New Puppy - shared crate?

[MrMikeP]

Good afternoon!

We're preparing to bring a new puppy home, she will be 9 weeks old when we bring her home and our current girl is almost six years old now. So big age difference.

Zuzu, our big girl, was crate trained as a puppy but after about six months she started having serious anxiety going into the crate at night. We ended up letting her sleep in a chair in the living room, right outside our door, which works great. She is very happy and does not exhibit the anxiety she was before.

Enter the new puppy. We want her to be comfortable with Zuzu, but we also wanted the benefits of using the crate for early potty training and house-training.

So... Do we need to crate both dogs? Is it OK to train the puppy with the crate and leave Zuzu in her current environment? Should we skip the crate with the puppy and use a different training method?

My main concern is that both Zuzu and Raya (the new puppy) are happy and healthy, I am just looking for the best way forward. Help?

[Dawnspell]

Hi and Welcome
If it was me I would leave what works for Zuzu shes going to have enough changes in her life with new puppy without upsetting her other routines. You're also going to have enough on your hands training a puppy why make more work crate training an already happy dog.

Definitely crate train the puppy. Not only will it make toilet training easier it will be somewhere puppy goes to give Zuzu a break. It will also help the puppy to be more independent from Zuzu and not become reliant on her company causing separation issues if puppy cant be with her.

[zeta1454]

Welcome to the Forum

I agree with the above advice. No need to upset Zuzu’s routine and Raya will definitely be best crate trained even if at some time in the future you decide she is OK to sleep elsewhere.

We have a multitude of dogs who sleep in a variety of different places as suits them as adults but we always have them in a crate initially for the reasons given above and bear in mind that there may be occasions when a dog needs to be confined e.g. in a hotel; at the vet surgery; at home with crate rest after any surgery etc. and if they have never been used to a crate it will be an added stress at the time. We have found that some of our dogs enjoy the comfort and security of their own space at night in a crate and others who prefer to sleep on the bed and others choose beds in another bedroom, kitchen or sitting room. Just like people they each have their own personalities and quirks and once they are house-trained and settled through the night, we try to accommodate their preferences

[MrMikeP]

Thank you all! This helps immensely and it will make Zuzu happier, I am sure!

[Rambuddy]

You can definitely crate train Raya while allowing Zuzu to stay in her current setup. It's fine to have different routines for each dog as long as they’re comfortable and happy. Crate training Raya will be beneficial for house training, and Zuzu’s established routine shouldn’t cause any issues. Just make sure Zuzu has positive interactions with Raya’s crate, so she doesn’t associate it with her past anxiety.