overnight sleeping

frokenvin

New Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
17
Likes
0
Points
0
#1
Hi all,

I got my first darling dog (actually he's a puppy yet) earlier today -- I will be keeping her in a carry kennel to sleep while I'm away at work, overnights. My question is, should I leave her food and water dishs in the kennel while I'm away? I know this sounds like a silly question, but the kennel is relatively small and if she felt like getting up or playing around at night (which they may or may not do, I have no idea) she would likely spill or soil herself with the water. This "cage" is all I've got for now so I'm wondering what needs to be had for her rest while I'm away. For if anything goes wrong, I won't be home to know about it!
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
94,266
Likes
3
Points
36
Location
Where the selas blooms
#2
In the first place, you don't leave a pup in a crate for several hours on end. I believe the formula is one hour for each month of age, plus an hour. Of course there's a limit - you don't want to crate a dog for eight hours straight on a regular basis! Try puppy-proofing a room: all electrical cords, chewing hazards, choking hazards, etc locked up out of reach. A bathroom is usually a good choice. Then you can leave her water and food in the room. You can put her crate in the corner with the door open so she'll have her "bed" for security.

Truthfully, I've never used a crate for any of my dogs and I'm really not much of an advocate for using a crate unless it's a last resort.

How old is your pup, and what kind is she? Have you decided on a name yet? :)
 
Joined
May 26, 2005
Messages
641
Likes
0
Points
0
#3
I have to disagree about the usage of crates. I've never used one before until now and I think it's great simply for the fact that I know my puppy is safe in it. I was going to baby gate off my laundry room for her but I just KNOW it wouldn't take her long to learn how to climb the gate. Closing the door is not an option. I've read a lot about how locking a puppy/dog in a room with a closed door will usually cause them a lot of stress and have also seen it first hand. Your door will get scratched up, chewed up and your puppy could hurt themselves in the process. No matter how hard you try to "puppy proof" a room, there is always something they could chew on.
If you have to be away from home for hours at a time, I think you have no choice but to crate him/her. For the first month and a half that I had Chyna, I had either my daughter come over and take her outside or my husband would come home and do it. I do agree that long periods in a crate are not a good thing. I try not to leave her in it more than a few hours but she does sleep in it at night (for now til she is fully potty trained).
However, once your puppy gets used to it, it should become a "safe" place for him/her. Chyna will go in her crate on her own when she feels like it. It doesn't bother her at all unless she feels she is missing out on something.
There's a guilt factor here but what you are trying to achieve is to keep your puppy safe while he/she is unattended.
Also, yes to giving them water in the crate...always! I've fed my puppy in the crate too but not usually.

Pam
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
94,266
Likes
3
Points
36
Location
Where the selas blooms
#4
Confinement to crates is a bad thing for large breed puppies. They need to be able to move freely and stretch to give their bones, joints and muscles a chance to develop properly.

One of the many things that will be contractually specified to anyone (and there won't be many) who get a pup out of Shiva or Kharma is that there will be NO crate training.
 

Amstaffer

Active Member
Joined
May 13, 2005
Messages
3,276
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Milwaukee WI
#5
Renee750il said:
Confinement to crates is a bad thing for large breed puppies. They need to be able to move freely and stretch to give their bones, joints and muscles a chance to develop properly.

One of the many things that will be contractually specified to anyone (and there won't be many) who get a pup out of Shiva or Kharma is that there will be NO crate training.
What if the Crates are big enough? I saw a crate one time that a Great Dane in it and the GD had plenty of room to spread out.

I started crate training when I got my first Amstaff and I think that if properly used they are a great tool. I always bought the biggest crate for my dogs...Dane sized, so they had PLENTY of room. The crate I am talking about is not the type you see in the back of mini vans...
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
94,266
Likes
3
Points
36
Location
Where the selas blooms
#6
They need room to move freely; to walk around, stretch, play, etc. - to take more than a step or two without running into a cage wall. Ours stay in the laundry room when we're gone and at night until they are trustworthy in the house. It's not that big a room, but they can walk about and have some autonomy and it's easy to secure. A closed room on a door still leaves much more space than a closed door on a cage! It's illogical to think that closing a door on a puppy proofed room has a negative effect on a pup's psyche and closing a door on a cage doesn't.

Trust me, you don't want to cage a Fila! I've never caged any of my dogs - not once, no matter what kind of dog I had. I've never owned a cage.

I can see where crate training is valuable for someone who fosters dogs or who shows their smaller dogs or has to transport dogs for some reason, but other than that I think someone who manufactured crates for the very limited market they had years ago thought up a good way to sell more of their product . . .
 

Amstaffer

Active Member
Joined
May 13, 2005
Messages
3,276
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Milwaukee WI
#7
I don't know about filas...But when I got my first Am staff, the rescue lady said it like this.

Dogs are den animals and being in a small place for their sleep time is normal and not cruel.

Note: By the time my dogs real 1.5 years old, I no longer crate them.
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
94,266
Likes
3
Points
36
Location
Where the selas blooms
#8
They generally find a cozy place to curl up when they are pups, but they can get out. A sleeping den isn't closed up. There's nothing natural about that if you think about it. What really frosts me is leaving a dog - any dog - in a cage for several hours during the day . . .

I can see where someone involved in rescue would have to resort to crating though, especially if there are multiple dogs at any given time. Something too many people don't think of though, if they get a dog from a shelter: being kenneled in a shelter is a traumatic experience at best for a dog, all the smells of fear, disorientation and death associated with that time. Strange people. Strange dogs. Then you bring the dog home. And you put it back in a cage . . . like it just left at the shelter . . .
 

avenlee

New Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
Messages
1,881
Likes
0
Points
0
Age
55
Location
Massachusetts
#9
I tried the crate thing on Sadie, which was huge! more for a larger breed, for about a week, and I just couldn't do it. It broke my heart to see her in there. I opt to baracade her in the kitchen with baby gates. Made me feel and sleep better at night.

Two each his own, but I do not agree with crate training, especially at long periods of time. You said that you can baracade your dog in the laundry room but you feel it would be no time before your dog learns to go over it. Why don't you give it a try? You might be surprised. I feel that when you make the decision to own a dog, you take on the risk of ... well ... anything that may happen. Maybe if it makes you fell better, you should puppy proof your house just as you would for a baby. When Nora came along we didn't have the second baby gate to baracade her in the kitchen and instead used a door and held it up with a wooden kitchen chair. Well, the little buggar learned to use her front claws to climb the door, hop onto the chair and onto the floor and off she was. She never got hurt, but I came home to toilet paper all over the place newspapers all over and etc .... I just stood there laughing! It all comes with owning a dog.
 

Barb04

Super Moderator
Joined
Sep 28, 2004
Messages
27,429
Likes
4
Points
38
#10
I agree that you can only leave a puppy in a crate for 1 hour plus their age (i.e. 2 months old for only 3 hours at a time). A puppy proof room is your best bet. The pup will need food and water if you're going to be gone at work the whole time. Be patient, as the pup will have accidents as no one will be their for housetraining.
 

Members online

No members online now.
Top