!!! Figure out how many hours the dog is in the crate PER WEEK!!!
I think people should not get a dog if that is what it has to look forward to. You really have to do something. The poor dog can't be getting enough mental stimulation.
2006-12-06 08:07:44 · answer #6 · answered by ARE YOUR NEWFS GELLIN'? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is too much crate time. Think of it like being in jail and getting a short play time in between, but at least in jail you have a pooper. You need to know if you don't crate you dog it will use the place in your home as the pooper. I won't say you shouldn't have gotten a dog in the first place, i will say you need to come up with a better solution for your dogs day.
2006-12-06 08:08:57 · answer #7 · answered by Yutow 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