# How Big Should Sleeping Crate Be?



## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

Charley has been sleeping in a crate in my bedroom. It seems to be working out just fine but I'm wondering how big the crate should be for sleeping. I suppose sleeping crate size is different than traveling or temporary crate 
size. The crate I have is Petmate Ultra size medium. When Charley lies down head to tail there is no extra length in the crate. I'm thinking it should be bigger so that he can lie with his back legs stretched out also. 
The crate size is for dogs 25 pounds. Charley is only 12 pounds or so. But is that measured for sleeping or traveling? I don't want him to feel squished.
Opinions??


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## ncchuck (Jul 11, 2012)

We have the same question and issues. Huey is 6 months old and a little over 10 pounds and also sleeps in a crate in our bedroom. He is just now getting a little restless a couple of times during the night and we are about to get the next size up for a crate. I'm waiting to here what the more informed members have to say. Good question. Thanks.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

here is APDT s guide http://www.apdt.com/petowners/choose/cratesize.aspx


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

Thanks dave . This is helpful. 24 x18 it is.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

yeah they like it cozy. That Charley is a good lookin guy.


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## HannahBearsMom (Jul 31, 2011)

Charleysmom said:


> Thanks dave . This is helpful. 24 x18 it is.


I just got a new crate for Maccabee. It is a 24 x 18 wire crate. It came with a divider and Maccabee is only using about 2/3 of the crate right now. He's small though.


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

HannahBearsMom said:


> I just got a new crate for Maccabee. It is a 24 x 18 wire crate. It came with a divider and Maccabee is only using about 2/3 of the crate right now. He's small though.


how big is Macabbee these days? Do you think they are full grown yet? Charley is now 12 pounds. he's doing great and we're having lots of fun. We have a preteen agility course set up, i.e., two tunnels, a ladder, things to go over (just an inch off the ground) and under. He absolutely loves it. When he's a year I'm thinking to do real agility with him. Always working on obedience in the meantime. Would love to hear about Macabbee. Does he love play with dogs like Charley?


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

davetgabby said:


> yeah they like it cozy. That Charley is a good lookin guy.


thanks dave. Just posted a more recent picture. As a matter of fact, I think Charley looks exactly like his father Posh. They're both good lookin' guys!


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## Tuss (Apr 22, 2012)

Just measured Gemma's crate and it is 18x24. I just took the last divider out about 2 months ago so she uses the full crate. She can stand up, turn around, and stretch out with just enough room. She's 13 lb and 9 months old. I don't think she'll get much bigger so this will be the crate she's keeping forever.

Sometimes when I tell the dogs to "go to your crates" they go to the wrong ones. Watching my 60lb dog squeeze her body into the 18x24" crate is absolutely hilareous! I keep trying to catch it on video but always miss it.


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

that is so funny. our dogs do keep us laughing don't they!


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## HannahBearsMom (Jul 31, 2011)

Charleysmom said:


> how big is Macabbee these days? Do you think they are full grown yet? Charley is now 12 pounds. he's doing great and we're having lots of fun. We have a preteen agility course set up, i.e., two tunnels, a ladder, things to go over (just an inch off the ground) and under. He absolutely loves it. When he's a year I'm thinking to do real agility with him. Always working on obedience in the meantime. Would love to hear about Macabbee. Does he love play with dogs like Charley?


Maccabee is a little guy. He weighed 7 pounds when he was neutered last month. He was having some tummy troubles and vomiting in his crate at night a couple times per week. He's now taking some Pepsid AC and has not thrown up at all. His appetite has increased also, so I suspect he will start gaining weight quicker. Pam said she expects him to be only about 10 pounds when fully grown.

