Puppy crate question

[JazzysMom]

Ahhh, a new puppy. I don't know when I've gotten so little sleep. LOL

Jazzy had the same blanket in her crate for two years It was in perfect condition. When Keoki moved in, Jazzy got a larger crate and a new blanket; Keoki got the old crate/old blanket.

He's been here for two nights, and there is nothing left of the old blanket. . .except a pile of little balls of what used to be fuzzy fabric.:D

What do you suggest I put in his crate – we have the vari-kennel -- to make it a cozy sleep area {as if he sleeps}, but that he won't have torn to shreds by morning? Bear in mind he's only 12 weeks old and still pees in the crate; I suspect, however, that he'll be stopping that very soon.

[Quercus]

Hmmm, well, in my experience 'once a bedding shredder, always a bedding shredder' I use polar fleece, bought on sale, cut into small blankies. It doesn't seem like it is as fun for them to shred as traditional blankets. Sometimes at Walmart (yes, sometimes I will break down and shop there), you can get a full size bed cover for like $4. So I make four dog blankets out of that. And I trim off the blanket stitch thread on the edge, so they can't get wrapped up in it.

Querk is, and always has been, an extreme bedding shredder…he only gets newspaper now...I got tired of picking fleece out of his teeth.

I have also found the fuzzier the blanket is, the more likely it is to be shredded at our house. Faux sheepskin is a disaster waiting to happen here...as is any sort of faux fur bedding.

I hope he chills out in his crate soon. I am always super conservative when it comes to getting a puppy accustomed to a crate...I am always phobic that I will get another Querk. I try to set it up so the puppy never has a complete freak out...because I never want to be put in the position of letting them out when freaking, or making the continue to panic because I won't let them out.

Of course, there are basenjis that aren't freaking out when the shred their bedding...they just like it the way they like it I am babbling

[JazzysMom]

He does freak out in his crate at night. Last night I put him facing Jazz in her crate, thinking that at least being able to see her would help. It didn't.
He cried for about an hour and a half before settling down. DH is really wondering what the h*ll he was thinking when he brought the puppy home, LOL.
On the other hand, after that crying jag he settled down and slept until 5 AM. The other two nights he also woke and cried in the middle of the night.

I won't let him out at night because he does need to learn that is where he sleeps, and I don't want him to think that if he has a fit he'll be freed. In the morning when I let him out, I sit near his crate and wait for him to stop fussing, then I tell him he's a good boy and let him out.

I try to crate him for minutes at a time during the day, and he just HATES it. But again, I don't let him out until he is quiet – sometimes he's only quiet for a split second, but I grab the moment to praise him and let him out.

It took Jazz a few days to settle down when she was a puppy, but she didn't get quite so frantic as he does. DH and I lay in bed last night debating our options. I'm going to give him a few more nights to see if he settles down a bit. The fact that he slept "all night" {12:30 - 5:00} gave me some hope.

The blanket that he killed was indeed a faux sheepskin. I'll hit Wal-Mart or the fabric store today and pick up some polar fleece. I thought about wads of paper towels, but I was hoping for a softer, more comforting bedding.

[Quercus]

It sounds like you are doing everything right. I am far less worried about a dog that fusses in his crate when there is another dog there with him, than one that is totally alone. Again, in my experience, when there is another dog, the puppy settles down very quickly. I am sure this puppy didn't sleep in the bed at Brians house…so once he figures out that Jazzy is his new "mommy" he will settle right down.

The only thing I do differently, is in the first couple weeks, I don't make the puppy stay in the crate while somebody is home. During that time, the crate is only for eating and sleeping, and when no one is home. After one or two weeks, they generally have no crate phobia, and I start doing crate time with a nice chewey or bone while we go about our family business. And I try to remove the puppy while she is still enjoying the bone a little later, so that she really WANTS to get back to that crate.

That is just the way I do it, but it sounds like your method will work perfectly too! I am so glad you got a new puppy! How fun!

