Is 8 hours a day too long to crate?

[wildchild]

yes or no to crates

My fiance and I both lead very full lives. We are students and we both have full time jobs, we are also the proud owners of two boxers and a bulldog. Our dogs stay in their cage for no more than six hours at a time. Although they are all housebroken, we still keep them in their cage while we are gone. Our bigest reason is safety. Last year we experimented with leaving them out while we went to the store, big mistake. We came home to find that the dogs had managed to turn the burners on the stove on. (We have a digital stove with the controls on the front panel) We had come home in the nick of time, our house was filled with smoke. From that day on our pups go in their cage while we are gone. They don't mind, when they see me put my shoes on they walk to their cage and lay down. I wish that we did not have to do this, but for their safety and ours ,this is what we choose to do.

 

[RileyMom]

crate is working out fine

Riley is 5 months old and we have crated him during working hours (he sleeps with us at night) almost since we got him (we were both home with him all day every day the first two+ weeks). It took some getting used to, but he has always done really well with it. We, too, keep the crate door open when we're home and he often goes in there and naps on his own.

In the morning, we take a walk and/or play ball in the basement, then eat breakfast together and then he follows me around while I get ready for work. He knows my routine and when I go out to start the car, he comes with me, does his business again, and then we go back inside and he walks directly into his crate and lies down without any instruction. I can now come home at lunchtime to let him out a few days a week, which is a nice perk.

Here's an interesting thing that happened last week:
I was in a hurry to get to work (running late) and when he went into his crate, for some unknown reason I didn't think to close the door before heading out. I can't believe I did that! I went home at lunchtime to visit with him, and when I walked in and saw the door open, I was panicked imagining where he was or what he did while I was gone! But you know what? When I took a closer look, there he was, in his crate, and he hadn't touched a thing. He could have gotten into garbage, gone potty in the house, gotten into food, chewed on furniture or done just about anything he wanted to, but there he was, lying in his crate like a little angel. What a good boy we have!

 

[trevor'smom]

no use debating

Well, there's no sense talking about this anymore! Some people crate their dogs for long periods of time, and some don't. I personally think it's mean, but hey. Opinions are like buttholes - everyone's got them! My dog doesn't need a crate but others do, I guess. I'll just agree to disagree. No one is saying we don't love our boxers. And about the whole day/night thing, I meant it was okay to crate PUPPIES at night.

 

[djfunkshun2]

I Agree with Shawn

I've been reading these posts. Wow.. people have strong thoughts.

Well, everyone is saying it's mean, it's mean, it's mean. Why is it mean. Dogs are supposed to love being in their crates and someone says their dog stretches and then goes right back in. Shawn made a good point, how are we gonna support the animals if we don't work.

But anyways other than that, we can focus on soemthing more important than people's view on what is mean and what isn't. HOW DO YOU PREVENT A DOG FROM BITING AND CHEWING? That's the question. I'm sure those owners would be more than happy to leave their dogs roam in the house, but how will they do it. What can they teach to their dogs on how not to bite? Anyone have suggestions?? This is a more significant matter...

 

[JulieM]

Meri, that's fine, I'll agree to disagree with you (I obviously don't think crating a dog is "mean"). You still haven't answered me why you think it's OK to crate at night and not during the day - even for puppies. Housetraining? Does this mean that housetraining doesn't matter during the day? I'm intrigued by your assessment, and I really want to know the logic behind it.

And I think there is a point in discussing this, because someone will learn something from it. For example, I hadn't thought of dogs turning on the stove - although they've done when I've been in the kitchen, it never occured to me that that was another risk of leaving them loose when I'm not there (adding to the long list....).

As far as stopping dogs from biting and chewing - it's a matter of training. Some people are lucky and get a dog that never chews anything. (These same people sometimes go into shock when they get another puppy that is very typically a Boxer!! ) For the rest of us, it's just train, train, train, bitter apple, cayenne, tabasco....However, I'm not convinced that a well-trained dog will still be 100% well-trained when no one is around to see it misbehave. (Kind of like the tree falling in the woods thing.) Even my *extremely* well-behaved 4 year old girl has been known to get into the soap or chocolate chip cookies when she's been out loose while we're gone. Prevention is the most effective way to stop a dog from chewing - in other words, don't give him the opportunity to chew.

