[Blondie]

Just been reading about crate options. Our plan is to put the crate(the standard fare, not a small one by any means) in my son's bedroom. The puppy will be in there for the night time sleep and daytime naps. That's the plan anyway. We will be crating off the carpeted areas in our home on the first floor. I will have a dog bed for our puppy on the first floor, as I wasn't planning on purchasing two crates, one for up and one for down. How do people manage this type of situation? Just wondering. I'm hoping this will get us through a few months, until our puppy can safely and happily be free at night to sleep next to the bed or on the bed, or in the bed and be in the house with the areas that we designate for our dog. I never crated a dog before and I'm okay with the idea now, I just want to be able to get to the point where we can have her free in the house once she is old enough, again with the carpeted areas secure and her crate in the family room with the door open so that she can come and go as she pleases. Until then, we'll see how it goes. It's all trial and error, I get that.

 

[Jennifer]

We have two crates, one upstairs where he sleeps and the other one is downstairs for when we go out. We originally just had the one downstairs, but he wouldn't sleep down there and for a few days we actually had to carry it upstairs every night...which was a major pain.

 

[cubbysan]

My breeder has said that when crate training find a place that is out of the way, but the puppy can still see what is going on in the house. We had picked the kitchen with for that. It worked well, and Brady slept in there every night until he was about 18 months old.

Our new puppy, my daughter wanted to have her in her room. So we have done it that way for her. It does make MacKenzie have a closer relationship with her etc, but I often times wish I had another crate to keep in my room - especially these past two weeks when she has had intestinal issues. I could have brought her outside a lot faster than it takes for my daughter to wake me up and tell me the puppy has to go outside.

 

[esSJay]

We were fortunate that my mom had a crate that she no longer uses for their dog, so we had that one upstairs in our room (large plastic travel one) and his wire crate & x-pen in the family room.

We found, however, that the plastic crate was too hot for him at night and he would sit there panting all night (not barking) and staring at us. Our room has hardwood so after about 3 weeks when he was almost 5 months old, we were comfortable enough with him being loose in our bedroom at night so we did that instead.

 

[inge]

We have one crate, and it is downstairs, off the kitchen. She goes there during daytime naps and in the night.

 

[Maxs Mom]

I do a two crate system. We have the sleeping crate, no toys in our bedroom. We also have a bigger crate in our kitchen where the pups can see outside, and most of the house from that vantage point. They are allowed whatever toys their heart desires in that crate. This is the crate they are in when we are at work.

I did this because I am too lazy to move crates from room to room. I do want the dogs with me when I sleep. I don't know why I just like them in my room with me.

I also do not have water in the sleeping crate (less over night consumption less need to pee) and we do feed in the other crate for a while. We do keep water in that one so the pup has access.

Ann

 

[iamswiss]

We have one crate downstairs in the kitchen/dining room area and one upstairs in the bedroom. Bailey was using both crates up to a month and now we leave her in a small area where she can't go anywhere (except she would jump over the gates). It's a little better for her as being in the crate as she can move around there. At night she's sleeping on a couch in our bedroom, she has free access in our bedroom and the adjacent bathroom and she could even walk out to the hallway (as we usually have the bedroom door open).
She's really good and can't really do much harm in these areas.
We just can't keep her alone in the kitchen area as she always finds a way to grab even little things further away on the kitchen island or the counters.

 

[koffee]

Initially we bought a very large crate that will take her to adult years. Then we also bought a nice plastic crate that suits her puppy age, and great for moving around - we bring the crate to the car when we drive her out. she uses the smaller crate alot and loves it.

a few days ago we set up the large crate outdoors so there is a place for her to retreat to if she likes. She is starting to get used to it and even eats her treats there. She is going to outgrow her smaller crate soon as our puppy is now quite big for her 14 weeks age

 

[Loisiana]

Flip has 4 crates. One for the house, one for the car, one for the dog shows, and one for the hotel room.

As for in the house, when he was really young he had two. One was small and I used it for him to sleep in and stay in while I was away from home. The other was a large crate that I used like a playpen.

 

[Willow52]

When we first brought Hank home we had 2 crates, one (medium sized, borrowed) in the laundry room for when we were out or busy in another part of the house, and one (x-large airline-type) in our bedroom. By the time he out grew the borrowed one he was reliable enough to just gate in the laundry room. He still sleeps in the x-large one.

 

[nolefan]

We're a two crate family... one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen. I've also rigged a play pen area in a corner of the kitchen for when I need to run upstairs for a few minutes and just want to stash Duncan somewhere safe. Truthfully, I couldn't imagine only having a crate upstairs.... but maybe I'm just lazy

 

[sammydog]

When we got Sammy and Barley (our first Goldens) we had one big crate that we would move from the kitchen during the day, to the bedroom at night. It was pretty easy because we did not have far to move it. If I had to go up and down stairs I would probably get 2!

When we got Mira we had accumulated a lot more crates. She had a x-pen play area setup in our dining room on top of a piece of linoleum I got at home depot. There wee also few crates setup in the living room. She also had a crate in our bedroom.

 

[buckeyegoldenmom]

We did the two crate system. One in the bedroom for night and one in the kitchen for daytime use.

 

[sameli102]

You'll certainly appreciate having 2. Mine are quite heavy and I have moved them often, banging walls and shins. Even though I let the dogs sleep loose in our bedroom at night I keep one in there, it's great to have for when company or the grandkids are here, they tend to be calmer if crated when there is a lot of commotion. Some nights Tilley isn't ready for bed will sometimes walk around or try to get Parker to wrestle so in the crate she goes and she goes right to sleep.
On a side note, if you keep one in the main living area and it is crate time for the pup, during training, but they yap and rebel, a sheet draped over the crate will help calm them.