Full Time Job and Crate Training

[minnesotaCorgi]

Hello Everyone,

I will be a first-time Corgi owner in July. The puppy will be 9 weeks old when I get her. I work full time and would like to hear about the crate training experiences from other full-time workers. For example, when did you feel it was OK to not come home for lunch and let the puppy out? I can make it home during lunch for a while, but I need to tell my boss and everyone helping me how long they should expect my midday puppy routine to last.

In case it helps, a rough sketch of my initial routine will be:

06:45 AM: Crate the puppy after the morning food/water/toilet routine (no water in crate)
11:30 AM: Come home for lunch and let out her out for a water and toilet routine
04:30 PM: Come home at 4:30 PM and do the evening routine

I am a puppy newbie, so any input would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Erica

[corgimom]

Hello Erica and how exciting to be awaiting your new Corgi.

There are several people here who have gotten puppies and work full time
and can give you some good advice.

Welcome to the board.

Linda

[tandemgal]

Hi Erica,

How exciting for you! Congrats... I have crated both my Girls because of work (6a - 2:30p) so understand your worry. My 5 yr old sleeps under our bed now but the 6 mth old still sleeps in the crate. I retired just two months ago so now am in and out all day. But when I leave, depending on the time gone, Chloe is either in crate or they are in their gated communities (kitchen or outside deck)

It will be the best thing you can do for your puppy. A crate is like his cave - a safe haven Being so young puppy may have a few accidents because their bladder is so small. You may want to put a puppy pad in the far corner just in case. Puppy will do it's best to NOT go in the crate! That is why even now at 6 mths I put Chloe up in her's if I know I will be longer than 3/4 hrs.

What is your puppy - boy or girl? Do you have a name picked out yet? Keep us informed.

[corgimom]

T-Gal,

I agree with you.

I put Cody in his crate if I am going to be gone 1 to 2 hours and he is 7 months old. If it is going to be longer, like 3 or 4 hours,(which is not very often), I usually put him in our main floor bathroom with the baby gate in front and put in a bunch of toys for him and put on a radio for him.

Even at 7 months, even though he is housebroken, I could not run my errands
worrying about what he could possibly be doing for the 1 or 2 hours he is
left out roaming - besides, I have three cats and I can only imagine what
could go on??? The crate is a great thing, I wish I would have used it in my
younger days with my puppies.

Linda

[lricch565]

Hi Erica,

I have a little Corgi girl, Mazie, who is crate-trained. Like you, my husband and I work full time so the crate was a necessity. When I first got Mazie, I would make sure that she did all her business in the morning before putting her in there, then come home at lunch 4 hours later to let her out and play for a bit. She would be in there another 4 hours between lunch and the end of our workdays. I think we kept this schedule about 3 weeks and then I would start taking my lunch later in the day so that Mazie was going 6 hours before I let her out at lunch. We eventually worked her up staying in there all day, probably over about 2 months.

She is now 6 months and I still leave her in there during the day, she is easily bored and finds things to chew on if she is left alone too long.

That seemed to work the best for us. I tried to leave her in a small bathroom, but Mazie cried alot - I think she feels safer in the crate.

Lisa

[corgimom]

When I first put Cody in our main floor bathroom, I put his crate in there with
the door open and also put the baby gate up so he could not get out of the
room. That way, he could go in his crate when wanted to; or come out, yet
not escape the room.

Now, I just put him in the bathroom, but I also put his blanket from his crate
in the bathroom with him also - gives him some familiarity with what he
is used to laying on. The important thing is not to close the bathroom door,
but put a gate up so he/she can see out.

Linda

[Fluffypants]

Hi Erica - and congrats on your new baby! Your life will never be the same!

I do the opposite - Jackie sleeps in her crate all night, but is gated into the kitchen during the day while we are at work (7:30am - 6:30pm daily). We have a dog walker who comes around 1-2pm daily to walk her & play with her (we work too far away to come back for lunch - I am envious of those who can!). I definitely recommend crate training. Jackie loves her crate, it gives her a feeling of sanctuary.

