SerenityJo
Kansas
MH
Posts:82
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| 02/27/2010 12:18 PM |
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So at night of course I'm going to have my puppy in a crate. I wondered if it would make any difference where I put it. Should I put it by my bed where I can reach my hand in at night to let her know I'm still there? Should I put it where I can see her and she can see me? My room is fairly small so I'll have to rearrange to get it to fit in certain places.
Thank you! |
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:6748
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| 02/27/2010 2:43 PM |
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| I always put the crate next to my bed so I can reach in at night at least for the first week. I usually wear them out, take them out to use the bathroom just before I am ready for bed. Then I bring them in and put them in the crate and sit next to it where they can see till the fall asleep. Then I get in bed and go to sleep too. With the crate next to the bed you can also hear them when they get restless because they need to go out at night. I have a big soft sided crate that opens from the front, but also unzips from the roof. That makes it easy to reach in when they are puppies. |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
     
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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Splat
Illinois (Northern)
MH
Posts:2439
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| 02/27/2010 3:46 PM |
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I second that....I put mine by the bed....I was going to put it close enough I could reach my hand in, but my pup ended up really liking his crate so I just had it where he could see me. I also put the shirt I wore the day I picked him up in there with him so he could smell me.
I tired mine out, let him out to go potty and then I put him in the crate and I sat in bed and read a book for a bit...he fell right to sleep! |
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TessaGA
Georgia
MH
Posts:2378
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| 02/27/2010 3:50 PM |
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| Tessa's crate has always been in the bedroom - not by the bed though. I always thought that just our presence and smell is reassuring enough. |
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To live without dogs would mean accepting a form of blindness. [Thomas McGuane]
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easyedwin
Birmingham, AL
MH
Posts:128
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| 02/27/2010 3:53 PM |
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| Queen;s crate has been in my bedroom from day one. She is usually worn out at night while we are watching TV. I send her out to pp poo poo, then to the crate while I wind the day to a close. She sleeps soundly for 7 hours. I have not had to take her out in the middle of the night and she has not soiled her crate. FYI |
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Why do real estate developers ruin so many landscapes? |
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Shelley
Bristol, UK
MH
Posts:693
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| 02/28/2010 12:31 AM |
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Just to play devils advocate...
Me & my partner sleep in an attic conversion and have to go up a steep loft ladder to get to our bedroom, so having Hogan and his crate up there would have been near impossible, especially as he sleeps in his crate at various points throughout the day.
So, with this in mind, we decided that he needed to stay in his crate in the living room from day one.
Night one, we tired him out, took him out to go pee and put him in the crate, and went to bed. I was worried I wouldn't hear him from the attic - but no such luck  We had in with him a bowl of water, a few biscuits, his favourite toy, a T-shirt I had been wearing, and a T-shirt rubbed over his litter mates.
I soon stopped putting the water bowl in as he just tips it over.
He cried for half an hour and it was TORTURE. I'm not going to lie - my heart nearly broke, I pretty much had to tie myself to the bed to stop myself from going down there - but it's the right thing to do, in my opinion.
We had decided on set "pee pee" times throughout the night. We went to bed at 12, then at 3am went down, scooped him up, took him to the garden, once he had pee pee'd, took him back in, put him back in crate and went back to bed - no attention/cuddles/playing. He cried for another half hour then went back to sleep.
We then got up at 6am - and stayed up.
We did this routine for about a week until changing it to 5am, and it's now 6am and we don't get up in the night at all.
He now doesn't cry (apart from if we don't get up IMMEDIATELY after the alarm goes off - no snooze button for us .
In my opinion (and it's a humble one - a lot of the people on here are MUCH more experienced than I am) it doesn't matter where the crate is as long as you are consistent with it.
Good luck! |
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Splat
Illinois (Northern)
MH
Posts:2439
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| 02/28/2010 5:44 AM |
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I have to agree that as long as you are constant and don't give in it doesn't matter where it goes.
The reason I put ours in the bedroom was for several reasons:
1) small living room, more space in the bedroom
2) we lived with my parents at the time (thank goodness not anymore) and my father was not happy about us getting a dog so I had to put the cage where I could hear the smallest sound he made and put it where I thought he was least likely to whine or cry or howl because I didn't want him waking up my father or even my kids.
