We are bringing our puppy home in a few weeks and I've bought a crate to give him his own space etc.  I plan to make it as comfy as poss, as I know that they come to see the crate as their 'bedroom' - does this mean he will not need a separate dog bed as well?  Also, we plan to have the crate in the corner of the lounge, which is quiet, but near us.  Will we have to move the crate upstairs at night to start with? (We plan to have him near to us so we can hear him when he needs to go out during the night etc). Obviously it's not a problem to move his crate, but will it confuse him, not knowing if the crate is up or down?  Shall we have a bed for him upstairs as well?  He could potentially have three places to sleep - very confusing!! Appreciate your help.
Helen.

Hi Helen, we had the same dilemma.  After Stuart was about 6 months we decided to move him on to his own bed and bought wicker bed with short legs.  Unfortunately he didn't like the bed and we ended up putting back his crate up. He's a Lhasa Aspo and the crate is his little private space. He squirrels all sort of things (usually that he's nabbed from us!! It also means that he has somewhere safe to go when we're bringing the shopping in. We never took the crate upstairs to bed for a number of reasons.  Firstly we didn't want Stuart going upstairs anyway, secondly he only has a short body and were advised against encouraging him to climb stairs.  He has'nt learnt to do so up until now.  He is just past one.  Thirdly we have 2 cats and upstairs is their sanctuary away from Stuart.  However Stuart is only little and I suppose some of this depends on the size of your dog.   Although this is our first dog and we were very apprehensive about him crying in the night.  By the end of the first week he was quite settled. Hope that helps. Good luck.  Pam.

i have 7 dogs and they all have crates and beds , they will all pile into one cage and sleep happily, the doors of the crates are never closed and they come and go as they wish,the beds are around the house or i should say in the living room and my computer room where i spend a lot of time and they are quite happy to go into their soft beds when i am working, but i must admit they do like their crates i think they feel safe in them
carol

Thanks for the replies,  I think I will have the crate in the lounge and keep it there, and have another soft place for him to sleep upstairs so we can hear him at night to start with.  Hopefully when he goes through the night, he will stay downstairs in the crate and we can move his upstairs bed down too.  We are getting a welsh springer, how do you cope with the cats and a dog PamD? I plan to keep my cat shut in the kitchen at night as he is used to this and will have his own space, also we have a loft room which will be out of bounds to the pup.  Cat only space!  Any other dog/cat tips?

Hi again,

With regards to the cats either introduce them with the pup on the lead if it's used to a light weight lead or with the pup in the crate - don't give the pup a chance to chase the cats.  I have found animal gates invaluable,   I put up a couple of gates so that if my two cats wanted to escape they could, that way the cats have a way of escaping if they've had enough or want to observe from a distance.  I also bought a floor to ceiling scratch post with platforms on, so the cats could be in the living room with myself and the dog and feel safe up high.  Try giving treats to both the cats and the pup when they are around each other so that they both associate each other with good things. 

I also found keeping Ciara on and indoor line very helpful, (just a very light weight long lead with no loop for a handle) if she made a move to chase the cats then I could just stand on the line and say leave, this actually helped her learn the leave command aswell.  Obviously you would only have that on when you are observing though.

Also if you have outdoor cats and you are worried about them leaving home because they don't like the new alien being in their home then it might be an idea to keep them in for a couple of weeks, so that they don't get the chance to do a dissapearing act, but if you do keep them in it's all the more important that they have plenty of places to escape to.

If they aren't used to dogs then be prepared for it to take some time - for the first 5 months of having Ciara I thought I'd ruined my cats lives, but now they are great together and all lie in row front of the fire :-)

I hope it goes well.

Karen

Hi Helen - best to say the cats tolerate the dog.  We have a moggie who has some siamese in him - Beckham, and a black tipped british shorthair (monet) - the latter is so laid back but gets bullied by becks and stuart.  All sleep downstairs on a night time - the cats on the sofa and chairs, stuart in his crate - the crate door is always left open. Stuart still likes to chase the cats and we do interfere - particularly with the monet cos he wont defend himself. Feeding time can get a bit manic - but the cats get fed on the counter otherwise the dog would eat their food - loves catfood.  I gave the dog one of my daughter's old teddy bears to play with instead of trying to play with the cats - he does play with it but it hasn't put him off the cats. All the best Pam.

