IS that a short joke, cause it’s not nice to comment about the height of us shorties.
I am short too!! I have to put everyone’s stirrups up when I ride.
Ok so if you are saying I am training by leaving him for 5 minutes once a week, why didn’t you guys just say that? I thought the thread was in regards to using a crate to house train a dog/puppy. My mistake. It’s really not a gotcha moment. Sheesh.
Eta, 5 minutes once a week really doesn’t define ‘training’ to me. More like management–the crate is closer then the front cab of the truck.
To actually crate train you would have to progressively increase the duration of time that the dog is crated in the effort to acclimate him to being confined for a length of time. Ergo, I am not crate training. There’s no gotcha here.
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I have never had a dog resist a crate. The training part is that they KNOW when i need to them to use it and they go in when i need them to. I say, “Kennel Up” and they all run to their correct crate. if i have t leave the house they are to be crated and at night. I start my dogs as puppies (unless they are rescues), and even then, have never had a dog who hates the crate. I also feed them in the crate, so it’s not a punishment.
Actually only you said it was… 
My Beagle learned a trick if you said the command and he did the behavior like twice. Seriously. It did not take 5 minutes a day.
That wasn’t training him?
It was associating a word and/or hand signal with a behavior that he later would perform, that had not previously been linked.
[my red]
… but you have trained your dog to be in there for the time you need him/her to be in there. Those 5 minutes.
OP asked ‘Why crate train?’
Your answer is ‘Because I need 5 minutes dog free to walk the course at doggie class and the crates are closer than the truck, my dog is trained to go into and sit quietly in the crate for those 5 minutes’.
What’s so wrong about that? It’s not a guillotine!
It works for you, right? So why are you arguing that you do not use a crate and have not trained your dog to use the crate for the situations you need him/her to do so?
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Whateves, yo.
S1969, I am sure those photos you posted are of my two… they can be voluntarily self-packed into the crate while I’m in my office or just as happy sleeping on the bed (including the one who thinks if my head is on the pillow, his should be too 
).
I do use baby gates across openings in the house to keep them out of areas I don’t want them in without supervision. My older BT thinks it is more than fun to “dig” in the carpet playing with his ball so all carpeted areas are off limits unless I am actually in one of them. Fortunately tile is fairly impervious to digging 
Obviously… some like using crates and some don’t … some feel that just sticking your dog in one upon occasion is fine while others make a more protracted “effort” to help their dog feel comfy in a crate. I really suspect that very few dogs suffer major emotional damage if they’re put in a crate with no prior experience. I just know my kids are fine being in one (unless they think they are missing out on great fun and then they are not impressed).
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For those of you who do not crate, are you home all day? How do you manage a puppy or new dog when no one is home? I only crate when no one is home, since my young dog is not yet trustworthy un-supervised.
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I never had to use a crate, and didn’t, until we got the 12 week old mostly Border Collie. A puppy with the IQ of a human toddler really cannot be kept safe otherwise. I tried ;). All the “baby proofing” in the world didn’t work, as she was more athletic than any toddler, especially as she got bigger. She could open things…drawers, boxes, cabinets. We had a cat at the time who could use a door knob and would let the puppy out unless we threw the deadbolt.
At about six months, I found her on top of the refrigerator once when my back had been turned briefly. I have NO IDEA how she did that. She would run off really fast, into a bedroom and before I could catch up with her, she’d have all the sheets off and be tearing a hole in the mattress, I don’t know what that was about. A very lovable demon ;).
We really had to crate her unless someone was actively interacting with her (we usually assigned someone, so she wasn’t in the crate too much when we were home). Fortunately, it all stopped more or less by magic at about 18 months and she never has to be in her crate now, though she occasionally chooses to go in if she wants some alone time. Door is always open.
Because I didn’t like crating her all day when we were at work and school, I spent a small fortune on several days a week of “dog preschool” (training daycare) and begged relatives and friends to watch her for other days. Just like a human toddler. Last smart puppy I get, though she’s the best dog in the whole world now. Adult dog next time ;).
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Leash tethered to me at all times when I’m home and baby gated in the kitchen with dog door access [and Ft. Knox yard within a yard], and an older, house trained dog companion–when I am gone. Older dog has to suck it up and deal with restricted house access for awhile while baby grows up.
I work outside the home 5 days a week, 8-10 hours a day.
Incidentally, all puppies (gotten at 8 weeks) I have raised in this system are taking themselves out to go potty in 10 days and error-less-ly house trained by 5 months of age.
I know not everyone is lucky enough to have a home situation where they can set up a dog door but I would never be without one again. It is a game changer.
Gotta agree I do love my dog door
The two “kids” are self-directed to get their hiney’s outside when needed. If I see it, I do toss in some verbal “good dog” just to keep up the positive re-enforcement.
The only time there really is an issue is the retch/puke thing - I’m just happy if they make it off the bed :eek:
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We always had a dog door.
