# Crate size?



## TiffanyK (Apr 23, 2010)

We are going to buy a crate tomorrow. We only plan to crate when no one is home at all - mainly Sunday mornings for church and the occasional birthday party or something. I know nothing about buying a crate. She's 2 and she's completely housebroken. She is very tall. She weighs 59.7 lb. 

Tell me what I should know. LOL. Also, what do I do about water in there? She spills water from her bowl the entire time she's drinking LOL. She'll have the biggest mess ever. 

Thanks. And I'm sorry for so many questions, just learning the ropes with a GSD and don't want to screw anything up with her.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

If she's two does she really need the crate? Do you own her yet or are you adopting her soon or something?

A 48" crate would be the one to go with. I don't think she'd fit in a 42" but someone else might be able to chime in. I know my 8mo old 80lb guy wouldn't be able to fit into a 42" so I'm assuming stretched out she wouldn't be able to. 

Also, we never give water or food in the crate while we're gone. It really isn't necessary, and in puppies or new dogs, it could cause accidents. 

If you wanted to get an ex pen instead, she'd have some more room to move about. I don't know if you're going to be house training or not, but if not, I'd say go with the pen. It allows a lot more freedom/movement. A crate is best for housetraining though.


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## sagelfn (Aug 13, 2009)

I have an 80lb 11month old (almost) male and he fits in his 42"

she should be able to go without water and food while in the crate..as long as she isn't in there for more than 8hrs but if you want to give water they do make water attachments for crates.

a crate is not only for house training, it provides a safe place for the dog whether you are home or not


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## TiffanyK (Apr 23, 2010)

Yeah, I mainly just don't want her destroying the place or getting into something that could hurt her while we are not home. She's 2 but we've only had her a few days. We got her Saturday night. I don't think there would ever be a time where no one is home longer than 8 hours - someone is always home unless we have a family outing - family dinners, church, birthday parties. We'd take her with us but everyone we know has cats and she HATES cats so it wouldn't be much fun for anyone involved (except maybe her if she got loose LOL)


What's an ex pen?


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## Kruzayn (Jun 9, 2006)

Well, if you are worried about escaping or trying to escape I would shy away from the wire crates. We spent a decent amount on a wire crate and it was bent (repeatedly) while we were away. I was afraid he would get a bar loose and hurt himself. We got him a Giant size vari kennel the other day and have been much happier. If I were to get my first crate again I would choose the vari kennel and skip the wire kind. I had a smaller plastic crate for travel but for every day use it was too small...this would have saved us cash in the long run had we just gotten the giant vari kennel from the start.


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## TiffanyK (Apr 23, 2010)

I'm really not sure how she will act when no one is home - we've never left her. I'm going to google the kennel you are talking about.


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## TiffanyK (Apr 23, 2010)

Hmm... this may be what we need - the vari kennel thing. I kept reading about how it's good to cover the crate anyways so this is like doing that but without the risk of having the metal bars. I also like that we'd be able to use it if we were to ever need to fly with her (which I don't really see - we drive whenever we travel)


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

An exercise pen is a 16' pen made out of metal like wire crates, with a door, and comes in different heights. It's basically just a bigger space, with panels (and I think you can buy additional panels to make it bigger) that bend and fold so that you can pick the shape of the pen, and folds to carry away.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i would go with the 48" crate. i wanted my dog to have
plenty of room.

your dog should be ok without water for a few hours.
i never left my puppy/dog in his crate
longer than 4 hours. if my dog had to be crated
longer than 4 hours i had someone come in and take
care of him.



TiffanyK said:


> We are going to buy a crate tomorrow. We only plan to crate when no one is home at all - mainly Sunday mornings for church and the occasional birthday party or something. I know nothing about buying a crate. She's 2 and she's completely housebroken. She is very tall. She weighs 59.7 lb.
> 
> Tell me what I should know. LOL. Also, what do I do about water in there? She spills water from her bowl the entire time she's drinking LOL. She'll have the biggest mess ever.
> 
> Thanks. And I'm sorry for so many questions, just learning the ropes with a GSD and don't want to screw anything up with her.


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## TiffanyK (Apr 23, 2010)

I'm afraid she'd jump over the exercise pen and maybe hurt herself during the jump since there wouldn't be that much room to get a running start? 

