How Much Is Too Much Crate Time?

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Originally Posted by zd262

OP never said that she wasn't housebroken. And it is best for the dog and their safety to be either in a crate or expen if they are chewing and getting into things, which is absolutely not unusual for 4 months.

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Thank you zd262

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Originally Posted by jertom

And they are good suggestions, but......... 4 months old and not housebroke? you need to spend more time with her, not less.
Pups chew and get into things, some of us actually miss those days.

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I am NOT a new puppy owner. If you would have bothered to read my original post this is my 3rd puppy and even though it has been almost 11 years since I had a puppy I know the behaviors of the puppies. She is housebroken and I do spend time with my puppy thank you very much but she not even 4 months old and needs her sleep also. If you happen to read in my original post she will not fall asleep anywhere but in her crate that is why I have been putting her in her crate so often so she can take a nap because she won't anywhere else she will just keep going and going. I tried to ignore your first post but suggesting I don't spend enough time with my pup is out of order.

I've raised three pups in the last 6 years. If there is ne thing I've learned is puppies need consistency and to be on a schedule. When I was working, I'd get up with the dogs around 7-7:30am to let them out, feed, train, etc. They'd go back in the crate about 8:30 when I left for work, until I got home around 1 pm. My wife works from home a couple days per week and when the pups we young, up til about 9-10 months old, they would stick to the normal routine. At 10 months or so, the puppies would get to stay out for short periods with my wife. We'd keep this up until 16-18 months, and then let them stay out when someone was home.

I retired back in December, and Brooks is now 21 months, so he has full freedom in the house while I'm home. If I were to get another puppy, and trust me I'm in no hurry what so ever, I stick to a similar schedule/routine until they were at least a year old.

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Originally Posted by barry581

I've raised three pups in the last 6 years. If there is ne thing I've learned is puppies need consistency and to be on a schedule. When I was working, I'd get up with the dogs around 7-7:30am to let them out, feed, train, etc. They'd go back in the crate about 8:30 when I left for work, until I got home around 1 pm. My wife works from home a couple days per week and when the pups we young, up til about 9-10 months old, they would stick to the normal routine. At 10 months or so, the puppies would get to stay out for short periods with my wife. We'd keep this up until 16-18 months, and then let them stay out when someone was home.

I retired back in December, and Brooks is now 21 months, so he has full freedom in the house while I'm home. If I were to get another puppy, and trust me I'm in no hurry what so ever, I stick to a similar schedule/routine until they were at least a year old.

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Thank you for your reply.. That makes me feel better because I feel guilty that here I am in the house but I have to put her in her crate so she will sleep. She is on a good routine and even today I tried keeping her out longer but she ran to her crate herself for one of her regular naps and waited to be locked in.

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Originally Posted by Stephveda

Thank you for your reply.. That makes me feel better because I feel guilty that here I am in the house but I have to put her in her crate so she will sleep. She is on a good routine and even today I tried keeping her out longer but she ran to her crate herself for one of her regular naps and waited to be locked in.

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In your first post you’re putting pup in crate, in your last post she’s going in on her own to nap.
So you really have no question.
There’s a difference between owners that lock up pup so they can “do-life”, and those that acclimate
pup to crate for a safe and comfortable place to sleep.
I doubt you understand that.

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Originally Posted by Stephveda

Thank you for your reply.. That makes me feel better because I feel guilty that here I am in the house but I have to put her in her crate so she will sleep. She is on a good routine and even today I tried keeping her out longer but she ran to her crate herself for one of her regular naps and waited to be locked in.

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Sophie, who is now 6, was my first puppy in 20 years, and she was the first one we crate trained. She was your typical bouncy, happy, in to everything Lab puppy. She really didn't know how to just settle and take a nap, and you could tell when she was tired as she would be particularly obnoxious. When she'd get like this I'd crate her for some nap time. We had a small crate in the family room so she'd be right there with us. The first couple times, she'd fuss and whine a bit, but within minutes she'd be off to dreamland. When she was maybe 5 months old I got her a bed and put it in the spot where the crate had been, and she'd go there on her own and sleep when she needed it. She knew that was her "place" to nap. My current puppy, Brooks, now 21 months was worse than Sophie as far as not being ble to self settle, so it took until he was about 10 months old to figure out that naps were a good thing.

My boy Bruce was very easy. He would pretty much self settle from day 1. He was also the youngest to be out of the crate at night, only 18 months old. Sophie was over 2, and Brooks is still crated at night and when we aren't home. Sadly I lost Bruce to heart failure when he was 21 months old.

Dogs are very much creatures of habit, so I believe getting them into a routine when they are babies makes everyone's life a whole lot easier in the long run.

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Originally Posted by barry581

Sophie, who is now 6, was my first puppy in 20 years, and she was the first one we crate trained. She was your typical bouncy, happy, in to everything Lab puppy. She really didn't know how to just settle and take a nap, and you could tell when she was tired as she would be particularly obnoxious. When she'd get like this I'd crate her for some nap time. We had a small crate in the family room so she'd be right there with us. The first couple times, she'd fuss and whine a bit, but within minutes she'd be off to dreamland. When she was maybe 5 months old I got her a bed and put it in the spot where the crate had been, and she'd go there on her own and sleep when she needed it. She knew that was her "place" to nap. My current puppy, Brooks, now 21 months was worse than Sophie as far as not being ble to self settle, so it took until he was about 10 months old to figure out that naps were a good thing.

