Crate Training

[Miss Marley]

Why is everyone on here so adamant about crate training. We never used crates with Ceara and Lexus (granted we lived in a bungalo, no stairs). They always slept with us on the beds, or the couches.

The only reason we're using a crate with Marley is because during the day, not everyone is home, my mom is home from 9-1 and then has to go back to work, Me, My sister and my brother are at school from 8-3, (I actually finish at 2:30) and my dad works all day. So we crate her during the times no one is home, but when she gets a little older (4 monthish), and is able to go up and down stairs confidently without tripping then we won't even use a crate at all.

Personally, I don't like crates. I just don't, something so sad speaks to me when I'm staring at a dog through the bars of a crate.

I'm just curious as to why everyone is CRATE CRATE CRATE!

 

[JennSLK]

Well for me mainly because I do agility and showing. In both instances the dogs are going to spend some time in their crate and need to be abl to without stress.

Also it is a great tool for house training.

Your dog may be distructive if they are left home alone and this fixes it

A crate is like a den for a dog. We have one downstairs that doesnt have it's door. The dogs are allways in and out of it and have naps in it

 

[GSDlover_4ever]

Well, dont come to my house then. My dogs dont run around the house, they get into things and I dont feel like going around picking up there messes. I usually let Neeko out in the house because he is the only one who doesnt get into things, but other than that the rest are in the crate. All their activities are done outside or on one portion of the house.

1) My dogs travel, and they have to be used to a crate. With NO whining, becuase I woud go insane.

2) Great babysitters.

3) Great tool for housetraining

4) DOgs dont need free roam of the house.

 

[Zoom]

Because some dogs just can't handle being left with free run of the house and for their own safety need to have somewhere they can stay. Not every dog needs a crate, but it's usually a good idea to have them around and on hand. Wonderful tools for traveling. More hotels/motels will allow a dog if it's cratetrained.

 

[DanL]

It's safer for them to be in the crate. A puppy will chew things. Like electric wires, furniture, other things that can cause harm.

 

[mamasobuco]

Crating was a blessing for us. It makes house training a breeze and keeps puppies safe. Our two older dogs were crated until they were 2. Our basenji on the other hand will probably never be trusted outside of his crate when we're not home. He is only in there when we're not home. He sleeps with us at night.

 

[Miss Marley]

Dogs don't need free roam of the house? Aren't dogs supposed to be members of your family?

All of our dogs have been more like extra children. You wouldn't CRATE your child would you?

Of course, using cradles and playpens are expected. But you wouldn't leave your child in a playpen or cradle while you go out would you?

 

[StillandSilent]

Our dogs, 8 and 10 years respectively, still use their crates both at night and when we will be gone for long periods during the day. When they see us moving around and jingling car keys, they both run to their crates waiting to be closed in and givin their treat. They love their crates and would be lost without that special place. If we do not crate them, they manage to raise cain and torment the cat while we are gone.
I don't think I would ever have another dog or puppy who did not use the crate.

 

[DanL]

Sorry, a dog is not a child so your comparison of leaving a child alone in a cradle has no merit. Leaving a 1 year old dog alone is not the same as leaving a 1 year old child alone. A 1 year old dog is more like a 12 year old child. You can trust them alone for a period of time but not much more than that.

Using a crate is not cruel. We have a 5 year old pug who loves his crate. He goes in there throughout the day to lay down. It's his personal space and he feels secure in there.

We crated our GSD pup all night until he was about 9 months old, and then gradually weaned him off of being in there when we went out- as he gained our trust by being left alone for longer periods of time, he was granted more freedom. We took his crate down for good recently, and he's 16 months old. He's never chewed anything but his own toys, has not had an accident in the house in well over a year, and has shown himself to be trustworthy. He never developed bad chewing habits because he was never given the opportunity to do that sort of thing. Whenever he was not able to be directly supervised, he was in the crate.

Tell me- your dogs have never chewed up something when you gave them free run of the house while they were still young? Maybe you don't care if they chew things or pee in the house when you are not around, but a lot of us do care about preventing that.

 

[Miss Marley]

Marley is in her crate most of the day, as I've already said. She's 9 weeks this coming wednesday.

She does chew, and have accidents, and I'm not opposed to using it for training purposes. But as soon as we can stop using the crate, we will. Marley is a CHILD to me, and a member of the family to my mom and dad. She is my BABY.

 

[Zoom]

Dogs don't need free roam of the house? Aren't dogs supposed to be members of your family?

All of our dogs have been more like extra children. You wouldn't CRATE your child would you?

Of course, using cradles and playpens are expected. But you wouldn't leave your child in a playpen or cradle while you go out would you?