I also had another thought a few minutes ago - our hallway.. There is nothing in our hallway. If I closed all of the bedroom doors and put 2 baby gates at the end (one above the other so she couldn't jump it) it would sort of make a running strip. It's probably 15-20 ft. long and about 3 feet wide? It's tile but I could throw her bed and a blanket in with her. 

No matter what we do, I'm going to do a trial run. My husband has a test that will take most of the day Saturday and the kids and I have my little cousins birthday party to go to. They REALLY need us there are my children will be the only children there (she is turning 3 and my uncle and aunt don't really know any other children her age). My mom is going to the party so she can't dog-sit. I figured we wouldn't be at the party longer than 3-4 hours. We live about 20-25 minutes away. 

I plan on getting whatever it is I'm going to get for her tomorrow (and I'm learning towards the vari kennel thing) so we can test run it. Leave her in there and have everyone leave the house - come back and check on her after 30 minutes, 1 hours, 2 hours, and then come home at the 3 hour mark? The spot we plan on for the crate/kennel/whatever, you can see from outside our sliding glass door, so we would just go around back and peek in without coming in and getting her excited only for us to leave again. I guess I just want to be sure she'll be okay in it and not come home from the party to a stressed, mad dog. LOL.


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## TiffanyK (Apr 23, 2010)

Or does the hallway idea sound okay? Would she eat our baseboard? She really is a mellow dog - I'm just not sure that she'd be mellow if we left her alone. She already whines when my husband leaves and it's just me and the kids here. She stops whining about 5 minutes later and goes on as if he never existed until the door opens and he gets home and then she's following him everywhere.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

The hallway idea is a great idea that a lot of people implement in different ways (some do rooms, some rooms and hallways, some hallways, etc). 

It's hard to tell if she's eat your baseboard or not. I know my 8mo old puppy wouldn't, and he's a hyper dog during the day, so just because she's mellow, doesn't mean she wouldn't, but if you're going to be doing a test, then that shall solve it. Although, before coming back in the first half hour, I'd leave a little early and just stand outside (with a window cracked, maybe?) for about 5 minutes and listen to see if you can hear her whining/scratching/barking. She may very well whine for the first few minutes, but if it's still going on at 5+ minutes you may have a problem. I'd then check on her physically (through your sliding door?) and see if she's sitting there whining, pacing, jumping, or scratching. If she's not running around or jumping, she's probably just a little upset and will fair fine.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I have a Remington Plastic crate it's

40”L x 27”W x 30”H

It was the biggest one I could find 

My boy is 1 year old
27' 1/2
80 pounds

He absolutely loves his kennel and is always napping in it even though the door is always open


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## Holmeshx2 (Apr 25, 2010)

Just wanted to throw my $.02 in. First if your pup is not used to being crated you can be pretty sure more then likely shes going to whine cry and bark to get let out for a little while. At 2 she may be more persistant and bark for awhile. Test her out let her go in and check it out but come back out then let her go in and close the door for a second but not lock it then keep it shut for a little longer where its actually locked see how much she can take and hows shes reacting to it also remember its not going to hurt her she might get mad but she'll calm down and get over it and if it's for her best interest and safety then that outranks her getting mad and throwing a temper tantrum just like telling your kids no at the store for something they want  after getting her in there for a little longer go ahead and go outside see if she barks or stays quiet if she barks stay outside awhile until it actually stops DO NOT come in to bring her out while shes barking they learn really quickly that barking will get them out of the cage definitely not what you want and I've learned with some of the dogs that standing there will make them bark. If she barks for awhile let it go and stay away where she can't see you then as soon as she stops go ahead and go in to let her out so she knows if shes good and quiet she comes out. If you come in and she starts the barking and whining when you get close to the cage back up if she keeps it up go out of site again until she stops then go back and get her out when shes quiet. 

