Crating-how Long?

[CathyAnn]

Our puppy is 9 months old and we are still crating him at night and when we leave the house (errands and such). I just don't feel I can completely trust him yet.

Just last night he was trying to pull carpet fibers apart. And, he still gets into things on occasion. He will chew ANY piece of paper to shreds should he come across it.

It is just hubby and I here, for the most part (son away at school). So, it isn't like we have all sorts of stuff just laying around tempting him. The house is kept fairly neat but we are not perfect.

It sure didn't take this long to trust our older Cairn. She was an .

Part of the reason I am asking....I feel so guilty if we have to be gone for more than a few hours. And, lately that has been more frequent. And, it will be getting even MORE frequent as my mom is ill and going into a nursing home. She lives an hour+ away and I will be visiting more often. Will be gone at least 5-6 hours during the day and then crating him at night is alot.

I so look forward to having him sleep with us in our bed. He is very cuddley and seems to love taking nappies with us on the couch, etc.

Thanks for your advice!

Cathy

[wags]

Well, let me preface this with "I don't know either."

Our year old sleeps in a crate. He sleeps in a pen during the day.

I don't know if we could ever sleep in the same bed with him. Judging from his present behavior, he'd be licking our ears and stepping on our heads all night.

You know what I did too, today. I bought a foldable crate, thinking it would be stronger. The handle broke off our other one

Anyway, the foldable crate lasted only about ten minutes. Wes had bitten the catch off the top. I was afraid he'd swallow it, so I yelled out "trade!" He immediately dropped the plastic and ran to the fridge for his cheese.

Why can't the nylabone company make their crates from nylabone material!

[Mama Kim]

Our Cairn, Piper, is also 9 months old. Right now (I'm a stay-at-home mom) but I try not to leave her crated for any longer than 3-4 hours when I'm out of the house. We haven't crated her at night since she was about 4 months old. Yes, she sleeps in our bed. It's where she's happiest and, oddly enough, where she behaves the best. In fact, on these cold, winter nights, she is generally snuggled right up next to me under the covers since my husband is gone during the week. She keeps me warm!!

Our first Cairn, Lucy, was 14 when she passed away. We never left her uncrated when we left the house. She was much more comfortable and secure that way. No separation anxiety. For a time when she was 1-2 years old, we left her gated in our kitchen and family room. But she'd have terrible anxiety and soon learned to jump the gate and then she'd wreak havoc in the rest of the house. So we decided she was better off crated and that's the way it always was. On command, she'd go to her 'box' and she never fought it. We could leave her for 5-6 hours, if needed, but I never liked to leave her that long routinely. My top limit is/was generally 4 hours.

Piper knows 'go to your box' too and seems to feel comfortable there.

[CarCarDawn]

Hi! Riley was crated the first few months we had him but due to his necessary surgery, we had to keep him by us in the bedroom at night. He became used to this very quickly and started to sleep in the bed with us. Gradually he moved onto the floor and now prefers a soft chair we have by the bed.

When I leave home during the day he is confined to our computer room - - a rather small room with a soft chair in it. The soft chair is his comfort space - - and I can leave him for long periods of time without any regrets. Just recently I have left him alone in the house - - not confined to the computer room - - and have come back to discover that he had taken all of his toys out of his toy box - - but that is it!!! He has never damaged anything in the house!! He is becoming very trustworthy!!!

[LORI]

Brandy is crated at night. The reason for this is we have a cat and I can just see her playing around with him. Once she is in her crate she falls asleep. We also have a crate in the dinning room. When we should eat in the living room she is a begger, not to me but to my soft hearted husband. During the day she will go in there and take a nap. We don't shut the door she just goes in and snoozes.

[Mama Kim]

During the day she will go in there and take a nap. We don't shut the door she just goes in and snoozes.

Piper will do that too. Her crate is in the kitchen and if we're sitting at the table, she sometimes crawls in her crate for a nap.

[CathyAnn]

Thanks, everyone. My little guy doesn't mind going in his crate. We just say "time for nite-nite" and in he goes ! He also goes in there off and on thru the day for nappies when we are here at home.

Maybe it's just me feeling guilty but I feel sooooo bad leaving him in there during the day for extended periods of time.

Cathy

[Posey]

Nick still sleeps in his crate. And he goes there if it is to cold to put him in his playyard pen outside. No, he does not like it at all. Unless I give him a bone with peanut butter stuffed in the end. Then he notices nothing else but his peanut butter bone. Nicky is spoilt and it does not take much for him to lay a guilt trip on us. He has it down to a science. These little bundles know how to lay the guilt on mom and pop in a second. Right? If we let Nick run the house-simple(no house)!

Posey

[Rob D.]

MUrphy has been in his kennel since the first day we got him, 2 years ago. He's in there when we are away and at night. He'll only go on the bed when we are at home. If he is tired he'll go in there by himself. We leave the kennel door open all

day until we go to bed. Dogs especially Cairns from what I've seen like places they can go and be in the dark, they like the dark. Murphy sometimes goes under

our bed to be in the dark. He'll even go into a closet where it is dark. Some mornings my wife will let him on the bed, he'll go between us and go under the covers turn over on his back and go to sleep. All you see of him is his head and his front paws hanging out over the covers like a little kid. We encourage Murphy to go in his kennel, it's his place all we do is clean the blanket from time to time

and close the door when it's time for him to go in. He loves it and besides it's

Murphy's Law.

[gd4]

Wow, you mean your pup will take naps with you! Woo Hoo! I can only hope that our Trinity will do the same. She is 5 mo. old and driving us nuts. She is into everthing, chewing and jumping up on end tables.

We cannot trust her alone for 5 minutes. I get so stressed out that I have to crate her and then I feel very guilty. She is crated during the day for 3 hours and then a pet sitter comes and lets her out for water, feed, and walk. I do believe that your pup at her age should be okay crated. I know you will feel guilty but I know that we cannot leave our dog even in a fenced room without problems. She even ripped our wallpaper down in the bathroom.

I'm sorry to hear of your ailing family member. I wish you the best.

[Howard]

Gizmo is 4 months old and sleeps at night in his crate. I also have a crate in my office at work were he spends the day roaming around the office and going in the crate for naps. Have you ever thought of taking him with you and leaving him in his crate but checking on him every hour or so, maybe with a little walk?