Crate Survey

[Guest Nelsonismyhero]

I've got 3 vari-kennel style crates, size 500, in my bedroom. All the dogs sleep in their crates at night, but I leave the doors open and let them choose which crate they want. During the day when I'm not home they are confined to my bedroom and part of the hallway so they sleep in their crates during the day too. Ever since they've started sleeping in their crates at night I have gotten much better sleep, and I think they are more tolerant of being crated if I ever have to lock them up for some reason.

 

Audrey

[Guest mrs]

I have the largest wire dog crate. It's in our family room. We had to move a chair out of the room for it. I thought it would be temporary but Smitty LOVES his crate and would be lost without it (I crate him when I need to leave the house). I actually had to put a slightly smaller plastic crate (without the door) in the bedroom because when we first got him he was so unhappy pacing around at bedtime looking for his "den." Just happy I have the room for 2 large crates in my house.

[Guest patti909]

Only my Lacie is in a crate, because she hates to go outside.

We use a mesh soft sided crate because she broke a tow in between the bars of the metal crate, it was completely broken off and shattered and she lost that toe.

[Guest SunKissed]

We only keep Mav crated when we leave, as we have 2 cats, and while he doesn't seem to have a problem with them, I don't want to come home to drool covered kitties!

[Guest LindsaySF]

Bump for the newbies.

 

 

[marion]

No crates ever...free roam...free election of sleeping place in the house...sofas, beds or dog beds.

No problem ever...

[Guest RooCroo]

We use crates for fosters and puppies. After housebreaking, no crates. One exception - Hoovie can't be left home alone with other dogs in case of seizures. If we have a foster, we put her in the crate when we are away.

Edited August 8, 2009 by RooCroo

[Guest Heehoo]

I have 2 huge crates in my bedroom, which is right here by the living room. Gabby & Jack stay in them during the day. Gabby because she's 12 & slips on the floor sometimes. Pipi stays in the living room & Banker is in the kitchen. He is getting a little old & has problems holding it sometimes. The sitter has been instructed that if its raining or is going to rain, leave Banker out in the house so he can go in his closet.

Gabby also has mild seizures (seizure free a year) so that's the other reason. I leave them open at night & whoever wants to sleep in them, do. Pipi naps in them on Sat/Sun.

[Guest greytbuds]

My crate is located in the bonus room downstairs as my greyhound is only crated while I am away. It was the former resident's teenage son's bedroom/game room - now my sewing/sitting/extra TV room. It's alway much cooler down stairs and it's where the dog gets fed.

 

Greytbuds

[Guest mritter]

When do not crate our greyhound... When we adopted her on May of this year, we were told that it is best to crate your Greyhound. Well, we have been home with our cats, our kids and the dog and never a problem. I just think we have the ideal dog!

[Guest gecko_foot]

This is probably an odd question, but oh well - here goes:

 

I don't have a greyhound yet, but I'm trying to gather as much information as I can. I'm currently reading Livingood's book (Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies), but I had some questions about introducing a new greyhound to a cat.

 

I crate my cat at night and during the day when I'm gone. Do you think it would be safe to crate the greyhound and the cat in the same room to allow them to get used to each other? Or would you crate them separately to start out with and then gradually move their crates closer?

 

I plan on getting a dog that has been fostered with cats, but I'm worried about the dog feeling insecure without some company.

 

** My cat has never met a dog in an enclosed space before. We've met them outside, and he's a little nervous if he's on the ground with the dog, but if I'm holding him, he doesn't care.

Edited November 24, 2009 by gecko_foot

[Saffron]

We have a crate in the family room. A big one. I'd dearly love to get rid of it, such an eyesore, but it is Pilgrim's happy place. So we keep it up because it is her den. She was miserable when I took it down. So I set it up again, door almost always open!

 

I have always thought of crates as temporary control, and something to be graduated from quite quickly. That said, a dog who has been crate trained will not freak out if for medical reasons he/she has to be kept quiet in a crate. I was so glad that we had Pilgrim's crate and she liked it, when we had to keep her quiet and calm for 6 weeks after her major back surgery.

 

Crates have their place. They are not always a negative. Some greys like them.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Saffron

[Guest mcsheltie]

We use 42" crates and have a room for them in the basement. Our dogs eat in their crates and are always crated when we leave the house. The fosters sleep in their crates. Once a week each of our Greys sleep in their crates. I want them used to it, so if we go somewhere they will crate at night without having a temper tantrum.

 

ETA: When it is time to kennel up I open the cookie jar and get out of the way. Everyone runs to their crates waiting for their cookie

Edited November 25, 2009 by mcsheltie

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

 

In the bedroom, but only one sleeps in hers at night (by choice, with the door open) and the rest sleep in bed.

 

All but Sophia are crated in there when I leave. She is loose in the bedroom with a muzzle on and just sleeps on my bed. The Whippet is loose in the rest of the house, and just sleeps on the sofa with the cats. I hang out in the bedroom the majority of the time, when I am home. It's my "domain" so to speak.

 

Here's Roman in his crate (no I would never leave him in there with a coat or collar on! I just put him in there to eat and snapped a pic of him waiting on breakfast).

 

He is a BIG boy, we have big Borzoi sized crates.

