crate training puppy with another dog in the house

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

I never crate trained my 7 month old dog. A friend watched him during the day for the first few months and since he was 4.5 months old, my dog has had free access to my apartment when I am at work. He has excellent house manners and never gets into trouble. Crating is not an option for my dog because he'll cry for longer than 45 minutes if he is crated.

I am getting my f1b gd in 1.5 weeks. Since I will have to leave both dogs alone for 9 hours a day, I know that I should probably crate the new puppy. My concern is that both dogs will be very upset because one will have free roam in the apartment and the other will be stuck in a crate. Since I live in an apartment, I cannot have both dogs crying all day. I fostered rescues for a little bit, and had to crate one and my 7 month old dog barked and cried the whole time because he didn't like the dog being in the crate.

I have never had two dogs before. Does anyone have suggestions on crating the new puppy or should I just let both dogs roam around when I'm not there? Is this a disaster waiting to happen? I am also considering just keeping both dogs in the living room and kitchen area. But my older dog loves to sleep in my bedroom when I am away.

[Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran]

I would crate the puppy - but leaving a puppy for 9 hours is really too long. Is it possible to come home for lunch and let the puppy out? (The rule of thumb is that a puppy's bladder can "hold it" for as many hours as they are months old - so a 2 month old puppy could hold their pee for 2 hours. It ends up being a little longer than that, but asking for 9 hours is really too much.)

As for one being out and the other not, we didn't have any issues with that when we got Casey. He was in the crate and his big sisters weren't, and that worked out fine.

[Adina P]

I would use a crate--no question about it... But I would also have somebody ready to let puppy out once or twice while I'm gone for 9 hours. Ian Dunbar in his book "before and after getting your puppy" outlines a simple method to keep puppy contained and allow it to potty. He suggests placing a wire exercise pen around the crate and leaving the crate door open. This way the puppy can come out of the crate and use an nearby potty spot (sod in a plastic container, or litter box, or puppy pads) but puppy would still be confined to the exercise pen and would get a chance to feel comfortable in the crate when it fell like going in.

It's a great idea. Did not work for us, but I can see it working for another dog. Rosco did actually pee in the sod, but the next day decided to try to dig up the dirt. And he immediately went to shredding the puppy pads! So I would test this idea over the weekend to see how it goes.

You can also just crate the puppy in a room by itself with the radio on and maybe you're older dog wouldn't mind as much since puppy is not in plain view. Might youngest dog was crated for a long time while the other two had free room of the house. They all did fine. So it may just take your seven month old some time to get used to it--seeing the puppy in a crate that is.