# Gate



## RubysFamily (Dec 30, 2011)

Ruby is our newest member of the family - she's 9 weeks today. Initially (before Ruby came home) we were going to crate train her. After additional research and at the suggestion of the breeder, we decided that our unused solarium/sunroom could be Ruby's room.

Ruby's room is 16ft x 7ft. When she came home, we used our baby gate to close the 10ft opening to the solarium. In 2 days she learned to climb over the gate (it has small holes in it that her paws can get in).

So, my questions are:

I'm thinking of building a larger version of this gate:

http://andthentherewashome.blogspot.com/search/label/frugal%20diy

How tall should it be? 30"? 40"?

How long will I need to use a gate? 

This is my first dog... isn't there a point where you can leave your dog home alone without being contained? If I teach her to only stay in her room, will she?

If you look a the photo of the gate I want to build, is there a way she could climb over it? I never thought she could climb over the baby gate!

Right now, Ruby stays in our laundry room when we're gone (with her bed, a potty patch, water and toys). Today will be the first day she'll be in there for 5 hours and I think I'm having a panic attack thinking about it. So, until I build this gate, she has to stay in the laundry room.

Do you have any suggestions about the gate, warnings about climbers/jumpers, reassurance that 5 hours in a laundry room is okay, and that building this gate will be worth it and will it work?? 

Thanks!


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## Kobi (Oct 26, 2010)

Wow, that is quite the baby gate! Super impressive! 

There IS a point where you can leave your dog home alone without being contained, when you reach that point depends on the dog and the value of the the items she can potentially destroy while you are gone 

My puppy is 16 months old and we are not to the point where he is trusted to be uncrated. I have tried it, and the results have not been desirable.

Part of the reason for crate training is because it helps with potty training. You say you are using a potty patch... is there a reason for this? Are you not able to get home to take her out? From what I've been told, a potty patch is not the greatest idea since, well, they're peeing inside. 

For what it's worth, I think crate training is a great idea. Restricting to one room is also fine, as long as that room is puppy proof AND the dog is properly house trained. It is easier to house train a dog in a crate vs. a large room.

Also, many will tell you that a Vizsla can jump from a sitting position 6 ft in the air. Obviously this is not true at 9 weeks, but don't be surprised if Ruby outgrows even your new gate. My V is not that much of a jumper so I can't confirm that.

And finally, post some pictures of the new puppy


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## tracker (Jun 27, 2011)

Wow!!

Somebody is quite the carpenter!! That is a beautiful looking gate. 

I have seen a 16 month old vizsla clear a 6 foot fence. It all depends what he/she hears and sees on the other side, and how bad they want it. 


I am by no means an expert, but I am a firm believer in crate training for the dogs own safety. Alot can be chewed in 4-5 hours, and vizsla puppies do not yet know what may harm them. I have also had a friend who left their Vizsla in the laundry room, and it litterally chewed it's way through the wall and got out. This was a 2"x4" studded wall with a sheet of drywall on both sides of it. This is an extreme case obviously, but it is possible.


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## newpuppy21 (Oct 13, 2011)

If you wanna stick with the gate idea I suggest actually getting a high quality baby swing door gate made for hallways. Ours is pretty tall, rod iron and only has bars going straight up and down so there would be no way a dog could climb it. Instead of having to take the gate down or apart or trying to step over it, you simply press a button at the top while pushing and it'll swing either in or out. Very easy. I can't upload a pic from my phone but it's made by Dream Baby and they come in black or white and various heights and styles. We have 2 and got them for around $50 each but it was a few years ago so not sure on pricing. 

I also agree with crate training being a good thing. I was initially against it but he does fine with it and has never had an accident in his crate. Good luck.


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Beautiful gate!

It's usefulness will depend on your dog and your household. Savannah routinely jumps up a 4-5 foot retaining wall, but only going up and only when she wants something on the grass area up top. She doesn't like jumping down and will run to a shorter section of the wall when I call her to come down. She is 16 months old and has been doing this trick for at least 6 months. I don't think she would like jumping up, over, and down a tall gate, but like tracker said, it would depend how much she wanted something on the other side. 

She can stay on her own in the house or my office for an hour or two is she is sleepy. If she is wide-awake, I still crate her. She is trained to stay in the kitchen/family room or my bedroom until I walk with her into a different room. She does not usually leave her areas, but if I have stepped into another room and she gets spooked or particularly bored, she will go looking for me - maybe once every few weeks or so - with decreasing frequency. Mswhipple has a great saying: "they chew 'till they're two". Savannah hasn't been destructive, but I have kept her saying in mind when I allow unsupervised time.

Good luck with your decision about the gate.


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## Suliko (Sep 17, 2011)

All I can say is gate/fence with bars  (sorry, couldn't open your link from this computer to see the gate you have now). Our Sophie climbed every obsticle/new fence we had put up...and then we made a wooden fence with bars and there was no chance of getting out  

We started trusting Sophie around the house when she hit one year mark. Started out really short periods of time and then added more and more time every day. She mostly stays in the living room on her old couch looking out the window (see my avatar  ). I have come home to few surprises, but for the most part, she is sleeping. Lately, the cat has been teasing her, and I have come home to a high-speed chase - cat chasing the dog!  Sometimes I don't even want to know what they both are doing by themselves :


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

We also have a baby gate (extra tall spring loaded) with swinging door but Dozer has been able knock it down in the process of jumping it since he was less then 8 months old if he REALLY wants too. But he's also been able to jump from a stand still up to our kitchen counter since a young age. Fortunately that stopped once we removed the can of bacon grease. 

We started testing time out of crate at a year and he "trustworthy" for about 5 hours if we leave NOTHING out or he is very tired. He's now 16 mos and tends to jump up to get things hanging on the top of the fridge, etc. So yes they jump.


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## Spuds Mom (Dec 12, 2011)

Spud is 7 months and I know he could jump the gate you pictured with a running start! : We crate trained him and we're so glad we did now that he's starting to get too big to control by force (picking up, etc) 

We have a setup that sounds similar to yours- we made the "bonus room" his room, with his crate, toys, etc and a doggie door to the yard. This way, he has an approved space to be in during our work day, but doesn't have to be completely cooped up in a crate all day, and lets himself out to pee. This room has a real door on it though.

We also trained him to not go in the back bedrooms with a tall pet gate I bought on target.com. It is 40" tall with vertical bars, and we've had no problems with Spud staying on one side of it. I would recommend 40"- I would have never thought Spud was going to get so big so fast, but he did!

Our goal (hope) is to be able to leave Spud unattended in the house after he's a year or so old. Now, he's out and about when we're home (unless he's in a time-out ) and is in his room every time we're not at home, or not able to watch him for any reason (shower, etc).

We both work full-time and Spud has done fine- we take him on a good walk/run in the morning, another at night. The only issue is it's hard to feed them 3 times a day during those early months. We had a neighbor help us with this for the first few months, then weaned him to 2 meals a day.

Hope this helps! ;D


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

40". We used an extra tall aluminum locking baby gate bought off amazon for like $50 US. At 4 months you will need to strap it closed with a bungee because they will have the ability to push/ram it open. The dog should always be crated when left alone for more then 5 minutes. We used the gate to keep him in one area while we were home. Now that he doesn't destroy stuff anymore, he has the run of the house. When we leave the house he is in his crate and very happy! ;D


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