A question you most likely often ask yourself often is ‘How long my dog should be left in his crate? Every fur baby is different.
Younger puppies cannot be left in a crate for as long as 8 hours. Physically, puppies cannot hold their bladders long enough, and it isn’t fair for you to expect that they can. A good general rule to follow is one hour in the crate for each month of age for example a three-month-old puppy should be fine in the crate for three hours. Waggin’ Tails Pet Services in Port Perry offers mid-day breaks or walks. Contact us directly to set up an appointment for services through our website at https://waggintailspetservices.ca , or email me at: sue@waggintailspetservices.ca.
Puppies should sleep in their crates at night; this helps them learn to sleep through the night. If you place the crate right beside your bed as soon as you bring your puppy home then your puppy will not feel lonely and frightened. Speaking from experience, believe me when I say they will wake you easily in the middle of the night for a bathroom break.
If you find that your dog is comfortable with the door closed for a few seconds, you can gradually increase the time the dog is in the crate. Remember to keep using an exit cue to tell the dog that he can leave. If your dog doesn’t have a problem remaining in the crate calmly for a few minutes then you can start closing the door and keep out of sight for a second before returning. Gradually you will be able to build up the amount of time your dog is in the kennel. If the dog starts to whine, ignore him, and let him out once he is calm. If you want to leave your dog in the crate for longer periods, try putting a favorite toy or a stuffed Kong into the crate as well.
It is important to be patient and not to push your dog through all of this training; you will be more successful if the crate training is done in baby steps. Once your dog is crate trained and house trained fully, you can probably leave the dog in a crate for up to 8 hours.
Waggin’ Tails Pet Services in Port Perry offers mid-day breaks or walks. You will often see Sue walking through the streets of Port Perry, or on a local trail providing that mid-day break or walk that the dog’s come to love and look forward to. You can reach Sue directly through their website at https://waggintailspetservices.ca , or by email me at: sue@waggintailspetservices.ca .
The dog should have good exercise before being left in the crate with something safe to occupy his attention. Your dog will likely spend most of the time sleeping!
This is part 4 of our 5 part series on the dog crating. Stay tuned for part 5 coming soon.
