thank heavens for my crate!!

[jai]

Oh.. Today Falko has been quite mischievious and naughty. He has figured out how to open every door in the house and presumes that since he can enter he can take things with him. And you know how when you have small children they always know when to do the wrong thing when you are on the phone or in the bathroom or otherwise occupied.. Well that is our stage now... falko just went into Rae's room and grabbed her cd case which he then proceeded to rip open and remove a couple of cds.. all the while I was on the phone.. I heard something crack and I came over to find him. So i popped him in his crate where he is now whining and carrying on.
So I get to clean the mess and he gets to chill out! AHHH!!!

[Locco]

Fortunately, my Blaster can't open the door. I hope he'll never learn to do it. We even cover his eyes so he can't look when our friend's dog does it! ;D Only because of it we managed to have some parts of our apartment not damaged during his childhood. When he was younger he was an angel when we were at home. Nothing else but us interested him but when we went to work .. .aaaa It was terrible and it wasn't because he didn't have enough running. Sometimes he damaged more when he was left for only half an hour than another day staying at home alone for 5 or six hours. I took him for long 3-hour walks just before leaving to work. Nothing was successful. And what was strange he was used to staying alone from the very beginning. The first day at new home he had to stay for a couple of hours alone. And he didn't damage anything at all for 8 months of his life. But then came the holidays- as I am a teacher I have 2-months holidays. We spent it playing tohether, walking tohether and doing everything together never separating. And that was a mistake- after the holidays he couldn't get used to staying alone even for a short period of time and for the whole next school year he damaged everything he could reach. And he could reach a lot as I later discovered he jumped even on my desk to be able to take everything from the shelves! It was terrible. He even ate my sofa from the living room. So later I decided to leave him only in one room with nothing to destroy: he had only the eaten sofa there ;D and a hall. And the next holidays almost every day I tried to go somewhere without him. Sometimes for short and sometimes for longer periods of time. So thath he couldn;t get used to being with me all the time. It worked! Of course it is probably also connected with the fact that he is 2 years old now and I see him changing, becoming a mature dog. Anyway that's why I'm so happy that he can't open the door thank goodness.

[efica]

Jai, Kika has also learned how to open all the doors....genes?
I don't know how would I manage without a crate and Kika also likes it a lot. If she's tired she goes in the crate by herself and she has also learned to go in on a command.

Eva

[Locco]

Guys, can you please tell me is it possible to learn a two-year-old male to stay in a crate while I'm away? This July or August we're moving to our new house in the country and I have some bad feelings about my dog staying there alone. You know a new place and surrounding. And please could you tell me how many hours maximum can the dog stay in a crate so it's not tirying for him. Thanks in advance

Magda&Blaster

[jai]

Hi Magda,
I think crate training is done easiest if the dog looks forward to something in the crate. Falko has all of his toys and bones and his sheet in there. I reinforce him going in there and staying with food (he loves popcorn). You can use a kong toy which is a really nice big chew that can be stuffed with different foods, and the dog works at it to get the food. One thing that is important is the size of the crate. Blaster has to be able to turn around in it and lay down. Falko still curls up, so we don't have any problems. :)He is also still growing!
There are some great articles on crate training on the web. I read one infact from a recommendation Cheryl shared.. it is under llamas here on this forum.
One last thing, my last weim I crate trained when he was over 1.. he took to it without a problem. I offered him one meal in it everyday and gave him special treats in there as well.
As for length, it depends on the dog. Bruno (other weim) could be in there for 6 or more hours.. but he needed a good stretch after wards. Hope this helps and I am sure others will respond as well. I think several people use crates for their dogs.
jai

[Locco]

hi Jay, thanks a lot for your help!
I've just noticed your answer (very late uuppsss) but
you,ve been very helpful for me. I've got one more question. You've mentioned a toy called kong. I've heard about it but unfortunately I can't get it in any shop in Poland. I found it in one of the internet shops and wanted to order it but I've got no idea which size would be the best for an adult weim? Could you please suggest me the size of it so I can order it without actually seeing the toy in reality and not choosing too small or too big one by mistake?

Thanks in advance
Magda&Blaster

[tasha]

I'd go for the biggest one you can find and then go smaller.. bonnie eats through hers really quickly, I've yet to find one I can give the danes though

I liked mine to be crate trained for a few different reasons but the main ones are that it keeps them out of trouble, makes it easier when they have to stay at the vets overnight after an emergency and for travelling purposes.

