crating during night, and while gone?

[Kimchi and Kitt]

My husband and I recently both had to go stateside for the army for 6 weeks (we live in Korea) and we had close friend watch Miso and Kimchi during that time. We laid down some "ground rules" about how we do things at our house but when we got back our boys had picked up some bad habits.

Im due for our first baby in 2 months so we are really trying to get the pups back on track before baby comes. Here are some of the issues, Barking at each other (playing) during the night time. PEE PAD CHEWING. Miso poops around the house occasionally too.

As of now we dont want to do disposable pee pads, they are not available in our area, and we dont want to order online and really it just does not appeal to either of us. We know who the Pee pad chewer is, its Miso and the barker is Kimchi.

So really one of my biggest questions, is it okay to crate the dogs during the night and day time hours if we are gone? they mostly have free reign around the house, as I am at home mostly, and are put up in their combined pen during the night with their crates in there. We have crated during the night before, just not on a constant basis (if I came out in midnight and the pee pad was chewed they both were crated)

They hardly ever have to spend time alone at home, and they dont get to go outside much (we live on the 25th floor in the middle of seoul) so I feel bad crating them, but the pee pad chewing I know is dangerous, and the loud night time barking needs to stop before the baby arrives. Thank you!

[tjdmom]

I think it depends on how long you are leaving them during the day. And at night, I have a small soft sided collapsable crate right next to my bed and some of mine sleep in there and I think it's fine but I would make sure they are getting enough activity during the day and then they won't really want to play so much at night.

[Kimchi and Kitt]

Originally Posted by tjdmom

I think it depends on how long you are leaving them during the day. And at night, I have a small soft sided collapsable crate right next to my bed and some of mine sleep in there and I think it's fine but I would make sure they are getting enough activity during the day and then they won't really want to play so much at night.

We dont leave them long during the day, may 2-3 times a week for an hour grocery shopping or if I go out to meet friends for lunch. Im never really gone longer than three hours. We had just been putting them in a penned in area thats still pretty large but blocks of the white rug and furniture but we would come home to the destroyed pee pad =( If we go out to a park or something on the weekends though we always take them! We have a nice size place that they run around, and they have tons of toys!
At night time they sleep in the living room. We had them in the room with us as puppies, but they cried to always come in the bed with us, so we moved them to the front room, and that stopped, and until recently during bed time they would go in their crates and sleep when we would put them in their pen.

Thank you for the advice!!!!

[Joyce Adams]

I crate mine at night and when I go out of the house. They sleep very well at night and nap when I go out to run an errand or out to eat. I feel better knowing that they are safe when I am not there to watch over them. Good luck and congrats on your baby.

[gracielove]

I don't know what you are identifying as a crate. How big are they? Can you possibly find a secure frame type of pee pad holder? They are really great for stopping the chewing issue. It consists of a plastic piece that is on the floor and a plastic frame that locks over the pee pad and holds it securely in place. I purchased mine at Walmart and it is the OUT brand but think they are not carrying that brand anymore. They do have a brand called Iris that is the same style.

[Critter]

I original bought my boys a crate but they hated it and I did as well. I ended up buying an xpen, it gave them room to run around in and they were still contained in a small area. When they were small this worked out much better as we were house breaking them. Now that they are bigger we don't use it as much unless we have company over or they are at my parents house when we go out of town.

[Britster]

Sounds like they just need more exercise to me!

If Jackson doesn't get enough exercise, is when he starts to bother me in the evenings - finding things to chew, whining for me to play, etc, etc, and he's almost 4yrs old.

Even today, I took him on an hour walk along park trails with his 50ft leash so he had lots of room to run & explore, we got home and he still wasn't tired, so we went outside and did 30 more minutes of frisbee and 15 minutes of uphill running and he still could've kept going... but he's not necessarily the norm, he could keep going and going But in general, I believe EVERY dog should get at least 30 minutes - 1 hour of outdoor time per day, weather depending of course.

I think that in answer to your question, crates are fine at night - it's just a matter of how you use them or abuse them. I personally wouldn't want to be using a crate during both the day and the night but that's just me. I say they just need a bit more exercise and training. Exercise cures a lot of small behavioral problems.