Crates

[Guest 2greys2cats]

So we've had our greyhounds for nearly 2 years. They started out with us using the crates a lot. Every day. Over these nearly 2 years they have weaned themselves out of the crates due to being more trustworthy. They don't go in them at all, except my female will lay in hers periodically a couple times a week on her own. And I do use the crates to feed them, and when they eat bully sticks (because frankly wet penis slime all over the house is just Nasty lol). I also use them periodically when we have work done in our house to prevent them from running outside. Anyway, my question is what do other people do if they don't use crates? I would love to hear from folks that don't use crates at all. I can certainly stand between them when they eat, but how do I have them eat bully sticks, they enjoy them so much. And what do I do with them if we have workers? Bring them upstairs and gate them in our bedroom like we do at night? I've just never had greyhounds without crates, so it's sort of a staple in our house. We've used them for fostering but I don't foster much anymore. I would really like the extra room in my living room, because right now two huge crates take up quite a bit of room. Thanks in advance

[Guest Eyeblaura]

We don't use a crate at all. I only have one dog so the feeding thing isn't an issue for me.

 

Nasty treats are fed outside. Anything raw or slimy gets eaten in the backyard.

 

Workers or lots of coming and going, he is either put in the backyard or upstairs in our bedroom with the door closed. I used to just put him upstairs and close the gate we had at the top of the stairs (for my toddler) but he would stand at the top of the stairs and whine. If I put him in our room and close the door he goes and sleeps on his bed.

[Guest 2greys2cats]

We don't use a crate at all. I only have one dog so the feeding thing isn't an issue for me.

 

Nasty treats are fed outside. Anything raw or slimy gets eaten in the backyard.

 

Workers or lots of coming and going, he is either put in the backyard or upstairs in our bedroom with the door closed. I used to just put him upstairs and close the gate we had at the top of the stairs (for my toddler) but he would stand at the top of the stairs and whine. If I put him in our room and close the door he goes and sleeps on his bed.

Thank you for replying! I can't give treats outside here because I live in New England and there's too much snow and it's very cold. I think I had read before that some people put a towel down on their dog's bed and make them eat the bully stick on the bed

[OwnedBySummer]

I've never crated dogs. Right now, I only have Summer so I don't have to deal with feeding two dogs or anything. When workers are here, she just lies on her bed in the main floor family room. If it was an issue, I would just close the french doors.

 

For feeding multiple dogs, I just fed them side-by-side (back when I had two), with some space in between. With treats, they would usually just take them to their favorite spots and eat them. Never had any issues.

 

For Summer's "nasty" treats, I've taught her to eat them on her bed. I do the towel thing.

 

Edited February 11, 2013 by OwnedBySummer

[Guest Clawsandpaws]

We used a crate for maybe 3 days max. We have linoleum floors in the living room, so that's where he get's a bully stick, when we had carpet everywhere I would put all his treats on a paper towel and he would eat over it.

 

As far as the workers, Dudley does not like to be locked in a room with the doors closed if I'm not there, so I would baby gate him in the bedroom (I am always home when workers are present) Is there a way that you can store the crates in case of an emergency?

[Guest 2greys2cats]

We used a crate for maybe 3 days max. We have linoleum floors in the living room, so that's where he get's a bully stick, when we had carpet everywhere I would put all his treats on a paper towel and he would eat over it.

 

As far as the workers, Dudley does not like to be locked in a room with the doors closed if I'm not there, so I would baby gate him in the bedroom (I am always home when workers are present) Is there a way that you can store the crates in case of an emergency?

Absolutely, I would never just get rid of them altogether. I would store them in the basement in case I needed them.

I think it will be fairly easy to train them eat their bully sticks on their beds. I'm just wondering now about feeding their meals. They've been used to eating in their crates for nearly 2 years and I'm wondering what they'll do with this change.

Well I might as well jump in and try it LOL

Edited February 11, 2013 by 2greys2cats

[RedHead]

I've never had a crate except for puppies. I have nothing againt them, I just didn't have one when I got Teague, plus I had 3 weeks off from work so I didn't have to leave him alone until he had done a lot of alone training. I have never had a problem with any of my dogs uncrated. We go for a run before work and they basically have free reign in the house and are fine. Feeding is easy as well, Karma eats in the kitchen and Teague eats in the hallway (he won't go in the kitchen for some reason, but it makes things easier that way!). They don't have any aggression eating side by side either. So...I guess if I had problems where a crate would be useful I would get one, but since everything is fine without, I haven't put down the $ to get one.

[Guest Clawsandpaws]

Absolutely, I would never just get rid of them altogether. I would store them in the basement in case I needed them.

