Crate Train or Not to Crate Train

[Wilkie]

I have zero room for a crate, but I still want my dog to have a safe place to go to when she wants/needs to be alone. What can I do as an alternative? What about traveling, should I crate train? What is the general opinion on those seatbelt harnesses for dogs rather than a crate?

[lucyandbella]

One of my dogs, Bella, would be miserable without her crate, and is picky about it (has to be covered with a blanket but only halfway). It is her safe place and she often goes in there to get away from things that scare her or if she wants to be alone. However, I think her fear aggression and general anxiousness makes her need a crate more than your average dog. My other dog Lucy is crate trained, but never goes in it unless I cue her to. Even when scared she never thinks to go in there, she doesn't mind it, just doesn’t want or need it like Bella. When she does want her own space she crawls on her belly to get under my coffee table or goes to sit on "her" chair in the sitting room. My mom's dog is also crate trained but also never goes in there on her own, she prefers to go under a table too or on her dog bed. So I think your dog will probably choose her own safe place, and should be fine without one. As an alternative I would put a dog bed in your bedroom and leave the bedroom door open when guests are over. If she gets stressed hopefully she will retreat there and nobody will pester her. I think a bedroom is a good place for a dog to retreat to because usually a guest won't go in uninvited, and you will find people tend to pester dogs more when the dog is nervous and wants space because they want to make the dog "like" them . To practice making that her safe spot that she likes to be at give her food in a Kong or chews on the bed. If she likes to nest, add a blanket or two on top. She may not want/need to go to the bed but hopefully she gets it’s an option.

I don't crate in the car only because crates can't fit in my car. I use seatbelt harness and love them, my dogs can stand, sit, or lay down, but not walk around with mine. I would say you should use a harness if you are not crating at home because the crate only in the car might stress the dog out (others might feel differently though, I have never crated in the car so don't know how you introduce that). If you do get a seatbelt harness there are a few companies that are crash tested, most are not. Also consider how snug it fits, many are awkward shaped; it took three tries before I found one Lucy couldn't back out of (having a forty pound dog jump in your lap on the highway is not a good thing).

[rachel540]

We found the crate useful when puppy training, the door was closed through the night and at first wen we started leaving her, but as we gradually increased her space as she got bigger the door is always open with run of the house, but now it is peppers safe place and bed, she often puts herself to bed or if shes scared runs in there for cover. Ours is in the kitchen under to worktop where my dishwasher is supposed to be ( the sacrifices you have to make) so its sheltered and cosy, she often lays in there watching me cook. I think if we just had a bed it wouldnt be much of a "den" and i think they like that, and would most likely get moved about, pepper needs routine to make her feel safe, shes sensitive to change. We dont use it in the car because it doesnt fit, im afraid she just goes in the boot without a harness. Again we've made a cosy den in there so she can either watch us, look out the window or snuggle down after a long walk. I no its not ideal but we had no other option.

[Sarah83]

I wouldn't be without my crate now. Great place to put my dog when I need him to stay out of the way for whatever reason, necessary if he's going to come with us if we're sent to Cyprus or Canada or wherever and if he's ever injured or recovering from surgery it means I can easily confine him and enforce rest. Spen often goes and lies in his crate of his own accord.

Ruperts safe place was under the kitchen table at my parents, under the bed at home. He didn't fuss when he was put in his crate but he didn't often go in there just to chill out.

[Wilkie]

My family visits often and I get a lot of grief because I spoke of my interest in crate training. My father believes that crates are no place for dogs because it's like a jail and it looks sloppy having a crate in the house, he thinks it's embarrassing. Little does he know that crates can be easily dismantled and folded up when they aren't being used. I had to explain that you don't lock a dog up in a crate and throw away the key. Now that she's getting spayed, I don't need her ripping stitches.

[Ari_RR]

We don't use crate. Ari hated his giant crate from the very beginning, and we didn't insist. It stood in the corner for a while, slowly turning into a stand to pile things on, then we put it away.
We don't have any issues with him just roaming the house, we allow him on some furniture and he has his favorite spots on the sofa and chairs, which is fine with us, and we have doggie barriers if we need him confined to a particular section of the floor.
With the amount of walks and exercise he gets, usually he is mellow inside, and when he has a burst of energy - I'd much rather play with him or chase each other or do some training, than sticking him into a crate. There is really nothing super interesting on TV these days

Guests and visitors... Well, they just have to accept that they undergo a sniffing inspection upon entry, and some (less trustworthy) may be followed closely by a 95 lbs Ridgeback with a menacing look on his face for the first couple of minutes of their visit. Not a big deal. If they ignore him - he gets bored quickly and goes back to his favorite spot on the sofa. If they react to him - he may stick around longer, bring some toys so they can attempt to get a toy and he wouldn't let them (his favorite game). Most guests actually find this entertaining...

With that said, I think it might be useful to have a dog crate trained in case of an overnight stay at the vet, where they are crated.

[emmabeth]

I would always attempt to crate train any dog, its SO useful having a dog who can be securely shut in a crate IF necessary.

You might need to do some rearranging but if you get a decent sturdy crate you can put a bit of ply or hardboard on top, cover it with a blanket or something and hey presto, handy little table!

[Sarah83]

I've had comments about how dogs shouldn't be "locked away from their family" and "if you want a pet in a cage get a hamster" and other rubbish like that. I ignore it. While I'm sure some do crate their dog for far too long mine's in there for a few hours max and only if we're out (he has a tendency to actively search for books to eat) or have someone in doing some work in the house (it's very difficult to do anything with a Labrador trying to help).

