Crate Duration

Hi. My dog sleeps in a crate at night. It's been a godsend. He's about 80% toilet trained (based on the amount of 'accidents' he has), and I can relax knowing he's not tearing up the place. He's usually in there for about 8 hours with no problems. He doesn't mind going in at night, and he loves to stay in there in the morning, even when the door is open.

However, I'm worried that if I put him in there for a few hours during the day as well it will be too much. Basically, Harley spends the day in my garden. But I'm at home today, and it's really windy out, so I'd like to have him indoors. But I can't supervise him all of the time. He doesn't seem to like his crate as much during the day, but he also doesn't want to go outside. So I'm not sure what to do. He runs around freely when I'm not studying or my girlfriend is here, but when I can't supervise him is it wise to leave him in his crate, or should I just put him outside?

My main issue is that I don't want him to build up a negative association with the crate. He already sleeps in there for 8 hours. Would an additional 3 or 4 hours throughout the day be too much?

hey, we crate trained tyke when he was younger but he just grew out of it in the end but when we were in the house when he was a puppy he would have run of the house and he did't do anything and he generally just followed or slept. we closed doors to the bedrooms and toilet etc but he would just stay in the living room. is he supervised whilst in the garden?

No, he's not supervised while in the garden. There's nothing out there that he can damage or hurt himself on. But inside is a problem. I live in a rented property, and he's already destroyed some of the furniture when left on his own. So I can't leave him on his own again, certainly not until he gets a bit older and stops chewing so much. He already spends plenty of supervised time inside, so he gets plenty of attention. It's just that he loves being inside, and in bad weather I like to have him inside, but I can't always supervise him.

So if I'm understanding right , you leave him outside for 10 hours a day whilst you are out , is there some refuge for him from the weather ?? Sorry I looked back through your posts and see you are in Ireland so not too warm this time of year.
How about the walking how's that coming on , how much and how often does he get every day, does he have someone come and take him out whilst you are out for 10 hours or is he just left alone ??
These are very important facts as he needs his exercise to be tired and it needs to be regular , a pup is a pup at the end of the day but when / if not exercised enough then becomes very mischievous instead of being a little tinker

Looking back through your posts, it seems that your boy spends most of his time during the week out in the garden alone. I would think that if you're there he should be allowed the luxury of spending some time indoors, with you.

Ordinarily I'd say that putting him in his crate for a couple of hours a day when you have to go out would be fine, but putting him in there just because you can't spend time with him isn't very fair on him.

as per dave's comment how is the walking going on? and have you got him toys to keep occupied, puppy s can be highly destructive unfortunatley and some take longer that others. there very much like toddlers and if there mind isn't occupied or there not tired then they get bored. How do you deal with him when he has done naughties? how long is out for in the garden per day as he could be getting confused with been in and out.

I'm fearful of leaving a dog unattended outside in general. Unless you live in a rural area or somewhere very closed away. There's a lot of dog theft where I live.

You can leave the crate dog open and chances or he will go there anyway. Or the Staffords favourite place, the couch. In my opinion don't lock him in there during the day.

Before he is left alone give him a good brisk walk and make sure he's got to the toilet. Then he should be happy enough inside. If needed, buy a few time consuming toys like a stagbar or a frozen filled Kong.

rebeccaleanne wrote:how long is out for in the garden per day as he could be getting confused with been in and out.

Looking back through the posts, about 10 hours a day.

Caryll wrote:

rebeccaleanne wrote:how long is out for in the garden per day as he could be getting confused with been in and out.

Looking back through the posts, about 10 hours a day.

I've never left a dog for that length of time so my last post may be completely invalid

Can i ask why did you get a dog if you are never going to allow him indoors even while your there?

I live in a rented house with 2 dogs and the house has never been chewed as i took the time to supervise them and train them, try getting something like a kong so he can be inside but has something to occupy him whilst you aren't directly supervising.

The walking is coming along fine. He's much better with the Canny Collar. I even tried him with his regular collar and there's been an improvement. I don't want to have to rely on the Canny all the time, so I'm doing the stop/start method as well.

He gets two 40 minute walks. One in the morning and one in the evening. In truth, he's probably only walking for about 25 minutes of each session, the rest of the time is taken up stopping and waiting for him to stop pulling. But my plan is to change the route as he adapts so he's walking the entire 40 minutes each time.

I'm going to respond to a couple of points individually. I don't know how to quote multiple times within a post, so bear with me while I get through each of them.

ella: "Can i ask why did you get a dog if you are never going to allow him indoors even while your there?"

This isn't true, and none of my posts on this website should have given you that impression. Four days of the week he is indoors from roughly 6pm to 8am. The other three days he spends practically all day with either me or my girlfriend. I'm on this forum looking for advice, and I want to know what I'm doing wrong. There's no need to misrepresent my situation.

Dave: "is there some refuge for him from the weather?"

He has a dog kennel, and inside there is a separate dog bed that I have padded with blankets. The blankets are changed each evening to keep it as dry as possible.

rebeccaleanne: "have you got him toys to keep occupied?"

