Newest Member Of Our Family (more photos post #24)

[Craftlady]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Dogs are such pack animals, they crave being with their people. Plus if he were ever needed to wake you during an emergency or protect you from an intruder, he wouldn't be able to accomplish any of that in the basement. What are your concerns? There are lots of people here who might have suggestions to alleviate what you foresee as a problem.

Rachel,
#1. The "concern" is SIZE.
We live in a small 1 1/2 story house.
The largest kennel made for his full grown size will NOT fit in my small livingroom along with the furniture. I cant have a couch in the room because it's so small. 3 chairs (reliciner types are in the room).

#2 Coco is going to be 50 lbs at least and will be size of a regular full grown lab IF the beagle size doesnt take over. Also, we dont have to worry about "intruders" we dont live in the city nor suburbs but a rural county setting.

#3 My 4 cats will ALERT us to problems.

#4 Basement Issue: He will be kept in his kennel at night (for sleeping).
He will be kept in his kennel when we arent home during day or evening.
This we are doing for his own safety and preservation of our furniture and belongings. Without supervision there will be disasters.

Otherwise he will be allowed upstairs when we are home.
I'm guessing from your "concerns" you were NOT aware he was going to be a BIG dog and not a small one the size of a scottie terrier for example or weiner dog.


UPDATE:
He slept 6 hrs straight last night before waking up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My kitties got me up in middle of the night... LOL
I'm happy to have had more sleep.
He loves the Christian Music station we play at night.

[3muttsandaboston]

He is cute! I agree that dogs are pack dogs. How many hours do you think he is going to be in his crate? Puppies his age need to go out every couple of hours because they just can't hold it very long. If you train him to pee on a pad you might as well train him to pee on the floor. IMO that doesn't teach them anything but I'm no expert as I have only raised one puppy. Just because he is big doesn't mean he will tear your house apart. I trust my bigger dogs alone in the house more than my smaller ones. He probably won't grow that big with his mix probably 30-40 pounds.

[Rachel]

I certainly understand the need to have a young inquisitive dog kenneled while you are away and also not having the space upstairs to place a larger kennel in which Coco will be comfortable. A kennel in the basement could serve that need. I also understand that Coco should feel his kennel is a place of refuge and comfort and in that respect sleeping there at night would reinforce this.

On the other hand, it has been my experience that a properly housebroken dog will not nececessarily need to be kenneled overnight. It would be an interesting question to poll others, but none of my dogs have ever slept in a kennel after a couple months. Right now I have medium dogs but when I was first married I had an airedale and a lab. They both slept in the bedroom with us (no kennel) as do my current two. I don't suppose I can advocate you allowing Coco to sleep on the bed which I'm sure would be his preference.