# What size crate?



## littlemj (Apr 21, 2009)

My Standard Poodle pup comes home in 2 weeks and would like to know what size crate should I get? I will crate train him till he is housebroken. I'm figuring I will need a crate till he is at least 7 or 8 mos old. I need to get a crate that will last that long. How big do they get on average at that age, or for that matter, at age 1? If I can avoid a huge crate, that would be great. How long has it taken to housebreak your dogs? Anyone, feel free to answer. I'm open to all suggestions.


----------



## gwtwmum2 (Sep 14, 2008)

From my personal experience - you'll need a crate longer than 7 or 8 months.
So, I would look at your puppy's parents and see what size they are as adults to guess what size crate you may need. The nice thing is that the wire crates have dividers that you can use as your puppy grows. 
Wrigley was potty trained at around 4 months however, I still keep him in site at all times (when loose in the house) because he is my chewer. Nothing is safe with him. Also, when chewing strange things, he gets loose stools and he has been known to go in the house when his stomach gets upset from something like that. SOO if I lock him up at night and his stomach is upset from something he ate - he will cry for me to let him out. This helps me monitor him better AND keeps him from making a mess.
A good friend of mine babysat him one night and she just used an x-pen for him. She didn't make sure it was locked in tight. He ate some of their Shih Tzu's food during the day and sure enough at night he started to cry to let her know his tummy was rumbling. Well, he got out of the gate, left her a present on the floor (that she found by stepping in it!). YIKES! Thankfully she handled it well.
As for size, Wrigley is tall - only weighs 45 pounds though - and he is 9 months. His breeder said that Wrigley's dad got a growth spurt at 12 months, so I bought the BIG crate with that in mind.
Sophie is smaller and less crazy but she still goes potty on the floor (at 4 months) if I don't let her out right away. So she is kenneled in a medium crate.
Good luck - and you can watch craigslist or other classifieds to try and get a used one for less.


----------



## T o d d (Sep 25, 2007)

I got moose a crate at a yard sale then cleaned it thoroughly. It's actually the largest metal crate they make. We went through 2 or 3 pads as when he was a pup he would chew them up  He slept in it w/out a pad for a good 6 months, and was fine.

He is only crated when we leave, or at night, back then it was in our bedroom and he had no problem at all with it.

Now, I keep it in my office behind me, it has a comfy mattress from costco.. was like 19.95, and he goes in there all the time to sleep, and lay down. 

No more crate pad chewing, and it's big enough he can almost completely stretch out.

I know some people say get the small ones so it feels more like their "den", and they don't need big ones, but he sure doesn't mind, and if he's cold he curls up into a tiny itty bitty little bawl too in the corner.

Moose was crate trained when we got him as a puppy (well semi-crate trained).


----------