They cope much better with having to be in a travel crate or at the vets if they are used to them less stress all round even if you only use it occassionally.

[syrinx]

Ha! And you all laughed at Reily's chair eating !! LOL! Our Scarlett can't be in our dog runs, as she can open the catch, and then she opens all the others! She has to be kept in a small run right outside of the front door, with small mesh and a welded on roof! All of ours are great in crates as they all sleep inside. And spend colder days in, too. We play musical crates, some days! Best thing ever invented. Wherever they go, they think it's bed, so no stress.

With Kongs, go for the large black ones. And keep the packaging. I wish I did. We got two black ones, the second largest size, and Zed ate one on the Saturday and the other one on the Sunday. And that's not chewed it up a bit. That's ATE it. We could have sent it back, but would have had to wait a couple of days for all the pieces, if you catch my drift!! Ewww!

Wendy

[Locco]

With Kongs, go for the large black ones. And keep the packaging. I wish I did. We got two black ones, the second largest size, and Zed ate one on the Saturday and the other one on the Sunday. And that's not chewed it up a bit. That's ATE it. We could have sent it back, but would have had to wait a couple of days for all the pieces, if you catch my drift!! Ewww!

Oh my! I know exactly what you mean. And I thought they would be indestructible. I've bought once quite an expensive toy which had a sign "INDESTRUCTIBLE" and I really thought it was till my Blaster got it and chopped it in half an hour!

Thank you both for your help Tasha and Syrinx

P.S. My previous dog - german Pointing Dog, once ate a rubber duck and it took almost 4 days to get it back in pieces of course so Syrinx you probably had a similiar doubled experience

[jai]

:)Hi Wendy.. So sorry about the chair.. Falko has eaten 3 pairs of my spring heels in the past 10 hours! You know there are 5 people in this house who can at anytime get an eye on him and see what he is doing, but you know, the puppy stage when he is out of sight you kind of think he may be sleeping!! HA HA!! Well, I guess I can shop now for new shoes that will be good for this new season LOL
As for the kongs, I just bought Falko the blue retrieving one that floats in the water. he is not terribly interested, but he brings it back and it does good in the water.. I hope when the weather is hotter, he will go after it more intensely!
Hey Magda.. are you doing any crate training with Blaster yet?
jai

[Locco]

Hi, Jai. I haven't started any crate training yet as Blaster has been recently bahaving so well. He hasn't damaged anything since our last chat even if I left my shoes one day by mistake in his range when I went out to work! hihi But additionally we have some problems with having our house-building started and we won't probably be able to move into our new house for a couple of years (unless our earnings raise or the requirements concering giving bank loans and loans interest change) and therefore we are made to continue renting the flat we are living in currently ... unfortunately And I was already imagining ourselves in our simple but beautiful house with a garden near a lake and forest

Regards
Magda&Blaster

[Wetdog]

Magda--are you building your new home yourselves?(I'm assuming you also have someone else with you because you say "we"---and that you aren't French[as in oui])

[jai]

Hi Magda.
Crate training at my house has become very inconsistent. We live on the top floor of a building and Falko has learned that if he howls, he will come out. I had him trained to a couple of hours without any problems, but when he had the infection in his eye, I stopped using the crate consistently and just used it on an as needed basis.. But he will be starting back in it soon. The people down stairs and across the way are leaving for holiday soon, so he won't bother anyone! LOL.. Good luck with the house. I know it can be difficult to wait, but just keep on saving! Hugs to Blaster!
Jai and falko

[Locco]

Wetdog, by writing "we" I meant me and my fiance. We're not building our house ourselves literally. Actually I just meant that we're paying for it and the others were to build it for us. However we wanted them to build only the main part of it so that it's unfinished and we wanted to finish it ourselves(to cut the costs ). And to be more precise we couldn't start the building yet. We've got the building plot and our house project and we even got the agreemant to start building but the instalments turned out to be so huge and we would have to pay them for 45 years!!! We just had to stop just before starting actually. Now we have to wait and try to save as much as possible. So far we didn't manage to save any bigger amount of money which could be used for building our house. That's why we needed to borrow the whole amount of money that we nedded from the bank. But now we think it's better to wait for a few years, save as much as possible and take a smaller loan- then the interest would be proportionally smaller.
Thank you Jai for your words of encouragement. They really heartened me up. Now I can continue saving and I'm more positive about it. I think my future house is worth it!
Hugs Magda and Blaster
Special kisses for Falko!!!