First, thank you to leerburg.com for all your help in raising our newly adopted puppy!

I have a few questions that I couldn't find the answers to on the site.

I know Ed has said to let the puppy out of the crate (if he is being good) every 3-4 hours but my question is how long do you leave him out of the crate?

Also, my wife and I have a somewhat flexible schedule but there are times when the pup must stay in the crate for 6 hours during the day. He also stays in the crate for about 6-7 hours at night (in fact, last night he was in all night with no accidents). He does pretty well in the crate overall, he cries and whines for maybe 15 min but then he is ok. Sometimes he doesn't want to go in the crate and I want to make sure this isn't a bad sign...he does go in when a treat is thrown in.

I just want to make sure we are not leaving him in the crate TOO long and any advice would be appreciated.

Just a history about our pup. He is an Australian Sheperd who is about 12 weeks old (we have had him for a few weeks) and we adopted him from the pound. He had the mange and then found out he had parvo. He survived the parvo and is now on his way to being healthy. Also, we did order 8weeks to 8 months a few days ago. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for your help!

Marc

I still throw a treat in the crate 100% of the time when I crate my pups. I want the crate to ALWAYS be a good place to go. And, frankly, when it's time for me to leave and I head for the treat container, my dogs tear off to the crate and are sitting there by the time I get to them.

I tend to only crate my pups when I am not home, or if I can't keep an eye on them. I use closed doors and baby gates to keep them in the room I'm in otherwise.

And I am driving my dogs places to socialize. Taking them to meet my friends. Taking them to meet 'strangers'. Lots of play, tugging and ball chasing and chasing. Play and toy drive is a good thing to start building because you can really use it for training purposes.

Interesting article about how important exercise is for our pups is on http://www.showdogsupersite.com/hips.html

We do socialize our pup, although not as much as we will in a few weeks. Since he is recovering from parvo, we try to protect him as much as possible until he can get his first set of shots (because of his bat with parvo, he hasn't even had his first set yet).

We tend to spend atleast 4-5 hours a day with him out of the crate in some fashion. It may be 15 min here, 30 min there and sometimes he sits on the coach (yes, I know I probably shouldn't but he loves it and is calm while sitting with me at night) for 1 - 2 hours.

There are many times during the day where I cannot watch him because I also work from home (I'm in sales) so I will play with him for 15-30 min and then crate him for a few hours. He whines for 15 min but then settles down. I never let him back out of the crate until he settles down.

My biggest fear is him being crated too long, I want to be fair to him but as you know, most of us have jobs and have to take care of that responsibility as well. That's why I asked about excercise. I just don't know what is too little and what is too much per day??????

I also forgot to mention that EVERYTIME I crate him, I say "crate" and give him a treat for going in (and to lure him in at times). I did notice the other day that he didn't want to go in, even though I tried to lure him with a dog treat. I got a small piece of chicken (which is what we have been feeing him for about a week because of the parvo ...ie chicken/rice) and he went in.

It's hard to tell whether he hates his crate or enjoys it....could it be because he is only 12 weeks old and most pups won't be crazy about it? Although, from reading some post on this site, our pup is a ANGEL compared to some. WHEW!

Tough pup to recover from parvo! As far as I know, once a dog has had parvo and recovered, he cannot get it again and is immune to it and as long as he gets his vaccines he should be fine to socialize and romp wherever you take him.
Aussies are energetic and have drives like any other herding dog, so you can really tire him out with fetch, tug games, agilty exercises, jogging etc. I know for a german shepherd that they need atleast 2hrs. of exercise a day. That's 2 hours *minimum*. It's probably about the same for an Aussie.
You can always get in some extra play time with a kong filled with peanut butter or cream cheese thrown in his crate. This will really make him glad to go inside his crate too! If you start to see him have seperation anxiety symptoms or destructive habits, it might be time to make a serious change. Maybe get him a dog-walker or maybe an outside run. I had my neighbor walk my dog everyday when I was working. It really helped calm her down and she(my neighboor)loved to do it.

Thanks Alison!

Yea, he is one tough pup and we actually found out he had parvo after we adopted him. If the pound knew he had it, he would have been put down.

When you talk about 2 hours of excercise a day, are you talking 2 hours minimum at one time? Or would 30 min here and there would work? Right now I would say he is ATLEAST out of the crate for 4 hours a day...whether it be walking outside, playing tug outside (or inside) and so forth. I "think" he is getting enough excercise but I really want to make sure...because I want to be fair. Most days he never goes more than 4 hours being in the crate but there are days (usually once a week) where he is in there for about 6 hours during the day....I just try to leave him out of the crate longer once we get home on those days.

Also, we do have a kong and he loves it. He absolutely loves cream cheese. How much is too much? I usually reserve the kong with cream cheese for night. I put it in when he goes in the crate for the night and seems to keep him busy when he isn't sleeping during the night.

As far as the 2hr. exercise, it is total time a day. That's great that he gets 4-6 sometimes! A tired pup will really be easier to handle, train, and basiclly live with.
In my opinion, anything over 10% of his regular diet would be too much treat/cream cheese. If it starts affecting his eating habits with his dog food or if he gets loose stools, then I would decrease it. You can always make it last longer inside the kong by stuffing and freezing it before you give it to him... yummy frozen cream cheese doggy ice cream. That would really be interesting to watch him eat (brain freeze!!).

Thanks again Alison!

I really didn't know what the proper amount of time he should be out of the crate per day was, I was afraid I was leaving him in too long. It's good to hear that atleast 2 hours a day total time is sufficient for the most part...even though he is out more than that on most days.

I think Alison was saying 2 hours of exercise, not 2 hours out of the crate. Crating a pup for 22 hours a day is excessive in my opinion. Some time out of the crate can just be spent relaxing. Hanging out in the living room is an important skill that all dogs should learn if they live in the house <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />.

Thanks Pamela, I figured that's what she meant.

But we spend anywhere from 4-6 hours a day out of the crate...atleast 2-3 playing inside or outside and few hanging out in the living room. Sometimes he gets a little rough (just being a puppy I assume) and I have to put him in "time-out" though. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />