Blanket over crate

[hollysh]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

Is it possible for a puppy to suffocate putting a blanket over the crate? I'm dog sitting and she suddenly went quiet when I put the blanket over the crate. Started worrying me.

 

[leashedForLife]

.

unless the "blanket" is a continuous hunk of plastic-sheeting, no - it can't suffocate her.

Presuming it's made of fabric [like the blankets we put on our beds] & the fiber is among the usual suspects [acrylic, polyester, cotton, wool], & it's WOVEN, the weave allows plenty of air to enter & also exit. No worries about overdosing on CO2-heavy exhalations.

The sudden silence was due to the dimmed light or possibly darkness, depending upon the light-level in that room.

I'm guessing the "crate" is a SHOW crate, or a welded-wire cage, rather than a shipping AKA airline crate?
Show crates IMO are only good for show-grounds - they serve that purpose perfectly; the dog is out in the open, unable to hide from any passerby's gaze. That's what they're for - ensuring the dog is as visible as possible.
I much-prefer airline kennels for all other purposes - transport definitely, as show-cages are extremely dangerous to the occupant & everyone else, in any impact; every wire rod in a show-crate is a potential skewer, & anyone can become a kebab, including the 1st-responders at an accident scene.

Airline-kennels are waterproof, burst-tested, contain spills, are virtually impossible to escape from, well-ventilated, provide privacy for the dog, & enable a feeling of security. They are stackable, portable, lightweight, quiet, & can be sanitized. They are the gold standard for pet-transport.

Show-cages rattle, leak & splatter; the trays split or rust or bend or flake paint or crack, they're so shallow that the dog's paws splash any urine or other liquids right thru the "walls" or over the edge & under the cage, the walls themselves allow the dog inside to pee thru them [if a male] or pull items into the cage to chew [both sexes], they CANNOT be sanitized properly [unless they're S/S & U own an autoclave big-enuf to accommodate the cage], & they're useless for transport.
Plus, the dog CAN escape - bending the roof upward & door outward, the dog can slither out sideways like a living envelope exiting a mail-slot.

happy pup-sitting,
- terry

.

 

[Maggie Mul]

We have always used a blanket over the crate for our puppy. It is a light weight woven one and I think she likes it. When we pull it down we don't usually hear a peep from her until morning time! It cuts out the light, makes it quite den-like and also lets her know its sleep time. I know many people who cover the crate with a blanket.

 

[Violet Turner]

No it shouldn't suffocate her.

 

[Caro Perry]

We always covered Harri's crate with a fleece blanket to keep it warm and quiet and to keep it darker so he'd sleep. He was fine. It wasn't totally covered though - we left one end uncovered for ventilation.

 

[Dami]

We found this out on the day I got my puppy (Saturday) although we don't have a crate, we have a playpen with a medium dog carrier to serve as her bed (Trust me, the carrier is huge! Puppy is a Chihuahua Cross!) We put an old duvet around the top of the playpen and carrier and after a few yelps, she was settled and sleeping.

 

[leashedForLife]

...although we don't have a crate, we have a playpen with a medium dog carrier to serve as her bed
(Trust me, the carrier is huge! Puppy is a Chihuahua Cross!)
...

.

an oversized crate, per the size of the pup, can create problems of its own - it gives the pup extra room to pee or poop, then lie-down elsewhere, unconcerned. An oversized crate can make housetraining much-more difficult.

breed-specific notes:
Chis can be notoriously difficult to housetrain, so don't make it any harder on yerselves than it will be. She needs all the clues she can get for a rapid, successful outcome, which would be clean & dry overnight by 15-WO & clean & dry for 6-hours in the crate daytimes by 6-MO.
Chis have small bladders & cannot wait thru an 8-hour working day PLUS the commute time, to void - they just don't have the bladder or bowel space, plus small dogs have faster metabolisms than bigger dogs.


As Ur pup's crate has an ex-pen attached, she has loads of room to play - U can reduce the supersized crate to fit her by simply putting clean empty cardboard boxes in it, to fill the extra space. // U take the crate apart, & put the empty boxes in the rear of the bottom half to take up the excess, leaving enuf room for the pup to enter, and U-turn to exit. That's the test for sizing a crate - it provides plenty of space for that size dog to lie down.
Don't use stinky boxes [which formerly contained soap, cleaning products, etc], nor anything that once contained TOXINS - bags of fertilizer, bottles of bug-spray, plumbing clog-cleaners, etc; also, i wouldn't use any boxes from grocery or liquor stores - either source can have cockroaches, & they lay eggs in the seams of cardboard boxes, which can hatch in Ur home.
Empty ream-boxes from a copy-center are perfect - no smells, nothing to attract or feed roaches. // If they're too large for the allotted space, just cut them down & tape them back together in a smaller configuration.
Important:
If U use smaller pasteboard boxes, such as shoe-boxes, TAPE THEM TOGETHER to form a 'wall' so they cannot possibly fall onto the pup - then re-assemble the crate around them. Now, they're safe. :thumbsup:

As the pup grows, U can remove boxes or cut them to change their shapes; any soiled or wet boxes are easily replaced with fresh, clean & dry, boxes. Easy-peasy.

- terry

.