We recentley brought home a 8 week old border collie (girl). The first night she cried all night so we bought a crate for her to go in of a night but i am wondering apart from the obvious what you have in your dog's crate? We have her bed, water bowl (which she keeps tipping over and flooding her crate), food bowl, toys and try and squeeze a pee mat in there. Can any one advise on this? Am i over crowding the crate? Also to try and help with sleeping i have a ticking clock, leave the light on (living room), put a blanket over the top and leave the radio on. However last night after most of the night crying i went down and turned the light and the radio off and she seemed to settle, until 6am. I am normally up at 6am so its not a problem, sorry for a long post but any help would be appreciated

Thanks Graeme

Much the same in Holly's crate, Soft bed with blanket her teddy and a chew toy, food bowl and water bowl a hang over the bars one so that it can't be tipped over. I have never left the light on or the radio, and do not cover the crate. We had her at 10 weeks and she went in there from day one and never had a problem with her she has always slept quietly all night about 11pm to 7am and she is now 16 months old.

There are water bowls you can buy for crates that they cant tip over as it screws to the crate.!
If shes going in there to sleep them she really doesnt need alot of toys maybe just a little teddy or something like that.
Also of a night time you may want to take food and water out of her cage as she will be eating and drinking constantly and then needing the toilet.
We dont leave the light or radio on at night if we pop out we do but at bed time we leave the room dark with a blanket covering the cage.
All i would put in of a night would be bedding and maybe a little teddy.!
I dont no what other think about water and food in crate at night time but i have never put food or water in with mine at bed time
kerry x

We leave her food dish in there at night but it is always empty, but always give her access to water during the night.

I bought her one of the bowls that hang on the side of the crate and she manages to tip that over, although it isn't the screw on one.

Ours isn't the screw on type, where have you got it hung it needs to be on the oposite side to the bed. What size crate have you got?

We have got the 91cm by 61cm crate and i have put it away from her bed and slighty raised so its not on the floor of the crate

Hi

I have a very excitable boxer boy, he is 23 weeks now, he was crate trained the moment we brought him home at 10 weeks.
He has the bowls which sit in a bracket and fix to one of the narrow ends of his crate. He has vetbed in the bottom, and has never weed or had a poo in his crate.

If we have to go out, he gets a kong in his crate stuffed with tasty titbits, something to chew on, and a great tip I got from someone while he is teething, is rope tuggy, I put it in the freezer and give it to him frozen, he loves it, seems to sooth his sore mouth.

He howled and barked the first couple of nights, i think it was too quiet for him, since he came from a house with 8 other pups and 3 adult dogs, so we just left the radio on with low volume and the problem was solved. he always gets fed in his crate, so he treats it as somewhere nice to go, the door is always open day and night, except when we are out. We have started to experiment this week by leaving him out the crate when we are out for short periods, he had a little chew on an plant ornament thing yesterday, but he is teething at the moment, and small setbacks have to be expected, i just gave him something else suitable for him to mouth.


Fingers crossed he doesnt fancy anything expensive to chew lol

a puppy training pad on one half and a blanket on the other. dont put in water as he just tips it over and the breeder said not to either. he has his elephant which has a tennis ball as the body.

he used to have a top of mine in for the first week. i cover him over with two towels and shut the curtains for the light in the morning. and he sleeps from 10-11pm to 6-7.30am.

so far so good the only time he poos in cage is if he has a late meal and after his first jab

My dogs have a comfy bed, a bone and a toy.
No water as they are more likely to pee the bed during the night I think.
I never put newspaper of wee pad in crate as I think it confuses them into being alowed to pee in there, and had our pup in the room with us the 1st few weeks after the rest of the litter left so i could hear if he woke during the night- he didnt.

x

__________________