weaning off of crates?

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itsme123

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Jacks growing fast, and the crate we have for him is, IMO, too small. I looked into getting a bigger one but in reality I havent space for a much bigger one. he loves to play in the garden most of the day anyway, so it seems pointless when he'd MUCH prefer to sleep on his blanket out of the crate.

We have a bitch staying this week who he gets on with, so armed with a stairgate I removed his crate and put his blankets where the crate had been, with the bitch's bed on the other side of the room. Pointless really seeing as they've decided sharing a bed is much better.


Anyway, he;s suddenly started messing again. Something he hasnt done in weeks.. (he;s nearly 5 months). This morning my kitchen floor was covered in poo and wee
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He's been trained to go outside, he normally asks to go out so i don't understand? They both went out at 2am, they both did their buisness...

Could this be the fact I have the bitch in with him? Just the excitement of having her around distracting him? (though he can go through the night quite easily
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) Or maybe the removal of the crate has upset him? Or could he be 'marking'??

he's been for two walks today, as per usual, and spent mst of the day in the garden. yet came in and wee'd on the floor twice...

any ideas would be gratefully recieved.
 
5 months is still very young to be hasty with the crate removal and more so with breeds that take a little longer to tilet train like j.r.t's, I would take this as a sign he is not ready for the crate to be taken away esp if he has been clean whilst the crate has been used, I would not say it was connected to the bitch in any way, esp as he is passing faeces on the floor aswell as urine.
I would put the crate back, it can set u back a good way by removing the crate to early, esp from crate to whole kitchen area, when removing them it's best to still keep them in a confined space and gradually increase.
 
Hi, Ive been in the same position trying to get rid of a crate and we have finally done it much to the dismay of our dog ... he loved it.
I wanted to try ages ago but after reading Calas advice a while ago thought our boy was maybe too young so we went on holiday in June and Boris spent the week at a friends so we removed the crate then. Boris is now 15 mths old and big! Our crate was 4ft long!! and overtaking the house.
I felt really bad as when he came home he looked for the crate and each time he went for a wee he came back and went the wrong direction towards the now gone crate. After about a week he seems to have forgot about it and is happy in his big plastic dog bed. More fool me I ordered a Kudos bed as I thought he would prefer that and hes turned his nose up at it. £85 down the drain!!
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I would give it longer as Cala suggests but I know how you feel as I am so glad to see it gone. It wont be long now.
 
Evie still sleeps in her crate at nearly 14 months old, she is shut in it at night to stop her trying to get Buffy to play at 4 am! They both choose to sleep in there when door is open, it takes up a fair bit of space in the kitchen but can't see me moving it any time in the near future
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Thankyou Cala, I think you're probably right, though last night it wasnt him pooing on the floor, it was the bitch
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I'm desperate not to set him back or make him insecure, just worried about him not having enough room to stretch out in his sleep, still, I guess if I leave the door open (with stairgate at kitchen door) he's at least got the option and the security of knowing it's there if he wants it.

Thanks again
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MM, lovely dogs, and the same bedding as Jack's... I swear by that bedding, was given to me by his breeder as it had his mother's smell on, and it's fab stuff. Can you tell me what it;s called please? I'd like to get him a bigger one as his bit is puppy sized
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Thanks for the compliments. Evie is now fully grown but they both still squeeze in there
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The bedding is actually a bit of cheapy stuff I got from a dog show, but I think what you probably mean is Vet Bed, which is the proper version. Its great for whelping and having baby pups on as any wet soaks through the top part and onto the papers below keeping them nice and dry.
 
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