To Crate Or Not??

So Cody has made her self very at home now but still having a few problems one of them is chewing things when we leave her on her own

Usually she will come out with us if we are visiting family as my brother in law and father in law both have staffs who Cody loves to play with.
But on the time we cant take her with us and have to leave her on her own she chews things, last week it was the door frames and the rug and today we have came home to find she has got into our bedroom ( seems we have a dodgy door or a really clever pup! ) and has chewed one pair of my shoes and one pair of my partners shoes to pieces on our bed.

I was wondering if crating her while we are out would be a good idea? we are only ever out a couple of hours max.

My partner was totally against the idea when i mentioned it a while ago as we knew someone who abused the crate and my partner just thinks of the whole thing as cruel because of it.

At the moment she has free roam of the hallway and the kitchen, so would it be a good idea just to crate her while we are out? As much as i dont want her to chew our things i certainly dont want her getting to anything that could hurt her while we are not there.

She has plenty of toys to play with while we are gone and we brought her a big ol bone to chew on thinking this might stop her from wanting to chew anything else. she also gets a walk before we leave.

Alsoooo i need help with toilet training her, when i got her they said she was house trained but she refuses to go toilet outside we went for a 2 and half hour walk and i was sooo happy when she fianlly peed outside just before we got home but she saved pooping for as soon as we got back in the house so any help there would be appreciated

I'd use a crate.
If you'd rather not why not try a dog pen?

Woody has been crated since 8 weeks old, its not cruel if used correctly. woody appears to like it and goes in volumtarily. i say mummy going to work/bed and he trots off into it

we crated harvey from day one until he grew out of chewing (which was never really a problem) and until he was house trained over night, we don't need to use it anymore.

I haven't used one but she was older, from what I've heard on here crates are great and in your case would really help and bring a piece of mind when you pop out. They end up like there little safe place x

Ty was a rescue and was left in a crate & abused until 6 months when we got him so naturally goes beserk if we try to crate him so he has always been confined to out hallway when we go out but kaos was crate trained as a 11 week old pup and from about 20 weeks absolutly loves it. It makes him feel safe and knows the routine of our day and as soon as he heres my keys jangle just walks into his crate by himself and lies down. Ive found it brilliant and not at all cruel if u use it in the right way and not as a punishment for when hes been bad. Not to mention its saved "some" of my door frames and furniture lol x

ella wrote:we crated harvey from day one until he grew out of chewing (which was never really a problem) and until he was house trained over night, we don't need to use it anymore.

I second this response. Crate em until they learn, then give them the freedom they've earned. Just like childrens bedtimes.

we used a crate on billy it was a godsend, he was safe in there and could not chew anything he was not supposed to

I agree with the use of a crate, its been great with our dog (who is also called Cody! Good name choice ) He isn't really a chewer, yet, but no matter where he could go in the house or how much we could puppy proof a room it would be guaranteed he could get into trouble somehow so we haven't risked it.

Cody loves his crate and it's definately taught him manners with us, he knows he can't come out of his crate until he sits "like a good boy" then he can come out. I dread to think how much of a terror he would be without it!

I also am a firm believer in using a crate. Suki now will go inside voulentarily whenever she wants some alone time. We always try to set our schedule so that we can exercise Suki before leaving her alone for any period of time. It also helps if you can feed her before going out. As long as you don't force her into the crate she will think of it as a safe place. We also started "trial runs" of 10 and then 20 minutes of being left alone out of her crate. It took about a month but now we can leave her alone for 5-6 hours with no problem. We'll come home with no destruction of anything that isn't allowed and Suki is either in her crate or sunning herself next to the window.

I think that if we hadn't crated Dempsey he would have killed himself. I'm not exagerrating.

He would chew anything as a pup, and would eat any bits (large or small) that he could chew off of anything. It took months of careful training before I could leave the crate door open at night, and then some more months before I would leave it open during the day when I went out.

He now has the run of the house at all times, but uses his crate as his den.

As much as I advocate crates I only used then for the night for about a week with Suki. After that she sleeps with us since I am a big softie. But I think every dog needs a den or safe place of their own which is most easily achieved with crate training. It also makes traveling easier.

