Kingdom of Pets

Posted by jmccombs
Jun 26, 2008

Hi...I have a 8 month old cocker spaniel that I just rescued and I am trying to crate train him. My question is this...how long am I supposed to leave him in his crate during the day? I take him outside, he does his business, then I let him play for awhile, then put him back in the crate. He is doing well, but I just don't know how long I am supposed to leave him there, and when I go out, do I still leave him in his crate?

I also have a 3 year old cocker spaniel who is completely doggie door potty trained, but I don't know if I am supposed to leave the new puppy in his crate and let the older guy roam around, or if it isn't fair to the new puppy to be in the crate while the older guy is free.

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

Posted by Todd
Jul 10, 2008

Hi there and thanks for the post.

These are some great questions and i will do my best to help.

Crates are great toys to help training. Make sure they are in a quiet, secluded area where your pup can feel comfortable.

It is alright to leave your pup in the crate for 3-4 hours at a time. After that the bladder may not be able to hold on and may not help the training. So it is fine to leave pups in the morning and the afternoon as long as you can get home at lunch time and give your pup a bit of a break.

There is no harm in leaving pups in their for this amount of time as most pups end up sleeping all the time their owners are gone anyway.

As for whether to leave the older dog out. I would leave the other dog out and keep the pup in its crate in a separate wound so it doesn't feel left out.
Make sure though that when you come home that you let the two out as the pup will learn even quicker if he has a good role model to follow.

Good luck and let me know how things go and if you need anymore help.

Todd

Posted by ShellyJensen
Jul 29, 2008

Todd,
My husband and I are new puppy owners since Friday, but I read the "Ultimate Housetraining" book well enough to suggest a couple of things.
First of all, you take how many months the puppy is and that equals the hours its bladder can hold it. For example a two month puppy can hold it for two hours. Althouth the max for puppies seems to be, from what I read, three hours in a crate. I hope this helps.
Mrs. J

Crate training question