 

[Guest gecko_foot]

I'm probably the oddball in this thread as I don't have my greyhound yet. I hope to pick him out at the meet and greet this weekend - wish me luck! Anyway, my crate is 48 x 30 x 33 and it's in the living room right beside the couch. The dog I'm interested in does well in a crate anyway, but I'm planning on training him to stay in the crate when he's not playing.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Gecko_foot, I just saw your question. I would see how the dog and cat react to each other first. If neither seems freaked out or too excited by the other's presence, it should be fine to have their crates in the same room. I would space them far apart and then gradually move them closer together. Good luck.

[Guest gecko_foot]

Gecko_foot, I just saw your question. I would see how the dog and cat react to each other first. If neither seems freaked out or too excited by the other's presence, it should be fine to have their crates in the same room. I would space them far apart and then gradually move them closer together. Good luck.

 

I crate my cat at night and when I'm gone during the day. I would like to let the dog sleep in my bedroom - the cat in his crate and the greyhound on a bed in the floor. The dogs I'm looking at are in the same foster home with 7 cats, and while I know this is no guarantee that they will be safe with my cat, do you think it would be ok for them to sleep in the same room if one of them is crated?

[Guest LindsaySF]

Bump for the newbies!

 

 

I also wanted to bump this part.....

 

A question for everyone that is voting. Do you know the height of the crates you are using? Not every 48" crate is the same height, for example. I was reminded of this by someone today.

 

The 48" crates I have are 35" tall, but the choice I included in the poll is 33"H. Some 48"L crates are only 32"H. They seem to be making them smaller and smaller!

 

For a tall breed of dog like a Greyhound, the height of the crate is a very important measurement.

 

 

[Guest Jubilee251]

I have a 42" crate for Molly - it's become a permanent fixture in our bedroom, but we always leave the door open. She's known to go in there if something has scared her or stressed her out, and she also sleeps in there when we're gone during the day. Technically, we don't need it anymore, but she seems to enjoy having her little bed/space, so we just keep it there.

 

At night, when I grab a cookie and say "Bedtime!" she goes right into her crate. (She hasn't attempted to get on the couch or bed yet, unfortunately.)

[Guest Shermanator]

We have since gotten rid of the crate, since we did not need it, but when we first got the boys, we had the biggest once with the wire/metal pan at the bottom. We were told to use this one, since the dog can see everything around it, and feel less confined, alleviating some crate-anxiety.

However, several weeks after Sherman came home, we stopped using it. Sherman was showing horrible crate-anxiety. Howling and crying, and becoming an 80 pound statue when we would try to put him in the crate. We didn't know what to do - we were first time dog owners, and thought he'd get used to it. The first night he came home, we put him in the crate for the night. He could see directly into our bedroom, so he was not left alone. We gave up after 5 minutes, his howling, and crying was unbearable. We let him sleep one of his beds, next to our bed, and he promptly curled up quietly, and was fast asleep. We stopped immediately the night we came home and Sherman 1. broke a tooth while chewing on the crate, 2. had horrendous big D (which was becoming a pattern, he had done this several times before when we left him in his create) and 3. he set off our house alarm- when he heard the garage door open, he must have freaked out in his crate, and slammed it into the wall so hard, it set off the glass-breakage sensor of our house alarm (that was fun- we didn't get to the phone fast enough when the security alarm people called, so the cops had to come out.)

We immediately stopped the crate, and started to video tape him when we left the house, so see if he was being destructive, or stressed out. Stopped that after the 3rd time, and all we had were hours of him lounging on his bed, fast asleep.

 

When Patton came home, we pulled the crate out of the garage, and opened it for Patton. He loved the crate at first- we simply left the door open at all times, so he was never shut in the crate, while Sherman roamed free. After about a month, he stopped using the crate, and preferred my office, on the other side of the house as his quiet 'safe place' out of everyone's way. So we ended up getting rid of the crate entirely, and donated it to our rescue organization.

[Guest barkdogs]

I have a 48" wire crate--used it for Allistair when he was a puppy (he was 7 months old when I adopted him... ) One crate, 6 dogs. The only time when I shut the door is during meal times, to cut down on wandering.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I have the 48" crate for Jayne. It's 33" high, but I have a 2" thick foam dog bed in there for her to sleep on, so it ends up being shorter, but she doesn't have trouble with that.

 

Her crate is just inside the door of a spare bedroom off the living room. For the first two months it sat in the doorway to that room, but now it is against the wall the door is on. We crate her while we're gone for her safety and that of the cats. While she's shown no agression toward them, and no inclination to chase them, we're only three months into having her in our home, and I'd much rather be safe than sorry. She eats meals in the crate and will sometimes hang out in it with the door open while we're home.

 

She sleeps loose in our bedroom at night and has another thick foam bed on the floor at the head of the bed on my side. The door to the room is closed, so the cats are locked out, not because of the dog, but because Bob can't seem to sleep in our room if he isn't on one of our faces.

[Guest caliebsmom]

We have a 48" wire crate but it's 35" tall. We hunted online for the taller one since we thought we would be getting a large male. It turned out we were correct and Calieb fits well in his crate. It is in the room that would technically be the dinning room but we never use it as that. It is pretty central to the main floor and right by where we come in and out. We keep the door to his crate open all the time and he goes in and out willingly. He has been great in it when we leave, phew. He does sleep in our room with us at night on his bed.

 

Here is a pic of him hanging out in it while I was cleaning.

[Guest Dorian_Grey]

Dorian started with a 42" but it was way too small. His racing weight is 74lbs.

 

He is much more comfortable in the 48". We keep it in the bedroom only because of my roomates. However I am moving and in 2 months his crate will be in the living room of the new place.