i am buying an 11 week old staffie and several people have advised i buy a "cage", which sounds really cruel to me. The pup will be alone for approx 6 hours 2 days per week and i have been advised it should sleep in it overnight.

Is this ok please advise

Call it a den :)  Now do you feel better about it. 
I would say, though, for the 6 hour daytime stretch (just about acceptable a couple of times a week in my book) this would be too restrictive for my taste.  A puppy run or even a secure area free of all damagable or damaging items such as a kitchen, utility or porch would be much more suitable to allow a bit of space to play with toys etc.  Puppies sleep a lot but they wake up fairly frequently too.

Cages are brilliant - think of it less of a cage and more of your dog's own bedroom. They can cut the time it takes to housetrain a puppy if used correctly and have many good uses. Like Isabel says, 6 hours in the day is far too long for your puppy to be kept locked in a cage - my pup is 10 months old and I only occasionally leave him for longer than 4 hours. Sleeping in one overnight is okay - my puppy actually chose to sleep in his cage in the kitchen when he was a baby rather than upstairs in the bedroom with me - I still don't know if I should feel offended! But remember to take him out to potty last thing at night and first thing in the morning - he may not be able to hold himself all night at first so you might have to let him out in the middle of the night for a week or two.

I call mine crates, but I agree it's a long time to leave him during the day. Excellent for housetraining overnight though! :-)

You could buy a crate and a puppy pen - that way pup can still have a safe area to play in but a bit more room for the long stretches when it's alone, and can go to its crate if it wants to.  Should help get pup used to it as well, so you can restrict it to the crate at night.

hello guest

cages are fantastic but i would advise that you buy the biggest one you can afford. another good idea is a puppy pen they might be a little bit more than a cage but well worth it  if you go to this web page you will see what i mean
www.shadorma.co.uk

You mean staffies are suposed to stay in puppy pens?

I think a large crate would be best unless the puppy pen has a roof, staffies can jump quite high, my stair gate is now 5ft high & they have just got over it today from a standing jump. They are 7 months old, but were jumping over a standard size stairgate & puppy pen by about 4 months. (I remember that day well - it looked like we had been burgled :-)

The wallpaper was ripped, sofa, toys & curtains was chewed, laminate flooring removed etc

Oh yes & does anyone know why they poo behind the door so when you open the door it - well you can guess the rest :-)

I do think that is quite a long time though - do you have anyone who can pop in for a few weeks on these days?

LOL

I'm amazed they had to jump out of a puppy pen, would have thought they'd just buldoze through :D :D :D  For their size they're amazingly agile and extremely strong :D  don't envy you coming home to the chaos :(

I think they poo behind the door because that way they get YOU to spread it about :D :D

Hi would recommend a cage for any breed as long as it is big enough. Your new pup will get used to it really quickly. a dog needs its own space (especially if you have kids) and a cage is an ideal den. Leave the cage door open while you are at home and you will probably find he will go in by himself for a nap. Do not use it as a punishment if he's been naughty. I have also found pups stay dry overnight a lot quiker if a crate is used as they don't like to lie in their mess. The most important thing is you know your pup will be safe while you are out--have fun and goodluck