He's got tonnes of toys. Kongs, balls, ropes, a tyre. I also mentioned this in a previous post, and it seems kinda trivial, but there's a large tree in my garden that attracts loads of birds every day. He's always chasing after them. In fact he spends most of time doing this. So much so that I'm worried they're irritating him. But he looks excited, so I don't know?

Harley was abandoned. He was found roaming around my estate. I tried finding his owner through my local SPCA. He's a cute dog, the type you'd expect someone to come looking for. But nobody did. So while he could have run away, I suspect he was abandoned.

I took him in because I wanted to take care of him. I'm not looking for anyone's approval when I say this, but I can't express how much time and money I have put into this dog since I got him. My whole day revolves around his welfare. It's unfortunate that he's on his own for 10 hours, four days of the week. But I was hit with a very harsh timetable for my second semester, the worst I've had in 3 years. So while my regular routine was always going to involve leaving him on his own for a period, I couldn't have foreseen that it would be 10 hours.

So the question is where do I go from here? Do I find him another home, or keep him? I really want to keep him. I've grown so attached to him. I have 9 weeks left in college, then the 10 hours a day thing is a non-issue. I'm trying to do right by him, but I've run into an unforeseen difficulty. Feel free to offer your advice, and criticise my situation if you need to, but please don't think I'm one of those people that gets a dog knowing it will be in their back yard all day. I'm not that person.

Now, back to my original question, because people seem to have either ignored or misunderstood it:

There are times when I am indoors that I can't supervise the dog. I could be working out, I could be studying, whatever. Considering the dog likes being inside, is it better that I put him in his crate, or should I let him outside into his kennel. He already sleeps in his crate at night, so I'm worried that a couple of additional hours during the day might mean he's in it for too long. Notice that this does not mean I don't spend time with him indoors, or that I lock him in there when I haven't got time for him. It simply means that because I have other stuff to do, I can't supervise him every second of the day. I hope I have made that clear enough because I don't want anyone misrepresenting me again.

Thanks.

Please dont think i was critisising, i was just asking questions about you situation am sorry if you thought we were. We were a bit full on.

If you dont mind me asking, when exactly is he been like this when he is in the house? Is it every opportunity he gets? When we got tyke and had our little one we would call tyke to every room i went into or i was settled in thru the day, so if i was cooking he came to the kitchen, if i was bathing ryan i would take tyke, this worked for me and he never really did damage. Have you thought about a sitter or dog walker for the hours you are away or a family member who could pop in from time to time? Have u thought about when your working out to maybe include your little one may be go for a jog? When studying how about you take him in with you give him a kong unless this would distract you too much?

These are just my ideas may be not to all taste but hope some may help. Welldone on the rescue

I think it's fine to put him in his crate for a little while when you can't supervise him. But I'd suggest a bit more exercise for him, tire him out more, particularly before he's left alone, then he'll just settle down in the cage and take a nap or something. Or fill his Kong with something nice, or buy him a StagBar if you haven't already. They're brilliant, they keep Loki very occupied when we're out or when he's settling down for the night. That way he's in the crate while you can't watch him, but he's also away from the cold and he's not bored.

Let him decide. If you need a mo alone open the back door and let him out. If he doesn't want to go out ask him to go to is crate and give him a kong or some chew of some sort. If he doesn't cry there should be no problem.

But I wouldn't consider rehoming because he has to be outside for a bit. I think if the dog could speak an say if he wanted to be in a crate or kitchen all day or the garden he would say the garden.

I agree with Hayley, my girl spends a lot of time outside through the day and is inside at night.. When I'm home if she wants in I let her in (unless she only wants in to steal my lunch ) but most the time she would rather be out chasing insects and lazing in the sun or under her fave tree, than inside or in her kennel run (which is also outside)

monoke wrote:The walking is coming along fine. He's much better with the Canny Collar. I even tried him with his regular collar and there's been an improvement. I don't want to have to rely on the Canny all the time, so I'm doing the stop/start method as well.

He gets two 40 minute walks. One in the morning and one in the evening. In truth, he's probably only walking for about 25 minutes of each session, the rest of the time is taken up stopping and waiting for him to stop pulling. But my plan is to change the route as he adapts so he's walking the entire 40 minutes each time.

I'm going to respond to a couple of points individually. I don't know how to quote multiple times within a post, so bear with me while I get through each of them.

ella: "Can i ask why did you get a dog if you are never going to allow him indoors even while your there?"

This isn't true, and none of my posts on this website should have given you that impression. Four days of the week he is indoors from roughly 6pm to 8am. The other three days he spends practically all day with either me or my girlfriend. I'm on this forum looking for advice, and I want to know what I'm doing wrong. There's no need to misrepresent my situation.

Thanks.

then i'm not sure what your trying to ask then? he can only be properly house trained and taught what he can chew i.e his toys and not if he is allowed out in the house and free to roam to a point under your supervision. Also unless you live in the middle of no way would i leave me dogs outside for any length of time unsupervised with the amount of dog thefts that occur in gardens and the amount of staffs that are being stolen.

I guess it depends where you live. My area is pretty good and we have very little theft or any criminal activity (living on side of a mountain mind) but I still wouldn't be completely at ease just incase the dog ever escaped and ran off!!

That being said if and when we get a dog, if we are ever in the house it will have free run of house and garden.