[nlyankees]

Hey guys, this it my first post and my first golden!! I've always loved them so much, and when my fiancee and I bought our new house, we knew it was time to get one. We picked her up last week, and are already madly in love with her. She is 9 weeks old, and she's such a good girl and so smart. We're having little to no problems training her to go outside to go to the bathroom, and she fetches with me almost perfectly already. She walks great and while she does chew on some things that she shouldn't, she quickly understands that she is only allowed to chew on her toys.

There is one thing that we are having a problem with though, and I could really use the advice of some seasoned veteran golden owners. We eventually want to be able to leave her home alone in the house, or while we sleep, so she can have plenty of room and not make a mess. We know that this starts with crate training her early, and that's where the problem is.

She absolutely HATES her crate more than anything. For the first 3 nights straight she cried ALL night long, the 4th night she cried about half of the night. So we decided to try something a little different and see if it worked. We put her crate in the bathroom and left the crate open but closed the bathroom. The bathroom is maybe the size of 2 crates, so with the one in there she has about an extra crates worth of room. It is tile so its easy for us to clean up any accidents. We left her in there for the first time to go to work yesterday, and all day she didn't have a single accident, even though the space was bigger. We then did it again last night while we went to sleep, and all night long there wasn't a single peep out of her, and again no accidents.

I am wondering though, is this going to really hinder my progress of training her? It isn't MUCH bigger than her crate, and she is doing well, so is it necessary for me to put her into her crate which she hates, when she does just as well in a slightly larger space? Please let me know guys.

 

[momtoMax]

We eventually want to be able to leave her home alone in the house, or while we sleep, so she can have plenty of room and not make a mess. QUOTE]


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Whew, that was a good laugh!! Max is 5 months old and he is miles away from that kind of freedom. I don't trust him not to get into trouble any more than I did when we first got him.
You will not be able to leave her free roaming in the house unsupervised for a very long time. It's not only a destruction issue, but more importantly a safety issue. Boy, are you in for a rude awakening!
Constant supervision is the best for everyone, trust me!

 

[LuckyPup]

Hello! Welcome to GRF, it has been such a great find for me and very helpful with the adoption of Lucky at 9 months old.

Yeah I am going to have to agree with momtomax on this one.

Plus I believe crate training is a very good thing for your pup to learn. I am not saying that once the pup is crate trained they ALWAYS have to use it and can not have the freedom when they choose BUT it is good for them.

Every friend I have who had a puppy and gave up on crate training are upset now that they did not endure the pain of the couple of nights of crying. Because they are starting over at an older age and it is much more difficult.

Plus, one day your dog may need to stay at the vets (spayed) or may need to stay in a kennel for a vacation. The anxiety is already up on a dog/pup in these situations it is even worse for the ones who are not crate trained.

 

[cinnamonteal]

A lot of people use a confined space (like your bathroom) instead of a crate. It does essentially the same thing. But I completely agree with LuckyPup. Even if you don't use it often, it is a really good thing for your dog to become comfortable in the crate. It makes a lot of things easier, like traveling with your dog.
What worked for me was covering the crate with a sheet and keeping it in my bedroom. It was rough at first, but totally worth it in the end.

ps. I can't wait to see pics of your darling little pup!

 

[rappwizard]

I agree with all of the above; I'd also be worried that my pup might wise up as she gets older and start pawing on that closed door. Then what will you do if she starts scratching at it all night? You then have a dog that not only hates the crate but hates closed doors too. Sad to say, I speak from experience.

 

[shortcake23]

Welcome to the forum!

Mia's first night at home was great, but the second and third were horrible as well. She cried all night in her crate. She was okay after that. You'll be able to determine when you feel she's ready for more freedom. Mia got the run of most of the house at night by 5 months old (I think). She's turning 1 tomorrow but we still crate her during the day. We don't feel like she can be trusted yet when we're not at home and with the cats there... It takes time. Some members say that even at 3 or 5 years old their GRs still can't be trusted...

Good luck!

 

[depill]

Congratulations on your new puppy, Goldens are amazing but they can be a hassle, especially a young pup. About the crate thing, I always keep mine open so Frosti( my pup ) can walk in and out of the crate during the day. And I put something fun in the crate every once in a while. This has worked extremely well for us, when he is tired during the day ( or evening ) he will search to the crate.

And we travel alot inside the country and it's a foldable wire crate so we take it with us everywhere we go, and that way he always has a "safe" place to stay over the night.

