[Chilli monster]

When Chilli came to our house we decide that we do not want our dog to be in a crate (none of us ever had one and we couldnt think about it as a possitive thing). but few months on with our crazy girl, 1 more carpet damaged, few more books eaten, brewaking to the cellar and we had enough.... we bought the cage to keep her in control when we are at work, but night time she was free to roam and sleep on her sofa...

our life changed... you coming back home from work and you happy to Chilli....

But recently (she is almost 9 mts) she started getting crazy at night too, barking, chasing our cat, and last night she pulled really heavy (3kg) stew dish from the counter (dish in pieces, dinner gone) we want to keep her in a crate overnight too...

Question is will V's ever be a bit calmer so we could leave her not in a crate or this massive monster crate will be in our living room for ages?

 

[Mercutio]

We don't use a crate (Merc has had free rein in the house since somewhere around 12 months) so yes Vs can be calm enough to be able to roam the house without destroying everything in sight.

But......... it takes time and training. She won't just 'grow out of it' magically.

Teaching her to go to her bed or a mat is a good start, that way when you want her to stop running around you can send her to her bed (preferably with something to chew).

Also, tiring her out both mentally (by training every day) and physically (with games and walks) will help. I found that as well as a 2 walks a day Merc needed to do a 'training session' of about 10 - 15 minutes every night, then he would calm down and lie on his mat and chew his toys.

Merc is now 3 and there are still the odd days where I just don't leave him unsupervised in the house because he has extra energy to burn and can't be trusted

 

[Ro-Ro]

Ziva is 7 1/2 months and we have used the create since bringing her home. It's in the corner of our bedroom and we use it at night, when no one else is home, or if we are doing something where she is really in the way. It has an awesome lambswool pad, two small blankets, and her water dish. She loves it! We stopped using one for our Brittany when she reached a year but I'm planning on continuing with the crate.. She really likes it, and I like knowing she is out of trouble.

 

[Crazy Kian]

Kian is 19 months old and we still crate him when we are not home.

Just the other day our dog walker for some reason did not crate him when she dropped him off on Monday evening. We were out at a function and returned home around 10:30 to find our dog loose in the apartment. He was on his own for 4 hours.
In that time he managed to unzip, yes unzip a large sofa cushion and pull out most of the soft stuffing. It was everywhere. He flipped our comforter over about a million times and tossed pillows all over the place.
Luckily the doors to the room where the cat litter is was closed. If he got into that cat litter (you know, the kind that clumps) he would most likely be gone or at least in the hospital having that stuff removed from his belly.
Remember, the crate is not a punishment but their "den", it's a safe place for them and it's piece of mind for the owners knowing that your dog is not running around doing as he/she pleases.
Who knows perhaps when Kian is older we will try leaving him out of his crate for small periods of time.
Oh and for the record, he drank 6 cups of water in the time he was by himself and never once relieved himself in our place.....maybe he does respect us after all

 

[Mercutio]

I should have said, that during the day when we are not home merc is in the yard so he isn't alone in the house alone for ling amounts of time. If we go out at night he is shut in the kitchen ( please no one tell him how to counter surf...).

 

[Reggie21]

Reggie just turned one year old a couple weeks ago and we just started leaving him loose in the house. We had always kept him in the crate when we left the house and decided just recently to try out leaving him for small periods of time on his own. He miraculously hasn't done any damage yet, the longest he's been home alone has been about 4 or 5 hours but he did get in our bed which is normally off limits when we're home so I started shutting the bedroom door. I never thought that it could be done because I used to have to watch him every second or he would get into something or rip something up but so far it's been working out fine. I'm still not brave enough to leave him loose in the house when he's in one of his super hyper moods that he gets in if he hasn't had enough exercise for a day or two. I think that is the key, like others have said, keep them well exercised and it will make your life a lot easier.

 

[minnere]

Pacer is seven months old now and he is still crated when we are not home. And most nights as well except for those he is in bed with us, but he almost prefers his crate. If we are only leaving for and hour or two I put him in an empty spare bedroom. The longest I have left him there is 2 hours and I came home to wrapping paper shredded and all over the room because he had gotten it out of the closet! He will probably be able to handle it eventually but not quite yet!

 

[sarahaf]

I'd be pretty ticked if Rosie was not crated without my knowledge like Kian (her safety, and more importantly access to the sofa cushions lol....she and the sofa don't get along)

 

[lovemyava]

We have a 15 month old female who is a crazy girl! When we are home she will get into anything possible, but we have started leaving her out of her kennel while we are gone, only for a few hours at a time at this point, and she does nothing naughty while out on her own when we are not home.

 

[Chestersmum]

Would someone mind telling me how big their crate is for their grown up V's. My vizsla is 7 months - we are still crating a lot of the time when we are out but I'm worried his crate is a bit small and feel a bit mean!

 

[Chilli monster]

We bought 42" which is massive, i think the 36" would be just perfect. chilli is 9 months and she is already 23.5" tall.

 

[Chestersmum]

I'll measure mine later as I'm not home today. When Chester sits up his head touches the top of the crate but he can stand up in it ok and he always curls up in a ball to sleep anyway.

I'm up to the stage where if I pop out during the day (when he's mostly sleeping) I leave him alone in the lounge and he hasn't got up to any mischief .... yet! I think if he was a bit more awake he could think of lots of things to steal and chew!!

I think at night I'll start leaving the crate door open so he also has run of the kitchen. Suspect he'll still just stay in the crate and sleep.

I am also going to buy some plastic beds, one for the lounge and one for my office when I am working during the day as hopefully he'll start to see those in bed and we can replace the cage.

I just feel a bit mean when I am out all day (usually 1-2 days per week) which means he'll be in the crate up to 12 hours. His dog walker comes in twice in that period and takes him out for 40 mins each time and I suspect she plays with him in the garden too as there's always toys out there when I come back! I guess the rest of the time he just sleeps but it would be nice for him to have a bit more freedom.

 

[Chestersmum]

I measured Chester's crate - it's 36". I bought him a new bed to go in it an because it's so padded he definitely can't sit up properly! Maybe time for a bigger one?!

 

[Linescreamer]

Not to be mean but; it sounds like the dog has too much freedom and doesn't respect boundries. I think you may need to place some boundries on her behavior. Alot of what you said she does would be completely unacceptable in my home and my V knows it. If he does something he is not suppossed to, he is restricted until his behavior changes. Even if he abused his 36" crate I would make it a 30". ;D

 

[grifp8]

Hi,


Our Vizsla "Maggie" became a much happier dog once we took her out of the crate.

 

[JillandDan]

Holley has had a crate since before we even brought her home. We took it up to the breeder for her to start getting the hang of it. It is the 36" as that is the size that was given for the breed. She had a puppy divider panel until alomost 6 months old so that she didn't mess in it. She is in it during the day while we are at work and then at bed time. We feel this is best for her safety. Hopefully one day we will be able to have her in a bed next to ours but for now she sleeps in her crate. She has a nice comfy bed in there and a blanket.