Maccabee has finally gotten reliable in the house, so he has a lot more freedom when someone can keep an eye on him. I blocked off the area where he liked to pee (even after professional cleaning, enzyme products, Bissell SpotBot to suck everything out of the area, etc.) and he has not had a single accident since. He was out of his expen most of the weekend, except while we were out, and he had no accidents. We traveled 2 weekends ago and he had no accidents at my cousin's house or in the hotel. He's never had an accident upstairs in my house. He never has accidents at Scott's house, unless Scott leaves a towel or plastic bag on the floor. He'll mark the towel or plastic bag every time. I'm meeting with contractors to get estimates to remodel my kitchen and install wood floors on my entire main level. I think once the carpet is gone, Maccabee will have access to the main level when we are home.

We are not doing agility, as I barely have enough time to keep up with my daughter's activities. I have a tunnel, which Maccabee loves. He loves playing fetch. He just really loves playing! He's okay with other dogs, but he tends to bark quite a bit. I think he's doing better, though. When my friend's female Maltese stayed with us for a week, and when Maccabee stayed at her house for a weekend, she wouldn't leave the poor girl alone. He was constantly trying to play very roughly with her and he liked to grab her by the ears. Pam thinks that floozy Maltese woke up his hormones and drove him crazy. He was neutered the week after his stay at her house, so I'm anxious to see how they do the next time we get together. I hope they get along because my friend and I were planning on trading pet sitting when we travel.

When are you going to post some new pics of Charley?


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

HannahBearsMom said:


> Maccabee is a little guy. He weighed 7 pounds when he was neutered last month. He was having some tummy troubles and vomiting in his crate at night a couple times per week. He's now taking some Pepsid AC and has not thrown up at all. His appetite has increased also, so I suspect he will start gaining weight quicker. Pam said she expects him to be only about 10 pounds when fully grown.
> 
> Maccabee has finally gotten reliable in the house, so he has a lot more freedom when someone can keep an eye on him. I blocked off the area where he liked to pee (even after professional cleaning, enzyme products, Bissell SpotBot to suck everything out of the area, etc.) and he has not had a single accident since. He was out of his expen most of the weekend, except while we were out, and he had no accidents. We traveled 2 weekends ago and he had no accidents at my cousin's house or in the hotel. He's never had an accident upstairs in my house. He never has accidents at Scott's house, unless Scott leaves a towel or plastic bag on the floor. He'll mark the towel or plastic bag every time. I'm meeting with contractors to get estimates to remodel my kitchen and install wood floors on my entire main level. I think once the carpet is gone, Maccabee will have access to the main level when we are home.
> 
> ...


HI Laurie

Sounds like Macabbee is doing great. Sorry about his tummy though. Hope he feels better soon.
The avatar posted was just taken of Charley a couple of days ago. It's so hard to get pictures though sicne Charley hardly ever stays still. 
Btw, I'm still a bit confused about the litter box and being fully trained. Do you fully understand it? I knwo that Charley hasn't had any accidents but then again he has restricted access and is supervised when out of doggies rooms. Does that mean he's trained? Free roam of the house - he doesn't have that though.


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## apololaceymom (Aug 27, 2011)

Charleysmom said:


> Thanks dave . This is helpful. 24 x18 it is.


All my Havs have 24 x 18 precision great crates. Only Blaze sleeps in the crate at night. They all ride in them in the car, and I have 3 wicker looking crates in my living area for when we go out. they are also 24 x 19. Plenty of room for them, and still manageable to take places.


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## HannahBearsMom (Jul 31, 2011)

Charleysmom said:


> I'm still a bit confused about the litter box and being fully trained. Do you fully understand it? I knwo that Charley hasn't had any accidents but then again he has restricted access and is supervised when out of doggies rooms. Does that mean he's trained? Free roam of the house - he doesn't have that though.


I *think* if he does not have any accidents in the house and he goes potty in the appropriate place (litter box and/or outside) reliably he is probably trained. He should go to the litter box on his own and you should recognize his signal that he needs to go out. *BUT*, Pam told me she would never fully trust a pup until he's at least a year old.