No, they do not. Most dogs spend all day lying on the couch asleep anyway, with occassional interludes of causing trouble (peeing in the house, chewing shoes, etc.) Yes, they are members of the family, but they are are also a different species with different thought processes and motivations. What works for a human child will not necessarily translate to a canine. You can also take your human children with you to just about every store in the country. Not so with dogs.

Crating a child is a great idea in theory, but as with dogs, humans have different thought processes and motivations. While dogs can grow up to see crates as safe havens where they feel comfortable spending a few hours sacked out while waiting for the rest of the family to get home, simians (apes, humans, etc) respond differently to being enclosed. We/they don't have an instinctual denning instinct and thus we don't respond as well to being shut in a room.

For your dog's sake, I hope that you love it like a family member, but expect boundries and manners from it befitting a well-behaved DOG. Otherwise, you are going to end up with an out of control, hugely pushy boxer and that's dangerous.

 

[GSDlover_4ever]

You wouldn't CRATE your child would you?

Yep, thats exactly why I dont want kids, I'll make a terrible mother because I would lock them up.

 

[GSDlover_4ever]

Marley is a CHILD to me, and a member of the family to my mom and dad. She is my BABY.

Thats whats wrong with the dog world. Dogs are NOT children they are DOGS. I treat my dog like a dog, I love them dearly but I will never make the mistake of treating my dog like a human. They dont think like we do, they dont act like we do, they must be taught differently than a child. They are not CHILDREN. My dogs are what they are, and due to my understanding that they are DOGS we all live in harmony.

 

[GSDlover_4ever]

No, they do not. Most dogs spend all day lying on the couch asleep anyway, with occassional interludes of causing trouble (peeing in the house, chewing shoes, etc.) Yes, they are members of the family, but they are are also a different species with different thought processes and motivations. What works for a human child will not necessarily translate to a canine. You can also take your human children with you to just about every store in the country. Not so with dogs.

Crating a child is a great idea in theory, but as with dogs, humans have different thought processes and motivations. While dogs can grow up to see crates as safe havens where they feel comfortable spending a few hours sacked out while waiting for the rest of the family to get home, simians (apes, humans, etc) respond differently to being enclosed. We/they don't have an instinctual denning instinct and thus we don't respond as well to being shut in a room.

For your dog's sake, I hope that you love it like a family member, but expect boundries and manners from it befitting a well-behaved DOG. Otherwise, you are going to end up with an out of control, hugely pushy boxer and that's dangerous.

I agree Zoom.

 

[JennSLK]

If you treat your dog like your baby then you are going to have dominance problems. Thats were half of the dominance problems come from IMHO.

Yes I love both my girls dearly. but they are NOT human. Sure I call them my kids but they are DOGS. They must be treated acrodingly.

They both love their crate and take naps in it.

 

[mamasobuco]

Dogs don't need free roam of the house? Aren't dogs supposed to be members of your family?

All of our dogs have been more like extra children. You wouldn't CRATE your child would you?

Of course, using cradles and playpens are expected. But you wouldn't leave your child in a playpen or cradle while you go out would you?

No, dogs do not need free roam of the house. I can pretty much guess that my dogs go from their sleeping spot to the water and back a few times during the day and that's about it. I'm sure they don't roam the house. As much as I feel that my dogs are my babies, I do not mistake them for human children. And, I wouldn't leave my child at home alone crated or not.

 

[Bailey+Ralph]

Dogs don't need free roam of the house? Aren't dogs supposed to be members of your family?

Yes Bailey is part of my family...........Would i want him to eat the contents of my house b/c one of the downsides to owning a Staffie is thier ability to chew through anything and everything............HELL NO!!

Another thing is the seperation anxiety with this Breed and they feel safer (or at least Bailey does) being somewhere they are used to when you go out or to bed.

I hated the idea of using the crate and initially i bought it just for Housebreaking............Once housebroken i was going to start off with leaving him in the kitchen and then eventually let him have the run of the house.
Unfortunately it didn't end up this way b/c Bailey will literally eat my house if he is left unsupervised.

Just so that you know, Bailey isn't a sad dog when he is in the crate b/c he isn't in there all of the time, but when he is in there he is so used to it that he is just as happy there as he is anywhere else in the house.

 

[Bailey+Ralph]

No, dogs do not need free roam of the house. I can pretty much guess that my dogs go from their sleeping spot to the water and back a few times during the day and that's about it. I'm sure they don't roam the house. As much as I feel that my dogs are my babies, I do not mistake them for human children. And, I wouldn't leave my child at home alone crated or not.

Very good point!!

 

[DanL]

This is how it should be:

 

[Bailey+Ralph]

This is how it should be:

Hilarious