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Crate Time

Basenji Training
  • ShannaniganS

    Allrighty, I've read a few threads in here on this, and I want to share my "crate training plan" with you guys and see if you can catch any problem areas I may have.

    These first two days home, Paco has had me and Chris all to himself at the apartment, because it's the weekend. He stayed in the crate last night, complained a little, was let out at 2 am and 4 am for potty breaks, and today has napped in the crate with it open (yay!). Hopefully he'll be as good tonight in there.

    Tomorrow, I will have to leave at 10am for work, and I plan to leave Paco in the crate with chew bone filled with peanut butter. My brother will come by at 12 and let him out and even play with him (he's a puppy lover) and says he's willing to stay until I get home at 3:30 or so.

    Tuesday, I'll be leaving at 10 again (normally I don't leave until 12, this week is just the first week of a new semester - I teach afternoon classes). Peanut butter bone again, and a friend of ours will be back around 12 or 1 to take him out and let him go potty, but he may not be able to stay around for play, so Paco may wind up back in the crate from 12:30 until 3:30 or so.

    After that, he should only have to be in there from 12 - 3:30 each day. Is this ok for a 9 week old puppy? Eventually, when he is fully potty trained and isn't chewing our carpet, we'd like to let him be loose in the apartment. I'm hoping this time will come before May, as I leave in May to work at a summer camp and Chris works every day from 7:30am until 5pm or later. We found an affordable doggy day care center nearby that we might be able to use on day Chris knows he'll be working long hours, but I know we need to socialize Paco thoroughly first.

    Tips? Problems? Suggestions? The three of us appreciate it! :D

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  • tanzaT

    Sounds to me like you have a very good plan. And 12 - 3:30 should not be a problem for a 9wk old. If he gets stressed, he may have accidents, but I think you should do OK. As far as leaving the puppy out by May, I would be very surprised if that works… Usually Basenjis or any puppy is not really reliable enough for large spaces till at least 1 or 2yrs old.... Some of course will be OK, but in general, I would say you could have a problem. You might want to look into an Xpen that would give him a little more room if you are concerned. And doggy day care is an excellent idea

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • ShannaniganS

    Thanks, tanza! Do you think it's possible to build something as safe as an xpen with something like chicken wire? If we did something like that, it would probably be in the kitchen and I think we'd need to custom build it ourselves to make it work. Chris is a handyman, so if we knew of safe materials then maybe we could do something like that.

    (Also, Chris is excited about the idea of a doggie door that leads out to our balcony, but I think our balcony is to…escapable. Maybe we could build a pen on the balcony, though, that the door opened to. Hmmm...ideas....)

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  • tanzaT

    Something like a doggy door to the deck is a great idea, provided that the deck is really safe and he could not climb and escape…

    I would not use chicken wire... heavier wire would be better... or you can build one out of PCV pipe, which I think would be much safer then chicken wire. Remember however you need a "cover"... Basenjis are great climbers and jumpers.

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • AJs HumanA

    I think I's use hog wire rather than chicken wire. The wire is much thicker and has various sizes of mesh from 1/4 inch "squares" on up. Chicken wire is much too puny for the likes of a Basenji and can fray, which can cause all kinds of injuries, not the least of which are eye injuries.

    AJ's Ride:

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  • lvossL

    Here is a link to a great crate training article, http://askdryin.com/movies/CrateDogLR.pdf

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  • ShannaniganS

    Thanks for the link, Ivoss! And thanks for the wire suggestions, as well guys. Chris is actually a plumber, so we have a surplus of PVC lying around! I'm sure that's going to be Chris' next favorite project; once it gets going I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes. :) Any ideas on what the maximum space between pipes would be? We don't want him wriggling and squeezing his way through.

    This might really help for while I'm away!

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  • AnaA

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    He does only poop in his crate, no urine usually. I am trying to gradually get him to like his crate, but I do think it might be a lost cause. But yesterday I left for about three hours and left him in the kitchen. When I got back, I opened the door and looked down to see not only my cat waiting for me but my dog as well… He found a way to get out of the kitchen and have the run on my apartment. I now know why basenjis are called escape artists. I was happy to find that although he had an accident in the living room, he didn't destroy anything. But I won't count on one time to trust him alone. I am going to stick with the kitchen and try to make sure he can't get out.
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    @Janneke: Sorry.. but she hates her crate… and she has to be in it for 8 hours a day... And you don't walk her in the morning...? I would start with making sure your dog is tired in the morning before you put her in her crate. And maybe you can try to leave her loose in the house so she can move around? This is not only to you, but I read it so often on this forum that dogs spend entire days in their crates... I just don't understand that people can put their dogs in crates 8+ hours a day (I'm not including nights..) I agree with Janneke here - if she hates her crate, she may pee in it because she gets extremely unhappy there. Not all dogs need to be crated - I've never had a dog who was crated, and the two I have now are loose when we're gone because Shaye, who was 10 weeks when we got her, always hated it, never changed, and started breaking baby teeth on it. When we leave we leave them with a treat to get their immediate attention, and they usually sleep or keep themselves busy, with no damage or upset. Of course, we aren't usually gone more than 6 hours when we leave them.
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    I think I will buy a wire crate also. LIked that the plastic ones are more "den" like , but like you said I can just put a blanket at night… Thanks
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