Chewing everything!!! Advise on starting crate training

Hi Everyone

Im looking for some advise please. Pixie is almost 7 months and Ronnie 6 months...we are well into the chewing stage now Especially Ronnie.

So far this week Ronnie has managed to get hold of my new work shoes and chew the heel off (I've worn them twice!) and the icing on the cake was yesterday when I had a new K9 Julius harness delivered for him (£40!), he's somehow managed to get the package out of the post cage and chew off the plastic clip and chew through the chest strap...its ruined.

Anyway after speaking to a few work colleagues they suggest I should crate them while we are at work. Usually they have the run of our hall way but Ronnie can now jump the stair gates too! My only concern is the amount of time they would be comfortable being left in a crate for.
4 out of 7 days we are out of the house from 8am until 4:45pm. We walk them in the morning for about 30 mins and my mum calls around 1pm each day to feed them/let them out in the garden. They get around 45mins walk on a evening too. We leave them Kongs every day, they have lots of 'teething' toys to play with...im not sure what else I could do really.

Can anyone give me some tips? personally I think leaving them in a crate that long sounds a little cruel but maybe im just being a bit sensitive? what are your thoughts?

Thank you

I personally wouldn't crate a dog for any length of time, and certainly not for that long. It is unfair (yes, I'd go as far as cruel) and could well prove counter productive as they become frustrated. I would instead go down the route of puppy further proofing that one particular part of the house, using more barriers if needed, and possibly extending it to another room to give them more to look at and do. Let's face it, being in a hallway for 8 hours+ is always going to be a bit boring for them. I my view, they are responding to the lack of stimulus by finding their own.

Leave them with lots of things to chew. Include yummy things like stuffed Kongs and also new things as old toys can easily lose their interest. Take old toys away and give them back in a couple of weeks, find thing they can trash (one of my favourites is hiding treats in a cardboard box). Put a box outside for your mail, because that's new that'll always catch their eye.

For that length of time, I would also suggest getting a dog walker, or at least someone who can come and play with them for half an hour (at least) in the middle of the day. It's not so much to let them out, it's more to give them some interest and break up the day.

I'm sure others will come up with other ideas too - anything is better than crating them for such long periods.

is there someone who can come and have a play with the dogs no a fan of the crate either only for short periods . id suggest games to tire them out mentally so a percentage of time they may sleep. if your garden is secure maybe for a while they could run in the garden weather permitting

I only crate Arthur for very short periods when I am trying to get things done such as hoovering and floor mopping.He attacks both the Hoover and mop with gusto.He generally falls asleep in there.We bought him a nice big pen for nighttime and he has his bed in it.I don't know how we would cope without it,I don't think we would have a stick of furniture left in the house.He is only 8 months so hopefully in time we will trust him on the loose.

But crating a dog to prevent chewing, attacking the hoover, etc will not teach, it will only prevent. It's not very hard to teach a dog not to attack a hoover or similar, usually just teaching them to lie on their bed/sofa on command, giving them a reward for ignoring the hoover, and above all taking the time to set up training time. I've also used clicker training, although that did have the downside of a dog nudging the hoover for treats!

Puppies chew for several reasons. It can be boredom, it can be frustration, it can be teething or simply just that that is how puppies learn their world. Using a crate to me means that you are preventing them express themselves naturally. It's easy for us, for I personally don't think it's right for them.

I agree with you,I really should persevere with him,but when you have a wet floor the best place for him at that moment is safely in his crate rather than him racing about and breaking his leg on the wet tiles.He is a very good little fellow in most things,but he gets very excited.It seems by what I read it's a Staffy trait.Im sure he will calm a little as he gets older.I know eventually my previous dogs did.
He is never left alone as we are fortunate to be retired and he always goes everywhere with us.He is very sociable and loves to meet other people and dogs.

I would use a combination of things, a longer walk in the morning (I know that's not always practical) will make him tired and hopefully he will sleep but for the time he isn't then lots of interesting toys.

I would carry on using the crate but in a way that he sees it as his safe haven and somewhere he wants to go for some downtime. It can also be handy when you are mopping the floor etc

The old adage of a tired dog is a happy dog really does work

Do keep us up to date with any progress you make

Hi Ian
thank you for your suggestions.We walk Arthur as far as we dare.At 8 months it's recommended 5 mins per month twice a day,which is 80 mins a day.Every morning he is out for a 45 minute walk then another 2 shorter walks later.We have a large field,which we have fenced off and he plays in there with his frisbee.When he comes back he is full of energy,we don't know where he gets it from.We were told before we had him they are full of life,and it does appear to be true.He won't sleep unless he goes in his crate in the day or on the sofa with us.
Love him

Thank you everyone for taking time to reply. Im going to give the tips on removing old toys and replacing with new a try. I also like the idea of homemade toys i.e. cardboard boxes.

Do any of you have any tips on stopping them jumping up when visitors arrive? We have tried ignoring them, turning our backs on them, a firm NO etc but it doesn't seem to be working...its feels like its one big completion for them on who can get the most fuss!

If you just pop them on harness and leads, keeping the leads as slack as possible so you're only using them to prevent Pixie and Ronnie actually reaching people until they are quiet, they may be able to learn that quiet means fuss whereas excited gets them nowhere.

It's hard at that age (and later!) because it's clear that all humans have been put on the face of the planet just for them, and humans are super exciting. Plus you've got two of them to wind each other up!

See if that helps at all (fingers crossed), but at least you should be able to spare your visitors' legs a bit.