Bad idea in general with more than one dog?

1508 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by angie7349, May 4, 2006

jleonar

Discussion Starter · May 2, 2006

Got my new puppy little over a week ago. One of the bedrooms is the "dog room". It has their crates and toys. I have always crated dogs in my room in the past and I never had any issues but we decided with Lucy to keep her in a different room than us.

When we got Dozer we simply put his crate about 2 feet away from Lucy's. They do everything together and they get a long fine. They play with the same toys, eat at the same time, and play together outside. Yes I am know that most people who don't agree with this

I was wondering what everyone's opinion was on having their crates so close together and in the same room. I have noticed that when Dozer gets upset about being in there he will turn towards Lucy and bark at her.

For a while I was using a blanket over his crate to provide a more secure environment for him and to reduce that behavior. Well since he was having issues with potty training, I had to remove it because he kept getting pee and poop on it.

I don't want to create stress for him or Lucy over this. Lucy just ignores from what I can tell. She never really barks in any instances. I am thinking about bringing Lucy's crate back into my room until Dozer gets settled in our house.

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Bremner53

· #2 · May 2, 2006

How does he pee and poop on the blanket? That is what I did with Lucy to stop her from barking.

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jleonar

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 2, 2006

Bremner53 said:
How does he pee and poop on the blanket? That is what I did with Lucy to stop her from barking.

We typically put a towel in the crate. Well he will push it off to one side and poop or pee on that side. From there he will splatter it everywhere. Typically if he poops in his crate, he will smear it everywhere. With pee it is just the fact that he will step in it and splatter it around.

Poop he will step in then put his paws through the crate onto the blanket.

I guess I should setup some sort of barrier between the two that doesn't lay on his crate.

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BanterBull

· #4 · May 3, 2006

crating together

Since Messiah was ~10 wks. old, I've had his and Montana's (his mother) crates beside each other. The only problem I've had is Messiah SOMEHOW reaching Montana's blankets through the crates and pulling hers into his crate. He uses blankets as pacifiers, so it isn't pretty... But, I don't consider that a real problem. I just moved them a little further apart and they've always been fine, keep each other company....when Montana's in there. We've been letting her upstairs so she's more comfortable now that she's pregnant.

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halo

· #5 · May 3, 2006

Mine always had the crates together so they could be together and see each other , I think it makes them feel a little more secure
If its just barking once in awhile I wouldn't worry mine did it when they wanted to play or talk to each other for attention. As puppies mine did everything together too. and today they are still closer than ever. It's good that they get along like that. Some don't
My crates are right up agaisnt each other they like to be close. but like amococat said sometime they will pull the other things through the cage so you may need a little space there.

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Beetle

· #6 · May 3, 2006

I don't know, I've never had that problem. My dogs' kennels are within inches of one another, and they've always gotten along fine that way. Sometimes they even share the same one or trade when I tell them to go to their kennels.

Not to start an argument or anything, but I've got say that I'm surprised that you would separate them, since you said in another post that separating dogs that don't get along is just avoiding the problem, and when dogs don't get along it's a failure on the owners part and all that stuff.

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jleonar

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 3, 2006

Not to start an argument or anything, but I've got say that I'm surprised that you would separate them, since you said in another post that separating dogs that don't get along is just avoiding the problem, and when dogs don't get along it's a failure on the owners part and all that stuff.

It is avoiding the problem for three reasons:

1. He is a puppy and still hasn't gotten the whole crate training down. Why add another obstacle to accomplishing that task.

2. Why give him another reason to get upset in the crate and bark. He is already going to whine because he isn't used to it and I don't want him to get into the habit of barking in his crate.

3. One of the reasons to crate is so they can't get into trouble while you aren't there. Well I can't be there all the time while he is in his crate to correct his behavior. I also would rather not correct him while he is in his crate until something has truly become a problem. I don't want to associate bad things with the crate.

So I would definately be avoiding the situation temporarily until he learned how to act in the crate. And so that when he was comfortable with being crated, I could move him back in with Lucy and I would feel more comfortable doing some corrections.

Also keep in mind that he is a puppy so hard stern corrections go over his head because he hasn't been in any obediance classes yet. We have simply been working on positive training for sit, stay, come, down , and "look at me".

I might have found a solution anyways without moving the crates. I am using a pet travel carrier for him instead of the wire crate I have. It gives him a little more privacy and he can't turn and get on his back legs and bark at Lucy. I started it yesterday so I am going to see how that goes for a few days.

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angie7349

· #8 · May 4, 2006

What about a plastic tarp? They can be big enough to wrap around his crate and they wipe off easliy.

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