The Crate

We bought a 36-inch crate at Home Depot the day we brought Marley home. The sides are made of steel wire and there's a hard plastic insert for a floor. There's a door in front that locks via two sliding parts. Marley tried to figure out how to open the crate from the inside, but without thumbs it wasn't going to happen.

We kept Marley in the crate about 1/2 the time plus overnight for about the first 3 months we had him - between 3 and 6 months old. We put a soft towel on the crate's floor for him to sleep on and usually kept some toys in there. Marley took his meals in the crate, and we kept his food & water bowls in there as well. Keeping these things in the crate helped with housebreaking - he would let us know when he had to go out rather than fowl his personal living space. Even so, it took about a month to get him reliably housebroken.

We enjoyed having Marley with us, out of the crate, in the evening. He would start to get sleepy between 9:30 and 10 pm. Sometimes he would first lie on his belly with his legs, tail, and snout all touching the floor. When he did this, we said that we had a six-point dog. Then he would shift onto his side in front of the hutch, dark side facing up and legs pointed into the room. As he lay on his side, I would kneel down beside him and stroke him from his head, along the length and breadth of his body in a zigzag pattern, to his tail. He was small enough that I could do this in one continuous sweep. I would say, "You're a good boy, Marley. You're such a good dog." I'd stroke him and continue talking to him for 5 or 10 minutes, until he was asleep.

Between 10:30 and 11, Debbie and I would be ready to go to sleep. I'd shut off the lights and lock the door and then get Marley into his crate. The easiest way to get him in was to his toys in and a treat or two and then gently grab his collar & tell him it was alright as I took him over to the crate. Once at the front of the open crate, he usually didn't resist. After I closed the crate, he'd look at me as if to say, "You're really going to leave me here?" After I went into the bedroom and closed the door, Marley sometimes would whimper. Less often, he barked. It took us a while, but we learned to ignore it.

Over the summer, we used the crate less and less. We finally let Marley free in the apartment full time. He had grown so quickly that the crate had gotten too small for him. He still fit inside, but by September he could only lie down in it. Marley's food & water were kept in the crate at first. Later, his food was served outside of the crate. Lastly, his water bowl was taken out.

Debbie and I recently started talking about taking the crate out of the apartment. About a week ago, Debbie said, "We should take the crate down soon." Marley heard this. Every day since then, Marley has been spending more time in the crate. Last night, he went inside and lay down for about 20 minutes. Maybe he's a nostalgic dog. He knows what Debbie said and he's telling us, "You can't take away my special place."