The only problem I see with having the crate open during the night is the reason I said before if you travel alot. Also I keep my crate in the washroom which is next to the backdoor and a window because I wan't to keep the room well ventalated ( sometimes I have to admit there is just to much of a dog smell of Frosti ). I love my crate, best decision ever, it is the first time I crate my golden ( this is ours 3rd ) and I think it's great, sure there was some whining in the beginning but at first it was all about persitance. He was put to sleep ( we tire him before sleep ) and he whined ( not the first night first night I stayed with him until he fell a sleep, we got the crate 2 weeks after him ) and we just ignored him. After around an hour he just understood, there is no point in this whining and I am tired so he wen't to sleep. If you always give in to the whining ( or the barking ) he will learn that it is a good thing to whine og bark, you will come and give him attention which you don't want.

I would watch out for that leaving him alone when you are not at home. The first weeks I watched mine like a hawk, and we had no accidents for the first 3 and half weeks and we thought "WE ARE GREAT, and Frosti as well, he is house-broken", if you take your eyes off them for maybe an hour and think, It's ok then the accidents will (probally, you could be very lucky ) happen. I trust Frosti more then when I got him, but I wouldn't trust him alone at home.

But yes congratulations and please post some pics

 

[nlyankees]

Thanks for all the input guys! I'll definitely try and stick to the crate for a while longer, the cries just break my heart so much :-(, I'll power through it though. Here are some pictures of my baby Sadie!!

 

[moverking]

Gosh, just to give you a slim hope that you might get to realize your hope of house freedom without destruction....
My two, a year apart in age, have had full run of the house together since 6 months old! I had the corners off a few rugs chewed. I never come home to anything destroyed, well maybe one of their toys. And never any accidents.
Sadie was crated for all of 30 minutes in her whole life (yes, I failed) so I gated her in the kitchen. Loocie was crated till 4 months old and then kitchen gated with older Sadie, till 6 months.
They are truly a dream. Of course we puppy proofed and dealt with times they tried to chew furniture, rugs, etc. I have some minor teethmarks on a couple of chair legs....
Of course, this is probably not the norm, and I'm not suggesting it. Safety needs to be your first priority.

 

[timberwolf]

Congratulations on the new addition and Welcome to the Forum.
You are going to love being owned by a golden

As you can tell by the above posts, there alot of informative people here to help.
One thing you can try is to make her crate a fun place to be.
We learned some games to play at puppy kindergarten that really helped.
In fact, in the one class, we couldn't get Timber out of the crate!!!
Now, although Timber sleeps in the kitchen/back hall at night, the crate is still in the living room doorway, the door stays open and he comes and goes in there as he pleases.

 

[msdogs1976]

Of course we puppy proofed and dealt with times they tried to chew furniture, rugs, etc. I have some minor teethmarks on a couple of chair legs....
Of course, this is probably not the norm, and I'm not suggesting it. Safety needs to be your first priority.

Baseboards.........they will chew on baseboards.:doh: I failed with the crate too and put mine in the bathroom for a couple of weeks only to find some chewing on the molding around the baseboards. New house too. I later went with a folding pen that worked well. But if I were to get a new puppy, I would stick with crate training.

 

[Lisa_and_Willow.]

Welcome and congratulations! Your little girl is adorable!

My Willow was in her crate when I was out for all of 3 weeks :uhoh:. She then had access to the kitchen/hallway with my older dog. Nothing destroyed and that was from 11 weeks old. Now at 21 months they both spend the day sleeping on my bed! She slept in her crate at night for about another month (it was by my bed) then slept in my bedroom.

I guess it all depends on the dog. Some will get into trouble as soon as your back is turned! I was lucky with mine but I agree with moverking "Safety needs to be your first priority ".

Good luck!

 

[LuckyPup]

I saw the pics you added of Sadie! Adorable! I wish I could see what Luck was like when he was a baby pup.

 

[cinnamonteal]

Baby Sadie is adorable! She looks so proper with her paws crossed.

 

[knog]

How could any puppy that precious cause harm? lol

Yep, the crate's the best bet. However, in my case, Yorvit was crated at night and whenever left alone until about 9 months. I'm home most of the time so he was supervised very closely. With Z, he's already out of the crate but when I'm gone, he's supervised by Yorvit. No problems because Yorvit is a strict taskmaster. When Z is into something he shouldn't be, Yorvit tattles.

They take turns sleeping in my bed. When Z is in bed, Yorvit sleeps on the dog bed next to me. It got too crowded with two adults and two Goldens in a queen sized bed, so it was either me on the dog bed or one of them. hahahaha