Hiya,

I think crates are a great idea - and they work well with most pups, my girl loved hers.  When she was little and I had her crate in the living room, she used that as her bed - I just left the door open so she could take her self in there if she wanted, and put her in it with the door shut if I needed to pop out which gave me peace of mind that she was safe and sound, I worked up to this though, by gradually getting her used to it and then shutting the door for periods of time when I was in the room with her. 

As long as it's in a place in the lounge that the pup can be near you and see/hear you then that should be fine.  Introduce it slowly to your pup - feed the pup in the crate put lots of treats in for the pup to find, teddies etc make it as comfy as possible.  Also if you can get the person you are getting your pup from to have a piece of cloth or vetbed or something with the mothers sent on it and put that in the crate with the pup then that is comforting to them.  If you want to start off with your pup near you at night then yes just move the crate into the bedroom, it won't be confusing for your pup it will get to know your home as its own pretty quickly and that is the beauty of crates, they see them as their safe den so feel secure in it, so shouldn't matter if it's in different places in the house, but it may take a week or two before he loves it.  Good luck, what are you getting? Just being nosey now :-)

Karen

Hi there

I have 3 dogs,but never used a crate with any of them, they have there beds around

the house, although iam not having ago at any one who uses a crate for there dog.

A lot of my friends use a crate with there dogs and they love sleeping in them, but

they only have one for there dog and it is kept downstairs were they sleep.

Alot of my friends travel with there dogs, and use the crate also.

bye alley x

I've never used crates for my big dogs but always with little ones (Cavaliers and similar). My present Cavalier has used his as a bed for 11 years now and no he doesn't have any other bed. When I got my Papillon last year I got him a crate of his own, but they always share the same one -their choice. It's only closed at night really but they go in it when they want to sleep.

We treated Tara (who is nearly 4) to a soft, padded bed a month or so ago because we felt that it wasn't fair that Bramble has a soft bed :D We put it in the kitchen next to her crate. Although she is sometimes in the bed when I come downstairs in the morning, she is often in her crate which doesn't have any bedding in it, only the plastic tray :D :D :D

I had hoped that removing the bedding in her crate would make her prefer the soft bed, so I can fold up the crate :D I have a feeling that she would rather have the crate :D

Daisy

He won't need a separate dog bed as well, but if you want to get him a dog bed, you can put it in the crate (if it fits).  Or just save the dog bed for when he gets bigger and doesn't need the crate any more.

You could move the crate upstairs at night and then gradually move it away from the bedroom until it ends up back downstairs - that usually works.  If you do this, it would be a good idea to have the crate downstairs during the day, so he gets used to using it as a bedroom during the day too.  The other possibility is to sleep on the sofa, by the crate, and gradually retreat yourself upstairs, away from the crate!

I would advise you not to do what you suggest below, to use his soft bed upstairs and crate downstairs - at night he will quite easily slip out of his soft bed, do a poo or wee and get back into bed again.  If you want to make sure he doesn't go without you knowing about it, you will need the crate because he won't want to mess in his crate.

I wouldn't fancy lugging a heavy dog crate up and downstairs everyday :D My dogs manage perfectly well down in the kitchen :)

Daisy

I would also say that moving the crate up stairs rather than just a soft bed at least to start with would be a better idea as 123 said then at least you won't miss pup getting up and going to the toilet.  Also it might be an idea to start with if you set your alarm clock once or twice in the night so hopefully you are getting pup up to go to the toilet rather than him waking you up by wimpering or barking because he needs to go to the toilet and then learning that if he wimpers or barks that he get you to come running.  I think whether you start with them in your bedroom or not is personal preference , I didn't have my girl in the bedroom to start with and I really wish I had, she spent three weeks very miserable just howling and barking the whole way through the night (I was even wearing ear plugs and a head band over them to try and block out the noise :-), I felt so mean)- I got between 2 - 4 hours broken sleep a night for those 3 weeks and didn't help with her settling in at all. I decided it wasn't going to work and brought her crate into my bedroom and never looked back.  If you start with it in your bedroom and gradually move it further away I think it helps with them settling in.  I managed to lug mine up and down stairs and that was a dobe sized one :-)

