What size sleeping crate for puppy?

[Heidi and Fonzie]

 Im sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere but We are about to bring Fonzie home next weekend. I am full of excitment and questions!!!  I have a x large crate set up in our dinning room that is also closed off as a "pen" area for him. For nightime I had planned to buy another smaller pen to keep by our bed. What size do I need to buy?? I am guessing it does not need to be as big as the one downstairs since this will only be used for awhile until he can sleep thru the night or downstairs in his larger one ??? Help I am a little confused. Also, do they prefer thinner or fluffier mats in their crates? I hear they can get too hot with the fluffy ones. Thanks for any help!!!

[Julie, Boomer, Milo & Casey]

I had two crates also for our standard size doodles. The largest was 48" with divider, which we kept in the family room.  The one for the bedroom was 36" without a divider and that worked for us because both of my doodles were out of the nighttime crates by 6 months.  Any longer than that and they would not have fit in the 36" one.  Both of my doodles dug at the fluffy mats and clumped them into a corner and preferred to sleep on the plastic (which is noisy in the middle of the night when they are up turning around etc). I  would fold the mats and cover just one end but they'd eventually push it out of the way so you could try doing that and see which end Fonzie prefers to sleep.  One thing to keep in mind is that a puppy can go potty on the fluffy mat without you knowing and since the mat would absorb the urine, puppy will go to the opposite end. However, if its just the plastic bottom, IMO its much more obvious that they went potty and much harder for the puppy to escape the urine.  A puppy does not want to be in an area they used as a potty so (for us) removing the fluffy mat sped up the potty training period.  

[Bonnie and Kona]

Enjoy Fonzie!

Our dogs have always chosen to sleep on the plastic crate bottom. That does not mean that we didn't put something in the crate for the puppy every time and then eventually ended up with nothing. From past experience the most luxurious mat I would put in a crate is a towel. That way the pup can push it out of the way to sleep on the crate floor. People have praised the snuggle puppy in the Puppy Madness group. Have you done a search in that group for ideas? We had the big crate in the family room and a small one in our bedroom. Eventually the pup ended up sleeping in the family room crate after he stopped waking in the night. The crate has been in our DD's room since the pup was maybe 8 months old. He's two now, and while he sleeps in his crate it isn't closed. It's his choice.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Hi Heidi~ We got a new puppy 3 weeks ago and he is now 13 weeks.  He came with a small crate, and I used that for about 3 nights and not successfully I might add.  There just was not enough room for him to move around and he could not hold it through the night and every morning was a major cleanup.

So  and then went over to Petco and bought a crate that is 28L x 20.5W x 21.5 H.  I babygated off our master bathroom and put the crate inside the gated off area.  Beau does not like the fleece mat either, so I put it outside the door of the crate.  I leave the crate door open and have a large pee pad over to the side of the crate in the corner, where he can to if he needs to during the night.  The first week he used the pad a time or two during the night, but now he no longer needs to relieve himself during the night and is sleeping 8 hrs without a problem.  

Enjoy your new little one. 

[Ginny Nightingale]

Lucky you! I was just about to say that you will never house break a dog that way and I really don't recommend puppy pads--BUT it seems to be working for you--they can get into a lot of trouble at that age if they are not locked in a crate--eating toilet paper, soap,etc, but again, it seems like this is OK in your case Linda--

However, the use of puppy pads in the house is generally not a good idea--it sends conflicting messages to the puppy. My relative's dog is allowed to use puppy pads in their house because they hate walking him in the bad weather (!!) but the dog treats any throw rug or carpet as a potty now and she is 4. She brings that belief to my house too unfortunately and I have to roll up every throw rug and watch her like a hawk.

