If you crate your dog

[Bernadine]

When do you crate them and how long are they in the crate?

[peachykate]

We used to crate buca and peanut at night from the time we went to bed until we got up. There was also a time when we crated them while we were at work so from 7:15-5. We never did both.

[nomad100]

When we first got Willow, we crated her.  She was in her crate while we were at work - so about 8 to 8.5 hours.  She was about 1 year old when we got her. 

We were worried about leaving her in there all day until DH stayed home from work sick and she went in her crate and slept in there all day. 

We don't regularly crate her now but she still goes in there to sleep regularly and it is where she hides her Kong and her bone. 

[hopecounts]

We crate our dog at night and rarely any other time now, though he often gets in his crate on his own to chill out/sleep during the day.
When he was a puppy we crated him anytime we left the house to prevent accidents and him chewing up things/getting in trouble.

[Jalapeñomel]

We only crate one day now, but she is crated whenever we are gone, when she is fed or if she gets overly excited.

Somedays she is in the crate for 2 hours, other days for 8 hours.

She loves it in there, and often when we are home, she will sleep in there or chew on her bone in there.

[Jalapeñomel]

Oh and at night, when we are sleeping, she is in the crate.

[stephlove]

We crate our dog whenever we are not home or if we are sleeping. He can't be trusted. He eats EVERYTHING.

H gets up at 3:30 and lets him out, and he goes back into the crate when H leaves at 4:30. I let him out when I get up, and he's back in the crate between 7:30 and noon when H gets home. If we're going to be gone for the whole day, we usually block off the entire entry way for him with gates.

[jane6672]

We are watching my IL's dog, and he is crated while we are at work (8 hours) and then from when H goes to bed until I get up (6 or 7 hours).

[Norticprincess]

She is either crated now that she doesn't flip out in the crate I try to keep it under 5 hours. My mum will come let her out for a bit if it is longer. Or dropped off with someone else. She has anxiety and hoards things in the couch.

I know she no longer flips out in the crate (she used to at home and was out of it in under 5 minutes, but learned to deal at the friends' she stays with when in the hospital, I have a Skype account for her that auto answers so I can check from my phone. She sleeps most of the time after the peanut butter treats are gone.

eta she is free when we are home and at night. 

[Kristinmo]

She is crated anytime we leave the house. So from about 7-5 on weekdays.

[HiC]

They go in and out of their crates all day long to nap, but we only shut them in when they go to sleep at night....9 hours?

[MixedBerryJam]

Mar 20, 2013 7:02:38 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

When do you crate them and how long are they in the crate?

I've had a small dog that's about 7yo since she was about 4yo. When I got her we had elderly cats who were quite afraid of the dog, so we crated her at night so they could sleep on the bed with me (they were able to stay clear of the dog during the day). She actually likes the crate, and often naps in there on her own during the day so we have kept on with the nighttime crating even though the elderly cats are, sadly, now gone.

We only crated her when we were out of the house for the first few weeks we had her, until we were sure the cats (and turtle) were safe around her. They are.

We never ever ever use the crate for punishment, though, and when I see her in there on her own I often treat her, just to keep the association with the crate positive.

[Deleted]

We crate Wally (our doxie) whenever we leave the house and at night. He's in there all day but we put toys in there for him and he doesn't fight us when we tell him to go to bed.

[fuckyourcouch]

it depends. usually about 6 hours maximum

[thumper55]

anytime we leave the house. I have a flexible schedule, so it might be just a couple hours. However If I leave in the morning, it could be like from 11 to 6pm.  They are crated at night daily.

They get treats every time they go into their crate - they look forward to me telling them when it's time to go in

[cc]

When we leave the house, so about eight hours a day during the week. She will sometimes go in there even when we are home, to take a nap or just chill. I think she sees it as her bed/home. lol

[sawyerthedestroyer]

Maya is crated at night and when we run errands/leave the house. Night is about eight hours, errands vary from 30 minutes to a few hours and are not every day.

Sawyer is better behaved and doesn't get crated anymore, but when he was younger we crated him at night until he was fully house-broken and while we were at work.

[Deleted]

When I crated in the past it was never more than 5 hrs tops. I worked close to home and could go home for lunch

[berbles]

Any time we leave the house. The girls will fight if left alone.

So during the week, they're crated from 9-4.

[eb777888]

We crate her when nobody is home (separation anxiety). We do it by the front door. She's usually crated anywhere from 2-12 hours in a 24 hour period, depending on if H is working from home of if it's the weekend and we are all out, etc.

[hokiegirl82]

At night and when we are home, both dogs have free roam of the house but they are always with us if we are home - whether we are in the living room watching tv, in the basement watching tv, or sleeping in our bedroom - they have dog beds in each room and go to their respective bed depending what room we are in. If we are both gone, our yellow lab has free roam of the first level of the house, and our black lab is crated, so she is crated from abour 8:30 to 5 during the weekdays, then anytime on the weekends when we are both out of the house.

I hate crating our black lab, because for the first year and a half of her life her previous owner didn't want to deal with her, so she was locked in her crate basically 24 hours a day for a year and a half, so I really didn't want to crate her after she went through that. So, we used to gate our 2 labs into 1 room, but we found out quickly that our black lab likes to eat things - when we came home one day and she had eaten a chunk of the wall, we decided it was time to crate her, so now she is crated when we are gone. She seems to be ok with it now - she willingly goes in there when she sees us getting our stuff together to leave. Even though I hate crating her, I know it's for her own protection so she doesn't ingest something that could kill her.