Karen

:)  I do the opposite and sleep on the floor in the living room for 1-2 wks, gradually getting further away from the crate!

onetwothree
I thought I might be the only softy out there.
Had puppy for one week now and with no cage just me sleeping on kitchen floor with Jasmine.
Its not a problem for me as I find that the puppy gets house trained quickly and with less stress .
We also found that Jasmine has bonded to the wife and myself in a very  short space of time.
At only 12 weeks is great on the leed no pulling etc also not agressive with toys / food.
I know most of you will disagree with me sleeping with pup on floor but it has worked with the others we have had.
Jasmine has already started pawing the door wanting to go out.
She is NO ANGEL but maybe one in the making.
H.B

how do you introduce a puppy to a crate? i amhoping mine will sleep in hers on the first night so i need to make sure she is happy in it. any tips?

Hi,

I posted this further up the thread about introducing a pup to a crate -

introduce it slowly to your pup - feed the pup in the crate put lots of treats in for the pup to find, teddies etc make it as comfy as possible.  Also if you can get the person you are getting your pup from to have a piece of cloth or vetbed or something with the mothers sent on it and put that in the crate with the pup then that is comforting to them. 

After you've made good associations with the crate, ie, it's where the pup has it's meals and finds yummy treats and it's favourite toys etc - start by closing the door for short periods when you are in the room and pup can see you and work from there.  Most pups when introduced to them slowly end up loving them as they see them as their den and safe place.  It means when you pop to the shops or whatever that you can do it without worrying about what she is up to in your absence.  While I think they are a great tool it's important that pups aren't left in them for extended periods of time,  otherwise they will associate them with isolation and boredom rather than the safe den that they should see them.  Enjoy your new pup

what I did was cuddle pup in a ball in the evening until he was asleep, thats how he was with his litter mates. Then moved slowly and popped him in his crate.... I did this for a few nights until he was a bit more positive about going in there on his own, through having treats etc. didn't take long at all and he settled extremely well. I must say he much preferred it once I had put our old cushions in there and covered with a fleece blanket to make a big squidgy pad!  strange really as he is now 8 months and much prefers to sleep on the plastic tray :rolleyes: He didn't like the sound of his feet on the bottom of the crate when he was a tiny pup, so try to make sure the bottom is well covered.
We never took the crate upstairs and didn't have problems with him settling once he started to go in on his own.. I think there were just 2 nights he cried and it was for a very short time. So all in all just be tough if they do cry (and they will) as it will make your life much easier if you don't go running as soon as he cries. try to get there before or wait for a break (even just a second) but make sure there is silence when you enter the room so he gets the right message.

Thanks for the ideas about the crate.  I am going to buy one tomorrow and will follow all the advice given.  Do you have any idea what size I should get?  I understand it should be big enough for him to stand up and turn around etc, but not too big that he will mess in it and not care!  We are getting a Welsh Springer puppy, they are expected to grow to 18-19 inches full size, will I need a puppy sized crate first and then a bigger one when he grows?
Thanks so much guys.

Hiya,

If you get one big enough to fit your pup when he will be fully grown which will probably be the 30 inch long x 24 high or maybe the next one up, so he will have plenty of room to move around when he's fully grown.  Obviously it will be way to big for him as a weeny pup but you can block one end off with a card board box or make a partition. Saves you having to but 2 and it won't be that long before he will need the full amount - they grow so quick!

Karen

I'm sure that some crate company's sell dividers that are made of the same stuff as the crate, (no chewing possible then as puppies can and will chew :-)

Hi - If you do a search on crates you will find quite a lot of info about this.