Susan, is there a particular reason why Bob is so negative about using a crate? Did any of your other dogs have a bad experience or a bad reaction?
No-we have not had problems before....we just never really got it to work. I think Bob is figuring....We'll be here so why would you kennel the dog?
As a result of comments that I have read on the forum, I do understand that using crates can feel like a tougher decision for folks who have rescued dogs from very negative situations in which they have been cruelly caged or confined for lengthy periods. But for little puppies who have never had any adverse experiences with a cage, a crate can truly be introduced and used in a very positive and peaceful way.
Saskia may take exception with things that I say here (and please feel free to do so, Sas!). But all of our puppies came home with us at the 8-9 week mark. And as I've already said, their crates became safe havens and also were really helpful in terms of toilet training. By instinct, a dog does not want to soil its den. And so a puppy will be less likely to choose to relieve itself while in a crate than when it has free rein of a room or the house. No puppy should ever be left alone and locked in a crate for a period of time that exceeds the capacity of its little bladder. And we always gave our puppies the opportunity to relieve themselves both before we put them in the crate and at any time that they came out of their crate. But during naptime, bedtime, and periods during the day when we were not available to be focused on monitoring the puppy's activity, their crates really were safe, clean havens.
I'm saying all this based on the understanding that you and/or Bob are at home quite a bit of the time. For people who are working away from home, other arrangements definitely need to be made. Because it would be very cruel to lock a little puppy (or dog, for that matter) alone in a crate for extended time periods. But what I am talking about are briefer interludes throughout the course of the day.
Bob and I are both retired. I really retired early and he retired early I guess too. With our two former doggies, we both worked full time.
Also, I have to add that my experience has been with big, energetic, MOUTHY Labs who love to chew. The experience with little dogs may be very different. But their crates really were often the safest places for our dogs when we couldn't be watching them. I remember instead setting up an exercise pen in the kitchen and leaving baby Luna inside -- supposedly to keep her safe and confined while we were away from home for a couple of hours. She managed to push on the side of the ex-pen until
she shifted it clear across the kitchen floor and got to the dining room carpet. When we got home, she had chewed up the entire edge of the carpet
.
LOL!!!! I know it wasn't funny...but having had Peaches who tore up the kitchen carpet, I know how you felt.
Although of course I was not happy with the damage to the carpet, we were even more upset about the possible damage to her, should she have swallowed some of the carpet tacks, etc. So some homes may have rooms that are more easily puppy-proofed than others. But our house really does not have a good, safe place to confine a puppy. However, I always knew the puppy was safe in her crate.
And clearly her time in her crate has not damaged her psyche
. Because as I said earlier, she, Peg, and Barkis all three have loved their crates as adults. Peg and Luna frequently walk in-and-out throughout the day to lay down and sleep. There are occasions now when I do want to confine Luna in her crate while I am attending to Peg. All I have to say is, "Luna, in your box" and she absolutely RACES across the room to hurl herself inside. I always give her a treat once she is safely in there, and it absolutely cracks us up to see how fast she flies into her crate to turn around inside and claim her treat.
As I say, there may be ways in which we have used the crate that others would think are not so great. But even if we have goofed up, our dogs have still ended up loving their personal dens. So they are testimony to the fact that crates do not have to be horror chambers by any stretch of the imagination.
Marianne