Luckily Blitz liked his cage and never made a peep! My father was very impressed he was prepared for lots of night of no sleep! |
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everbell
Kanata, ON
MH
Posts:2737
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| 02/28/2010 7:33 AM |
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Ya ... another one for the "not in my bedroom" side. As much as I would love to have the dogs in my bedroom, the cats were there first, and since we were already disrupting their lives by bringing in Bo, we decided he would have to sleep elsewhere.
For the first two weeks, he was in a bedroom across the hall. When that became impractical (too heavey to carry him down the stairs -- seriously, do any of these dogs WALK down the stairs. Mine both go racing down them like the house is on fire.)
For the next 2+ years the crate was in our living room -- not really too practical if he needed to be crated and you had stuff you wanted to do in the kitch (open concept).
Finally, we had our basement finished this summer (part of the "having two dog" plan). Both dogs have their crates downstairs (in a nice little niche the construction guys set up just for them  ). They are very happy down there, and it's very easy to crate them and do work upstairs when needed.
I guess it's personal choice and space. I don't think there is a "right" or "wrong" location. |
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Joce and Rich
Bogart and Shiraz (GSPs)
Roxane (RIP: 1995-2009) and Tiger Lily (Cats)
The Everbell Adventures |
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SerenityJo
Kansas
MH
Posts:82
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| 02/28/2010 8:47 AM |
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| Okay.. Thank you all! That helps a lot and I'm getting ready to find a crate and get it set up (by my bed.) My father recommended where she could see me, but by my bed seems a bit more logical. |
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:6748
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| 02/28/2010 8:51 AM |
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I agree with all the posts on this one even though I start mine in a crate next to my bed. I am lucky in that I have a huge bedroom with plenty of room for cats and dogs. So, my dogs sleep in my bedroom even when they get older if they want too. After a puppy gets trustworthy (varies by dog and age as to when that is, but usually around a year), I give them run of the house. The result has been that Belle (my oldest) sleeps in different places at night, but rarely does she sleep in the bedroom. She is usually on the sofa in the family room. Halo (my middle girl) sleeps in my spare bedroom/library and usually comes into the bedroom around 3 am. Ringo (my baby) comes to bed with me. Ringo sleeps with mom and Halo usually joins us around 3 am. I usually have both cats (or at least one of my cats) in the bed as well. Usually plenty of room, but I have had to get up and kick the dogs out when they think they have to sleep on top of me.
I like letting the dogs have the run of the house since I live alone. Makes me feel safer knowing that if someone tried to get into the house they would have to get by my three dogs before they could get to me. I don't know about anyone else and their dogs, but I wouldn't want to be the poor sucker that tried to hurt me if my dogs were around. LOL |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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SerenityJo
Kansas
MH
Posts:82
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| 02/28/2010 9:00 AM |
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| I think I'm going to keep her in my room even when she gets older. Our other dog sleeps in my brother's room, caged in by a baby gate. I think I will find something similar to use, obviously not a baby gate because I'm sure she will try to jump it and wake everyone up in the middle of the night. lol |
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:6748
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| 02/28/2010 9:20 AM |
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SerenityJo - I use two baby gates in my house. One is in the door of the spare bathroom where my cats have their food and litterbox. The gate has a smaller cat door in it to let the cats in and out. That gate is about 4 foot, and is there to keep the dogs out of the cat food and litterbox (both strong temptations). The other gate is in the door of my office and is about 3 foot. I have the gate on the office door so I can shut the dogs in there when I have workers at the house. The dogs could easily go over any of the gates, but don't. How did I get them to do that? I do not ever let my dogs jump. The reason I have such strict jumping rules is I have an elderly mother that comes over and they could easily knock her down and hurt her. So, as soon as I get a puppy I start the no jump training (I call it keeping 4 on the floor). I never put the puppy in a position to jump on me. I bend or kneel down to pet them and play with them. If they jump I gently push them off and say off. None of my dogs will jump on some one now unless invited. I do not teach them to jump on me though until they completely understand the concept of off. Which means they do not learn to give me "hugs and kisses" until about 2 years old. Hugs and kisses is my command for them to put their feet on my shoulders and their head next to mine.
