disorder Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Hello, I have a few questions about crates, I have done a search but can't find the particular answers I'm looking for.. Question one: How long is it fair to crate your dog for at one time? At the moment, Snot is 7 months old and only gets crated during the day while my partner is at Uni, generally Mon-Thursday although it varies a lot as sometimes he will be gone for 1-2- or 3 hours but will come home at lunch for a bit and let him out and then back to Uni for another hour or so.. Some days it's only an hour and at the most it is 4 hours. Personally i don't like the thought of him being in there for longer than 4 hours and was just wondering what is acceptable. Also, what's the deal with food and water? I feed him in the morning and when I get home from work. Generally we leave him with some dog chews if he is going to be in his crate and lots of toys etc But don't have his water bowl in the crate..... is that okay? With summer coming up I'm being super paranoid that he is going to overheat and die... because he is a short nose breed he has trouble breathing as it is I'm worried about keeping him in a crate.. we have air con, so I'm thinking I'll set it on a timer when we are not home. Do you give your dog's access to water when you crate them? is there some kind of attachment you can buy so they don't spill/sit in etc.. Am I doing it right?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kodiak Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 I can't answer your first question as I think it's one of those things that varies from dog to dog... if you have a dog that is very comfortable in the crate and that is his/her day sleeping time I think it would be okay... if you have a breed that is going stir crazy with being cooped up then it's not. I bought an attachment for our crate from a large pet warehouse style shop from the avairy section of the shop, mind you our puppy still managed to get the dish out and empty it. It was metal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhi*Jak*Ed Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 You can buy water attachments - they hang onto the crate and that way your dog gets access to water :-) Personally I wouldn't crate my dog during the day without giving it access to water. But... that being said - I wouldn't be able to just leave a water bowl in there because she'd dig it all out! So the attachment would be the way to go - I don't have one myself but they look to be ok! Mine is crated overnight, but that's it. I would say 4 hours max during the day is ok :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disorder Posted September 19, 2007 Author Share Posted September 19, 2007 Yeah.. I thought he would generally be okay without water in the cool of the house for an hour or so.. . He doesn't get crated at night and sleeps in our room.. he doesn't mind the crate, and we only use it last resort and gets run of the house/yard when someones home, which is most of the time except monday-thursday for a few hours each day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 I'm thinking the water will end up all over the crate?? All depends, I wouldn't leave a bowl of food in there. I'd probably compromise with a short-nosed breed and leave a small amount of water, but be sure to offer it each time he gets out of the crate and free access at other times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 (edited) mmmm I'm not the biggest fan of leaving dogs crated during the day, that's what backyards and runs are for. To me crates are for sleeping in and for small periods of time such as 1-2 hours when you pop to the shops etc. Is there a reason why your dog can't be in a backyard or trusted in the house outside of the crate? Edited September 19, 2007 by sas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disorder Posted September 20, 2007 Author Share Posted September 20, 2007 Thanks for the replys. I personally don't really agree with crating dogs all day either. Like I said it is 4 hours at the most maybe one day a week. I have never actually heard of crate trainging until I joined DOL. The reason we crate him if we go out now (never used to carte him) Is we don't like leaving him outside for a few reasons, the fact he would damage our rental property outside ( he is an angel when we are home, but not alone), and because of his breed we are paranoid he would get stolen, although we have good fencing we don't live in the best neighborhood. When we are going to be gone for a longer time period, we dog proof the lounge area and put paper down for him, which is ..okay I guess, he goes on the paper, but usually finds something to chew that he is not supposed to. And it is also annoying to dog proof the house every single time we popped out for a while... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova'sMum Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 (edited) Have you tried looking at a dog run for outside. I know it's effectively like a cage, but it is larger than the crate and there's room to have food and water at one end and bed and toys at the other. My sister used to keep her lab in the run when she wasn't at home while we were renting. Just a thought if you have enough room. You can always lock it if you're worried someone might steal your dog. Edited September 20, 2007 by Nova'sMum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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