Time in Crate?

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

How long each day, if any, does your doodles spend in their crates?

 

Just wondering?

 

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper barely spends any time in her crate now. When she was very little she went in there quite often for naps. As she got older, she would go in her ex-pen for naps and would be in there for about 9 or 10 hours while we were at work. Now she is older she doesnt use her ex-pen but we have kept her crate.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Sedona sleeps in her crate each night - she loves it, guess she feels safe.  She's never in the crate during the day.  When she was a baby, we confined her to our "spa room" (tile floor) when we were away from the house.  Now, at 18 months, she has the run of the house when we're gone.

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

Rosey never would crate train.  Bandit sometimes will go in his on his own free will but we never make him, we actually just took the door off of it.

[Lydia & Lacey Doodle]

We put Lacey in her cage to sleep at night and if we leave for more than an hour.  If we are gone for short times we just keep her in the living area or kitchen.  She does pretty good being left out.

[Adina P]

Boca is crated frequently throughout the day but sleeps on a dog bed in our room overnight.  If I have to tend to my toddler or am too busy to keep a general eye on Boca then she's crated. If I have to clean floors, she's crated. If we are not home she's crated.  And when she gets too out of control she's crated.  I'm a heavy crater until a dog proves themselves to be trustworthy in the house (she's not yet), but she's a perfectly content dog and gets plenty of wrestling time with Rosco and hang out time with us.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin could probably stay in there for 8-10 just fine, but 7 is our max. If we are going to be gone for longer than that, we put him in daycare. Just don't want him to be bored! We usually crate him between 2-5 hours per day though

 

Also, he sleeps in his crate during the night as well. 

[Susan and Sasha]

 

During the day...the only time Sasha is in the crate...is if we go out for more than a few hours.

She also sleeps in her crate every night.

 When it's time to go to bed...she walks happily to her crate and goes right in! 

 

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I don't crate at all. From the first night home I let our newest puppy sleep wherever she wanted and we used the ex-pen off and on for the first month or so when we couldn't watch her every moment.  She is pretty potty trustworthy, and is pretty good with the house for up to 3 hours alone with Murphy. DH feels we won't know if she's ready if we don't keep testing her.

So far I've only lost a potted plant and one newspaper. Well, that I am aware of.

I would use a crate if we needed to, but I like that she and Murphy have the ability to interact when we are gone.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I still crate mine during the day if I go anywhere, but they have never been crated for more than 4 hours. My goal this year is to get rid of the crates completely, but Vern is not 100% reliable, just yet.

[Candy & Hudson]

Hudson is crated when we leave the house, and also at night. He also goes for 'naps' during the day. I have small children so whenever he can't be watched, or when I know he is tired, he goes in there, and immediately falls alseep. He enjoys the quiet time I think, the crate is in my bedroom. I would say on average he spends about 3 hours a day in his crate.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We only ever had one crate for Lucy and Sophie that they shared until they were probably about 6 months old.  We kept it in their room which is one of our bedrooms that's converted to their room.  It has a baby gate instead of a door.  That is where they go the majority of the time if we aren't home.  If I'm just going to be gone a few hours I might leave them with the run of the house, but normally if they see me getting ready to leave they will go to their room once I take them out to potty.  When the crate was in their room you would occasionally catch one of them laying in it playing with a toy.  One day Sophie was attempting to pull one of the pillows they used as a bed into the crate.  She was bracing herself by putting her feet on the front of the crate and trying to pull the pillow through the door.  Her foot slipped and got stuck between the bars on the crate.  She then panicked and got her leg twisted and stuck in the bars.  Scared the crap out of me.  Fortunately DH was still home and he was able to calm her enough to get it out!  Had I been by myself I'm not sure what I would have done.  I immediately took the crate down and put it in the garage.  Wasn't worth the risk to me.

[Leslie J]

Cocoa still sleeps in her crate (she goes in by herself at night) and she also goes in there if I'm going to be gone several hours.  She still chews up my kids toys when she finds them so I don't like to leave her out long enough for her to get bored.  I'm rarely our more than two hours so it seems to happen pretty rarely now.  Cocoa is a bit of a couch potato, and when I get home and open her crate she just stays inside and finishes her nap.

 

If Cocoa didn't like her crate, I think she is reliable enough to go without.  She seems to like it though, and if it's working, why would I change it?  :)