When Did You Stop Crating During The Day?

[PabloDH]

I'm a first time dog owner. My greyhound Pablo has been in our home for approximately 1.5 months. During that time, he peed in the house two times, both of which occurred when I was out of the house, but my husband was home--maybe coincidence maybe not. It's been about 3 weeks since the last incident. Every time we are both gone, we have come home to no accidents. The longest we have left him with the crate door open is 5 hours and he was totally fine. Whenever we are home, we keep the crate door open and Pablo has never had an accident. He has never exhibited chewing/destructive tendencies. Due to the two incidences and because we live in a rental, we have been crating Pablo with the door closed during the day while we are both at work to prevent any more accidents. However, I just feel bad about Pablo being in that crate for 8 hours every day and I am thinking about keeping the crate door open and letting him have free reign of the downstairs during the day. How do you know when your hound is ready to be outside of the crate for extended hours?

Edited January 2, 2019 by PabloDH

[greysmom]

Ultimately, you don't know until you try it.

 

If he's quiet during the day and mostly sleeps, hasn't had any accidents, and seems to be settling in well, I would give it a try. Set up a surveillance camera or some way to check in remotely during the day so you can see how it's going. You can put him in the crate as you normally do, but leave the door open, since that is what he's used to.

 

Good luck.

[Rakete]

As european dog owner I would say "Crating? Why crating? Can be done completely without."

 

(Well, honestly, sometimes I use crates with fosters but... crates are still quite uncommon here allthough they became more popular some years ago. But never thought about crating dogs before I read about it in US forums.)

[LaFlaca]

I think crating is over rated. It can be useful in some circumstances and with some dogs. None of my dogs and neither of my 2 Greyhounds did well being crated. They were more comfortable confined to the dining room/kitchen area and kept out of the bedrooms and bath when home alone.

[45MPHK9]

8 hours locked in a cage?

[Remolacha]

I never crated any of mine, so I can’t tell you “when” I do understand your concern being in a rental, but I’d say, leave the door open and see how it goes. He will probably be fine.

[Mercsmom]

I stopped crating Mercury when he broke out of the crate by pulling the door inward.

I still have no idea how he did it without grievously injuring himself (though he did have a thousand tiny marks on his legs).

[fastpointydoge]

I think I stopped crating after 1-2 months. Just used it for potty training. Once that was confirmed then I took the crate away, so there will be that moment of truth when you just test it out.

[Scoutsmom]

Sounds to me like he has earned the right to go uncrated.

[HeyRunDog]

I agree with everyone else, give it a go. If he wasn't house trained, baring a couple of accidents, and chewed everything then that would be different but he seems well adjusted to living in a home.

 

I had a crate to start with because that what I was advised to do but the door was always open and Grace used it as her bed and safe place. The crate is now put away as Grace has decided that the sofa is now hers.

[smurfette]

As european dog owner I would say "Crating? Why crating? Can be done completely without."

(Well, honestly, sometimes I use crates with fosters but... crates are still quite uncommon here allthough they became more popular some years ago. But never thought about crating dogs before I read about it in US forums.)

I'm with you. We only crated puppies (not greyhounds though) during their first time in the house using the crate we also used in the car. This way we never had any problems with car rides.

[sobesmom]

I suggest leaving him uncrated with limited access. Maybe in the kitchen, and block off the other rooms. Then.... kitchen and livingroom. Maybe not "too" much freedom all at once.

 

Full disclosure - I'm a rental owner, so that might be influencing my opinion to be cautious- LOL!

 

Actually, this is what I did with all my fosters and new dogs, but we only crated at night, and only for a short time, so limited access was part of the acclimation process, without the day crating step.

 

I understand crating has its uses, and in many households it's the norm and necessary, but our goal was to ditch the crate as soon as possible.

I stopped crating Mercury when he broke out of the crate by pulling the door inward.

I still have no idea how he did it without grievously injuring himself (though he did have a thousand tiny marks on his legs).

Sobe, my very first grey, did the same thing. He broke off an incisor doing it and got scraped up a lot. Thank goodness it wasn't worse. I was less keen on crating any longer than absolutely necessary after that.

[Dad2Paisley]

We always crate with new dogs. Then over time you will know when it's good to non crate. Even if they aren't crated anymore, I still leave the crate door open. The crate is their safe space and for some dogs, sometimes they will go in there to get away from the pack, or TStorms, or just to sleep.

We still crate 2 of ours. One of our dog sometimes growls and can be snippy and the other one, could have a party when we aren't home. LOL.

We always crate them when our contractor comes over to do house work and the doors and our fenced gate has to be open.

[PabloDH]

Thanks for your input everyone. Our kitchen, dining area, and living room (the first floor) are all connected so difficult to baby gate, but we have managed to block off the kitchen at least. Pablo does not have fond memories of our second floor after a recent bath there, so he refuses to go upstairs anymore--I consider that part of the house blocked off...for now. We have left Pablo at home with the crate door open and free reign of the downstairs for the last few days while we are at work and no accidents or issues! I'm so proud of him (and relieved for us)! I think we will use the crate with discretion, but overall I think it's ok to let Pablo hang out outside of his crate during the work week. I will still keep the crate with the door open because I find that he likes spending time in there even when we are at home, it's his safe space and I'm totally cool with that.

[Remolacha]

Great news! Not surprising though, he sounded “ready”

[fastpointydoge]

What a great update to hear!

[Hubcitypam]

Yea!!! Good boy Pablo.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Hubcitypam

[greytpups]

Wonderful update.

 

I’m another one who doesn’t use crates. In fact I can’t remember if I ever asked the fosters if our greyhounds were crated. 14 years ago we adopted Ben, and his foster family said he loved his crate. So we came home and set it up for him. The neighbours said he cried a lot when we were out. After 1 day... goodbye crate. We never set up another one again and we’ve adopted 4 more greyhounds since then. In fact, i don’t even remember we have one when we bring a new pup home now.

 

Some people say they use crates so their greyhounds are used to them and will go into them willingly at the vets, really like them feel safe, etc. According to our vet, they were always well behaved angels, so it’s never an issue.

[sobesmom]

Excellent update! Thank you for letting us know how it worked out! You obviously knew the right time to uncrate. Well done! I also think it's a great idea to keep his crate accessible for his "private place" choice. That will come in handy when you have plumbers, etc come in the house, so you can put him in there for his safety and he'll be cool with it. Well done. You get the win !

[cleptogrey]

can't get this 12 year old out of his crate! every time we put it away he's depressed, bring it back out and he's as snug as a bug in a rug. how about giving your pup options?