I think the hallway thing is GENIOUS I had never thought of that before theres nothing there and doing the 2 gates on top of each other would make it high enough they should be fine and maybe even better behaved then being crated. Great way to start testing them with being out in the house alone without a crate. However, (yeah there's a but lol) we have had a dog in the past that we use to lock in an empty bedroom while we were gone nothing in there justt the 4 walls well of course a few toys and chewy stuff for her but nothing of ours to destroy. She was still fairly young still had puppy teeth, we just went out shopping for like an hour or 2 came out and she ate a HUGE hole through our wall not even the corner of the wall the actual front smooth face of the wall all the way through the dry wall and into the main support studs in the hour or 2 we were gone you can only imagine how big the hole was her front top and bottom teeth were worn all the way down to right above the gumline. So it definitely depends on the dog if you want to check her in the hallway go outside for about 10 minutes come back in and check on her then lengthen the time like you said. If she whines like that after your husband leaves I'm assuming she probably has some seperation anxiety so no matter where you put her the hallway or the crate she'll probably throw a fuss for a bit but she'll calm down. Ours did he always through a fit for like 10 minutes but hed quiet down after awhile and then start barking to get out when we came home if we didn't come get him right away. If you want to see how shed behave just to be sure if you have a laptop set up a little cheap $7-10 webcam pointing down the hallway and have it linked to your laptop with you outside so she doesnt see or hear you and you can see what she does for like an hour while your outside with the kids playing. This would be great because you can see once she quiets down if shes panicy and going to start chewing stuff like your baseboards walls or even her bed or if she nervously paces or if she just lays down and relazes until you come back. Wishing you all the best of luck.


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

They do sell extra tall gates as well for the hallway. That sounds like the cheapest and most convenient option, plus it gives her plenty of room. Like others said, if she's never been crated, she may have trouble being confined to a small space. 

Also, you need to start leaving her alone for small periods at a time before doing it for a couple of hours. This gets her used to you leaving and coming back and could avoid separation anxiety. Put her in the hallway and have the whole family go for a walk around the block and come back. Don't make a big deal about leaving or coming back. Do this for a few days and then leave for a little longer for a week. You need to make sure she knows she is not being left and that you always come back.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

My younger dog (now 18 months) eats baseboards out of boredom. Personally I'd crate train b/c you never know when it will come in handy later. If the dog gets sick or injured and is ordered to crate rest, the last thing you need is an injured dog that is also panicking b/c of the crate. IMO if you don't know the dog's history or how it will act in the house, then the crate is the safest option.

If she is tall I'd get a 42".


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## TiffanyK (Apr 23, 2010)

Okay, so we did the trial run in the hall and she went nuts trying to dig through the bedroom doors. LOL. So we went out and bought a crate. We got a 48" Select crate? IDK, just knew they only had 2 kinds and my husband said the gauge was thicker on this? I don't even know what that means but that he liked it better. LOL. We also got a thick bed/pad to put in there. Brought it home and put it together and noticed 2 things. 

1. It's HUGE. I mean like WHOA!!! Seriously HUGE! We are going to have a fun time finding the perfect spot for it indefinitely. LOL. We have it in the living room with us for now but we want it in our bedroom but we need to rearrange to fit it in there. LOL.

2. She loves it. Before we could even get the paperwork out, she climbed in. She laid down in and it feels like home to her. No crying, nothing. She just loves it.  I'm so so so glad. So apparently she was crate trained before at some point. She didn't sleep in it last night though - but that may be because it won't fit in our bedroom yet. And she doesn't sleep in our living room.

And 2.


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## bianca (Mar 28, 2010)

Oh yah that is such good news!!!


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Very good news. I know they're huge, we've had to re-arrange rooms for crates too. 

I'm very happy she likes it though. Looks like you found your solution.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

TiffanyK said:


> 1. It's HUGE. I mean like WHOA!!! Seriously HUGE! We are going to have a fun time finding the perfect spot for it indefinitely. LOL. We have it in the living room with us for now but we want it in our bedroom but we need to rearrange to fit it in there. LOL.


haha, you'll get used to it


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## Holmeshx2 (Apr 25, 2010)

lol glad it worked out so easy for you. They are HUGE but part of having a large breed dog. Was the cage you got wire or the plastic ones?

Plastic are great for giving them that den feel but the wire is great because you can fold it down and hide it when not in use which is always great.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Lucy's about 24.5" and a little over 70 pounds and she's in a 42" crate. She could have a little extra room and fit nicely in a 48", but she's had the 42" her whole life and is fine. 

At 60 pounds, i'd recommend the 42". I think that should be perfect.

EDIT - Just read back and saw you got the 48". I'm sure that should be fine too. Just as long as she's fully trained to not go to the bathroom, there's nothing wrong with a little extra room for comfort.


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