Hi everyone. My husband and I are adopting a 5 yr old Basenji mix. We are picking her up tomorrow from a shelter. She will be the only dog. Altho we have a crate we have never needed to use it on any of our dogs. I am home all the time except for grocery shopping , etc. After looking up the Basenji breed alot of people say you should crate them when no one is home or they will chew your house up. Any advice would be great!

this is a mixed bag and everyone has an opinion. Mine were trained to go in the crate, when I left, because that is when they did the most damage. They did do damage when left to roam, but seem to grow out of it. I have 2 puppies, that are still in the crate when I leave, but I am hoping soon, they will get trustworthy...So to answer your question, my advice is use it for training, with the goal to ween her off the crate when you leave.

Thanks for the info, I think I will crate train since when I do go out, I wont be out long.

Using a crate serves a lot of good purposes. You don't risk accidents on your floors, or the dog chewing something and either damaging it or , worse, injuring the dog. Also, a dog who is calm in a crate that needs to be in one for travel, emergency medical care or boarding is far better off already being adjusted.

Crate training a 5yr old, could be a challenge.... if you decide to leave her loose in the home, make sure that that you close doors of rooms you don't want her in, PICK UP everything, do not leave things laying around...

We don't use a crate ever. Be sure to train your dog to be alone step by step, leaving her only a minute at first, then building it up to longer periods. What also helps greatly, strangely enough (or not, dependin on your view of dog intelligence): tell her that you will be out for a while, AND when you will be back. And then make sure you are back at that time. We find them sleeping in the same position even after hours.

If she's been in a shelter, training her to use a crate shouldn't be that difficult. Again, having her adjusted to a crate so transporting, being at hospital, etc makes her life and stress far easier even if you rarely need at home.

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/

Update on JOJO.....When we went to the shelter to put up Jojo they said she was good in crate and to roam when no one was home. I was very nervous but I left her to roam for awhile while I was out. She was wonderful and didnt do any damage to anything. I have left her to roam for about 4 times now, sometimes a few hours at a time and she is great!! She never even touches the cats toys. We're had here alittle over a week now. Yay!!! lol

WOHOOOO, that is really great news!