When you have a puppy and you intend on crate training, should you buy a smaller crate to begin with then as the dog gets bigger should you buy a bigger crate, or is it OK just buying the bigger crate straight away?

Also, say you crate train your dog so he sleeps in it during the night but doesn't bother with it during the day, are you OK to fold away the crate during the day (just to make the place look tidy) or would this upsett the dog so he won't want to go back into it?

It would make economic sense to buy the size of crate intended for the full size breed of dog you have and if it looks huge when your pup first uses it, you can reduce the size by putting a smaller cardboard frame inside it.

I think most people leave their crates up so that their pup can sleep in it during the daytime as well. We kept our s up. Eventually there came a time when Ailsa no longer needed the security of the crate and we switched her over to a dog bed- but still made a bit of a tent under the dining table so that she felt as if she was in a more enclosed space. Now, she wouldnt be seen dead in a dog bed, but that's our fault for showing her ours...

We initially bought an XL crate for our lab pup but it was too big for the room ! Went down to a L one but I think it'll be close as to whether she will need the XL when she's fully grown. Might just get her a bed if it comes to that.

We leave it up all the time with the door open during the day and she likes to go in it of her own accord, although she does favour the bean bag in the other room if given a choice :)

You can get crates with dividers :D That way you just take the divider out when pup's bigger!

Takara never goes in her crate during the day, she'd rather pull her bed out of it and sleep in the middle of the floor :rolleyes: But she's very willing to go in it at night.
The advantage to having it up all day is that if you need the pup to be secure for whatever reason, he can be shut in without fathing around.

Personally I don't have the patience or energy to keep folding mine up and putting it out again so it stays up all day, it depends really what you want.

Many people like to be able to shut the pup in if they can't be around to supervise to ensure he doesn't steal/chew stuff.

I watched dog whisperer last night and he said put them in as small a crate as possible as in the wild dogs have small dens !! We tried it with our pup and it worked, he stopped whining to get out all the time!

We bought a large crate for our GSD as a pup as I could not see the point in having to keep buying new ones. He was quite happy in there, and we used to lock him in at night and when we went out. He still has his crate at 2.5 years old but he is not locked in it anymore, just goes in and out as he pleases. He uses it as a place of refuge, and often goes in to escape the kids or the springer pup. However, I'm pretty sure he lounges on the sofa or chairs at night and when we're not in, as I often find them suspiciously warm :suspect:

I watched dog whisperer last night and he said put them in as small a crate as possible as in the wild dogs have small dens !! We tried it with our pup and it worked, he stopped whining to get out all the time!

That's why a divider works well - you don't have to keep buying the next size up as pup grows that way.

However - the crate should always be big enough for the dog to get up and have his head up, stretch and move around in a circle (unless you are using it to rehabilitate a dog with an injury in which case seek veterinary advice) if you are going to be leaving him crated during the day.

I shan't voice my opinions on the Dog Whisperer as I have done that elsewhere but do a search if you're interested. Just that I think you'd be better off taking the advice of a brick than his if you want a well balanced puppy ;)

I won't repeat anything above, I'll just add that it's much easier to get your dog/pup fully crate trained if they understand that this is 'bed' whenever they are asleep, rather than somewhere you shut them at night to abandon them!

Continuing with crate training is also a good idea as it makes your dog much easier to take to other places with you, and if there's some sort of emergency, it's a lot easier for somebody either less confident with dogs or reluctant to let one rattle round loose in their home to offer to help you out (bearing in mind that getting a dog into kennels in an emergency is virtually impossible, as they usually require kennel cough vaccine to have been administered at least two weeks prior to boarding)

Yes - and can I add, it would've been a heck of a lot easier to take a crate to my friend's house when we went to stay because without it the dogs decided their bed wasn't as comfy as my air bed and after a couple of nights, there was no way it was ever going to inflate again :(

We always take crates now :D