So, despite never being crate trained, my adult male sheltie takes to it quite well. We had an emergency last weekend which necessitated me borrowing a crate and taking him to my office for several days (he and I lived there full time for a bit).
Murphy took to the crate just fine. I tried to let him out for at least a few minutes every two hours (or more), but he had to stay in the crate most of the day during business hours. During that time, he'd get a walk or two and someone would let him out a bit to run around the basement. In the evenings, I kept him crated some, but let him roam the building a fair bit.
He was fine in the crate. Extremely well behaved. Actually, he seemed more nervous out of it. Based on this, I want to buy a crate of our own and crate train him a bit. We probably won't use it regularly, very rarely in the house. Murphy is very well behaved around us. He normally sleeps in out bedroom, and, when we're gone for a long period, we generally just confine him to the ground floor of the house and he sleeps until we come back.
Generally, I want to get him used to the crate for:
-- when we have company over. Murphy has a tendency to be a little disruptive when strange people are in the house. He gets over-excited and yaps a lot. He's very friendly, so it's sort of cute, but also a little annoying.
-- emergencies. I've been worried about how he would respond if we ever had to vacate the house and take him somewhere. He was fine this week, but I want him to get used to the crate so we can take him to neighbors or ? in the event of an emergency (prolonged power outage or ac/furnace problem, mostly)
-- trips to the vet. I would never board him in a kennel while we're gone (he either comes with us, or we get neighbors to house sit), but I want him to get used to a crate in case he would ever have to spend a night or more at the vet and would be put in a crate for an extended period of time.
So I've never bought a crate. I know a little bit. What do I need to consider before I buy one. My main question is what size is best for him. He's about 27 pounds, 26"/27" from the base of the tail to the tip of his nose, and about 18" tall (these are estimates, but they're close).
The cage I borrowed for him is 42" deep (length) x 26" wide x "30 high. That seemed to be quite a bit larger than he needs (the person I borrowed it from owns a much larger dog) and was kinda unwieldy to tote. On the other hand, I don't want to get something too small and cramp him.
I'm thinking 36", maybe 30". Is that about right?
Thanks. I've never considered a crate before, so I really don't know a whole lot about them.
Murphy took to the crate just fine. I tried to let him out for at least a few minutes every two hours (or more), but he had to stay in the crate most of the day during business hours. During that time, he'd get a walk or two and someone would let him out a bit to run around the basement. In the evenings, I kept him crated some, but let him roam the building a fair bit.
He was fine in the crate. Extremely well behaved. Actually, he seemed more nervous out of it. Based on this, I want to buy a crate of our own and crate train him a bit. We probably won't use it regularly, very rarely in the house. Murphy is very well behaved around us. He normally sleeps in out bedroom, and, when we're gone for a long period, we generally just confine him to the ground floor of the house and he sleeps until we come back.
Generally, I want to get him used to the crate for:
-- when we have company over. Murphy has a tendency to be a little disruptive when strange people are in the house. He gets over-excited and yaps a lot. He's very friendly, so it's sort of cute, but also a little annoying.
-- emergencies. I've been worried about how he would respond if we ever had to vacate the house and take him somewhere. He was fine this week, but I want him to get used to the crate so we can take him to neighbors or ? in the event of an emergency (prolonged power outage or ac/furnace problem, mostly)
-- trips to the vet. I would never board him in a kennel while we're gone (he either comes with us, or we get neighbors to house sit), but I want him to get used to a crate in case he would ever have to spend a night or more at the vet and would be put in a crate for an extended period of time.
So I've never bought a crate. I know a little bit. What do I need to consider before I buy one. My main question is what size is best for him. He's about 27 pounds, 26"/27" from the base of the tail to the tip of his nose, and about 18" tall (these are estimates, but they're close).
The cage I borrowed for him is 42" deep (length) x 26" wide x "30 high. That seemed to be quite a bit larger than he needs (the person I borrowed it from owns a much larger dog) and was kinda unwieldy to tote. On the other hand, I don't want to get something too small and cramp him.
I'm thinking 36", maybe 30". Is that about right?
Thanks. I've never considered a crate before, so I really don't know a whole lot about them.
