[Thor]

So we have Zeus, who is crate trained. He loves his crate and goes into it to sleep on his own. He sleeps eight hours straight in it every night. I read that a dog should not be crated longer than eight hours a day though.

A week ago we rescued a Boxer. She hates the crate, so we are working with her to get crate trained and making good progress, just not even close to Zeus' level yet. The goal (is/was) to have them both sleep at night in their crates.

We currently keep Zeus in the kitchen and the Boxer (Sibyl) in the room Zeus used to stay during the day (it is a small room off of our patio that was a mini exercise room) while at work to keep them seperated. The neighbor comes over and plays with them at lunch time so they are not alone the whole day.

Both dogs have been destroying the house. Sibyl is 1.5 yrs and Zeus is 4-months. Sibyl has massive separation anxiety, so her chewing of the molding is understandable and will hopefully improve. Zeus quit chewing in that room a month ago, but now decided to chew all of our window sills and chair molding in that room. He is also peeing on the floor, which he never did.

I have several different scenarios as possible solutions, but was wondering what everyone else would do? Appreciate the replies and reading this long post, but I need to keep the wife happy too! :lol:

 

[Kasco]

To me, crating at night doesn't count as the eight hours. My dogs (except Jazz) are crated at night. They're out for about an hour in the morning, then crated four to eight hours a day. It's better to crate Zeus then to leave him out and take the chance of him 1. destroying your house and 2. eting something that could make him sick. Crate him while your away, it's the best bet.

 

[Diane-n-Ana]

I can't leave either of my pups out during the day because of that. Ana *might* be able to when she gets older, but chances are she'll be in her crate. Same reasons as Kasco: don't want them destroying anything, and don't want them to get hurt. They're both in their crate 8 hours at night and 4-8 hours during the day.

I can only see 3 options for you.
1. Let them stay out of the crate and destroy things.
2. Dog-proof a room, and keep them there during the day.
3. Crate them.

I would do either #2 or #3.

 

[Thor]

Thanks for the replies and validation on day-time crating. I tried crating Zeus during the day, in the dog-proof room with the Boxer loose, and that worked really well. As soon as Sibyl is fully crate trained, they will both be in there.