BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Dogs Puppies in Cages

We crate trained ours for the first 8 months. During the day while we were both working we took turns coming home to take her out to potty, play, cuddle etc. We called the kennel "her room". She also slept in there at night time. We got up every two hours during the night to take her out to potty. After the 8 months she was fully trained with going to the bathroom and chewing. She's had free range of the house ever since. In fact her kennel sits in the corner of the dining room where it is used to store her things. I think crate training when used properly(leaving an animal in a crate for 6-8 hours without a break is not good) is a good thing. Like anything anyone who is going to get a puppy should do some research and decide what is best for them. Everything is trial and error. In this case it worked for us.

My dogs stay in crates (cages) during the day. I have a dachshund and a min pin. Two years ago we had a house fire. We weren't home. The firemen were able to find our dogs immediately because they were in their crates. I'm afraid they would have hidden and died from the smoke if they were loose in the house.

My dachshund goes in his cage on his own and watches us when we eat dinner. Both dogs are very comfortable. Even when I'm home all day, they spend most of the time asleep!

They were easy to train and I am so glad I did it that way. I also recommend getting a save our pets sticker for your door in case you ever do have a fire.