All my dogs have been crate trained from day one. THey cried the first few weeks and then got used to it. My Max is 10 months old and is really reliable as far as house breaking. He has the run of the kitchen during the day but I do not give him the run of the house unless he is with me. He is crated at night or when we will be gone more than 3 hours(which is usually never). He goes in the crate on command and will even go there when he has had enough playing. It is his safe spot. I think the key for me was to start at day 1 and never let him sleep with us. I'd love to have him with me, but don't want to start a habit that will be hard to break if I can't continue. For me it was better to never start. |