[becky101803]

We plan on crate training when we get our puppy next month. My plan is to have the crate in our bedroom. The breeder said we should feed/water in the crate - so do we need to have another crate elsewhere in our house or just do the feeds in our bedroom?

(Our house is small so ideally we would just have the one crate but obviously will do whatever is best).

Also, when do you introduce a dog bed? Not until she is bigger and fully crate trained or is it okay to have one in our TV room for her to lay on while she is in the room with us?

Sorry if these are dumb questions but I'm new to this

 

[Pemphredo]

I wouldn't feed and water in the crate.... you don't want them using the bathroom in their crate but if they have full access to their food and water while in their crate then they will need to go potty at some point while in the crate... may end up being REAL busy nights that way. up a lot to take them to go potty. not to mention if the food and water is in their crate then any time they want food or water they will have to go into your room to get it.... I don't like my puppy in my room when I am not in there.... to many places she could go potty and me not see.... so we leave our bedroom gated off or door closed... she only goes to her crate to sleep. (her crate is also in my bedroom like you plan) we have her food and water in the dining room..... best of luck.

 

[becky101803]

I should have clarified that we would pull the water before bedtime to hopefully lots of middle of the night potty trips
I was thinking that we wouldn't want the puppy traipsing in and out of the bedroom without us during the day - thanks for the input!

 

[LibertyME]

I do keep several crates in the house - a smaller puppy sized one in the bedroom and another one (sometimes 2) in the common living area...just because I dont want to move them around all the time.

I do like to feed puppies in crates. I dont feed in the bedroom crates, because I would have to lug food and water through the house.

I do so for a couple of reasons...
Puppies are less likely to defecate where they eat..
It reinforces that crates are places where good things happen. I love it when a pup sees me go to the food bin to fill dishes and they run to their crate and peek out waiting for their dish to be brought to them.

In addition to the water bowl in the kitchen, I keep a pail of water in crates when the pup/dogs are crated during the day.
I have had some puppies that LOVED to play in the water pails & water bowls they grew out of it, but what a mess!

As to dog beds - some will pee on dog beds (what a pain to clean)...some will chew and destroy them (dangerous and expensive). I wait until they are older.

 

[becky101803]

Thanks for all of the information - so helpful! We do plan on getting the pail for water in the crate during the day too.

I do keep several crates in the house - a smaller puppy sized one in the bedroom and another one (sometimes 2) in the common living area...just because I dont want to move them around all the time.

I do like to feed puppies in crates. I dont feed in the bedroom crates, because I would have to lug food and water through the house.

I do so for a couple of reasons...
Puppies are less likely to defecate where they eat..
It reinforces that crates are places where good things happen. I love it when a pup sees me go to the food bin to fill dishes and they run to their crate and peek out waiting for their dish to be brought to them.

In addition to the water bowl in the kitchen, I keep a pail of water in crates when the pup/dogs are crated during the day.
I have had some puppies that LOVED to play in the water pails & water bowls they grew out of it, but what a mess!

As to dog beds - some will pee on dog beds (what a pain to clean)...some will chew and destroy them (dangerous and expensive). I wait until they are older.

 

[Visitador]

We have two crates. One in the living room and one in the bedroom. Because our bedrooms are in the second floor, we kept Cody in the living room for the first couple of weeks. I slept in the sofabed. This made me easy to take him outside during the night. Also, he socializes all the time in that room and makes it easy for him to take his nap time during the day.
Now that he can hold throught most of the night, we have him in the bedroom crate during the night.
We don't provide him water or food in the crate. He has yet to soil his crates, even though they are the large 36 inch travel crates.

 

[becky101803]

We have a ranch, so bedrooms on main level. We do have a finished basement that we usually hang out in at night to watch tv.

 

[Visitador]

Definitely crate in the bedroom so that your puppy is being housetrained during the night. If it is easy to move the crate in the house, then, move it to the room where the puppy is going to stay during the day (you want to housetrain him during the day too).
As an aside, various books have different suggestions as to housetraining schedules during the day. My suggestion, see how your puppy responds. You'll learn soon when the whinning is really a cry to go potty or just acting up.

 

[becky101803]

I was thinking maybe we could just move the crate to kitchen for day and bedroom at night but wasn't sure if that would be confusing to a puppy. Maybe we could do that and then put the extra crate downstairs for puppy to hang out in when we are down there.
I have several books I'm working my way through (a couple of the Ian Dunbar books, Super Puppy, and a couple more).

 

[tippykayak]

I second the idea of feeding in the crate, for all the reasons LibertyME cited. We just use one crate, leave it in the bedroom, and have feeding times there. We only leave it down for feeding time, so the pup isn't there with food or water all night or during alone times during the day. Two crates wouldn't confuse the dog too much if you wanted to have a daytime crate for feeding and alone time and a nighttime crate for bedtime, but it certainly isn't necessary if you don't mind hauling the food over to the bedroom crate.

