sleeping arrangements for a young Kai Ken
So Leo is not quite four months old. He's been sleeping in a vari-kennel crate upstairs in the bedroom with us. Oskar, our Akita, also sleeps upstairs, but he usually sleeps out on the deck.
Leo has never liked the vari-kennel crate, and he will cry quite piteously if we don't wait til he's totally conked out to put him in it. He doesn't like being alone at all and he can't see Oskar well if he's in that crate. I also think the crate may be a bit hot. It's hot here and we don't have a/c or anything like that, and yeah, it's hot upstairs.
Anyway, while I was out of town, my husband let Leo sleep outside the crate, and he chose to sleep out on the deck with Oskar. Husband thought this was great, and apparently it was ok for 3-4 nights. But Leo's awfully young to have free reign and the last two nights have not been so good. He still wakes up as the sun rises, and in the past two mornings he has destroyed two planter boxes and one whole planter full of plants (my entire garden is in planters on the deck, and I really don't want to lose more plants). He also peed in the house. (Apparently he decided peeing in the carpet was preferable to peeing on the deck). So as I suspected, he is too young to sleep outside of the crate.
But I really think he doesn't like the vari-kennel type crate. He never really complains about being in the big wire crate downstairs, but I don't know if it is the openness he likes or the fact that it is big even for our very large Akita, so it's like being in an ex-pen.
So I'm mulling this over. Should I just buy a wire type crate for him? I can't fit a very big one in the bedroom, but I could get one that will fit an adult Kai and wedge it in next to the bed. Or I could get an ex-pen and put it on the deck and he could sleep out there but not get to the plants. (Disadvantage is I don't know if I'd be able to hear him when he woke and needed to pee, though we do sleep with the door open so maybe I would). Or should I just suffer through his fits and keep him in the crate we have?
I know Brad uses the wire type crates, so maybe will prefer that? Do other people notice a preference in Kai Ken sleeping arrangements?
Leo has never liked the vari-kennel crate, and he will cry quite piteously if we don't wait til he's totally conked out to put him in it. He doesn't like being alone at all and he can't see Oskar well if he's in that crate. I also think the crate may be a bit hot. It's hot here and we don't have a/c or anything like that, and yeah, it's hot upstairs.
Anyway, while I was out of town, my husband let Leo sleep outside the crate, and he chose to sleep out on the deck with Oskar. Husband thought this was great, and apparently it was ok for 3-4 nights. But Leo's awfully young to have free reign and the last two nights have not been so good. He still wakes up as the sun rises, and in the past two mornings he has destroyed two planter boxes and one whole planter full of plants (my entire garden is in planters on the deck, and I really don't want to lose more plants). He also peed in the house. (Apparently he decided peeing in the carpet was preferable to peeing on the deck). So as I suspected, he is too young to sleep outside of the crate.
But I really think he doesn't like the vari-kennel type crate. He never really complains about being in the big wire crate downstairs, but I don't know if it is the openness he likes or the fact that it is big even for our very large Akita, so it's like being in an ex-pen.
So I'm mulling this over. Should I just buy a wire type crate for him? I can't fit a very big one in the bedroom, but I could get one that will fit an adult Kai and wedge it in next to the bed. Or I could get an ex-pen and put it on the deck and he could sleep out there but not get to the plants. (Disadvantage is I don't know if I'd be able to hear him when he woke and needed to pee, though we do sleep with the door open so maybe I would). Or should I just suffer through his fits and keep him in the crate we have?
I know Brad uses the wire type crates, so maybe will prefer that? Do other people notice a preference in Kai Ken sleeping arrangements?
Comments
Tomo is only 10 weeks now and he has also had a couple accidents in the house as well. He is very good in the crate and does great going potty when taken outside right away from the crate. I get in trouble when he comes back in the house and is out of the crate. I don't always pick up on when he needs to go out again. May be an hour or two before he starts wondering and sniffing and if I don't see this quickly he pees in the house. I think my situation is caused mostly by me needing to learn his timing better. Hopefully he will learn to hold it longer and I can learn more about him.... Frustrating though hope it happens soon :-)
I really like Leo a lot, and have watching his development with great interest. I'm sure you will get him through your current issues.
Both of mine sleep around my bed, the both are accustomed to the nest thing and will go out of their way to build one from my clothes or a blanket if I don't. I'm not sure if its a natural dog instinct, but it works out well, I can usually trust that if i see them in one spot as I fall asleep, they'll be there in the morning as well... with no pee or poop elsewhere.
Try ex-penning the deck and be really strict with the water before bed, and maybe set your alarm to wake up every 4-5 hours for the first few nights to let him out. He will get it!
I'm not averse to him sleeping on the bed but the problem is, unlike the Shibas at this age, he has no interest in settling down and sleeping with us. He's a crazed little jumper, too, and he jumps right off the bed to wander. It's not the peeing that's a problem--that's cleanable and uncommon--it's the destruction once he wakes up and decides to "entertain" himself.
I think for the next couple of nights I'll put his crate out on the deck with Oskar--it's cooler out there anyway. Then I'll probably just get a bigger wire crate. I like the ex pen idea a lot--even thought of ex penning off the plants, but they're in huge SIP planters ringing the deck, and right now full of tomatoes, which is what I'm trying to save from Leo's "gardening" skills. But I realized it would be hard to secure the ex pen to the wood of the deck, and Leo's a jumper, so an unsecured ex pen would just fall over. It may just need to be a bigger wire crate.
He's generally good, but he's in "bite all the things" phase right now (probably major teething) and can't really be left unattended anywhere. (yesterday he decided to "garden" in an herb garden in the ground, and made a huge hole. He also got stuck in the fencing that I had around said garden--he squeezed through it somehow and had it stuck around his belly like a belt, but that didn't stop him from digging vigorously! It was pretty funny--who destroyed the garden? Well, could it be the puppy dragging the fencing? He didn't make a peep either about being caught in the garden fencing....)
Or could I go with a slightly smaller one?
They tore it's leaves up. I had to cut the vine luckily it had basal growths so it's still growing just not as big yet.
Saya does fine in a wire crate she loves it she use scream as a puppy, but once dad stopped taking her out she stopped.
I had to work with her each day during times I was around have her in crate for a bit then let her out only when silent.
Coarse kai ken are much different so I can't comment yet. Just hope he isn't a wood chewer like Saya she chewed wood during teething.
I also have a 42" crate which someone was selling in kijiji for $30. I pretty much got it because it was just such a good deal and I can fit both dogs in there easily. It'll come in handy at some point, I'm sure.
Come to think of it I have a grand total of 8 dog crates in my house, lol. I guess I just need to get 6 more dogs.
My supersized Shibas find the smaller crate quite fine for them, and they don't mind that they have to curl up in it, so the crate the puppy rejected is fine for my big Shiba girl--she likes it!
I'm still going to get a wire crate, but for now, Leo has settled in to the other one ok.
Kitora had a duck, but she made a very short life of it as soon as her adult teeth started coming in... lol
However, now he's come up with a new way to say "hey, I'm awake!" He "climbs" up the inside of the wire crate and shakes it. Wonderful. And this morning, when I tried to go back to sleep after that, he took his bully stick and pushed it along the wire of the crate. Not even attempting to chew--just making noise. Yay Leo!
We use wire crates for all of our dogs and we love them and so do the dogs. The wire crates are easy to clean, too! The crates are open all the time during the day for them to go in to relax if they want to and they will go in and chill for a while then come out to play. We feed the younger dogs in their crates too to keep them from trying to take the others food lol It works well for us and the dogs are happy