To crate, or not to crate...
Hello :)
Tomorrow it will be 4 weeks since Sam has been in the family. I have not kennelled him during this time. He and my Mini Dox, Wesley, bonded so well and so quickly, I didn't want to separate them by kennelling Sam. I tried to crate train Wesley when he was younger (4 months), but after a month of trying (and noise complaints from my upstairs neighbours) I abandoned the notion. Wes did fairly well without kennelling: he wasn't destructive and pad trained pretty quickly, so accidents were few.
I had not planned on kennelling Sam due to this past experience, and then when the dogs got along so well, I didn't want to separate them or add unnecessary stress to the household. For the past couple of weeks I have started to gate the dogs in the kitchen when I am out/at work. It works pretty well, though the kitchen is usually pretty messy when I get home (pet pads kind of torn up and strewn around, water bowl spilled, toys all over the place, etc). Actual destruction has been minimal (minor gnawing on a door and the baseboards). But when I got home today, Sam had somehow gotten a corner of the kitchen wallpaper off of the wall, and tore off a section of one strip.
And this is with him at 11 weeks old :/
I set up the kennel I'd gotten for Wesley in the kitchen; in hindsight, the kennel I'd gotten was too big for Wes (will be fantastic for an adult Lab) and set up a couple of towels in the bottom. It is an open wire cage design, so I draped two more towels over the top for some cave-like comfort. The door is left open. Both Wes and Sam will go inside, lay down, then get out and wander.
The easily repaired damage aside, do you folk think that starting to crate-train Sam at this juncture would be appropriate, or cause more harm/stress than good? Even when the dogs are separated by the gate, they hover close to one another and cry; how can I even approach this idea when I am at work for 8.5 - 12 hours at a time?
Help!
Tomorrow it will be 4 weeks since Sam has been in the family. I have not kennelled him during this time. He and my Mini Dox, Wesley, bonded so well and so quickly, I didn't want to separate them by kennelling Sam. I tried to crate train Wesley when he was younger (4 months), but after a month of trying (and noise complaints from my upstairs neighbours) I abandoned the notion. Wes did fairly well without kennelling: he wasn't destructive and pad trained pretty quickly, so accidents were few.
I had not planned on kennelling Sam due to this past experience, and then when the dogs got along so well, I didn't want to separate them or add unnecessary stress to the household. For the past couple of weeks I have started to gate the dogs in the kitchen when I am out/at work. It works pretty well, though the kitchen is usually pretty messy when I get home (pet pads kind of torn up and strewn around, water bowl spilled, toys all over the place, etc). Actual destruction has been minimal (minor gnawing on a door and the baseboards). But when I got home today, Sam had somehow gotten a corner of the kitchen wallpaper off of the wall, and tore off a section of one strip.
And this is with him at 11 weeks old :/
I set up the kennel I'd gotten for Wesley in the kitchen; in hindsight, the kennel I'd gotten was too big for Wes (will be fantastic for an adult Lab) and set up a couple of towels in the bottom. It is an open wire cage design, so I draped two more towels over the top for some cave-like comfort. The door is left open. Both Wes and Sam will go inside, lay down, then get out and wander.
The easily repaired damage aside, do you folk think that starting to crate-train Sam at this juncture would be appropriate, or cause more harm/stress than good? Even when the dogs are separated by the gate, they hover close to one another and cry; how can I even approach this idea when I am at work for 8.5 - 12 hours at a time?
Help!