Making the Crate Bigger

[orgcrsh]

Hey Everyone.

I have got a question that I can not figure out. Bosco is doing well he turned 9 wks yesterday and this weekend just mastered the stairs up and down. The big thing about this is that the stairs are open and our outside. He is getting so big so fast. We got our first shots on Friday and he is weighing in at 11 pds.

Now here is my question. He is crate trained and I have no problems with his crate and him being in it. He pees every once in a while if I leave him in there to long. But that is to be expected. But I am wondering when is a good time to open up the rest of his crate and give him the entire crate to lay and roam in while I am gone. I know he does not need the entire crate but I feel he could use is some times to stretch and relax a bit. Any advice on when is a good time to trust them in the entire crate would be great.

Thanks

 

[Scrapper's Mom]

I'm not an expert on crate training, so take this for what it's worth. I never divided the crate for Scrapper. I just put a little puppy bed for him to curl up in the back and let him have the rest to stretch his legs. It worked fine for us for almost a year. (When I took the crate down because he wasn't using it anymore.) I didn't know at the time that you could close off part of a crate!

Just remember, no collars on the dog when he/she is in the crate!

 

[LauraJean623]

We partitioned off part of Harley's crate and increased the part she used as we needed to. She hadn't had any accidents for about 3 weeks. We took her to an obedience class and they kept her for 10 days. We got home with her on Saturday and we have just let her have the entire crate. She has grown so quickly! So far, so good, no accidents! I know that will come back to bite me now that I've said it... My opinion is that every boxer is different and I don't think it would hurt to try. Nine weeks may be a little early though. At nine weeks Harley really just slept while we weren't home. I come home every day at lunch and let her out, etc. If you have the typical x-large crate, I would think that 1/2 of it would be fine for her until she's aroud 12-15 weeks.

That's just my opinion and the experience that I've had so far. I hope it works out well for you!!

Oh, congrats on the stairs! That is always a big relief!

 

[orgcrsh]

Well I made the crate bigger and he is loving it. We have had no accidents yet, and it has been five days. So I am pretty excited. It is also nice to see when he comes out of the crate he does not have to stretch as soon as he steps out. Makes me feel not so guilty when I go to work and put him in the crate.

 

[Eric J]

We just based how much crate Jedi got off of how much space he had in relation as he grew. I would slowly enlarge it every so often til he got to be so reliable in the crate I was not worried about potty training issues, that now he has full crate room, even though it is larger then he needs, currently.