[Duke]

I use 2 old bath towels, folded in Daisy's crate to sleep on. I have a stack of old bath towels so I can remake her bed soon as I clean the crate if she's pottied in it. Plus old towels don't cost anything and fairly durable and don't mind throwing them away when shredded. We've had Daisy for 2 months now, and the 1st month was a challenge to keep clean. She's pretty good to go now. Alot of work (hassle), Keoke is worth it and it will get better. I keep a large canister of Clorox disinfecting wipes handy for the quick cleanups.

[tanza]

If you have a real shredder you may have to resort to newspaper… please be careful with things like towels, as if they ingest the fabric it can cause big problems with getting stuck in the tummy and causing a blockage..

Also, I use the wire crates, as mine preferred it to be more open, especially a puppy when they can "really" see the one next to them.. I do cover mine with blankets... but it is one blanket over all the crates together....

Like Andrea, I do not/did not crate during the day when others were not also in their crates... that to me sets them up to fail.... crate was just for sleeping or eating (unless everyone was crated for some reason)....

[cmd]

This sounds EXACTLY, I mean to the point, what we went though last year. Bonnie was great with a crate. NO problems. Then we got Smitty. He was 9 months old but use to sleeping in a kennel. He absolutely HATED his crate. HATED it and still does. After several weeks of trying everything I video taped him one night and found he never really slept soundly. That explained why he seemed so tired in the morning. So, like with our other 2 Bs years prior, we gave in and now they sleep (very soundly) with us. Hey, it keeps your feet warm in the winter!

@Quercus:

you can get a full size bed cover for like $4. So I make four dog blankets out of that. And I trim off the blanket stitch thread on the edge, so they can't get wrapped up in it.

VERY important tip. Wish we would have know that. Years ago we put our 2 yr old in a crate with an old blanket with edging. When we got home she had it twisted around her leg and it was cutting off the circulation. She was panicking. Her foot had swelled up twice its size. I had to cut the edging off with a razor and rushed her to the emergency vet. She was fine soon after, but limped for days and never went near her crate after that and I never made her…. good news is she proved to be trustworthy with full house access.

@Quercus:

Querk is, and always has been, an extreme bedding shredder…he only gets newspaper now...I got tired of picking fleece out of his teeth.

Does Querk have roaming rights or is he crated during the day? Brie never liked her crate but, at 2yrs old, she was fine left loose and was always left loose – of course that was 12 years ago when we had post-college furniture.

We still have problems with Smitty after 6 months. If we put anything in his crate he will shred it. He's chewed through 2 crates so far (a cheap plastic type and a wire mesh Midwest crate). When we come home he SCREAMS, absolutely SCREAMS. I try to make him sit and calm down before I open the door (he'll sit but not calm). Then he's fine, like nothing happened. The bad part is he occasionally pees in his crate (maybe once every couple weeks) so we had to resort to GoodWill for cheap towels.

Hang in there JazzysMom. The puppy stage is always work, but the payoff is worth it!

[Quercus]

@Duke:

I use 2 old bath towels, folded in Daisy's crate to sleep on. I have a stack of old bath towels so I can remake her bed soon as I clean the crate if she's pottied in it. Plus old towels don't cost anything and fairly durable and don't mind throwing them away when shredded. We've had Daisy for 2 months now, and the 1st month was a challenge to keep clean. She's pretty good to go now. Alot of work (hassle), Keoke is worth it and it will get better. I keep a large canister of Clorox disinfecting wipes handy for the quick cleanups.

Just a word to the wise….towels can be really dangerous if you have a shredder. The little strands can get twisted around feet, tongues and teeth...I have known at least one dog that has had permanant damage done to each of those body parts from towels. Also, if your shredder injests them, towels can cause a terrible blockage, again because the little strands of terrycloth wrap around the intestines as it passes thru.

Only a couple of my dogs shred...but I just make it a practice to never use towels.