I've been letting Maccabee have access to most of the living room and the kitchen when someone is availabel to watch him. But at this point, I don't keep my eyes glued to him. If he's happily playing or napping and I can see him in the living room, I'm comfortable going into the kitchen for a drink or running to the bathroom. When no one can watch him, he goes into his expen.

Upstairs, I watch him more closely, mainly because Scott drops water bottle caps and other small things on the floor near his nightstand and I'm terrified Maccabee will swallow something (Of course Scott insists he doesn't drop the caps, but he's the only one who drinks bottled water and the caps somehow seem to land in the areas surrounding his faorite spot on the couch and on the floor beside his nightstand). When we first arrive upstairs I tell Maccabee to pee and I point to his litter box. Most times, he complies. If he doesn't pee, he probably just peed in the downstairs litter box. I watch him like a hawk until he does pee. When he's in my bedroom he's mostly on the bed, where I watch him like a hawk. I don't let him in my daughter's room because she's a slob and he'd either swallow somthing, destroy something or get lost. I also keep him out of our guest room because there's no reason for him to be in there. Ditto for the basement. For now, keeping him on the level I'm on is no problem because he's afraid of the stairs. At Scott's house he flies up and down the stairs so we use a gate to keep him where we want him.

I hope this helps.


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

Thx laurie. Also spoke to Pam today. She clarified things for me too. Plus she also said the pups are still too young to be 100% reliable.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Charleysmom said:


> Thx laurie. Also spoke to Pam today. She clarified things for me too. Plus she also said the pups are still too young to be 100% reliable.


To be honest, while Kodi stopped having accidents within his first year (I can't remember his exact age) it was a combination of him being more reliable, managing his space and knowing his schedule, so we could get him outside at the right times. He was past his second birthday when he suddenly started asking to go out when HE needed to go. THAT was when I really believed that he understood exactly what he was supposed to do. From then on, I could let my guard down, knowing that he would let me know if he needed to go out. (he still has two litter boxes, one in the kitchen and one in his ex-pen, but REALLY prefers to go outside)


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

that sounds great. I hope charley does the same as Kodi. I would be very happy with that.


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## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

Tuss said:


> Watching my 60lb dog squeeze her body into the 18x24" crate is absolutely hilareous! I keep trying to catch it on video but always miss it.


This is Nessie, our 45 lb dog in Jack's 18x24 crate and in the cat's bed. She was very jealous of him and the cats.


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## Tuss (Apr 22, 2012)

Love it! Glad I'm not the only one with a big dog that thinks she's little.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

morriscsps said:


> This is Nessie, our 45 lb dog in Jack's 18x24 crate and in the cat's bed. She was very jealous of him and the cats.


ound:


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## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

Her eyes in the 2nd pic are so adorable. "Look at me! I am cute and tiny, too!"


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## reenybean25 (Oct 10, 2012)

I had the same question about crates. I had our little guy in a crate in the bedroom and all seemed well until he got alot bigger Right now he has one that fits up to 12 lbs but he is about 7.5. I feel like he's waking up alot in the middle of the night. I was thinking about a bigger crate for him but wasn't sure as someone said they like it kind of cozy. when laying down his feet and head almost touch both ends of the crate and I do notice him moving around alot more at night than he used to.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Kodi MUCH prefers his small, plastic, travel crate over his MUCH larger wire crate. He won't use the wire crate at all anymore. We finally folded it up and put it away. Now he just has 3 similar plastic crates, one in my office, one in our bed room, and a third which I use as his travel crate for shows and class.


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## Anna6 (Oct 21, 2012)

Nina likes her 24 1/2x18x21 crate alot. She does not like her plastic medium travel type crate at all. She is 6 lbs right now. I bought a high walled cat bed she lays in at night with a blanky and tons of chew toys and her hedgehog buddy. I put the pet bed in the crate just at night. There is still space next to it.


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