From: mandrews@portal.hq.videocart.com (Mike Andrews)
Subject: Re: CRATES
Organization: VideOcart Inc.
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 21:06:45 GMT

In article <105797@netnews.upenn.edu> sagnella@a.chem.upenn.edu (Diane E. Sagnella) writes:
>
>Hi,
>
>I've been wondering about using a crate for the
>next dog we get.
>
>What I've read suggests that the dog NOT be crated for 
>more than 3 or so hours at a time, yet it seems that 
>people crate their dogs for up to 10 hours at time.
>Now I know that the crate sort of takes the place
>of a den and that dogs usually grow to consider
>it as a place of refuge, but 10 hours?  That seems like
>a very longtime to me for the animal to not be able
>to do anything but stand up and turn around.  I'm not
>trying to be flippant, I am genuinely interested.
>
>Also, I realize that crating is a great way to condition
>your dog not to `go' inside.  Also there are many who
>continue crating the dog until the `teething' stage has
>run its course.  These sound like good ideas to me, but
>it seems that there are those that continue crating
>for the life of the dog.  Why?  I know that if I were
>to have a dog, I would want one as a companion *and* as a 
>deterrent to intruders.  (NOT an attack dog, often just the
>presence of a dog is enough)  How can a dog serve this
>purpose if it is crated?
>
>How many of you out there crate?  For how long each day?
>For how long into the life of your dog?  Why do you crate?
>How does your dog feel about the crate?
>

We crate-trained our bullmastiff as a puppy since his first day with us.
He whined for a few minutes when he first placed in the crate but
he quieted down and hasn't complained since. He only whines now if
he has to go out.

He does look at his crate as his refuge.  He runs there when he knows 
he's done something bad (whenever he gets yelled at).  Funny thing:
early on we thought we'd bribe him into going into the crate by 
throwing a treat inside and closing the door behind him.  He now
expects a treat whenever he goes in, but he never wises up to the
trick - probably because he doen't mind the confinment too much.

We had very few accidents with him as a puppy.  Crate training makes
house breaking a no-brainer.

We bought a large crate for him in the first place. When he was a
puppy we put in a side of the crate's cardboard shipping box as a
divider to make it more cozy.  As he grew to full size (in an
incredible 6 months) he could barely turn around in it so we ordered
a "Giant Crate" from JMB by mail order.  He's 174 lbs now at 19 months.

We keep him in it whenever the house is empty and he sleeps while we're
gone.  He is confined for as long as 6 hours occassionally.  I'd like
to let him be free when he's alone so he can act as watchdog but we
don't quite trust him not to eat the house yet.  He has two old lady
sisters, a bulldog and a black lab who keep him company.    

I know that there are those who insist that confinement must be 
for short times only but I think our method makes home life
sane and it not cruel at all. He is very happy in his "domain."


-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Mike Andrews                                   VideOcart, Inc.
mandrews@hq.videocart.com                      Chicago, IL USA 
=-=- Madonna:  Andy Warhol called. Your 15 minutes are up.-=-=
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs