Raised dog bowl and crate bedding and bones?

[Louise Perry]

Hello and sorry for yet more questions! Just wondering how many of you use raised dog bowls for your setters and should I be using one for Reuben? Also I have a blanket and duvet in Reuben's cage, is this enough or should it be more padded to protect his joints etc.  Also I don't leave Reuben with a bone in his crate when I go out as heard they could choke on them but it seems a shame as it would probably be nicer for him than his kong. What are your opinions/experiences?

[Louise Perry]

The raised food bowls is interesting that it changed to not raised to help prevent bloat. I only considering raising the bowl lately because sometimes Reuben looks like he goes a bit Dizzy after eating. But this is not all the time, only now and again so I think I will keep bowl on floor.
Thanks Barb, Kennelmate has got some lovely stuff on there! As for bones, I will definitely stick to giving them to Reuben when I am at home. Teresa - I have never heard of Buffalo skin bones, perhaps I will look in to that too, thank you.
Susan, I hope little cash is better and starts to like his crate. I was very lucky with Reuben he took to the crate straight away and never cried about being in there. He sleeps in there at night, so approx 10/11pm - 7pm (later on weekends). And after a morning walk he goes in his crate to dry off and sleep and i may initially have to shut the crate door to persuade him this is where to go and not the sofa when stinky and wet! I don't work at the moment, so am around most of the time and Reuben will have the freedom of downstairs and will rest on his bed in the lounge. I will shut him in crate if I go out and this could be either an hour or so to local shops or up to approx 4 hrs depending on what my plans are. I have always deliberately tried and go out daily and leave him, so he got use to it and this seemed to work. I leave the radio on, a stuffed frozen Kong and chewy toy. Sometimes Reuben will actually take himself in to his crate when he wants peace from children! I have just changed his crate for an xlarge one this week and he really loves it!
Thank you everyone for your replies

[Sue and Cash]

I know this is totally my fault so far Lousie! I work part time about four hours a few days a week. And Jan/Feb are my slow time, so I have only worked when my husband is around. I know when I have left him just to do laundry in the basement, he carries on for a few minutes! Today I am going out just so he can have crate time. I will do like an hour, then two, etc. All my others settled into a crate quicker. It is because I seem to be less tough in my older years and baby the heck out of him. I am working on toughening up for his sake! I had an English Pointer female years ago that suffered from horrible debilitating seperation anxiety and don't want that problem. The weather is keeping us from a good routine here, he should be outside walking before crating which is what we always did with our spring puppies. Our sidewalks are all ice and the winds have been so bad with below zero windchills, so strolling up the block isn't an option right now. He gets to play in the backyard for about 5 minutes before he is shivering.

[Sue and Cash]

Oh Fran how scary! I notice in our adult crate, the largest kind you can get, it looks like there are places for him, to get a paw stuck or worse like yours his jaw. I won't use it till he is way bigger. I borrowed a hard style kennel from a friend that will suit his size safely for about another month. Then hopefully we can use our large metal one. I didn't want to buy another one since usually my dogs are out of crates by 9 months or so if proven trustworthy. My 16 yr old is home all summer and then I never have to crate much since he is here while I work.