[minnesotaCorgi]

Wow! Lots of good information from everyone--thank you! It's incredibly helpful to have some reality-based stories to supplement the book reading I've been doing-which isn't always as helpful as I'd like it to be. I'm glad I found this website.

T-Gal: The puppy will be a girl. I'm leaning towards the name "Penny". I'll post some puppy pics in July.

Erica

[ChloeLouise]

Hello Erica! Is your "avatar" a photo of your new baby (maybe "Penny"?) - what an absolutely darling puppy!

We did not crate train our first dog (a Corgi mix) - he was just "one of the kids" - or maybe they were his littermates! Our four children were ages 3 to 10 so, as you might imagine, there was not a lot of structure or order in our household at that time! Wimsey was my first dog EVER so it is truly amazing that he turned out to be the wonderful, loyal family member that he was (for 15 years!!) He slept with the children at night, he roamed the house during the day - I was fortunate to be an at-home-mom, so my circumstances allowed him that freedom.

Chloe, our charming little Pem, is our "empty nest" dog, and even before we had picked her out, we knew she would be crate trained. It has turned out to be a very appropriate decision - for both us and Chloe. As others have stated, the crate (and it is a large wire one...) is her "nest", her safe place. She has slept in it every night since we brought her home. She naps there when we leave the house . We feel confident that she is secure and I believe she feels secure there, also. One very big plus - when we travel, we fold the nest down flat, put it in the Jeep and go with her. When we arrive, we pop up the crate and Chloe feels right at home! She has never skipped a beat during overnighters! This summer we are going to be very daring and try taking her camping (it may prove to be cozy in the tent!) - I will let you know how that goes!

To conclude, crate training proved very worthwhile for us. We have never used the crate for punishment or as a "cage" so I believe Chloe does not associate it with anything negative. In fact, during busy times around here, I think she is grateful to have her own place to which she can reteat!

Good luck with your puppy! Hoping all our "input" will be helpful to you!

Margo

[Fluffypants]

We travel with Jackie's crate as well. It gives her a feeling of security in unfamiliar surroundings.

Can't wait to hear stories/see pics of Chloe camping . . . and also see pics of Possibly Penny!

[darci]

Welcome to the board.

Heres our schedule.

5:30 am potty
730 am potty
800 am crate
12:30 potty back in crate ( back to work )
5:30 pm potty and playtime................. woooo hoooo.......
6:30 pm potty
8:30 pm potty
10:30 to 11:00 pm last potty break of the night, back to crate for bed.

This is ofcourse just aprox. times as we are not that strict with our schedule or that prompt but you get the idea...

Good luck with your new corgi, cant wait to get to know you.

[tandemgal]

I use the crate as a home away from home too - forgot to mention that b4. When we went to Tenn for a week Chloe stayed with my ex-daughter in law, (Leah' mom) - the crate worked great. Em stayed with our WV son. We went to NC few weekend ago visiting Hubby's parents and it was a familiar place for Chloe to be - our Ga. son & his wife came up to NC too and brought their 1 yr old Dobi and her crate. Couldn't have had that many dogs visiting without the crates! Safe calm place for them and we all got to go out to eat and visit other family without worry.

Love the name Penny - it is my baby sister's name

[ChloeLouise]

Off topic for a moment: Yes...I forgot to mention that I think the name Penny is a darling name for a Corgi - especially if she is red (copper) and white! Of course, not that it matters what others think, but there you have it! My husband named both our dogs - Wimsey (as in Lord Peter Wimsey from the Dorothy Sayers novels) and Chloe (unknown reason!)

I really resonate to the "schedule' described by Cindy - "potty" becomes more or less a full-time job in itself!! At just over a year Chloe does not really bark to let us know that she needs to go out - we still go out frequently enough that she apparently has enough opportunities to relieve herself...I don't know if that is good or bad. When we left her with my parents recently she never had a problem or accident so I guess she made her needs known sufficiently...

Anxious to see photos - many good thoughts!
Margo
ps - Yes - I will surely share our camping experience with everyone!

[corgimom]

Margo,

As with Cody, he doesn't necessarily always sit by the door, but I always know when he has to go, because he gets a bit anxious and will sort of pace around and will whine - that is my signal he has to go.

Linda