Lachlan is 5 months and I've had him sleep in a create since we got him at 8 weeks. I sleep in the same room and sometime get woken several times a night. Lately he wakes me up and doesn't even have to go, he'll just go outside and plop down or plop down in the chair inside. He does great in his car crate and seems to like his crate more when we're camping.

Any I am starting to question the value of crating at night and having this big crate in our TV room. Also, the current home crate is a plastic molded 2nd hand crate that already had some evidence of clawing to get out. I wonder if the wire type crates are better?

My first response when I saw the title of your post? What, are you crazy?!!?

I strongly believe in crates. Especially for dogs under 2-3 years old. Too much mischief available

Thanks Ami,

Yeah, maybe I just needed some encouragement. I keep him in our finished basement that we've puppy proofed and I can leave the door to the fenced in back year open. I left him out of the crate last night for the first time because he seemed under the weather and I needed a good nights rest. We're in Oregon and the temps and smoke from the fires has been pretty bad.

But yeah, there's going to be nights where I need him to tolerate his crate so we'll soldier on.
--Jason

I've been wondering about the fires on the west coast but the only Californian who comes to mind immediately is Jimmy in San Diego (area?)

Seems as if the US is either going to get blown away (hurricanes) or burnt off .... man, it's been a rough year.  If I remember right, it's going to get worse as the west dries out at the end of summer, yes??

I'm ambivalent about crates, btw.  I have two I crate most nights because they won't wake me to let me know they need out.  My male is more insistent that he needs / wants out so he gets to stay up nights.  As Amy suggested, though, for young pups it's a safety factor that comes into play, a crated dog can't chew on something they shouldn't.

(( and I don't believe she let you get away with that, Ami is the pup and Amy is the human, boy, did she chew me out once or twice ....  Hi Amy ))

Hey Windfishin!

I think ultimately the decision is yours and what you want to use the crate for. If Lachlan is known to be mischievous and gets into things at home, or you need to use a crate for transportation, or like to use the crate when camping etc...than I think you need to "soldier on" as you put it to get him comfortable with being in the crate. But know if you "soldier on" you need to legit soldier on and not give into his whining. That means, ignoring him, potty breaks at night on leash and right back in he goes, and none of this one night i'll let him out, and the next night he's back in. It just adds to the confusion of what the crate is used for and what it means for him.

For me, Echo has never chewed or ate a thing in my loft since I got him at 8 weeks. (Yea...he's a broken husky). He doesn't really play with any of his toys at home, no zoomies, no nothing. And though he has free range of my loft, he only is ever found in the small tile space in front of a window by the front door. So after he was potty trained I kind of stopped using the crate at around 5 months. When i'm at work he's at the dog sitters (I work long hours...I feel bad leaving at home for 14+ hours), and when i need to run errands, I have a indoor cam to make sure he's not doing anything he shouldn't and he just waits for me by the window.

So I think ultimately the decision is yours and how your husky behaves at home and what you want or need to use the crate for.

Good luck!

Just my two cents, because I did the same thing when my pup was about 5 months old. We stopped crating him at night and kept it to only during the day while we were at work. After we stopped using the crate at night time, we had serious regression with crate training to where he started to get super worked up in the crate because it was associated with us leaving. I would definitely stick with it because it's worth it in the long run. Like Amy said, for 2-3 years typically is a good idea. I tried leaving my dog out when we went to work for a while and he would be fine, nothing disturbed at all for a few weeks and then all of a sudden my carpet would be removed from my hallway for what seems like no reason at all.

Good idea to have his leash so he doesn't play keep away from me at 3 in the morning! Last night had 2 wake ups. I so hate the hyper-ventilating breathing following by that miserable wining following by the howling. But I am going to stick with it...

BChan, what do you mean "broken husky"? Like well trained or something else? I'm working hard on "leave it!" but my boy is a chewer. Remotes, phones, blinds, TP rolls, boxes of cereal out of the cupboard, oh and about 10 sticks of sugar free Trident bubble gum - that was a fun trip to the emergency room.

We're not the worst up here around Portland, but the fires have been bad. Ash and thick smoke everywhere on top of 90 degree heat. I think it's affecting Lach's appetite and his energy. Today is cooler and we're praying we get the 20% chance of rain they're calling for.

Sorry Amy I get the "owned by" thing now.

Windfishin,
Yep, a house leash can be a real "aggravation saver" when pup decides to play keep-away or he gets into something he definitely shouldn't get into. The biggie is you don't have to reach into a dog fight - and risk getting bit - if the pup decides to have a disagreement with another dog.

"Broken Husky" I think all of us have a mental definition of what we expect from a Husky - they're going to run when they get the chance, they're very vocal - growling / howling at anything for any (or no) reason, they are/are not dog sociable, well, you get the idea. When a Husky is typically quiet or is good about staying with the owner off lead, we refer to him as a "broken Husky", just one who doesn't seem to fit the mold. (What mold?!?!?)

Re "owned by", I don't know when it started or who started it but I think most of us have the "I'm owned by my dog!" syndrome so it carries over here that the user is owned by their dog(s) in the profile. Cute but not necessarily understood by all new members ...

Hey Windfishin!

aljones is correct when I say Echo is broken. I mean he doesn't act like the typical husky. The typical husky you hear and read about is usually high energy, mischievous, stubborn, destructive, power chewer, runner, escape artist, verbal, etc...While Echo does exhibit some of these traits, he never has chewed, destroyed or chewed anything of mine at home. He's never run around or back and forth from point A to point B over and over again in my house, nor has he howled, or bark. He does whine and talk to me a lot, but that's about it.

Echo also does very well off leash which is not typical of a husky. He in fact is quite the opposite. On leash he tends to act very obnoxious, pulls, and is generally a terrible walker. Off leash he's much more natural, and calm. My favourite nearby dog park is off-leash and while there is a steep hill that leads down to it, it isn't fenced (technically he can run up the hill and away onto a residential road). However, Echo will always stay within the confines of the dog park area, always turning back to make sure i'm not far behind or within eye sight.

While i'm painting a saint here he's far from it =P. While you had a bubble gum incident, I had a 2lbs of pebbles incident when he was 4 months old. His stomach was so bloated with pebbles it grew to three times the normal size and you could palpate the rocks through the outside of the stomach and hear them sloshing around in there as if you're shaking a bag full of coins >.<. That too was a very expensive vet bill =P. Remind me to share those x-rays one of these days. The vet never saw anything like that before. I think his x-rays made the wall of fame in their staffroom =D.

Anyhow, enough about Echo...good luck with the crate training...