What Anne said.

Both my GSDs spent the first 6-8 months in the house for basic manners, house training etc.

Once they reached that 6-8 months old they became outside dogs.

All my terriers were house dogs and I did play a bit with them in the house but never out of my sight and I still always took them outside every 20 0r s0 mins.

All were crate trained in order to get them used to that "confinement" although all eventually looked at their crates as a place to just kick back or sleep.

I have always felt that the pups need to be with their pack. So they are always in the room with me crated or loose. They may also be why I never had trouble with my pups crated even with other dogs loose. They were still in the same area of the house. I did not isolate them. But some pups find that too stimulating...& might need their crate covered or moved to another room but still with some ear shot of the pack. I have not had to do that but have suggested it to others that found it was too much for their pups.


I find isolating a pup away from the family daily activity causes them to be over stimulated when then allowed around the activity. Just my way. Everyone has their own ideas...but this has worked with all my pet dogs as well as my 4 working GSDs.

I never had a pup hate their crate...the go everywhere in truck in their crate with me from day one.So a crate too them means good things(they are with me) as well as good treats. That offers me the opportunity to take them out & introduce them to all kinds of things as a part of socialized them. They get to go into stores etc which is fun for them. So their crates have only good vibes for them.

I had one pup, a nucking futz JRT that took a few months to stop whining in the crate but he had more issues the the average crazy little basssid.