[Quercus]

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Yes, he is completely trustworthy in the house...and has been since he was about 2? But he never was a very destructive Basenji (except to his crates! He actually broke thru the top of an intermediate sized vari -kennel last heat season). He actually only has access to the family room, because of the way we have our set up, the family room is closed off by half doors...I don't like the idea of him pestering the dogs who are crated while we are gone. But if we are moving around the house, he can be anywhere. The older girls may be trustworthy also..but I don't test it, because I am phobic about them fighting while no one is home....it probably wouldn't happen...but I don't like to think about the possibility of it.

[Duke]

Heed the warnings - Daisy is a sleeper. In the beginning, she of course whined and screamed. She isn't a shredder like Duke was. With Duke, I finally pulled everything out of his crate. He got newspaper. Yes, I felt kind of bad about it, but within a couple nights without, he decided when I put in a towel that he'd better save it.

[cmd]

Alright. No more towels for my shredder. I once put an old pillow in with him. I forgot it was down. Pretty funny to come home to. It filled his crate half way to the top!

[dash]

Dash is a major shredder as well. I put a cloth tarp like you get to put down on the carpet when you paint. It is tough enough he isn't interested in chewing on it and it is soft enough he can lay on it. Towels had to be removed because he destroyed them.

[lvoss]

I have been using Bully Pads in my crates since I got them for the puppy pen when Rally had her first litter. They are not indestructable but are quite durable. Nicky can destroy them but has only done so when he has had a major tantrum, crated without a girl in one of the nearby crates. I am not exactly sure what right size would be because I buy a larger size for the whelping pen and then fold them in half for their regular crates.

http://www.upco.com/cgi-bin/Upcol.storefront/4626779502aeff74ea6ec0a80a2f073f/Product/View/80003

[lvoss]

@Quercus:

I hope he chills out in his crate soon. I am always super conservative when it comes to getting a puppy accustomed to a crate…I am always phobic that I will get another Querk. I try to set it up so the puppy never has a complete freak out...because I never want to be put in the position of letting them out when freaking, or making the continue to panic because I won't let them out.

It is really funny how similar Nicky and Querk are. Nicky is the same way about his crate. So far my girls have crate trained pretty easily and none really mind it much, but Nicky is a whole other story. For the longest time I couldn't put anything in with him because he would shred it. One time a rubber squeak toy fell into his crate. He made confetti out of it.

[JazzysMom]

So I went to Wal-Mart and bought some fleece. I sat down on my living room floor to cut in and make blankets. Keoki pounced in the middle of it and started "fighting" the fabric – ripping, pulling, twisting, you all know how it is.

I'm thinking I'll forgo the fleece bedding for now and stick with paper towels. It just seems so cold and uncomfortable. sigh.

[Ambered]

hey jazzysmom
i know bryan using papertowels with his shredders. you could ask him what he is used to, maybe?
when i first got fender i used old towels. i no longer have a single "old towel" now he has a little pop out bed i found at tj maxx. it just miracoulously works.

[Quercus]

@lvoss:

It is really funny how similar Nicky and Querk are. Nicky is the same way about his crate. So far my girls have crate trained pretty easily and none really mind it much, but Nicky is a whole other story. For the longest time I couldn't put anything in with him because he would shred it. One time a rubber squeak toy fell into his crate. He made confetti out of it.

I wonder if it is because they are first dogs, who were only dogs for awhile? I think they are not too distantly related thru the Kenset stuff…maybe it goes back to that

Querk has eaten so many things that he has sucked into the crate...ugh...one of my favorite jackets while we were traveling one time...

[JazzysMom]

Ambered, I had just talked to Bryan about him the yesterday and he said to go w/paper towels. BUT because I need the puppy to be cozy, I figured I'd give the fleece a shot first. Needless to say, I should have listened to Bryan, LOL.

This morning about a third of a roll of paper towels was reduced to two handfuls of fluff.

I need to talk to Bryan again as Keoki absolutely panics at night in this crate, and I really don't have any other sleeping options for him. I need to find out what Bryan would do, I guess. DH doesn't do well on 2 or 3 hours of sleep, LOL.

[Ambered]

i have a suggestion

you could bring him over here at night and he can sleep with me. DH wont be able to hear him. hehehe

[JazzysMom]

hee hee Nice try, Lady!!!