retiring the crate

how old? how'd you wean them off it? horror stories? suggestions?

Re: retiring the crate

I would never get rid of my dogs crate ever .... She loves it.. Its her plae to go when she wants to be alone or wait for me to come home.. The door is never closed she can enter it and exit it when ever she wants,, Why do you want to retire it?

Re: retiring the crate

We intended to wait a year, and wound up only waiting six months for Brinkley. He was getting neutered and it was just more convenient for him to sleep on his bed, outside the crate. So we weaned him off very slowly, for short intervals, and checked for damage or accidents. We increased the time little by little. No horror stories, it went off without a hitch.

Ginger isn't crated at night but is if we are not there during the day. She has separation anxiety which she has been making great progress on, but she's not there yet. We will be un-crating her little by little probably in another 2 months. To help ease the periods where we're not there and she's uncrated, we'll make sure she's had plenty of exercise and opportunities to relieve herself beforehand.

We won't sell or give away our crate, since it can be very convenient for other things too. Neither dog chooses to hang out in it, ever. It takes up a lot of space in a very small house, so it makes sense for us to eventually retired it to the basement.

Re: retiring the crate

I have tried leaving my dog out of her crate and have failed miserably. Even leaving her alone for 1 hour - she gets into cabinets & garbage, jumps on counters, table, etc.. So it's been better for her to just sleep in her crate all day (and it's oversized)

I wish we could leave her out and let her have the freedom.. I tried explaining to her that she's only spiting herself, but reasoning doesn't seem to work with dogs

Re: retiring the crate

we retired our crate after buddy turned one year. He never had an accident and slept in the bedroom with me so it was taking up space and we didnt need it any longer so we packed it up and donated after 6 years to a rescue organization.

Re: retiring the crate

We never locked our dog in the crate, but he sleeps in there every night on his own, I could never take it away from him.

Re: retiring the crate

We had an ex-pen, so I really couldn't wait t get rid of it. It took up so much room in our small den. I put it away when our dog was about a year and 1/2. First we started leaving him out (but the crate up with door open) for short periods of time--like when I went to run errands or go food shopping. We gradually increased until we got up to a full work day. I could tell that he wasn't really going in the crate much because I could see indents from his body on the couch
So finally DH and I just put it away. He didn't seem the least bit slighted. We put his soft bed in the same spot where his crate was, and he does lie there very often. And before I leave in the am, he goes right to the spot like he did when the crate was still up.

Re: retiring the crate

Logan is 17 months and is still in the crate for long periods of time. We are tyring to give him short periods 1-2 hours where he has some freedom. DH left him out one day when I had a 1/2 day at work - so I was gone for almost 5 hours including travel time - I came home and Logan (and I know it wasn't the other 2 because they can't reach the back of the counter), took 3 bananas - didn't eat them, but they were unpeeled on the floor, moved the crock pot from the back of the counter to the end, took the top off and ate 3 chicken cutlets and some tomator sauce. He was working on one of my shoes when I walked in. Clearly, 5 hours was too much for him.

I was hoping to have him out of it soon, I would like to reclaim that large area of my dining room!

Re: retiring the crate

Re: retiring the crate

Re: retiring the crate

My dog is almost 5 and loves her crate. We lock her up in it at night. During the day she is free to roam the house but usually naps in her crate. It is her safety zone.

Re: retiring the crate

how about giving putting the crate in the kitchen and putting a baby gate up. That way its easier to clean up if she pees on the floor.

Re: retiring the crate

Lilly is 3.5 and we just got rid of the crate this past summer. She now has her own room that we gate her in when we're not home. She has yet to have an accident in there. There's an armchair, her floor bed and her food and water all there for her. Any time we are out of the house, she's in her room, never roaming around unsupervised - she'd trash the place!