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Post by rprovost on Apr 23, 2006 19:38:42 GMT -5
So everyone, what do you do with your grey(s) when you are not home? I'm just curious because I really want to be able to leave Zooks out of the crate when we're gone. I would rather him have the freedom to lay where hes comfortable. We were also thinking that another grey would help with him chewing things when hes left out, any ideas about that? We definitely want another grey, we just haven't decided when yet. Thanks!
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Post by romansmom on Apr 23, 2006 20:30:58 GMT -5
I voted that I don't even have a crate. We do, but we haven't used it since a few months after we got Roman. But I told you that already anyways
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Post by sheri on Apr 23, 2006 21:08:48 GMT -5
Our boy had already been with a family, so I am guesing they didn't crate him....he is so good while we are at work all day...he has never had an accident or done anything bad in the house. We tried carating him the first two days, but the second day he got out...so we haven't crated him since. he just sits in the livingroom on his 4 blankets and his pillow. we got lucky to get a very well behaved boy!
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Post by schultz on Apr 23, 2006 22:20:25 GMT -5
I tried to use the crate when Gonzo first came home. He likes his crate and goes there to eat and to sleep (with 4 inch thick cushions and blnkets and toys, I would be comfortable there.
However, leaving him in the crate was another matter. He bent the bars and managed to escape whenever we went out. We were giving him a stuffed Kong and other treats (carrots or crunchies) to amuse him when we were departing and he would run to his crate when he saw the Kong being prepared, but he still escaped within 10 minutes. I tried using an old leather collar to hold the crate closed and he ate through the collar. Gonzo should have been name Houdini.
So now the crate is always open and a quiet and safe place for Gonzo to hang out and eat in. The cats use it more often than he does. Sometimes Gonzo and Dot share a cushion.
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Post by stylishhound on Apr 24, 2006 6:02:33 GMT -5
I have a huge wire crate that is right beside my bed. It's extremely comfortable (likely more so than my own bed!) and the door is left open all the time. Kiki will go in on his own to lay down if he feels like it and I think it's a security thing for him. I do crate him when I go out for the day and usually when I get home he's on his back with all fours straight out looking surprised when I walk in. I believe strongly in crate training for so many reasons but my advice would be to let your greyhound guide you to what is necessary for him. I have a friend whose greyhound would kick up a storm going into his crate and this went on for a bit. One day she thought she's leave him out to see how it went (rooms were blocked off mind you and nothing was left out that he could get into) and he was absolutely fine. So....you just never know and really need to get to know your dog.
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Post by jiffer on Apr 24, 2006 11:00:55 GMT -5
I have a crate set up in the living room. No one really uses it.
My method is when a new pup comes home, he/she gets crated until I feel comfortable that they have bonded with their siblings and they aren't going to potty in the house. They then "graduate" to being muzzled (all of them get muzzled). When I finally get comfortable with that, they move on to being free reign. Our pups are allowed in any room in the house except the kitchen. Echo is a terrible counter surfer and our cupboards do not shut tight. Baby gates are a Godsend if you want them to stay in certain rooms (buy baby gates instead of the marketed pet gate... they over price the pet gate and it does the same thing!)
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2006 13:51:53 GMT -5
I had a crate, spent $130 for 2 hrs with the 'dog trainer' (trains YOU to train your dog...) Honey (Hallo Honest) wouldn't even *think* of spending time in it. She had a 2 day transition to home life, never has surfed counters or garbage, and frankly she doesn't do anything wrong. At all. Ever. It's totally amazing. She takes shoes from the hallway into the bedroom but doesn't chew them. I think she considers them her puppies. She drops them on her blankie and that way if I have to go out, I have to let her know by taking my shoes. Such a cutie gal!
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Post by ontariogreys on Apr 29, 2006 10:37:53 GMT -5
Sunny and Callie I never crated , I was home with them for at least a week before returning to work and they were fine with short outings away , Sunny had an absolutely easy adjustment to homelife he housetrained very easy, he was a collector so it took a few days for him to learn what items were offlimits like the phone, box of kleenex , remotes etc he never chewed anything he simply piled everything on his bed and then would lay ontop of his treasures, I adopted Callie who was a return a few months later, so she already knew the house rules only have to worry about possible fights during the settling in period, so I babygated the greys apart for a month till I was a 100% sure their settling in pack order issues were resolved.