My boy has been crated since day one and he loves his crate now. As I type this now, he is laying in his crate fast asleep. Even though the door is open, and he can come in here with me, he has chosen to sleep in there cos he loves it. If used correctly, crates are fantastic and the dog soon comes to view it as 'their room' rather than a punishment and will voluntarily go in.

shontelle wrote:My boy has been crated since day one and he loves his crate now. As I type this now, he is laying in his crate fast asleep. Even though the door is open, and he can come in here with me, he has chosen to sleep in there cos he loves it. If used correctly, crates are fantastic and the dog soon comes to view it as 'their room' rather than a punishment and will voluntarily go in.

Totally agree the crate should never be a punishmnet. All dogs need a safe place that is all their own and a crate provides this. It also makes travelling easier. I am still trying to teach 'suki to stay in the backseat of the car but she does'nt want to cooperate.

I used a Crate for Benson, when I had him he was already an adult and my house is open plan, so if he had been a chewer he would have had run of the house, started leaving him for an hour or so and he was fine, I no longer need to use it so I have got it set up behind the sofa with the door open, so if he wants a snooze he will just climb in, cant see anything cruel in it, I just brought the biggest one I could find....

Best thing we are doing crate training, We've got half hour with him in there while i go and do the school run and he's fine. We had crate train him as he was chewing alot of things. But last monday was the sky box lead and that was the last straw.And that is why he is crated when i do the school run, as he could have lost his life and i couldn't bear to be without him so for that reason he is crated. and he's in there now as i type fast asleep which he often does

Thanks for all the replys had a chat with my partner and we have decided we will get a crate for her im sure she will appreciate her own little space she can go to when we have all the kids around and it will be a great peace of mind when i go out

Doubt she will use it when we go to bed though as shes such a baby and loves a cuddle in our bed and were just pushovers so we let her, but have to change my pillows as she loves to jump on them watch all the feathers fly out and try to catch them! ahh

good luck and let us know how it goes

We use a create have done from day 1 an she loves it its her little safe place, great for toilet training, saves comming home to find things have been chewed generally a great idea aslong as its not for to long and you get a good sized one.

We even have a smaller one for the car aswell for same reasons really, an she is happy with it. When we just had her on a seatbelt in the car she would jump all up the windows and interior an get told off all the time, now she can travel safe and in peace an she seems much happier as do we.

Got her crate set it all up for her yesterday shes taken to it quite well took a bit of coaxing for her to get in it but after that shes just been going in sitting down for a while and coming out.

Had to explain to my son that its like a bedroom for cody and not for him think he was a bit worried!

Today will be the first day she will stay in it while we go out so going to take her for a nice walk before and hopefully she will be ok in it

Exercise and a place for the dog to feel safe is a great formula for leaving your dog alone.

Soooo yesterday was her first day in it, atleast she hasnt been able to chew my door frames now ( dont think they could take anymore! ) but she has chewed the bottom plastic part of the crate and where she has done that she has got a sore right next to her nose

When i got back in i took her out the crate and took her for a nice walk to stretch her legs but she still came back inside and pooped on the floor! Ahhh she will not go toilet outside i need help im going crazy ive tried to get her to toilet outside but she pays no notice i thought she would catch on real quick as with everything else i teach her but no chance with this one

Have you tried using wee pads? If you wipe them with a bit fom her accident the smell will attract her to that location. This can also be done with a bit of grass from an area she has used outside. Move the pad closer and closer to the door and she will get the idea. It's also important to remove the scent entirely from the area when she goes indoors so she won't be drawn there again. There are many products out there that will work just don't use something ammonia based.

when she does go the loo outside always say a particular word.. I say "widdles " to Winston whether he does a wee or a poo...and trust me they soon learn what is expected of them. I went for a walk earlier today and as I took off said "widdles" and Jethro and Winston both went to the loo at the same time !!

But you have to be consistent ! Cody will learn .. she is still only pretty young...

I have a new Staff puppy and will be crating her, my experience was with a Rottweiler which I crate trained adn one I did not and tbh the differnce is amazing, Mia the Rotty loved it, it was her den and she always felt safe, not once did she chew anything well except my socks!!

I would recomend totally, but then it is the owners preff.