sparksofember
Member
We've had Lucky about 2 months and he is almost 8 months old. He seemed fairly well house-trained when we got him - he has accidents if he isn't walked regularly but we've mostly blamed our daughter for those - she has some attention issues we are working on. We bought a crate the day we got him, as we had a 6-hour drive home. But we haven't been using it for crate training. He sleeps with our daughter at night (is this a bad habit? It does make things difficult when she has a sleepover or isn't around...) and we shut him in her bedroom during the 4 hours he is alone every afternoon, in-between my husband going to work and me getting home from work. But he's been getting in the habit of having "accidents" in her room - not every day but increasingly lately - and also several times in the living room lately, so we're thinking we may need to use the crate before this gets out of hand?
My first concern is I think the one we bought may be too small? It's Petco's Classic 1-door, size small - 24L x 18"W x 19"H. The box said it was good for dogs up to 30lbs but it just seems rather tight - he can lay in it but not stretch - when we had him neutered last week, he didn't fit with the cone around his head at all. No room for a water bowl and he can't really sit upright in it either. The Petco Classic doesn't have a medium option so our next choice up is a large 36L x 23"W x 25"H or try a different type crate - maybe a 30L x 19"W x 21.5"H.
Should we try exchanging up a size or two or is the crate we have supposed to be this small? I'm planning to run into town tonight (in about 3 hours) to see if they'll let us return the one for something larger...
He's also ripped the carpet to shreds right along the door so that's another reason to start putting him in a crate. We never let him roam the house alone - for one, he and the cat aren't best buds yet. He likes to chase her and then she stalks and chases him and then she's mad cause he won't leave her alone and we're not sure if any of it is fun for her though he sure thinks it's a great game. Plus he's already chewed up 2 cell-phone cords, an audio cable, and the plug off of the vacuum cleaner. (On the plus side, I learned how to replace a plug!)
Any advice on the crate and anything else? Should we start crating him at night, too?
My first concern is I think the one we bought may be too small? It's Petco's Classic 1-door, size small - 24L x 18"W x 19"H. The box said it was good for dogs up to 30lbs but it just seems rather tight - he can lay in it but not stretch - when we had him neutered last week, he didn't fit with the cone around his head at all. No room for a water bowl and he can't really sit upright in it either. The Petco Classic doesn't have a medium option so our next choice up is a large 36L x 23"W x 25"H or try a different type crate - maybe a 30L x 19"W x 21.5"H.
Should we try exchanging up a size or two or is the crate we have supposed to be this small? I'm planning to run into town tonight (in about 3 hours) to see if they'll let us return the one for something larger...
He's also ripped the carpet to shreds right along the door so that's another reason to start putting him in a crate. We never let him roam the house alone - for one, he and the cat aren't best buds yet. He likes to chase her and then she stalks and chases him and then she's mad cause he won't leave her alone and we're not sure if any of it is fun for her though he sure thinks it's a great game. Plus he's already chewed up 2 cell-phone cords, an audio cable, and the plug off of the vacuum cleaner. (On the plus side, I learned how to replace a plug!)
Any advice on the crate and anything else? Should we start crating him at night, too?