Crate Training

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kmhickles

Boxer Pal
We never knew that crate training could be so difficult. Smirnoff either loves it or hates it, there's no inbetween at the moment. And now if he wakes up and we are in another room he starts crying and howling. The problem is he is actually hurting himself; he has scuffed under his eye trying so hard to get out.

You think the pain of it would stop him doing it again; but no!

He is only 7 weeks old.

Time to pack the crate away????????
 
cashisking

cashisking

Boxer Insane
Do you have toys in the crate? Maybe he is just scarred that you are not in view when he wakes up.. Try putting the crate in the living room when you are in there and he is going to be napping in it.

How long have you been crating him?

Don't give up just yet, he will adjust to the new den eventually.
 
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kmhickles

Boxer Pal
At the moment we only have a ball in there. Maybe I should put some more in toys in there!?

Seven times out of ten we are there, but he just wants to get out of the crate altogether. We try to ignore him for a while and tell him a sharp "No" but he sits there all miserable and starts to whimper.

We've only had him home 9 days today, and have tried to put him in it everyday. We've tried enticing him with putting his food bowl right at the back, but he would rather go without food than to go in.

He grabs hold of the bars with his teeth and has lock jaw whilst howling. It's awful to watch. Maybe because the breeder never enclosed him in at his previous home!? He had a whole room to himself and his fellow puppy not a secluded crate.

Im just not too sure he'll ever be happy in there!?!?!?!

Did you use one straight away and was your dog settled or did it need time to get used to it?

Do all puppies act this way for the first week?



:confused:
 
Boxer_21

Boxer_21

Boxer Insane
When I crate trained Riley I did a few things. One, I always left the crate door open so he could go in and out if he wanted to. This way he wasn't all of a sudden forced into it. Two, I would throw toys in it when we were playing so he would have to go in to get them, which he did. Three, I always praised him when he went inside and I NEVER put him in there for a time out or any other kind of punishment. Four, every time and I do mean every time he's to be crated I always put him in and then give him a couple of his yummy treats. For Riley it didn't take long at all to crate train him, but every dog is different. If you want more tips on to crate train, try doing a search and you'll get tons of info. The search button is one of the blue buttons up top just in case you didn't know.

One last thing, please be sure to remove any and all collars before puppy goes in the crate. There have been several cases of puppies collar's getting stuck and strangling themselves.

Good luck and I hope you get your baby used to the crate!!

:)
 
cashisking

cashisking

Boxer Insane
Totally second everything Boxer_21 just said!

Crate training is hard, but in the end, it is safer for you and pup. My story is this, I have crate trained every dog I have ever been owned by. My father taught me about it when I was pretty young. When I got Cassius, he was not crate trained either, caused more than a few sleepless nights, but night by night, with cinsistency, it gets better, i'd say Cassius was sleeping all night in his crate by the middle of the 3rd week. He spends a good deal of time in there. Never longer than 4 hours at a time except of course through the night. Keep at it, make it a game, don't force him in if you can help it, because then he is associating the crate with stress, and that goes against why we put our babies in there in the first place.

Have you found a favorite treat? Perhaps peanut butter? Do you know what a kong is? do a search here for "kong", and "crate training" you will get tons of tricks to lure him in the crate, AND occupy his time while in the crate.

Good Luck. It gets better. Yes, ALMOST all puppies are like that!
 
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kmhickles

Boxer Pal
Thankyou for your replies; I never knew what a "Kong" was until yesterday when I read someone else's messages about them having the same Crate Training Problems.

I've been down to the shops today to see if they do such a thing over here, but was unsuccessful.

Are they really worth investing in??? We have brought a ball where it is supposed to stimulate his mind. (When it rolls the treats fall out) But he's not impressed with that at all.

Whilst shopping I have picked up a selection of treats which I will try and use this week as a lure, i'll let you know of my progress.

So tell me? What do you do with the Peanut Butter????? On a ball or something????

Anything is worth a try, just want to make it a fun place to be and not a torture chamber.

Many Thanx:)
 
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munchichi2550987

Boxer Pal
The peanut butter goes in the kong. It has been my saviour with crate training. Brogan loves her crate now because of it. I had trouble with her in the beginning too. SHe would chomp on the bars and make this horrible screaming/ crying sound.
You have received a lot of good advice here and doing a search will also help. I used to leave treats in her crate randomly with the crate door open. That way she would associate good things with the crate. Another thing I learned is to ignore them if they are crying. Only give them attention when they are quiet. Once they are quiet praise them like crazy and open the crate door. This way they will learn that being noisy doesn't get them anything but ignored.

Best of luck:) Just be patient. He will get used to it soon. He is still so little so just give him time.
 
bustermom

bustermom

Boxer Insane
If you can't locate a Kong, I've heard other people have had success with just spreading peanut butter on any kind of chew toy with bumps or little nubs (like a nylon or rubber dental bone).

You can also stuff peanut butter into any other washable chew toy that has a hollow middle - stuff them and then freeze them so they last longer.

I'll admit, however, that it took a while before Buster was at all interested in ANYTHING we put in his crate. When we first started crate training, he wanted OUT. He couldn't care less what else was in the crate with him. But, I'm happy to say that it took a few weeks (and an inhuman amount of patience!!) of ignoring his screams (OMG! what a set of lungs on that boy! :LOL: ) but he did settle down and take an interest in the crate goodies.

It sounds cliched, but the trick was to just ignore the noise and only let him out when he was quiet. Trust me - they can't keep up the noise indefinitely, contrary to what my fiance was muttering for those few weeks... Five minutes of puppy silence was rewarded by letting him out. And when you let him out, KEEP IT LOW KEY. You want him to realize that going both in and out of the crate are normal, "no big deal" events. He goes in calmly, and gets let out calmly.

Good luck!! Honestly, it does get better if you're consistent and give it some time... ;)
 
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