A dog bed with you in the TV room is super cute, so I say yes to that, but I personally don't put dog beds in the crate since both of our current dogs each destroyed one as pups. I just cover the bottom of the crate with an old towel and then roll up other old towels as bumpers around the edges. Some pups like that, and some tear up the towels (in which case, you take out the towels and leave the pup on the bare crate floor with a toy).

 

[Visitador]

Cody was not confused. A crate is just a crate. I think he goes by scent.. Both crates have paddings and toys that he has used fo awhile. He adjusted nicely to both. If you search this forum, you'll find members who have crates in almost every room. Lol!

 

[becky101803]

Thank you! When you do the feedings in the bedroom, do you hang out in there while the puppy eats (I was reading in one of my many books that you need to work with the puppy while they eat to teach them not to be food-aggressive)?
Also, 3 days a week the puppy will be in the crate for 3-4 hours (I work 3 days a week and will come home at lunch to feed, walk/play) - should I not leave a little bit of water in the bucket during that time?

I second the idea of feeding in the crate, for all the reasons LibertyME cited. We just use one crate, leave it in the bedroom, and have feeding times there. We only leave it down for feeding time, so the pup isn't there with food or water all night or during alone times during the day. Two crates wouldn't confuse the dog too much if you wanted to have a daytime crate for feeding and alone time and a nighttime crate for bedtime, but it certainly isn't necessary if you don't mind hauling the food over to the bedroom crate.

A dog bed with you in the TV room is super cute, so I say yes to that, but I personally don't put dog beds in the crate since both of our current dogs each destroyed one as pups. I just cover the bottom of the crate with an old towel and then roll up other old towels as bumpers around the edges. Some pups like that, and some tear up the towels (in which case, you take out the towels and leave the pup on the bare crate floor with a toy).

 

[becky101803]

Cody was not confused. A crate is just a crate. I think he goes by scent.. Both crates have paddings and toys that he has used fo awhile. He adjusted nicely to both. If you search this forum, you'll find members who have crates in almost every room. Lol!

Ha, our poor little 1300 sq ft house could not handle that!!

 

[LibertyME]

I think you're going to be surprised how fast they eat...You wont be spending much time waiting.
There will also be meals that come from food puzzles and other meals that you might feed from your hands... There are no cookie cutter plans for dispensing food...ultimately youre using food to:
achieve a positive association to crate space...
a desire to keep the crate clean...
a desire to see your hands as the source of all things yummy...
the necessity to be gentle when they have their sharp puppy teeth near human flesh..
exercising their body and minds with food puzzles...

 

[LibertyME]

when youre shopping for a pail remember to pick up a double ended snap-clip to secure your water pail to the crate...

 

[tippykayak]

Thank you! When you do the feedings in the bedroom, do you hang out in there while the puppy eats (I was reading in one of my many books that you need to work with the puppy while they eat to teach them not to be food-aggressive)?
Also, 3 days a week the puppy will be in the crate for 3-4 hours (I work 3 days a week and will come home at lunch to feed, walk/play) - should I not leave a little bit of water in the bucket during that time?

LibertyME pretty much answered these questions the way I would. I would hang out for some feedings and just leave him for others. Some meals I feed partly by hand before crating, some entirely in the crate. I generally don't bug a dog when he's got his head in the bowl, though.

I have two dogs, so I would typically shut the pup in with the food. If I had just one, though, I might sit down next to the crate while the dog ate and leave the door open, just to build positive associations. That way, he can just come out and play once he's done with the food. I find it's nice to take lots of opportunities to build a positive association with the door open as you train the dog to be OK with the door shut.

 

[becky101803]

Thank you guys so much - this is really helpful!

 

[Calistar]

I spoke with my breeder/trainer about this very topic and he says was against the puppy being in the bedroom in a crate after the puppy gets use to the crate and her new surroundings. he was strongly in favor of the puppy crate being in another room with a radio playing if necessary to calm the puppy. There are apparently studies that show keeping the puppy in a crate in the bedroom increases the chance of and degree of separation anxiety. Now I am sure there will be those that tell you they have kept their puppy in the bedroom with no bad effects and I am sure that is true. But studies are simply meant to show that certain actions make certain outcomes more likely. You should do as you see fit knowing the study results.

 

[Visitador]

There are apparently studies that show keeping the puppy in a crate in the bedroom increases the chance of and degree of separation anxiety. Now I am sure there will be those that tell you they have kept their puppy in the bedroom with no bad effects and I am sure that is true. But studies are simply meant to show that certain actions make certain outcomes more likely. You should do as you see fit knowing the study results.

I would like to read those studies. From my little knowledge, canine behavior is subject to human interpretation. See this link for a different view Dog Crate Training Guide