One Crate Or Two?

[MsKatie]

I feel very lucky - my 2 are in soft crates - only for sleeping at night though - and neither of them was particualarly hard to crate train - I would get 2 crates though

[Starkehre]

I always train my Rottweilers straight to soft crates and never have any issues.

IMO + experience it depends more on the owner and less on the dog. Almost any breed of dog of almost any age over around 15 weeks is going to be able to break out of any soft dog crate.

It is about the owners training, time and what the set up is at home. If you can commit to doing it properly and setting yourself and the dog up for a "win", then it is absolutely doable.

If your situation requires you to crate the dog within the first 2 days, during the day, unsupervised and go out for a few hrs leaving it there, I would say don't do it.

If you can get the dog to become confident in it's own company and respectful of boundaries and confinesment within the first 2-4 weeks of bringing an 8 weeks old puppy home then you have done the hard yards and should have no problems.

It is about sensibility and realistic expectations.

I have also crate trained large breed adult dogs into my crates without any problems. Like I say, more about the owner and less about the dog.

These are all of the sorts of things I chat to my prospective customers about if they are unsure. Many a time I have turned people away from purchasing a soft dog crate if I do not believe they are going to be able to or want to put in the work.

If the owners' needs are for unsupervised crating from day one and they have little experience and do not seem overly committed, I would tell them to get a steel crate.

That said, 13 week old Rottweilers have scratch for hrs on end in my soft crates and never done any damage. You need to ride out this scratching confidentally. A small pup will not damage one of my crates, they are just not strong enough. They will stop the scratching in the first couple of days provided the owner does not go to them or speak to them every time they do it.

Added there will always be the occasional dog that cannot be crate trained to a soft dog crate. IME these are adults that have serious behavioural issues or dogs that have previously been taught to break out of a soft crate because the owner did not set the dog up to succeed.

I would never crate 2 dogs together, particularly unsupervised. Just not good practice. Crating is quiet time, not playing or fighting and dogs left together will do this.

Dogs that live together already spend so much of the day together. They should be spending quality separate time also so they do not become too reliant on one another's company.

Just my 2 cents worth. :D

Edited July 16, 2011 by dyzney

[Chooken]

Thanks for the great responses everyone.

We opted for two crates, one wire (which I already had) and one soft. They are strictly for sleeping in at night only and we haven't had any problems at all (touch wood)