Comment

Comment by Melanie Fischer on August 5, 2009 at 1:50am

I'm looking forward to this part, I'm getting my Corgi pup soon too & she is also from a farm, and also she & the litter mates are by a horse. so I'm hoping things go well for you & for me.. LOL this will be my first REAL pup. so I'm kinda nevus and hope i do well. ( all our other dogs where older dogs or just past the puppy stage ) I hope things get easier for you & your pup is beautiful by the way.

Comment by the Doaks on August 4, 2009 at 8:14pm

Precious puppy! Ours is about 5 months old and when we got him, he was close to 12 weeks so he had spent 3 months in a large, outdoor based area at the breeder's farm place. When we first introduced him to the crate he didn't seem to like it...so we bribed him with lots of toys (rawhides, rope toys, squeakies, and a comfy towel) so it became his little playpen. We put him in his crate at night (in our bedroom) and even though the first week he would bark and whine, by 2 weeks we turned on the night light in the room and he just knew to walk into his crate. After having him almost 3 months, I can say that it is definitely his safe place. For about a month after we got him, we kept him in the crate all the time when we were gone because that was the only way he wouldn't go to the bathroom. Now when we're gone, we baby-gate him in our kitchen and he just uses the crate for bed and it has no toys in it anymore. The key I think is to get a big enough crate he can grow into so he can bond with it. Ours is plastic with little holes on the side and it has worked great because the times he has had accidents in there it was really easy to clean. It's funny on long car rides...Dante will lie in the crate on his back with all his legs in the air...it's precious. Best of luck...I think the sooner the better so that they can get over the initial anxiety with it and can learn to not mind being in it.

Comment by John Wolff on August 4, 2009 at 8:09pm

We were told that a crate should be puppy-sized, so I made a movable plywood partition - just a board with a cross-bar that fit through the barred window - that could be moved back as Al grew.

Comment by Bev Levy on August 4, 2009 at 6:19pm

Really cute puppy by the way!

Comment by Bev Levy on August 4, 2009 at 6:17pm

I only crate trained while potty training but I think Izzy would like one. I have had other dogs that would sleep in their crate frequently so I know some really like it. Our doberman has to be crated when no one is home because she eats furniture! She doesn't seem to mind. I give her a kong with a little cheese or peanut butter in it.

Comment by Beth on August 4, 2009 at 6:11pm

Jack was always ok in the crate. When we first brought him home, he would cry for about 10 minutes and that was it. Now he has run of the house and he will sometimes go in his crate, but not usually in summer when he prefers bare floors.

I think crate training is important because if your dog ever has a major medical issue and needs to be confined, it needs to be comfortable staying in a crate. I would continue to allow her to cry, if it were me, even though it's annoying. If she came from a farm she might not be used to being confined. Try spreading a little PB on a Kong when you put her in and see if that helps.

Comment by Jane Christensen on August 4, 2009 at 5:44pm

I love crates...I have 4 spread around my home and usually there is 1-2 dogs in them. I don't know what is the best practice but once mine get old enough or are potty trained then they just use them as their safe place! Mine don't sleep in them at night. They also "crate" while in my car...in fact Wynn opens the crate in the car with his nose and climbs in "just in case" he gets to go along! I used inside fenses for my pups and they did well in there and then had more room to run if I was gone but were able to socialize, sleep and be part of the household.Several owners of my pups also use them!