[elisa]

I crate trained my dog as a puppy just to keep her and our stuff safe when I was gone and overnight. I always dismantled the crate other times because there was really no space. As a safe place Ansa chose under our bed. She goes there to sleep during the day and then at night even though she has two doggy beds - one right next to my side of the bed and the other a bit further away. Though at night she sometimes switches to a bed. My parents dog goes in a sliding door closet in the hall. (Funny story how they thought the pup has disappeared from the hall, where she was kept when they were away, and was then found sleeping in the closet.)

In Finland it is actually sort of against the law to lock up a dog in a crate. At least for any longer period of time per day or like as a habit. So crating is not really practiced and I only figured I could because of this forum saying it is ok and recommended.

I think the seatbelt harnesses require more training and care than a crate in a car. The dog can still move quite freely at least in my experience. And well then you have to cover the seats somehow but that does not really stop muddy paws. So if you plan on driving lots with a dog and have a big enough car then a crate would be what I would choose. Not that I have a car.

[Suzette]

Until Piper I raised all my pups without ever using a crate. I never even thought about a crate with any of them and it all went pretty well. I'm not sure why I got one for Piper, but she really does love it and it came in so handy for house training her. When she was a very young puppy, having her in a crate at night (right beside my bed) made nighttime potty training super easy. During the day, she was only put in it when we went out to run errands until I was sure she was reliable not to chew or potty, and from that point on she's had full run of the house.

I still have her crate up in the living room, door permanently open. She loves to sleep in there! Every now and then I think of taking it down since we never put her in there anymore, but I guess I'll leave it up for as long as she enjoys sleeping in there on her own.

[MPbandmom]

Both of my dogs are crate trained. Sky has a crate set up in the house and Sirius does not. Sky likes to den and Sirius doesn't. They do now travel in crates in the van. The van has kind of become the dog mobile. I have the seatbelt harnesses, but Sky doesn't like being restrained in that manner and either twists herself all up in it or just backs out of the harness and then is free to go wherever she likes in the car. Sirius is more likely to stay put, but will sometimes decide to follow Sky's example and back out of the harness. Supposedly if you can find a crash tested harness they are more safe in an accident than a dog being crated. Of course a dog that won't stay in them is better off in a crate.

[Erica]

I have a seatbelt harness for Opal and Ami. It's a Bergan, I think, but I lost the tether so I now I've made an alternate...a locking mountain climbing carabiner attached to the child seat anchor, and our Mountain Dog leash clipped into that - not through any metal parts, but straight through the handle loop and the loop the clip is on. I'll have to add a picture, as I'm awful at explaining, but I'm hoping that in the worst-case scenario of a crash, it'll hold up. I don't want to have to test it though!

A bit more on-topic...Onyx never liked his crate. He didn't hate it, he would go in it when asked, but he never volunteered to go in. Opal and Marble, on the other hand, loooove their crates. Opal was hanging out in one one day, and Sister had grabbed a handful of treats (Marble's cue to kennel up)...Marble jumped into a crate without seeing if it was empty first, and it wasn't! So there were two dogs in one crate for a couple seconds, before Opal said "too cramped" and went to the other crate.

Having a dog comfortable in a crate seems pretty useful to me - for previously mentioned reasons - but if your dog doesn't care for it, no need to keep it set up all the time. They do make useful tables if you're short on space.

[Wilkie]

I would always attempt to crate train any dog, its SO useful having a dog who can be securely shut in a crate IF necessary.

You might need to do some rearranging but if you get a decent sturdy crate you can put a bit of ply or hardboard on top, cover it with a blanket or something and hey presto, handy little table!

I have seen really cool looking tables... err crates I don't know if any of you have seen them, but I'm talking about the wooden crates that have a table top and dark wood finish. I guess someone figured that since they already used the metal crates as tables, why not make an actual table that has 2 functions. I have never witnessed a dog use one so I can't say whether they work well or not. I would assume that nobody would notice a dog under... err in the table if they weren't made aware of the magical canine .

[Wilkie]

One concern I have is, what happens in case of an emergency? Do you let someone that you trust know that you're going to run errands or you're at work and need them to check up on the dogs and let them out for a bit?

As for the seatbelt, how on earth do you train them to use one? Not that I will be doing that just yet, but for future reference. It's more dangerous to have animals running loose in a vehicle or even on the back of a pickup truck whether they're in a crate or loose. Where I'm from, it's against the law to put animals in the bed of a truck or have them sitting on your lap while driving. I couldn't imagine getting into an accident or slamming on the brakes and watching an animal go through the windshield or fly out of the truck or get crushed. I'm all about safety and comfort.

[gwd]

i can't imagine life without crate training, especially when my girl's in season. without a crate i would have a serious challenge keeping them separated.

also, it's handy when you have one that has an injury that requires immobility. it's also required for any competitive events. all of my kids are crate trained even though they are not in them on a daily basis. i do have two crates that i leave the door open on. my girl will occasionally choose that spot to nap, i also use it for stuffed sterilized bones they get while we have dinner. i don't shut the door but they get the their bones in their individual crates. each dog knows which crate is theirs and they know better than to go in the wrong crate. with a high value item like peanut butter stuffed bones, it solves the problem about anyone getting snarky with their treasure. when they finish, they come out.