Crate training question for 10 week old puppy

[Samson]

Just keep in mind that many lab puppies will eat anything and everything....including dirt, sticks, rocks, pebbles, the doggie door....all things that could cause a blockage.

A garden run will only work if the pup is on a solid concrete or decking surface and if you go for this option then the pen should also have a cover to stop him from escaping over the top ( eventually ) If you go down this route bear in mind that Lab puppies are very saleable and he could be stolen.

I set up an x pen in my kitchen when I had Jasper as a puppy, but as it wasn't a fixed pen, he scooted it around the kitchen destroying the doors with the cage itself. If you go down this route then make sure that it is solid enough not to move.

For both of the above reasons - I am away from home from 0630 to 1600 - I elected to rescue an older pup which only needed letting out once at midday by my neighbour ( Dylan was five months old when I got him ) and he was crated while I was away ! Much preferable in my opinion if only for my own peace of mind. He was crated for at least the first 12 months until I was certain that he was not destructodog.

[Mark_J]

You can easily do a run on the ground, there's no need to have it on concrete or decking. Those fence sections I linked are very strong once they are locked together, Riley still can't knock them over and he's a 7 month old 68 pound puppy.

IMO keeping a puppy locked up in a crate for 8+ hours is not in the best interest of the puppy and should be avoided. For folks looking for a reason to keep a dog locked up in a crate all day they can find plenty of 'safety' reasons to do so. For folks that want to safely provide their dogs some freedom and allow them the ability to avoid having to sleep where they go to the bathroom, well you can find plenty of ways to accomplish that as well.

[Baloo317]

I really hate to say this, but I have to agree with Mark.

I would not leave a pup crated for eight hours a day. They WILL go to the bathroom, which hurts your crate training (once they have no choice but to "go" in the crate you lose the "don't want to mess where they sleep" advantage, not good.)

The outdoor enclosure idea can be done safely, as long as you're careful, thorough and the weather co-operates. My ex-boyfriend and I raised a dogo puppy last spring. We started by having our neighbour let him out three times a day, which worked for a month or so. Until said neighbour "forgot" puppy outside and another neighbour had to save him from becoming road pizza. (Fear not, I tore a strip off that man that probably still stings to this day for that, ugh). So, we took a 42" crate (dogos are big dogs, even as puppies), cut a whole in the side of the garage, took off the door to the crate and attached it to the wall in front of the hole. We then built a small enclosure (probably about 10' X 10') outside using fencing, posts dug 3 feet into the ground and packed it with hard dirt (that part was tough, but it was packed good. lab pups have nothing on mastiff pups, ha). We also put an angled roof on (left over from our shed that had met it's end in a bad windstorm) and patched holes (between roof and fence) securely.

We lived out in the country and our immediate neighbour was a chicken farmer who was home all day (same neighbour that saved puppy from other neighbour) and checked on him multiple times a day. According to reports, pup slept most of the day in the crate in the garage, came outside to pee/poop and watch the world go by for a bit and then went back to bed until we came home.

It sounds like a lot more work than it was, we built it over a weekend. A couple months later when puppy was old enough to "hold it" he was back inside with the other dogs, his "pen" was disassembled and life went on with a nicely house trained pup.

I think this worked for us for a number of different reasons though, and personally I wouldn't do it any other way.
1) Someone to keep an eye on him in case of emergency
2) Appropriate weather/season - not too hot/cold
3) Secure, completely puppy-proofed enclosure
4) Living in a very rural area where everybody knows everybody else
5) Locks on everything, no door to outside enclosure.

Hope that helps, best of luck!

[tammyhuffman]

Kate - your enclosure sounds ideal because of the safety measures you took in making it secure and the help of your neighbor. It wouldn't work for me but the steps you took to keep your puppy safe were very well thought out.

[Baloo317]

We also didn't really care about the damage to the garage wall/lawn as a result of building this, so for someone "house proud" this wouldn't work. It didn't look pretty, lol, but it did the job and we fixed it when we were done with it.

[Tanya]

I'll throw some thoughts out there to keep in mind. Bottom line I fully agree that crating a puppy for 8+ hours won't work, but in my view, the ideal situation is to crate puppy inside and get a dog walker. Possibly two potty breaks (and short play) for the first few weeks and when he is old enough, one potty and play break. This lets him stretch his legs and empty his bladder and keeps him safe.

if puppy is given more space there are things you need to consider, some will be issues when the dog is a puppy, others in a few months as they get older and others will always be a potential issue:
- some labs bark. and nothing you do can stop it. In this case it is not appropriate to leave the dog outside (and I don't mean a bark here or there I mean nuisance barkers).
- labs dig. some dig a lot. some can dig right out of a yard. we have a dog looking for a spot in a rescue i foster for because he dug holes in the yard. I kid you not
- some puppies will eat rocks and sticks and "things" which can cause blockage. I would be cautious of this possibility and prepare a safe spot.

I would vote for a safe kennel environment depending on the weather where you are. In my area there would be days where it is too cold to keep a puppy outside (even in March)

Just wanted to add - the crating is only until a dog is reliable loose in the house. The goal is to let them out of the crate as soon as you can. Yes for some dogs this takes years unfortunately.

[Mark_J]

I really hate to say this, but I have to agree with Mark.

<snip>

I'm going to frame that bit and hang it on the wall

[Baloo317]

I'm going to frame that bit and hang it on the wall

Lol you do that.

I do agree that ideally, the best case scenario is to hire a dog walker to let puppy out a couple times a day, or have a (responsible!!) friend/neighbour help you out.

However, IF that is not a possibility (for us it wasn't, no option in the area for a dog walker to come, and obviously the neighbour thing didn't work out) I think the outdoor enclosure is much preferred to crating a pup for 8 hours, much of that time requiring them to sleep in their own excrement, that's not ok. And realistically a puppy pen in the house has more risks than the set-up we used with Rude, IMO. (I don't think a pen just sitting on the floor would be strong enough to prevent him pushing it/knocking it over, etc)

But as I said, it is dependent upon a variety of factors. Our timeline was basically may - june/early july so the weather was ideal, that certainly isn't always the case.

[kromulok]

lots of great ideas and input on this thread - thank you for that. Doggie door (holy cow good ones are not cheap) is going in soon. Going to fence off small area outside of doggie door (already inside wooden privacy fence) for pup. Plan to build my own X pen type deal inside kitchen using 2x4 and a heavier guage fencing wire to provide a nice small contained area inside kitchen with access to doggie door for pup while we are at work.

I agree a sitter to come by at lunch is ideal, but just not an option for us. I think and hope this is a good solution.