opinions? experiences? the two guide dog trainers i know both use crate training, the dogstrust refer to it as ‘indoor kennels’ and the championship dog owning dog psychologist friend of the family has been using them for years.

What do you want to know? Dog has own designated space, dog gest used to space, dog often goes there of own accord.

As long as it is consistent and doesn’t get messed about with, no problems.

Doing it now with my new puppy. Did it with my current 13 month old dog.
Would highly recommend it.

As above – what exactly do you want to know? Are you getting a puppy?

ummm i guess i just want to hear other forum user’s experiences 🙂 our family used crate training for my mum’s dog and it worked fantastically but whenever i mention crate training to mrsconsequence’s side of the family who are, well how do i put this delicately… not pet people and have VERY little experience with dogs apart from one uncle, they recoil in horror at the thought of the dog having a “cage” lol

most important thing is to never, ever use the crate at a punishment, it should be their space and have no negative connotations IMO

not getting a puppy, but are in the early stages of rehoming a dog from a rescue centre… landlords given his permission and the new contracts are being drawn up, next stage is to secure the garden properly along the back fence then we should be good to go 🙂

looking at a 2-5yr old rescue dog, small to medium size due to the size of our house and garden. rescue centre seems happy with our set up and what we can provide, both of us able to come home in lunchbreaks and there’s a BIG selection of dog walkers in the area/friends who work/live locally who could help out on the odd emergency when we couldn’t get home in the middle of the day.

Phil – my parents always asked why I crate trained. They are from the old school of thought to just leave the puppy in the kitchen etc. after seeing how well it’s been for my first dog, and now how the new puppy is settling into it, I think they understand it now.

People need to view it as a ‘den’ for the dog – not a cage. The dog will also come to learn that.

Our 11 wk old lab now trots off into it for a sleep now through the day when there is a sofa, rug, older dogs bed alternative.

Yes the first few nights are hard- I spent them downstairs but by the 4th night she was sleeping 11pm – 6am. Never had any mess in there at all. Dogs don’t like to mess in their area. A small cage encourages them to try to hold it.

Ok, most of that is puppy related! Don’t have much experience with older dogs starting in crates.
My 13 month old lab came out if it at 6 months .. I think the new puppy will be in there longer (little mischievous chewer)!

I started off with a small crate, then moved onto a medium sized crate after a few months and then realised I would need a crate the size of a Mini to keep pace and bought him a good fluffy bed.

I think crate training has it’s place but only if you intend to travel with the dog a lot. Otherwise a bed is just fine.

Crates are great. Our dog is 3 now and still gets in his crate at bedtime or when he’s tired and doesn’t want to be bothered, like his own little cave.

We get our puppy in 2 weeks 🙂 we have bought a cage after speaking to people we know and trainers etc.. We were planning on keeping a blanket in the cage then eventually removing the cage but keeping the blanket in the same place. Would this work?

i’m hoping that as the dog is essentially coming from a kennel type set up that it will take the the crate concept reasonably quickly, but yeah i’m willing to sleep downstairs and stuff if needed 🙂

do you close the crate at night?

i think the ‘indoor kennel’ name is a good way of describing it by the DogsTrust

I close it for the puppies or all hell would break out! Guess for an older dog I would start with it closed and see how it adjusts to it.
If you are get to the stage of leaving it open then I’d assume you could then do away with the crate really…..

yeah, hopefully…. but we’ll still want the dog to have it’s own little safe zone it can go if it struggles with new visitors to the house and for it to remember the crate as a safe place for when we need to travel somewhere or to the vets 🙂

As you’re getting an adult rescue dog (good for you!), it will probably depend on the dog and how it reacts. One of my rescue dogs was happy with any situation, but the other panicked completely in confined spaces. When we tried her in a crate she went frantic trying to escape and injured herself in the process. So I’d suggest playing it by ear, and seeing how your adopted dog reacts, rather than having a predetermined plan.

Above all, have fun – dogs are ACE 🙂

worked for our puppy. She pee’d the first night in the crate, and has been dry overnight ever since (she was 9 weeks when we got her).

the only real plan is to get the new tenancy agreement sorted, secure the garden then make sure we get ‘matched’ with a dog that we can provide a good home for, get it to a nice safe loving home and do our best to provide it with a good healthy life 🙂

We still shut the door of the crate at night. If we do leave it open our dog goes on patrol during the night and will often start barking at the patio windows (probably not helped by our cats going in and out.). I reckon he’s happier if we shut him in and we all get a better night sleep. He’s usually in his crate before we shut him in and when we open the crate in the morning he often stays in there dozing for a while until he’s ready to get up. He’s never desperate to get out.

We were planning on keeping a blanket in the cage then eventually removing the cage but keeping the blanket in the same place. Would this work?

Yes it would.

My dog has a blanket that she sleeps on wherever I put it. It’s also helpful if visiting somewhere new as she settles in a lot quicker knowing she has a designated spot.

Dogs don’t like to mess in their area. A small cage encourages them to try to hold it.

If there locked in over night while still young that’s incredibly cruel and will potentially lead to bladder problems later.

Puppies don’t have the bladder size to hold on for 8 hours while you sleep until they are a few months old.

Worth putting some thought into crate positioning too. We have ours in a big open hall, but tucked under the stairs, where he can see most of the downstrairs and keep and eye on what’s going on so he doesn’t need to get up to check out any movements. Not sure what the recommendation is here but it seems to work well for us.

Puppies don’t have the bladder size to hold on for 8 hours while you sleep until they are a few months old

Yes I’m aware. Don’t interpret that to mean we leave her 8 hrs. We have set alarms to get up twice in the night and let her out in the first week. Now tho she sleeps through to 6am.