What is a crate???

[KristenElla]

If a you leave and a dog chews something up, i think some serious training is needed for both parties.

I am interested to learn how I can begin to train them not to chew something while I am away? They know not to do it when I'm around and don't. However, I fight a constant battle with my Boston putting EVERYTHING she finds on the floor in her mouth. I would love to stop that behavior and it also would be great to start working with on not destroying stuff when left alone. Someday, I'd love to let each of them have room of their own to stay in (they are two females and I will never leave them alone together).

My Boston is 7 months and my Boxer is 4 months old right now. I currently use Bitter Apple but it has minimal effects.

Thank you

 

[bubnmugoo]

i agree with the fire issue. we don't plan on leaving kobe in a crate for very long, just until he is used to being alone. because he always had another dog with him there was never any problem until now, and the problem is not chewing, he actually tries to get out of the house to find us and has hurt his paws and mouth. it is not fair to leave the dog out if he is going to hurt himself. i think after a couple of months being alone we will be able to let him roam around the house. it is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter to leave the dog outside.

 

[KonaKoffe]

I think the thing that bothers me the most is a safety issue. Yes in some cases it is safer to crate, but what if there is a fire? The dog cant get away and i shudder to think what would happen.

Actually in the case of a fire the crate may be a good thing. The fire dept will know exactly where she is and be able to carry her out safely in the crate. If the dog has the run of the house it may hide in the event of a fire and the firemen won't know where she is or she may be scared of them and not let them catch her. Being in a smoke filled house in a crate or not in a crate is the same unsafe situation.

 

[kelseighgirl]

Both of my boxers are crated and it gives me such piece of mind. My 2 are crated anywhere from 2hrs to on a rare occassion maybe 8hrs, just 5 days w week. I tried to give them the run of the house about 4 months ago. Things were great for about 2 months and one day Justice decided he was going to rip up a jacket. I thought maybe he was just having a "bad" day so I continued to leave them have the run of the house while we were gone. Within that week, he decided to chew a section of an area rug and rip up a throw pillow. It was at that point that I decided it was time to go back to crating them. When it is time for us to leave, we get a cookie and the boxers will go into their crates and wait for their cookies. They have no problem going in on their own. I feel much better that I dont have to worry that Justice has gotten ahold of something that will cause him harm. My house is very much "doggie proof" but with that said it doesnt mean that he still wont find something to chew up.
Like someone said in an earlier post, it just isnt possible to remove the furniture from the house everyday just so they dont have to be crated for a few hours.

Everyone does what is best for their children...fur or skin. None of us here would put our babies in harms way and will do whatever it takes to protect them.

 

[kelseighgirl]

Actually in the case of a fire the crate may be a good thing. The fire dept will know exactly where she is and be able to carry her out safely in the crate. If the dog has the run of the house it may hide in the event of a fire and the firemen won't know where she is or she may be scared of them and not let them catch her. Being in a smoke filled house in a crate or not in a crate is the same unsafe situation.

Thats a very good point. If you have incase of emergency sticker on your windows that will automatically let the firefighters know there are animals that need to be saved.

 

[nikemama]

My brother in Law was in Germany

He was just home on R&R. He was telling us that in Germany they don't dock tails or ears either. Anyway a service person who has a pet knowing that you aren't going to stay put and is going to put a dog in a box and store it is something completly different then what we are doing. We are talking about pampered pets who know they are part of the family. They concider the crate their bedroom not a prison. My dogs are happy to have their space where the kids don't go and they hide their toys. Maybe this is a culture thing, but if I had it to do over again I would still crate my dogs. I think I would do more training classes too. I can say for sure my dogs haven't chewed up anything but a few stuffed animals that the kids didn't need anyway.

I think that dogs are like kids in that some can be trusted better then others. Even if you train them and train them once in a while you get a little rebel that isn't going to trusted no matter what and then sometimes you get a saint that you can trust your couch too.

 

[Checkers]

KirstenElla... your dogs are just puppies. I might have sounded like i was talking about everyones dogs in general, but only the ones that are mature enough to UNDERSTAND the rules after training. I wouldnt expect a puppy/young dog to pick up on that just yet and for that reason i think a crate IS a good idea. If i had a puppy that did the same things then i would also crate/confine it until it knew not to do it when i wasnt around. My issue is with people that crate their dogs for life without giving them the proper training which would allow them to be loose.

EVERY dog is different, i realise that, and you have to make accommodations for your individual dog. I just dont think its right to keep a potentially good dog in a crate for life because of the owner not training.

BTW one of those stickers is a good idea Putting one on the letterbox or something is also an idea. If there are flames/smoke coming out the front door they wont see it :o

 

[rrrmarie]

wow. This thread was originally posted today and it has more than a thousand views already..

 

[haleyandmark]

EVERY dog is different, i realise that, and you have to make accommodations for your individual dog. I just dont think its right to keep a potentially good dog in a crate for life because of the owner not training.

I can understand your point of view and respect that you realize every dog is different and their needs may vary. I am not sure if you are saying that older dogs left out who chew things have problems or if older dogs left out who chew things without proper training is a problem, but just for the record ... As for Asia, she is two years old and very well trained. 100% on recall, knows all 'regular' commands plus a few tricks here and there. Yet, at this point (for our safety but more so hers), we would not leave her out of the crate for longer than 30minutes.

 

[Checkers]

haleyandmark Asia sounds very well behaved I suppose im talking about when they are 4ish and up, when things have REALLY sunken (is that a word?) in and that training has been done properly to know that they will never touch anything other than whats theirs. Not the youngins that think everything belongs in their mouths :D

Really what im saying is i do believe in crating, just not for the entire dogs life (unless their are serious problems of course, i do keep saying POTENTIALLY GOOD dog). Everyone has their opinions and thats mine