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Originally Posted by Ladylavender  I agree. Crate Training while you are at work is best. We crated Millie for the 1st 3 months while we were at work. I too used the plastic crate not the wire crate. I bought the smallest one and even with that I had to place makeshift cardboard boxes in the back of the crate to make it smaller so she only had room to lay and turn around it. Millie never messed in her crate. I removed pieces of the cardboards as she got bigger to make more room in it. I had her crate inside an x-pen. the x-pen was over a small area rug with the crate, her food and water bowl and a bed. (All this took up most of the area of the x-pen so there was very little rug area. When I was home and could not keep an eye on her she stayed in the x-pen with the crate door open. I would only put her in there after I had made sure that she had gone potty. She stayed 100% in the crate with the door closed when I was not at home. After a while the x-pen'd area became and extension of the crate and I could trust her not to potty in the x-pen (but i made sure she had empty bladder and bowels when I left her in there). After about 3 months I was able to leave her in the x-pen all day while I was at work and she never did go potty in this area.
So when you get her trained (by using the crate) to hold her potty while you are not there, at some point you can ease her in to the use of the x-pen, if she can be trusted. (she has to earn this thru her actions: no potty in the crate for a month or more and reliability of no potty in the x-pen while you are there). That way she has more room to stretch and play if she wants. At some point I gave Millie access to one room - the room where she "grew up" in, because she also saw this a an extension of her x-pen and soon did not potty in that room and little by little she now has access to the whole house. It's a process, and some day you may be able to give up the crate all together. So spending the rest of her life in a crate while you are at work will not be an issue. But it takes time, persistence and patience. Don't try to give her too much access too soon, otherwise you have to go back to square one if she is not ready for it.
Oh yes, I never gave her food or water while I was away. So her water and food bowl was removed from the x-pen when she was using it to stay in while I was gone.
Many may tell you that they think it's cruel to leave your puppy all day in the crate, but it's not cruel. I will say this, however: When I was home, she got plenty of attention and on the week-ends I made sure to plan activities that involved her. I did not want her spending week-ends in the crate (except for training) when I had every oppertunity to be there . It required a little sacrifice and disipline on my part, but I was working on having a well-adjusted, well trained, good mannered dog. And to this day that is exactly what I have. |
Wow, thank you SO much! That's a great post and I really, really appreciate it. I just have a few little questions for you. Did you gradually introduce her to the crate or just leave her in there all day from day one? How long were you away each day and did you come home for lunch? Did you feed her in the morning and if so, how long did you wait until you took her out and put her in her crate? Does she sleep in her crate or with you? Thanks again! You're the best, and I'm glad you have such a great little dog. I'm willing to make as much sacrifice as possible for my dog to be the same