I think it will be fairly easy to train them eat their bully sticks on their beds. I'm just wondering now about feeding their meals. They've been used to eating in their crates for nearly 2 years and I'm wondering what they'll do with this change.

Well I might as well jump in and try it LOL

I don't have multiples so no advice there!

[Hawthorn]

I've never used crates.

 

For feeding, their bowls are about 6 feet apart and I always stand between them to supervise but have never had any problems. For really high value long-lasting treats, I would babygate them in separate rooms, but this isn't necessary for normal treats.

 

We have a total of four babygates in the house (very secure extra tall ones that are screwed into the door frames) and we have a choice of three different rooms that they can be babygated into in the event of workmen in the house etc. Plus one of us always stays in the room with the dogs, as I don't trust workmen not to open babygates etc.

[a_daerr]

I'm a big fan of crates. We used them primarily to help with housetraining. Then once my two were reliable, we slowly integrated them away from the crate. They are fed in the same room, but opposite sides. When Truman started hitting adolescence, we did have some issues with food aggression and he would growl (even if he just heard Henry's footsteps in the dining room, it would set him off). So I did some desensitization training by asking Henry to come closer, then putting him in a down-stay while I dropped treats in Truman's bowl. Problem solved! We give our guys smoked knee/knuckle bones, so they're not too bad mess-wise. I just run the vacuum cleaner after they're done. And we just had a new furnace installed earlier this year, plus several issues with Comcast that required repairmen. I let my guys say hello, then after that, they leave the maintenance people alone and hang out wherever I am. If something comes up and I'm not home (like when our new floors were being installed), they get babygated in the bedroom. This is all stuff that worked for my dogs.

 

It's definitely your choice whether or not to phase crates out. If your dogs are used to the crates and their routine works well, it may be worth it to just leave them up.

[Guest 2greys2cats]

I'm a big fan of crates too.... obviously, because we've used them for nearly two years. However they don't ever really go in them unless they are eating kibble or munching on bully sticks. Yes, it's routine, and I do hate to upset their routine. But they are huge and in the way, and I think (and hope) the dogs could adapt to a new routine of eating separately with monitoring. I guess the input I was looking for was reassurance that I won't be upsetting their world too much by removing them. I'm going to do it on a weekend when I'm not rushed and can let them take their time to eat because they're going to be confused I'm sure for a couple of days. If we have workers, we can gate them in our bedroom, just like we do at night.

Thanks for everyone's responses!

[tydyelady]

Toley is our second greyhound, and the 2nd one to hate and get very destructive to himself in the crate. After Toley breaking a tooth to try to get out of the crate, it went in the garage to be returned to its owner that we borrowed it from. Opie, our first grey, was the same way - actually bent bars and broke out of the crate, scratching himself up. After a few bad weeks, Toley is now good in the house, and sleeps most of the day (in our bed, but oh well!). If we have workers (very rare), I have been know to leash a dog to me. Otherwise, nobody comes in our home when we are not there. The places I will be boarding Toley the dogs do not have to be in crates. I would have kept the crate if he liked it, or felt secure in it, but with his SA, it made it worse.

Edited February 12, 2013 by tydyelady

[vjgrey]

We're lucky enough to have an extra room we can use as a "hound room," so that's where my three are fed. Raised stands are in three corners of the room, and everyone knows where their spot is. They'll take bully sticks and treats to a bed or the living room rug, and we don't have any issues. I'd probably worry more about separating them with a super high-value treat like a marrow bone, but we haven't given those out in a while.

 

We secure them with baby gates - either at the kitchen door, which gives them access to my office and our bedroom, or in their hound room, if we're having work done on this side of the house.

[Guest kahjul]

No crates here. 2 eat outside but several yards from eachother. (1 eats immediately but the alpha eats slow and the other wont bother her until shes done). 1 eats in the house. This would work if I just put the 2 in the kitchen with the gate up and the other by the fireplace if outside wasn't an option. Treats are eaten on beds with towels (except for the girl who prefers her privacy by the fireplace-she likes the tile. Shes a bit odd). They can easily be locked in any room or gated in the kitchen if need be. I also have a large dog run outside, but that won't work for you. 1 sometimes prefers being alone, so sometimes I'll leave just her either in my room for the day or put the other 2 outside so she can have her 'down time'.

[Guest LauraB]

Dillard loves his crate. He has many rugs and blankets all over the house and he often chooses to go in his crate. He also sleeps in his crate in our room, because otherwise he jumps up on our bed in middle of the night and lies down on top of DH. We crate him when we go out. Otherwise he stands by the window and cries. When we come home, I open the door to the crate and sometimes he lies there before greeting us.

