# To Crate or not to Crate



## Stacey (Mar 3, 2010)

We have an 11 week old puppy who loves his crate. He sleeps in it all night with no problem and takes himself off to bed in the day time also. He has never wet or pooed in his crate either. Yesterday I went out for a couple of hours and left him in there. When i came back he was fine. I let him out in the garden, he did his business and then i fed him. I let him out again straight after as I had to urgently go out again for another 1 1/2hrs. I didnt want to put him back in the crate again so I let him have the run of the kitchen (for the first time) whilst I went out again. When I came back he had done his business on the kitchen floor in a totally different place to where the back door is. Should I just have put him back in the crate and not worried that he would have be in there for another 1 1/2 hrs?


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## CutieCocoaCockapoo (Jan 1, 2010)

To me, it doesn't seem like he minds being in his crate, especially if he goes in it during the day when he wants to take a nap. If he goes to the bathroom in your house when you are not home, then I would say that you should keep him in the crate when you are going out for long periods of time. We don't have an actual hard plastic crate, but we have a SportPet Pop-Open Dog Kennel. We have a larger one, so that Cocoa has plenty of room. Some people that have them say that they are not sturdy, but for us it works just fine. It is where Cocoa sleeps, so we have a dog bed in there. The dog bed is a rectangle shape & it fits perfectly in the kennel. Cocoa doesn't mind being in it either & he goes in there when he wants to take a nap during the day  We used to leave Cocoa free when we went out, but he's the type of dog that likes to 'explore things'... One day he got to one of my dad's sponges for washing his car and ripped up half of it. Another time, he tore up part of a cardboard box. Also, one time the TV was left on but when we got back, the remote was on the floor & the TV was off  So now we put him in the pop-up dog kennel when we are going out. He doesn't seem to mind it though. If we are going to be gone for a long period of time, we give him a few things to keep him busy. For the time being, I would keep your puppy in his crate when you're not going to be home, but maybe when he gets a little bit older, you can try leaving him out again. If nobody is home, then I don't think he is really missing out on anything anyway. I would say that once you know he won't do anything bad then you could leave him free. But ultimately it's up to you! Good Luck!!


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## Enneirda. (Mar 5, 2010)

You should crate him at all times you can't watch him. Even a few accidents that he gets away with will make house training worse, and if you let him think going in the kitchen is ok, it'll be a nightmare. Find toys or chews that he really loves, and set them aside just for the extra crate time he'll have to endure, that way it'll be special instead of dreaded. freezing kongs smeared with peanut butter, filled with food, and stopped with more peanut butter is a great way to distract a dog for a long time, Shy'lo can go at is for a half hour easy.


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

see after you fed him and put him out did he do anything. you said you were in a hurry, does that mean he didnt get aslong as normal between eating and being put out before you leave again.


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## merry (Feb 4, 2010)

Yeah, even though Dexter cries when he goes in there, he settles pretty quickly and it has really cut down on the accidents in the house. It is also great when I need a break to do stuff without having to worry about him.


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