My boy Bruce was very easy. He would pretty much self settle from day 1. He was also the youngest to be out of the crate at night, only 18 months old. Sophie was over 2, and Brooks is still crated at night and when we aren't home. Sadly I lost Bruce to heart failure when he was 21 months old.

Dogs are very much creatures of habit, so I believe getting them into a routine when they are babies makes everyone's life a whole lot easier in the long run.

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I am so sorry you lost your Bruce so young :(. That is a great idea for replacing where the crate is with a bed to see if she will fall asleep that way. I wouldn't have thought of trying that. Your Sophie is sounding exactly like my pup, I know she is tired because yes she becomes obnoxious.

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Originally Posted by Stephveda

Our new puppy is almost 4 months old now. She has slept through the night in her crate since we got her. The problem is she will only sleep during the day when she is in her crate. We have tried to get her to settle down on the sofa or on the floor but no dice. This puppy is our third pup but with our other two they would get tried out and just far asleep where ever when they were puppies. I am currently not working so I am home during the day all day, so what I have been doing is letting her out for an hour to an hour and half at a time and then putting her back in her crate for an hour to two hours. She is pretty good about going in her crate she will only whine for a minute or two than calm down and play with her chew toy or fall asleep. My question is since she is older now am I putting her in her crate too much? I feel bad and I don't want her to think I am isolating her all the time, if that makes sense.

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Hi, for the most part you have gotten some really good advice already, so I will just share a few thoughts.

First, congratulations for crate training your puppy so well, she likes it and settles well inside. One thing I do is not allow any rough play inside the house, we go outside and play, or I throw bumpers or we do obedience, or I get them excited and incite butt tucking. Inside is for calm, relaxed behavior, so we do light training (sit, stay, here, etc...), "place" training, (this might help her relax enough to sleep on her "place", much as she does in her crate) and some trust exercises such as rolling her on her back with her head in your lap and rubbing her tummy until she relaxes. She may learn to fall asleep or just chill in the house with a chew toy with this method, wearing out her mind and body before house time, will help her relax in the house.

Another thing, is when you are home all the time, she needs to be comfortable in her crate, which she is already, but you do need to leave for a few hours here and there to practice for when you do go back to work outside the home one day. You want to do this so she doesn't get separation anxiety if you go from being home all the time to suddenly gone for 8 hours a day.

Another thought, is where is her crate, is she isolated? Like she can't see you, or in another room? You may want to place her crate where she can see you when you are home if that makes sense.

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Originally Posted by Shelley

Hi, for the most part you have gotten some really good advice already, so I will just share a few thoughts.

First, congratulations for crate training your puppy so well, she likes it and settles well inside. One thing I do is not allow any rough play inside the house, we go outside and play, or I throw bumpers or we do obedience, or I get them excited and incite butt tucking. Inside is for calm, relaxed behavior, so we do light training (sit, stay, here, etc...), "place" training, (this might help her relax enough to sleep on her "place", much as she does in her crate) and some trust exercises such as rolling her on her back with her head in your lap and rubbing her tummy until she relaxes. She may learn to fall asleep or just chill in the house with a chew toy with this method, wearing out her mind and body before house time, will help her relax in the house.

Another thing, is when you are home all the time, she needs to be comfortable in her crate, which she is already, but you do need to leave for a few hours here and there to practice for when you do go back to work outside the home one day. You want to do this so she doesn't get separation anxiety if you go from being home all the time to suddenly gone for 8 hours a day.

Another thought, is where is her crate, is she isolated? Like she can't see you, or in another room? You may want to place her crate where she can see you when you are home if that makes sense.

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Thanks Shelly for your reply and some more great advice I really appreciate it. Yeah that was something else I was wondering with the crate placement it is placed in the front area of our house while the area we are the most is in the back area. The reason I am not sure if we should move it or not is at her bedtime we put her in the crate in the front area and turn the lights out and she goes to sleep for the rest of the night. We have done this since we brought her home so not sure if we should or shouldn't move the crate. We do have another crate that is larger that I could place in the great room to use during the day but my house will start to look like a dog kennel inside so I want to try and avoid that because our other crate is an extra large one.

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Originally Posted by Stephveda

Thanks Shelly for your reply and some more great advice I really appreciate it. Yeah that was something else I was wondering with the crate placement it is placed in the front area of our house while the area we are the most is in the back area. The reason I am not sure if we should move it or not is at her bedtime we put her in the crate in the front area and turn the lights out and she goes to sleep for the rest of the night. We have done this since we brought her home so not sure if we should or shouldn't move the crate. We do have another crate that is larger that I could place in the great room to use during the day but my house will start to look like a dog kennel inside so I want to try and avoid that because our other crate is an extra large one.

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Had to laugh at your “dog kennel” comment as we have had crates as a permanent fixture in our family room for years. Even once we no longer lock them in, our dogs have always liked to go in there, plus we use the tops as storage. I do understand your point though but would remind you it wouldn’t be forever. In another few months, especially if you work with her she probably won’t need to be crated as much, so you could take down the extra crate and maybe replace it with a bed.