Crate Training Question I was wondering what is the longest that you kept your dog in a crate while away. Also do you provide food and water in the crate. |
I don't use a crate but I know that puppies can only hold their bladder for their age in months + 1. For example, a 2 month old puppy can only hold it max for 3 hours. |
I crate trainedmy 2 yorkies, and the first couple of weeks after I got them, I would sneak home from work about every 2 1/2 hours. After they slept through the night (that took about a week and a half after we got them), I left them in their crate for about 4 hours, twice a day (went home at lunch). They are now 9 1/2 months old & stay in their puppy play pen for about 4 hours a time during the day, and about 7 1/2-8 hours at nightime. I had to leave them for 5 hours once & there was an accident, so I figured out that 4 hours is about max for them during the day. |
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i crate mine for bedtime, and anytime i'm home and need to do something i crate her and bring her into the room i'm in. she has 24 hour access to a crate either in the living room with us, or there is a doorless on in her x-pen when i'm gone for more than 2 hours i always use the x-pen and pee pads. i don't think a crate should be used in long term confinement, just for sleeping and short trips or for keeping them outta trouble when you have to clean or cook or get ready. added: our crate is a pet taxi carrier and our x-pen is a larger exercise pen with her bed, food, water, doorless crate, pee pads, and toys in on the kitchen floor. i use both for short term confinement but only the x-pen for more than 2 hours |
I crate train mine as well. I agree with the last poster, if you are going to be gone for long periods of time I would use an xpen as well. If you can be available to let the pup out every two hours then a crate is perfect while you are trying to house train. But once they are house trained I would reccommend using a xpen or something of that nature just to keep them in a small safe area but not something that is as small as a crate..thatway they can walk around..play ect.. |
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The most i crated was 8 hours but i want to extend it to 10 hours so i don't have to come home early from work to let him out. I feel sorry for the little guy everytime i leave him in for extend periods but he doesn't seem to mind staying in his crate. |
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depends i guess on the crate, our crate is a pet taxi carrier, some i guess are larger than that...you wouldn't want to put him in a pet taxi crate for 8 hours, way too small, but if the crate you use is larger then maybe that's a good one and more like an x pen. i will tell you that in crate training as house training, you simply can't accomplish this with a "too large" crate. they have to be just enough room to stand up, turn around, lay down...if they are too big the dog will pick a corner to pee in and sleep in the other...and these crates are great for housetraining, but it's a little much to keep a pup in one for 8-10 hours if it's that small, they need a little more space such as an x pen or a room baby gated off from the rest of the house...we use potty pads when we're gone the whole day like that inside the xpen and also have her water, food, and we have a bed, a doorless crate and her toys in there. that's how i was told to do it and how we use our equip. for our dog. it works well for us. |
My puppy crate schedule (3 months old): I wake up at 6am, we go outside to potty/walk around the block, go inside to eat and hang out until 6:45 where we go back outside (just in case) then she is in her crate by 6:55 where I leave for work. The dog walker comes at 10:30 to let her out, feed her, play and then she goes back in her crate till I come home at 3:00 (no accidents but I do think she misses me while Im away) at 3 we go for a long walk to the park (this is anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours), then we go home and practice tricks, then eat, after 3 she stays out of her crate until bedtime (around 10). she is doing great with not going in her crate. we have had about 2 accidnets in the crate so far. sometime after dinner I will have 5 min crate time where i walk by her crate and give her treats for being good and quiet. so far so good. |
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One suggestion I have is to leave a few ice cubes for your pup. We got this as a suggestion from a trainer while crate training. It gives them enough water throughout the day while we are gone, but not so much that he drinks it all at once and has to pee while in his crate. We leave our little guy in a crate while at work and my husband is usually home around 5pm (half the time it's earlier - yay!) He hasn't had an accident in his crate since he was very little. We go back and forth about leaving him in the tiled bathroom with a baby gate. However, we've tried it a few times since he's gotten older and a bit more trustworthy, but when given such a large space, he usually goes pee and/or poop in the bathroom. When this happens, we feel he slips on his potty training when he's out of his crate when we are home. When he's crated during the work day, we feel he is much better about his potty training while roaming free. Does that make sense? On the weekends, if we leave early in the afternoon and aren't planning on being back until very late, we definitely leave him in the bathroom. Also, if we have to feed him and leave for the night while he's eating, we also leave him in the bathroom. During the work week, we always give him a chance to eliminate before going into the crate while we're at work. However, if we have to leave on the weekends or at night during the week, we leave him in the bathroom so he can eliminate after eating if we can't be there to let him out. I hope all of that makes sense. |
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OMG I'm doing EXACTLY what you are doing for our Cosmo. We got him at 4 months old and he's been with us now 7 weeks. LOL..Labor Day weekend we are going to just block off the kitchen and see what happens..hehehe. We are doing the crate only for sleeping/short trips..x-pen same as RachelandSadie. :thumbup: |
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