What does that has to do with a dog having a crate to get in any time it wants to, to take naps, to get away from too much confusion, to wait for it’s treat, to put itself to sleep in the evening?
Dog doors have their uses, so do crates, they are not mutually exclusive.
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I don’t get bragging about not crate training a dog who then gets pushed into a strange cage in a strange place while the owner walks away.
WOW that owner is stupendously fortunate the dog tolerates that (I’m assuming the dog waits quietly and calmly, otherwise club personnel would intervene).
This is thought-provoking: in Sweden, crate use and tethering in the home is illegal, as are e-collars and leaving a dog alone more than 2 hrs. I’ve read classes and testing are required before ownership but can’t translate the website sufficiently to confirm. Also, owners are held criminally responsible for their dogs. Germany and Finland share some similar legislation.
Leaving a dog alone for more than 2 hours is illegal? So, I assume most people don’t have dogs then? My dogs would be kind of annoyed if I woke them up every two hours, I think. They tend to sleep from about 8am to noon…get up and stretch, then back to sleep until 2-3 when they want their next run.
There are many ways to manage dogs “the right way” whether it’s crating, tethering, blocking them in a room, etc. It really depends on the dog more than anything else. My youngest dog could get onto the counter from a standstill by 6 months. A kitchen would not be a safe place to leave him unless it was stripped bare every day. And, I think he would also the type to open cabinets and drawers (he can open his crate from the inside so I sometimes have to put a double-end snap on it.)
Then again, my female wouldn’t try to break out of a paper bag. She could be kept safely in many places, although she’s a chewer…and a de-stuffer…she will de-stuff toys, beds, comforters and pillows if they spring a leak.
My first Brittany was perfect. He never escaped, ruined anything, ate anything bad for him, or misbehaved in any way. I thought I was amazing. Until I got my 2nd one. Haha.
So…it all depends.
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I agree that they are not mutually exclusive. It would make a difference for me though. I mostly use the crate for confining when I’m not home. If I had a safe area with a doggie door, puppers would not need to be crated while I’m not home. He does use his crate a little bit while we are home, but prefers to sleep on my bed or his.
Dog doors are not without drawbacks.
Sure, your dog can go outside to relieve itself, but it also can, not being crated, dig holes, eat rocks, bark without stop and annoy others, climb out, be let out or stolen, just as it can chew things inside the house.
Everything has it’s place, crating, dog doors, there should not be controversy that we use what we choose to use with proven benefits for the dog and the owner.
Now, if there is mis-use, then of course that is not right.
That doesn’t mean, because there may be misuse, using crates is wrong/bad/abusing a dog.
As for some of those over the top restrictive laws someone brought up, lets remember those are passed by animal rights extremists by sneaking them in with other sensible laws.
Their goal is to try to eliminate all uses of animals by humans, including, relevant here, having pets.
Until the general public catches onto that, there will be more and more of those coming to a precinct near you, the richer those groups get and so have the means to keep expanding their influence.
Just reflect on this thread, even people that we assume know about dogs and even own them fall for the idea that crating is wrong, brag they would never do that, don’t need that, who would do that to a dog?
If they just looked around past their bias against crating they would see that crating is just one more way to manage dogs, millions of dogs doing fine crated out there attest to that.
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Joey the Beagle had to be crated… I tried leaving him baby-gated in the kitchen, he jumped the baby gate.
I put a baby gate over a baby gate… ie so it was double height… he pulled the first one down and climbed out.
That time I opened my apt. door after work to find everything, and I mean EVERYTHING from my bathroom and bedroom in the LR… he was SO proud.
We had a half door to our kitchen in our first house, Emma, Joeys faithful if hapless accomplice, turned on one of the the gas stove burners. On high. The flames were nearly to the bottom of the upper cabinets!
Then one day DH comes home and finds the Beagle in the LR and the Lab stuck, unhappily, still in the kitchen, half door securely closed.
Hmmmm…
Joey the Beagle had watched the cat climb up my sample boxes, that were not visible from his crate it is worth noting, walk across the counter and hop over the dutch door. First chance he had to try it, he gave it a go, and it truly was the answer, minus the ‘how do I get back in the kitchen’ aspect’.
A crate saved that Beagles life, and that of his hapless accomplice who was never in one, but needed the Beagle confined to keep her from being led stray. Beagle was also never reliably house trained, and would only not pee if in his crate. Like I said, that crate saved his life.
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Bragging? You sound jealous.
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My sweet hound-mutt is crated during the day while I am at work. She has a fleece, a chewie, water, and ESPN.
I tried her in the outside kennel and she hated it from the moment I shut the gate and walked away. She is a nosy curious destructive shredder of all things and I just don’t trust her at the moment un-crated when unsupervised. Maybe when she’s older, she’ll chill out a bit, but for now this is what works for both of us and the situation.
If a dog is loved, fed, happy, healthy, and safe – the dog-keeping is irrelevant. Do what works for you and your pup.
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At least I’m not the only nut who leaves the TV on for the dogs only mine get TVG :lol:
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