I also start training obedience as soon as I get my pups. Primarily because I like having well behaved dogs, but I also compete with my dogs in the obedience ring. However, even if I didn't compete I would train obedience. My oldest girl is a therapy dog too so the no jumping policy is an absolute there. We work with kids in the Austin State Hospital and she is the youngest dog their at 6 YO. The kids love her because she is still active and will perform for them doing sits, downs, handshakes, etc.
Now outside the dogs can jump over or do pretty much what they want, but still no jumping up on me. I train in agility as well so when they are old enough, meaning their growth plates have closed (usually around 1.5 years old) I teach them how to jump correctly over a jump. I know that probably sounds weird and most dogs will jump correctly, but what I mean is I want the dog to start their jump in such a way that they hit the peak of the jump when they are over the actual jump. That way they do not hit the jump with their feet or potentially even crash into the jump.
So, although they could easily go over the baby gates or even a fence I have never had a problem with them doing either. |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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SerenityJo
Kansas
MH
Posts:82
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| 02/28/2010 9:40 AM |
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That sounds like a good idea but we have to teach the Corgi not to jump first. He jumps on you even when you kneel down, and it needs to stop. I don't want my puppy having the same bad habits. My brother sadly didn't really try to train him very well. I've been trying to teach him and get him trained a little better with table food and things like that, but I happen to get yelled at every time I try for supposedly "depriving" him of food when he has dog food, and doesn't need table food, as he needs to lose weight. So far all we have is sit, no and come as well as being house trained in a three year old dog. That's why I've done so much research and am coming to forums and things before I get her, so that I can train her properly. |
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:6748
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| 02/28/2010 10:04 AM |
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| You can train Serenity to be a well behaved dog even if your brothers corgi is not so well trained. Set a good example for him and his dog. GSPs are smart and she will test you, but if you are consistent she will learn. I also like to use positive reinforcement with my dogs. I have found that shorthairs especially respond well to positive reinforcement. That is not to say that you won't have to fuss at her some, but I find with puppies in general remaining quiet when they misbehave or removing my attention and only rewarding what I want them to do works very well. Good luck I know you are getting excited. And remember if you have questions there are a ton of people on this forum willing to give advice. |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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Splat
Illinois (Northern)
MH
Posts:2439
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| 02/28/2010 11:03 AM |
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As far as when your puppy gets old enough to not sleep in the crate at night, but you wanting her to still sleep in your room....I think that will be easy...and you may not even need a baby gate....my 8 month old GSP sleeps in my sons bed and stays there all night, even when my husband works night and come home around 2am Blitz still stays in bed with my son!
Sounds like you are gonna have a very well behaved dog when all is said and done! |
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SerenityJo
Kansas
MH
Posts:82
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| 02/28/2010 11:12 AM |
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| Thank you! I plan to make her much better behaved... LOL! It should help him too. He's been kind of lonely since our other dog died. |
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:6748
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| 02/28/2010 11:26 AM |
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| SerenityJo - Do you have 4H in your school (I am assuming you are in high school still)? If so, check as I know the 4H clubs in TX usually have a group that does dog training and even have shows for the 4H club members. Might be something fun for you and Serenity to get involved with. Also, if you have a school library or public library check and see. I bet they have a section on dog training that you might find helpful. If you want to buy some books, go online and checkout dogwise.com. They have an excellent selection. Let me know if you want any recommendations as I have read many of the obedience and animal behavior books that are available. |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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JoeyBean
Albany, NY
MH
Posts:280
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| 03/01/2010 7:29 AM |
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| We kept JoeyBean down in the living room for the first week or two. It was brutal. Lots of crying, very sad. I can see Texas Belle's point about keeping her in your room for the first week or two, it might makes things easier. Joey did get over it, now her crate is in the finished basement and she's fine down there. Like someone else said, our cat was here first, so Joey isn't allowed on the upstairs floor. We had a baby gate, and just removed it a week or two ago and shes only broken the rule a handful of times. Although its really tempting to have her in the bed sometimes, I think its important to have boundaries. |
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SerenityJo
Kansas
MH
Posts:82
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| 03/01/2010 3:38 PM |
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| Thank you Texas Belle.. I will look into reading a few more books about them! |
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