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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on June 10, 2008 at 9:25am

It is fine to leave her in the crate, since she is young and is not potty train, you want to crate train her, help her learn how to hold, by 9 months - 1 yo, her kidney will be fully functional and able to hold for 8 hours then. Only then and when she accident free for a few months that she will be properly potty trained and have earned your trust to roam free. If you insist on letting her roam now, it will take you longer to potty train her. What you can do to make her day better is take her for a long walk in the morning before you leave, let her go potty and then give her a toy in her crate. Dogs cannot tell how long you've been gone, puppy sleeps most of the time anyway, so think of it as pretty similar to an infant child and you'll understand.

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Permalink Reply by Erin on June 10, 2008 at 12:54pm

Thank you for all your advice, this site is really helping with any questions I've had, it's wonderful!!

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Permalink Reply by alynne on June 10, 2008 at 11:13am

i take her with me but if i have to leave her i always left her in my bedroom, we closed the door and made her a bed in the closet and put puppy pads in the washroom also we gave her toys and kongs to keep her busy, we just recently started letting her roam the house when we go out for dinner or out for a couple hours. i don't see anything wrong with keeping her in the kennel until she gets older, as long as she is being let out to pee every 4ish hours and has a toy to keep her occupied she should be fine.

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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on June 10, 2008 at 11:47am

Sid is 11 months old now. We have an upstairs apartment, so we close off the bedroom and bathroom doors, giving Sid the living room, kitchenette and balcony patio. The upstairs is only used by my teenager, so it's been puppyproofed. We installed a doggie door (which Sid finally learned to use - yay!) so Sid can get fresh air or patrol for strangers in the street. It's big enough for him to run around but small enough to keep him out of trouble.

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Permalink Reply by Kitty's Corner on June 10, 2008 at 12:42pm

We bought some plastic 2ft.tall,flexible fencing and created a 5ft.x6ft. enclosure within our pantry/laundry room. Her napping crate kennel is in this and open for her to use.Other than that,there are toys and a water bowl.Kitty stays in there 5-6 hours at a time and occasionally longer and has never pottied in this little pen. She really likes this pen and could easily jump over it.She has been using it since 10 weeks old and even now,a little bit over a year old,continues to use when we are gone.Also,I feed her in this pen,twice a day.Dont be depressed- you will get it worked out!>Beth

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