It is hard, IMO, to get a young puppy to differentiate between a puppy pad and the rest of your house--this is an important time to teach them that all pottying occurs outdoors. That means that you have to get up and take them out at night for a while, but it passes quickly as Linda has said.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Ginny - you are right, I should have been more explicit in my post or not post at all.  I was not giving advice, just saying what I did with Beau.  Beau came to us at 10 weeks old, crate trained.  When I ran out of the food the breeder had sent home with him, I bought the same brand, but the formula had changed and he got a major case diarrhea, but then a vet visit also came out positive for giardia!  Yikes!  His crate was so small he could hardly turn around and after 3 nights of a mess and bath cleanup every morning, I did not want him to have to deal with that.  I bought the larger crate and decided to use the crate in the gated off area and leave the door open so he could get out if needed to and he did for several more nights, but then the diarrhea cleared up and no more accidents at night.  Our circumstances are probably different from most other people - our master bath is probably 12 x 20 or so and the area I gated off has nothing that he can reach.  The toilet area is another room which has a door on it.  Plus, he is just 3 feet from the door to our room, so I can hear him.  I initially gated this area off, so when we had to leave for 2 or 3 hours he would have some space, plus use his crate for a safe haven and the floor is all tile.  I know I have been lucky that he does not think he can go pee on anything white laying on the floor, but that has not been the case.   The second day here, he started ringing the bells to go outside, plus he has a big brother to show him the ropes!

Heidi ~ this just happens to work for us, but it is not the norm and I am in no way suggesting that you do this!  Sorry if it was confusing. 

[Stephanie and Jellybean]

We bought the 48 inch from Petsmart which cam with dividers that could be moved as the puppy got bigger. It came with a pad, bot our dog hated it, so from then on it was just the plastic bottom liner. She is 2 hrs and a few months, and still goes into her crate on her own occasionally to rest. We kept the crate in the family room and never used it in the bedroom or anywhere else for that matter. It was too noisy for us to sleep with her moving all over the plastic.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I like the crate that will grow with the dog as the one you have Stephanie.  The dividers will help as the pup grows and helps in potty and crate training.

You will ALWAYS need a crate. Even when your dog is old and grown.  In emergencies, crates are good to have ... just like this week, if you need to go to a shelter!  So always keep one.  My dog no longer uses his crate but we have it ready just in case.  I have had fosters who have needed a crate so it is used then too.

Get one that you will use forever.   We did use a cat crate those first few weeks to keep in our room, on a chair, right next to our faces by our bed.  When he outgrew that, he was old enough for his bigger crate

[Heidi and Fonzie]

yes,  that is what we have decided to do. We have a big crate downstairs for daytime and when he is ready to sleep down there, but we also have a much smaller one ( hopefully not too small) one for our bedroom. I am thinking he will only need it for a week or so until he feels comfortable sleeping downstairs. Of course, when he can be trusted through the night he will sleep wherever he wants!

 

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

You should be fine. We have a small plastic crate that we used for bringing the puppy home. We had it upstairs in our bedroom the first 3-5 nights, with just a towel on the bottom. After that, the puppy was sleeping downstairs in a 48 inch wire crate with a divider. We just kept moving the divider as he grew. I put a small blanket ($3 in Wallgreens) on the bottom of the crate, but the puppy would mostly just scrunch it on one side and sleep on the plastic bottom. I've noticed that doodles like to sleep stretched out on their backs, so we were moving the divider pretty quickly to allow for more room. I think with Auggie, the divider was gone within a month of bringing Auggie home. He had long legs. :-)

Auggie is a little over 5 months now and as of last Friday he "graduated" to sleeping on his own bed in our bedroom upstairs. I use the crate downstairs only if I need to leave Auggie home for a few hours.

Enjoy your Fonzie!

[Julie and Charlie]

I actually have two crates, a Midwest one with a divider for downstairs, and a folding fabric one for upstairs that also fits in the backseat of the car. The folding one is lightweight and easy to set up/take down. It is/was invaluable, especially before he was reliably trained for the car, and to transport if you ever need to have him sleep at someone else's house. I have a 30 inch one though, from Wal Mart, but the amazon link below shows the same product in 28 inches. I figured I could use it even if he was full grown at 35 lbs. For the first couple of weeks, I actually put a box in it to keep him in one area and from it being too big. Be warned, the new smell was awful the first few days.

Petnation 28 inch Crate

[Heidi and Fonzie]

 Perfect...that is the exact crate I just bought yesterday except I bought the 24 inch...hope its not too small.

 How long did he sleep in it next to your bed?

[Julie and Charlie]

Right next to the bed, about a month. And then I moved him to the other side of the bedroom, still in the crate. The issue with him right now being out of a crate at night is that he wiggles and moves too much on the bed (and wants to keep getting on and off) and can still get into too much trouble in the bedroom unsupervised. He's still happy in there, so I am reluctant to change.