Crate Questions

[AlliKat]

Hi everyone!

I've read through all of the threads on crate training, and it is definitely something we are going to do when Ripley comes home in three weeks.

However, I have a specific question about the crate. How big would you suggest it be? He will be 14 weeks when he comes home, but I'm not sure exactly how big he will be.

My parents gave us a crate they used when our family dog was a puppy, but it looks SO small to me. I know they aren't supposed to have much extra room in there (to prevent soiling) but it just seems extremely small to me. We want to have a toy and a kong in there, plus a water dish.

The crate we have is about 14 inches by 23 inches. What size crates have others used with success?

Thanks so much!

[el scrubbo]

Hey Alli,

We just went shopping this weekend for our new pup who arrives Friday appicon ! Felt like kids again as we looked over all the dog toys.

The size the breeder advised us to buy is 24x17x20. We also are buying a Noz2noz crate (maroon color--they are color coded by size) to use as crate when travelling and a Sherpa bag for airline travel. All of these we found by going to Petsmart and Petco.

Hope this helps :D

[luvnkitty]

Hi Allison ,
That crate sounds really small. We did not follow the rule about "not having extra room just enough to turn around in". MIA's crate was pretty big. We could have fit about 5 of her in there very comfortably. Mia stopping going to the bathroom in her crate about 2 weeks after she she came home .. BUT MIA was also VERY easy to potty train.
She took to the wee wee pads 123 which she used for a bit,then we started bringing her outside at 4 months ( when her shots were done) , she was fully housebroken by 5mos..., Never had an accident again.
I think the crate definitely was a great training tool. But because I never liked confining my dog to begin with and originally did not want to even use a crate ,I could not go with a small one. As you can see... I had no problems.
All that aside 14 X23 sounds like something he will grow out of real quickly. Then to add a water dish and toys .... IMO its too small.
This is' just my oppinion" but I hope it helps.

[gmacleod]

Personally, I'd buy the largest crate you think you'll ever need - and use a divider to make it smaller if you need to. Not every puppy actually requires the added incentive of not being able to get away from it to stop them soiling their crate. For the majority, just not being asked to hold on for longer than they can comfortably manage is enough. And if it turns out not to be enough for your particular pup - then out can come the divider to reduce the amount of space the pup has (heck, even a large cardboard box in one end of the crate usually does the trick ;)).

[mfixx3]

I agree... my Augie (almost 6 months now) had and still has a very large crate which he never once soiled in. Can't say that for outside the door a few times but hey - potty training is never a smooth process. We decided not to use wee wee pads and go straight for the great outdoors with bell training. By about 4 months he had the bell training down pat and only made an accident once in a while. By five months he was housebroken.

Another reason for the large crate - and I can't speak for everyone else's frenchie - but my little guy LOVES to stretch out when he sleeps. I'm convinced it's for optimal snoring capacity. :lol:

Good luck!

[SadPandas]

Our breeder suggested a bit smaller size than what we got for Orson, but I really love his crate! His is about 23"Hx19"Wx30"D. Orson is 1 year, 1 month now and weighs about 21-22 pounds, so he is not huge and he can totally stretch out in it. Granted, a lot of the room is taken up by the superfluous amout of cushy he has in there. He has a nice thick foam mat and on top of that, this huge fluffy bed that he just sinks into. It looks so comfortable; sometimes I wish I could get in there.:lol:

Like Gwyneth said, we put a big piece of cardboard taped to the inside of it when he was smaller. The thing looked so massive for him. Then we took it out as he needed more room. He never went potty in his crate and everything worked out well.

We got ours for a very good price and it is very sturdy and great quality; not cheep looking or feeling from:
http://www.dog.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=110158+019&Cat=Dog%20Crates
That is the one we gotand even though it says "fold & carry" it is not super quick to do so but is nice to have that option.

Good luck.

[AlliKat]

Thanks everyone for your responses! We are going to go with your suggestions (and our guts) and get him a bigger crate with a divider so we can make it smaller if necessary. I just can't fathom putting him in that tiny thing :(

Thanks again!

[marycas]

From a financial standpoint, thered be nothing wrong with starting with the hand me down and then getting a bigger one as it became necessary

I'm a 'my next dog will be a frenchie' person(with an ill 13 yr old Westie) so I cant relate to the breed but have crate trained several dogs. Ive not had one of them get so attahced to a crate they couldnt switch

Of course it IS fun buying new stuff for a new baby-I totally get that-and crates are pretty cheap but this stuff can add up!

I just wanted to point out that its unlikely Ripley(love the name)will get overly attached to the smaller one if you want to hold off

[bulldoggin30]

We tried a larger wire crate when Dutchie was little but he would go potty in it so we switched him to a smaller enclosed one which worked great. Then a couple months ago we put him back in the wire one and he loved it! Go figure! :confused: