# Crating and exercise



## Bon (May 9, 2021)

Hi all,
I have a 14 week old pretty girl. She has been cha gong a lot lately and finally giving us breaks in between shark attacks. She has been crated since day one and she does great in her crate. She sleeps through the night also since very early on. But now I am confused because I feel like she's growing and she is settling outside the crate unlike before when she needed to be in the crate to settle. So that it's great! Except that I feel like during the 3 days that I need to go to the office and she is crated for 3 hrs and then I come home and play with her and then she is crated for another 3 hrs. All evenings she gets to run at the park and be outdoors. Should I keep crating her and keeping her on her schedule or should I allow her to just settle on the couch with us and take some naps on there. I was eager to have her learn to settle but now I'm not sure how much freedom to give her ... any suggestions or anyone going through the same thing?


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## Adamburke805 (Oct 31, 2021)

I’m in the process of trying to get my new puppy to stay in the crate for the evening been on the sofa with her the past few nights trying to settle her in. Don’t want to force her in the crate to sleep the night and traumatise her. Any advice would be welcome she’s 12 weeks old. The breeder told us she was already sleeping in a crate but I guessing that was with her siblings as she’s isn’t to comfortable in there for more than a few mins. All advice welcome


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## FrancoD13 (Aug 9, 2012)

Two very different questions here. Bon - I've found my Vizsla's are creatures of habit. I am at the point now where I'm working at home and I still put them in the crate, just as if I was in the office. After our morning hike, he now goes right in the crate automatically just part of his schedule. He does the 3 hours in the morning, exercise around lunch time, then crate again until we are done with work. then he settles in with us for some TV/kid time. 

Adam - at that age I just put the crate right next to my bed. This way he was next to us but still in the crate. He could see us and I could tap on the crate when they whined a bit too loud. Both my V's slept in the crate through the night from the day I took them home (8 weeks and 10 weeks). Currently my 10 month old still sleeps in his crate in our room (at the end of the bed now) while at this same age my previous V was sleeping in a dog bed in our room.


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