New guy here with some token newbie questions.
My wife and I will be picking up our 8 week old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon at the end of February. I have spent month researching and planning for our new family member but wondered if you seasoned owners could help me with a few things.
First, we will certainly be crate training starting the first night. My wife is a stay at home mom and rarely leaves home except for short errands. After 5PM, I am home every night and we don't have much of a social life ( We are pretty boring that way ). Regardless of this, we want to use the crate for potty training purposes and to make sure our pup is familiar with a crate. We do take lots of trips with our travel trailer to family land for long weekends out in the country and he will be riding in a crate for these trips as well.
Can someone give me some recommendations on the proper size for a WPG puppy crate? I understand the basics ( ie. not too big, not too small, will need larger as he grows ) but I am looking for specs like "___ inches tall". I want to be sure to be ready on night one and still need to purchase a puppy crate.
Also, related to crate training, after enough time ( ? ) will it be OK to let the pup sleep on the travel trailer floor vs. in his crate? This is of course AFTER he is potty trained. As with most travel trailers, space is limited and I am not crazy about cramming a crate in there for a couple nights. Would this undue crate training? We intend to eventually let him sleep in a dog bed outside the crate anyway.
Thank for your words of wisdom ahead of time!
New Member & New WPG Puppy
Re: New Member & New WPG Puppy
Congrats on the new puppy 
I prefer the plastic airline crates over wire. IMO the solid crate is more den-like while the wire crates are more like dog jail...they can see out but are stuck inside. Plastic crates keep tons of hair and dirt inside the crate and don't let it leak all over the outside edges onto the floor. They are quieter also, not clattering and squeaking. Other folks prefer wire crates, and that's fine. It's only a matter of preference.
I have medium sized crates that are a tad big, but not so awfully big, for puppies. The dogs also fit in as adults, at just under 50 pounds. My large dog is cramped in them and he goes around 72#. A crate big enough for him would be too big for an unhousebroken puppy, in my opinion, but you might be able to make it work.
We have a travel trailer with a 19 foot box, and have had 3 or 4 setters and a terrier in with us. Yep, it's crowded but we managed. The dogs are welcome to use the sofa and dinette benches when we don't need them and they have the floor when we want the seating. I have non slip rugs and maybe a couple dog mats on the floor. If there was a need, like if we went somewhere without the dogs for a few hours, I could fit crates on the sofa but haven't had to do that.
I wouldn't even think of rolling down the road with dogs in the tt - they are crated in the toppered bed of the truck.
I think the dimensions of the crates is something like 27" high by 30"long for the smaller ones, and 30" X 36" for one the big dog is more comfortable in. The dogs are in there to sleep, not to play volleyball, so I only consider size for a snoozing dog when choosing a crate.
I prefer the plastic airline crates over wire. IMO the solid crate is more den-like while the wire crates are more like dog jail...they can see out but are stuck inside. Plastic crates keep tons of hair and dirt inside the crate and don't let it leak all over the outside edges onto the floor. They are quieter also, not clattering and squeaking. Other folks prefer wire crates, and that's fine. It's only a matter of preference.
I have medium sized crates that are a tad big, but not so awfully big, for puppies. The dogs also fit in as adults, at just under 50 pounds. My large dog is cramped in them and he goes around 72#. A crate big enough for him would be too big for an unhousebroken puppy, in my opinion, but you might be able to make it work.
We have a travel trailer with a 19 foot box, and have had 3 or 4 setters and a terrier in with us. Yep, it's crowded but we managed. The dogs are welcome to use the sofa and dinette benches when we don't need them and they have the floor when we want the seating. I have non slip rugs and maybe a couple dog mats on the floor. If there was a need, like if we went somewhere without the dogs for a few hours, I could fit crates on the sofa but haven't had to do that.
I wouldn't even think of rolling down the road with dogs in the tt - they are crated in the toppered bed of the truck.
I think the dimensions of the crates is something like 27" high by 30"long for the smaller ones, and 30" X 36" for one the big dog is more comfortable in. The dogs are in there to sleep, not to play volleyball, so I only consider size for a snoozing dog when choosing a crate.