No crate at night
Joey clearly isn't ready to spend the night out of his crate yet. After a second incident where I accidentally fell asleep before putting him in his crate and woke up to a room filled with three piles of poo and two spots of pee I'm wondering if anyone has some advice for how to make the transition smoothly once the time comes. Is it the type of thing that just happens once he's old/mature enough to handle it? Or are there some techniques I can use to make sure he does better?
Comments
Nemo will always sleep in his crate at night. I just thought I'd offer my lack of help.
we started letting Tsuki sleep out of the crate at 6 months. She could successfully hold it long enough from 11:30 pm to 7am.
Haven't had any issues yet! 5 months and counting!
sleep on the bed, and we close our bedroom door, and when we felt her
getting off, we would immediately take her outside, to mimic our
"waking up" routine. we had to do this for about a week, so sleep
depraved with no pee or poo spots on the floor a week later, and she's
been OK since! But we started when she was 6 months, and she's now 11
months.
I'm no help either - we had two incidents where Ryu peed ON THE BED!! ewwwww. One was because I fell asleep (Tim was out of the country) really early and the bedroom door was shut (his crate is in the living room). The second time is because I left him in our room while I ran a quick errand (not thinking of course) and he did it again. So, after flipping the mattress and dousing it with a full gallon of Nature's Miracle, he now sleeps in his crate no matter what. I'm really wanting him to be "free" at night so hopefully in another few months, he can learn to hold it??
note: he has held it for more than 12 hours in his crate before.... long story, but no pee
Dave, you are definitely experiencing Shiba parenthood and I feel your pain. Puppies can't hold it as long as dogs and their space has to be limited. And, you have the issue with Joey running away when it's time to go outside. Back to the crate/puppy playpen for another month or so.
Now, I could leave Jake all day, with the run of the house while I work, except I know he would tear it up. It isn't a bathroom issue, it's a destructive chew the furniture issue. As he matures, I believe I can leave him and come back to my home intact.
I was always told Shibas don't go where they live, but he and I don't live in the living room, which now remains gated off. We also don't live in my walkin closet, where he thought was the best place to go out of our way and behind my back thinking no one would ever know.
Initially he wasn't allowed off the bed, and was crated if he insisted. Now he prefers to sleep on the floor and we both sleep better.
He's had to learn me as well as I've had to learn him. I am still in training with the Jake Man. He is the best dog in my world!
Well, I am rather late to this post, sorry.
I would crate your dogs till they are 2 years old, that's my opinion. If the crate makes you feel bad build a pen so they have more room. We have broke that rule lately due to space (since Ahi has to be in a crate all the time now due to the surgery and the Shibas can't be trusted out at night anymore)... but I think it is best to wait till they are 2 years or older before giving them that kind of freedom.
Also, bells on the door will help, its really helped us - they just ring the bell when they have to go.
Bells: http://www.poochie-pets.net/
I say two years because it gets them past all of the adolescence phases and helps to prevent any bad habits from forming. That is the key, you want to prevent the habits from forming to begin with, that way you don't have to fix them later.
The two year thing actually came from our behaviorist, she recommended it and it worked great for Maui, Kaia and Ahi - until we moved and now the shibas have digressed. In the grand scheme of things two years is not very much of their lives.
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The Shibas have been bad little shibas since we moved. If we leave them out all night, which they were allowed to do in ATL with no issues, they poo and pee EVERYWHERE. It's like they plan it or something. So to prevent this they sleep in a large crate together - they like it... they snuggle all night.
Really tho, I left them in my office and gated it for 5 minutes while I ran outside to get firewood and they crapped everywhere, and they had just been out. It's odd.
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As for Ahi, she in not allowed to jump at all till she is fully recovered, and her favorite place to sleep in on the couch - which involves jumping up and off of it all night because she changes locations throughout the night. So we have had to crate her. We have her in a REALLY large crate that we got for Lani. We keep her in the crate and not the pen because she will still jump up in the pen, but she can't in the crate.
So we are breaking the rules and letting Hilo sleep out, he does fine but we would rather him be in his pen... but Lani is in his pen.
So it goes like this at night:
Lani: pen;
Ahi: XL crate;
Kona: L crate;
Loa: L crate;
Maui & Kaia: L crate;
When we get our male Akita he will go in the crate Ahi is using and she will be allowed out with Hilo. Ahi takes her watchdog job very serious so she needs to be out at night. So this is kinda hard on her... we put her crate by the window and she seem to be ok with it tho.
When you have 7 dogs the crates start to take up a lot of space.
Niko was in the crate until 2. We started to then expand the time out. We would let her stay out and then get up after a few hours and put her in and start extending it. Sasha we had a year until she was out and she was maybe 3 years. Our Akita will also be in the crate until at least 2.
Brad-Male Akita??????????
Hi,
I feel we moved from the crate to the pen to complete access to everything rather smoothly. I just let my intuition tell me what Rudi wanted as far as sleeping arrangements.
He was crated at night in the livingroom near his first "monster" our big noisy propane heater. He was only crated during the day when the house was empty. I constantly play music or television during the day. I believe sounds help sooth the idle mind. This was all from 9 weeks old, and then within a week I brought home a child fence that could be set up like an octagon area.
I placed his crate into the child-fence pen area, which was then put into my bedroom, and he would spend time there when he could not be monitored. Still the crate was closed at night. I am a light sleeper. During the next two months he would just speak to me in his usual grunts and whines and I would promptly get him out for his business. This could range from 3 or 4 a.m. depending on when we went to bed. It was worth it.
By four months he told me he wanted to sleep in the bed. Being a light sleeper he would wake me to go out. Not a single time did we have to experience an accident.
By five months I dismantled the fence pen and put his crate away. Most times I get up and find myself pulling him outside to go, LOL he is not a morning person.
The one thing I can say about raising my Shiba in comparison with my first dog (Spitz-mix) is that he is not verbal about his needs. It is more like having ESP with him. I get a funny feeling and when I look at him he has a moment of frustration about him and then I realize he needs to go out. I do utilize the (whenever I arrive or leave) time to go through the "lets go pee" routine. He seems very tuned into that, and it appears I am too.
Brad--I think that if I were dealing with more than one dog, then I agree with you wholeheartedly. Definitely two years would seem appropriate. I can also see how multiple dogs "dare" each other to pull strings and try to get away with things. LOL Like saying the "Devil made me do it"
Rudi's latest move is going from the bed to the floor; apparently I roll too much for him LOL, Lord knows I don't snore!
Dave--I wish you luck in get through this.
Ron
oh yeah, Rudi is now 6 months old. I doubt he is nearly done teaching me things to overcome.