Crating question

[melonie]

I've been reading too much. (probably)
I came across an article on crate training a puppy.
It said to only leave the pup in a crate for a short time while you're home.
Which I've done. But it also said to not leave the pup in a crate for extended
periods when you're not home. It advised to set up a room for it, like the
bathroom or laundry room. Leave the pup in there with the crate open to rest in.

Unfortunately, I really can't do that. her crate is too big for my bathroom and I'm afraid
if I left her in there I'd really be careful of what was left within reach, and put a safety
lock on the cabinet door. I do have a second bathroom that we really didn't use so we turned
it into storage. I could clean that out and utilize it for puppy purposes, and the crate will
fit in there.

So, yesterday I had to work 8-5 which isn't my usual hours. I had my ex come over every 2 hours
and let her out. Then around 1:30 my daughter came home and picked her up and took her to school.
She got to hang out for the last two classes of the day.
When Aryn crated her this morning she cried for an hour and a half before I got up with her.
I took her out, let the boys out, fed everyone. She was in and out of her crate with out an issue.
So she's not afraid of it. Once everyone was done I took her into my room and we slept some more.

I'm like a worried parent. I'm trying to avoid separation issues, crate issues etc. For her safety
and the cleanliness of my home, I have to crate her while we're gone!

[megan]

I've always put crates in living spaces, family rooms, etc., places we spend most of our time in so its in a "familiar" place. I wouldn't want to put a crate somewhere that we don't frequent or else it could seem scarier to a pup.

As far as crating for longer periods, of course you want to work up to it if you can, but it's not always possible. Are you giving her things to do in there when she had to be crated alone? Bully sticks, stuffed kongs, etc. with some super yummy things stuffed inside? I find stuffed frozen kongs are great because the pup will work at it for a bit, get tired, rest.... Then come back to it once it's defrosted a bit, which can coincide with the time they are beginning to get bored or lonely in the crate. Then they are usually tired after all their hard work getting the contents out of the kong.

[melonie]

I haven't given her many different types of treats yet. She's transitioning from puppy chow to the food I'll be feeding her. I picked up some soft bill jack treats that she gets in her crate, along with her meals.
I do have a puppy toy from kong for her but I haven't loaded it yet, but plan to.
She does have some of her crate only toys in there.
Her crate originally was in my daughters room, but we moved it to the dog room hoping that crating in the same room with them would help. I think that only annoyed Winston.

[RealPitBull]

I absolutely wouldn't leave her uncrated, that is a disaster waiting to happen. She's likely to have accidents and/or chew things up. Leaving her uncrated in my opinion is like setting her up to fail. She's way to young to be left in a room by herself. Your crate schedule about sounds totally fine.

[megan]

While transitioning to the new food you have, could you soak some kibble in a little bit of water, stuff it in a kong and freeze it to occupy her?

And yes, most definitely agree with Mary. And it doesn't sound like she was crated for too long or anything like that, but it could just be some of the adjustment period.

[maryellen]

Stop worrying and over reading l. Crate her when you cant watch her or xpen and when u go to work crate her

[melonie]

Ok so I'm not messing up by what I'm doing.
I went ahead and smeared a tsp of punt butter on her king toy. That kept her quiet as I walked out the door.

I think bringing home a baby is a lot easier. We'll have to remember to ask Mary after she has her baby.


Sent from my XT881 using proboards

[RealPitBull]

Nov 19, 2013 18:28:25 GMT -5 melonie said:

Ok so I'm not messing up by what I'm doing.
I went ahead and smeared a tsp of punt butter on her king toy. That kept her quiet as I walked out the door.

I think bringing home a baby is a lot easier. We'll have to remember to ask Mary after she has her baby.


Sent from my XT881 using proboards

Hahah I'll let you know what my final report is when the baby comes home next month.