I understand crate training her so she will be okay in it when you work but when you are home in teh same room as her why does she need to be in it? Puppy wants to be close to you, and 30 minutes of playtime for every 4-5 hours in the crate seems obsurd to me. No wonder she flipped out, she just spent 80% of her day in the crate and now you are putting her back in for the night. I know my puppy likes to be close to me most of the day. generally just hanging out/dozing by my feet or playing with a toy close by. I could see including the crate in my training time with her and lengthening her time in it if I used one (I don't) but why keep her in one for 4 hours in the middle of the day? I am genuinely curious here since I don't use a crate with my puppy.
1 - 2 of 23 Posts
Ahh that makes sense. the time spent in there seems too much but I can see why using it during the day when you are there is good for the dog to get used to it in a good way. I have never left puppy home alone yet so haven't had to work up to that, but I can see how it is very helpful to other pet owners.The reason you'd want to crate when you ARE home is so that the dog doesn't only associate the crate with being left alone. That can be a very negative association: "uh oh, if I have to go in the crate it means everyone is leaving me again!"
Plus, crating can be helpful when you need to do some chores, cook dinner, or such, and you can't keep your eyes completely on the puppy.
That said, I do think conditioning a puppy to like/tolerate the crate needs to be done in small increments in the beginning, ESPECIALLY if the puppy is really freaking out. So, yeah, 4-5 hours is too much.
1 - 2 of 23 Posts