Maya I did crate, later expenned and then babygated to increase her space slowly, I did not have the time off with her, she is an extreme spook who is also extremely submissive and will act fearful around other dogs which makes her an easy target for the other dogs to bully or pick on due to her type of nature, so I was taking no chances especially with Sunny who was still quite moody in his grieving for Callie. She was also a chewer, but her chewing was related to anxiety so I used a lot of bitter apple to try to curb the chewing of furniture, it took about a year for the chewing to finally come to an end, if she is feeling stress for some reason like if her normal routine is disrupted I will give her a rawhide or bullystick to work off some of the nervous anxiety
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meganm
Junior Grey Lover
Puppy Love
Posts: 292
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Post by meganm on May 2, 2006 10:13:42 GMT -5
Both my boys were crated for about 1 week after they came home, mostly so they had a familiar place to go. then muzzled in the house for 1-2 weeks, then free reign. they both just sleep on the couches now when I go to work and only get into things once and a while
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Post by Krisztina Mikkelsen on May 7, 2006 10:45:39 GMT -5
3 Greys, a JR and a Dane...no one has ever been created.
The greys were always very well behaved. Shera piled up a 2 feet tall "mom's prized possessions" onto her pillow but never chewed anything.
BooBoo used to wear the plastic swing-lid of my garbage around his neck regularly but a mousetrap strategically placed in the garbage helped him to quit pretty fast.
The Dane (6 yrs now) better be start talking in English anytime soon as he "ate" an entire library of books when he was younger.
Since the last 3 years thou we have no issues of allowing them to have certain safe parts of the house while we are away.
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Post by tracydare on May 9, 2006 22:02:29 GMT -5
The first week we had Raven home, we crated her when we went to work. Every day, she peed in the crate. We decided to try leaving her uncrated and she's never had an accident since. Some dogs always want to keep their crate but clearly Raven was done with it.
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erinder
Grey Lover
Collarbones - for you guessed it, collars! (formerly Fussy Pup)
Posts: 421
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Post by erinder on May 11, 2006 17:56:08 GMT -5
I voted that I don't even have a crate, but like romansmom, we have one that is rarely out. digby really needed it for the first couple of weeks but now he's fine lazing around on his own. he's never EVER chewed or damaged anything. he likes to collect things around the house and bring them to his bed but never hurts them. he's such a timid dog that firm corrections have been enough to stop him from doing anything "undesirable" more than a couple times. erin
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mecki
Grey Lover
Posts: 666
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Post by mecki on May 11, 2006 20:31:20 GMT -5
My two were crated for about 2 months, then they had free run of the house. No accidents from either. Brook had a short bout of attempting to chew on walls but a couple of stern NO's and she stopped. Sully took longer to adjust than Brook - a lot of non- stop pacing and panting, but that's it and he finally settled and turned to super relax mode!
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Post by Tigger's Mommy on May 21, 2006 20:08:37 GMT -5
We crated Tigger for two weeks, but the little hodini figured out how to open his own crate in a matter of days. My fiance built Tigger a $100 beautiful wooden crate, with a raised food stand and everything. It was immaculate. He came to pick me up at work, put Tigger in the crate, and within the ten minutes it takes to get me from work, Tigger had chewed through the wood and met me at the door. After that no more crates for him. He sleeps on the bed all day now. Our only problem now is he has learned how to open our garbage can and tends to help himself to little treats. I can't wait to get another one!! They're like babies, so addicting!
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Post by ruthann on May 23, 2006 20:30:14 GMT -5
hello,
our crates are dismantled and put away, we crated Greely and Willow for the first night until we couln't bear to hear them cry then they each slept on beds we made for them in our room with the doorway babygated. then we only crated them for about a week or so when we had to go out and slowly left them out for short periods of time until we knew they would be safe. we also left the crates open for about a month and Greely would bring things he liked into his crate and sit in it occationally. Willow discovered the love seat real quick and used her crate for an indoor outhouse, now that she knows where the real outhouse is the crates are put away.
Greely and Willows mom
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