[Guest 2greys2cats]

No crates here. 2 eat outside but several yards from eachother. (1 eats immediately but the alpha eats slow and the other wont bother her until shes done). 1 eats in the house. This would work if I just put the 2 in the kitchen with the gate up and the other by the fireplace if outside wasn't an option. Treats are eaten on beds with towels (except for the girl who prefers her privacy by the fireplace-she likes the tile. Shes a bit odd). They can easily be locked in any room or gated in the kitchen if need be. I also have a large dog run outside, but that won't work for you. 1 sometimes prefers being alone, so sometimes I'll leave just her either in my room for the day or put the other 2 outside so she can have her 'down time'.

Eating outside isn't an option here. It gets way too cold and in the rain or extreme heat it's not ideal. They are house pets and I'd prefer to keep them inside with us to eat. I'm going to take the crates down this weekend and see how it goes.

 

Dillard loves his crate. He has many rugs and blankets all over the house and he often chooses to go in his crate. He also sleeps in his crate in our room, because otherwise he jumps up on our bed in middle of the night and lies down on top of DH. We crate him when we go out. Otherwise he stands by the window and cries. When we come home, I open the door to the crate and sometimes he lies there before greeting us.

Mine used to cry at the window but I just let them...after a week or so they figured out crying wasn't going to make us come back so they gave up lol. I'd rather give them some freedom to walk around.

[Guest snoopycomehome]

We have never had crates, but will probably get a few when we move since we plan to foster.

 

Raw chicken gets eaten outside. Chicken feets, marrow bones, etc they eat on their blanket-type beds because we can wash them easily. There is one in the living room and one in the office, and they know that is the ONLY bed they can eat messy stuff on. To train them was a pain in the butt for a few weeks...if one of them moved their treat to another area of the room/house, we would pick it up and put it back on the correct bed. Dragon caught on quickly; Gypsy not so much. But by being consistent and taking it away & moving the item, she eventually learned if she wanted it she would have to cooperate.

 

Bully sticks aren't a problem. They put one end in their mouth and prop the opposite end on the carpet and chew with their heads sideways. They aren't big droolers, so no mess or smell. Dh has banned cow hooves, though. The dogs LOVE them, they last a long time, but he can't deal with the strong odor!

[cleptogrey]

if my house was bigger i would have the crates up ALL the time. my dogs LOVE their crates! felix even has decided which crate is HIS when he is boarded. he stares the other dogs out of his favorite spot and hangs there. i sent a large box of dog biskets to the boarding home one year for one of the dog's b-days. well- all the dogs ran up to debbie to get their cookies- felix saw the cookies and beelined to "his" crate. yup, cookies = get in your crate. at home...it's musical crates.

 

i store them under the bed, when there is a big storm- out comes the crates. annie gets freaked out and it's a safe secure place for her. i'm glad it was out for that big noreastern- both years. when company comes w/ small children- well- they are out but it seems as if the kids get a bigger bang out of playing doggie and locking each other up. annie doesn't do well with young ones- so, she's in for everyone's safety.the kids are always busy playing w/ felix or his crate. when workmen come it's crates out and erected. with all the banging and going in and out- or big tree work- better safe than sorry. i never want to chance things w/ stange noises. even when i had rock solid terriers- workers=crates.

[sobesmom]

IMHO - it depends on the dogs, and the household. We're a non-crating house. We DO use a crate when we foster. In our bedroom, at night, for the first few nights as a potty-training aide, and to ensure there are no inter-dog-issues when we're sleeping. It's what they're used to off the track, so it's a safe-spot. We leave the crate there any time the foster wants to go into it, door open. Some do -some don't. Most fosters transition out of the crate very quickly. Within a few days. I DID have one foster that we left the open-door crate available for - for the 2 moths we fostered her. She would go to it to "chill" when she got stressed. When she went to her adoptive home - we recommended - and they provided - a crate - in the bedroom - that she could go to as her "safe spot". She was a bit of a spook - but fully functional if she had a "safe spot" to to go for a few minutes to chill.

 

That said - being basically a "non-crating" household - when I feed raw meaty bones - I do it outside. My dogs get them more in nice weather than in bad weather. When people came to move a stove out of the house that required all doors being open for obvious dog escape, and they certainly didn't need a dog underfood - I shut my grey in the bedroom. She whined and scratched at the door for a couple minutes - but 15 minutes later - I found her sleeping on my bed.

 

Without a crate - you CAN shut your dog in a room if necessity dictates. And they'll be FINE.