Julie

 

[EMWAZ]

crates

I would challenge the crate police to come and see our dogs and see how happy and well adjusted they are. They don't always have to be crated for long periods, but every once and awhile because of our schedules they do. My Zoe has been crated since she was about 3 months old, I didn't leave her in over the recomended time as a puppy but as an adult they know when we are leaving and I pull out a jerky treat and both of them are in their crates waiting for their treat.

Pancho was six months when we got him and he had never been crated, we used clopramine(sp), about 4 times, to help him get used to it. He is two now and has been going to his crate without problems for about 1 1/2 yrs. Neither have ever had an accident in their crate!

Our dogs are allowed on the furniture and the bed and treated like members of the family. I don't believe they would want to be seprated from us..

Thank goodness you can't take them away because we crate them!!!

 

[Titus-n-me]

More than 8 hours?!?

No- I do not think that it is terrible to crate a puppy for up to 8 hours. My Titus is crated at night and he will sleep up to 12 hours- if I let him!!! He's lazy! I now keep the door slightly open so if he needs to go potty he can come tell me, this helps- a lot. But, it took training for him to do this. He was very well potty trained before I attempted it. His crate is his home. He has his teddy bear, his blanky, and a pillow. Sometimes when I cannot find him- he'll be sleeping in his crate- his choice. Now what I am against is if you do not exercise him and he/she stays all day in a crate and then all night. It is not fair to the puppy- I found neighbors who would walk him if I were going to leave for long periods of time and sometimes I send him to daycare. Our vet has a nice run system set up especially for daycare services! I'd say to check out this route first before crating your puppy so long.

 

[trevor'smom]

here's my deal

I think that crating a puppy is okay for 5 hours at the most, during the day, if he or she is alone. I crated Trevor at night (all night) because we were there, and if he needed to go to the bathroom, we would take him outside.

 

[danjr]

To Crate or Not To Crate, THAT is the question!

I have two darling 3 1/2 yr. old boys (fraternal twins) one reverse brindle and one regular brindle (Jake and Elwood). They both have been in the show ring and have live that 'life style' of riding in crates and 'living' in crates. When I take my boys to visit the breeder, all of her babies have their own crates and like them quite a bit. It is their little piece of serenity and they love it. They crate themselves, sometimes for over 8 hours.
I am single and own my own house, so I gave my boys a bedroom to their own, with their crates in it (quite a nice pad if I do say so myself). When I wake up in the morning, they crawl down from the bed and are ready to potty. I let them out while I get ready for work and let them back in after I get their crates ready. They both know that it's time to get breakfast and get into their crates for the day while I'm at work. They are GREAT! No accidents, no crying, no attempted breakouts, nothing but GOOD BOYS. My boys can be seen at http://www.wildart.com/elwood.htm. I have noticed that when I got Elwood (reverse) that Jake instantly lost his 'detachment disorder' and stopped breaking out of his crate.
I think that it is ok to crate your Boxer, for as long as THEY can stand it. You have to be close to your Boxer to really see what they like and don't like. My boys are very forgiving and they know that those toys, bones, food and water have to come from Daddy somehow, and as long as he keeps coming home reasonably quick, we'll let him slide until he buys a home with a lot of land for us to have. I believe that they would rather be house/sofa/bed dogs anyway.

dj

 

[Aimee]

For those that crate at night and during the day

I was going to stay away from this topic and have been reading along with everyones posts. I personally do not agree with crating a dog for 8/9 hours during the day. I also do not agree with then turning around and crating another 7/8 at night. I find this cruel. It is unfortunant that we all have to work but this is a fact of life. I am happy to know that there are loving homes out there for boxers because there are tons in rescue and there would be even more if we didn't allow loving families to have dogs because they work 8/9 hours a day. But I am asking those of you that crate during the day, why do you turn around and crate again at night? I am sure your dogs don't seem to mind it, you see dogs chained up that don't seem to mind it...they adapt to their environment but that doesn't make it right. It upsets me to think of your boxers in a crate for a total of 16 or more hours a day. It sounds as if you all really love your animals, but that being the case, maybe you can spend more quality time with them doing behavioral training so you can then spend less time crating

Regarding puppies - I hear alot of you saying that you are crating at night to prevent accidents. (If I am hearing you wrong I apologize ahead of time) We never crated at night and have never had any problems with accidents at night as ours sleep with us. But in the beginning it is no different than having a baby and we were up every couple of hours to take her outside. Just wanted to add that those of you with younger ones, you will have an easier time taking them out more frequently than putting them in a crate to avoid the mess on your carpets.