Crates - thoughts

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jbbtlr

Super Boxer
Great......now I just have to wait till 7:00 and we can go get him. Yippee!!fiestaicon

I'll let you guys know tomorrow how our first night went. I am expecting to not get much sleep. But it will be so worth it. ;)

~~Jeanette~~
 

jbbtlr

Super Boxer
We got him and he's just so handsome. What a kick he is. Here I thought I put everything up, nope. He found everything I missed....lol And he hates our big screen TV. He barks and growls at it. It's soooo funny.

He did great last night. We had his crate up and introduced him to it. He came in and out of it. He played so hard he fell asleep by our couch so I put him in the crate and didn't hear a word out of him till about 1:00am. Then again at 5:00.

The second time I put him in his crate he was a little more away and barked and cried for about 15-20 minutes. Then calmed down, so I opened the crate and petted him, he fell asleep in my hands. Then the second time he got up I took him out to do his thing and when I put him back in his crate he only whined for a few minutes and went to sleep. He did great.

Now today, when I put him in it this morning, he was bushed again and went straight to sleep. Then I came home for an early and long lunch and when it was finally time I had to get back to work, boy he didn't want to go back in. He whined and cried and cried. I felt horrible. Then I came back home again to let him out and he was barking and whining. All I could think of was he's been doing this for 2 hours. Poor guy. So I let him out and we played and all that. I had to get back to work and so back in the crate he went. He of course barked and all that, but when my daughter came home an hour later from school she said he was sleeping. That made me feel better that he wasn't spending the whole time barking and crying.

Over all I think he's doing great. We have only had one accident in the house and that was my fault because I didn't leave him outside long enough the first time he got up. Oooooopppsssss

I can't wait to load some pictures of him. I can't believe how much he has grown from when we first saw him.

~~Jeanette~~
 

Lael

Super Boxer
partyicon YAY! partyicon

Sounds like he did alright! Aren't you so happy with him home now? It's so fun to have a pup. Still makes my heart 'pitter-patter' when I come home to my wiggly puppy (she'll always be that little 8 week old in my eyes).

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jbbtlr

Super Boxer
ohhhh boy, last night was a long night. He didn't want to sleep at all last night. I think he was up every hour to two hours last night.

I hope and pray tonight will be better. I've heard it takes about a week for them to get our routine down. But he is so much fun. He just loves the cat. She is about his size and she is very patient with him. She just looks at him like, oh my would you just go away. She's only wacked him once.

So he is doing great with housebreaking. But the kennel who we got them from had concrete and that is where they used the bathroom. So when he goes out in the backyard, I put him on the grass and usually about half the time he goes on the concrete. Is there a way to break that and get him to consistently go on the grass?

I don't want to tell him no because he is going outside and not in the house but I don't want him pooping and peeing on the patio either. Suggestions?

He's such a kick. He hates our big screen tv, he barks and growls at it all the time. It's too cute.

~~Jeanette~~
 

Lael

Super Boxer
You might want to try to search for other threads on this topic, since I know it's been discussed before. You'll find lots of good advice in other conversations too.

We had the same problem with Lael. Everytime we went outside, the first thing I did was carry her to the area we wanted to designate at the 'bano' area, and then give her a yummy treat right after she finished her business in that area. If we saw her start to go in any other area while we were outside, I would pick her up and quickly move her to the 'bano' area and then give her a treat for continuing in that area. In order for this to be effective, we had to supervise her 100% of the time when she was out of her crate. That way she could make no mistakes and would understand clearly and quickly that she got yummy things for going in that certain area. It took a while, but she definately figured it out. By the time she was about 10 weeks, she was able to walk over to the 'bano' area on her own (chaperoned, of course ;), just to make sure there weren't any distractions on the way).

The best advice I ever got was to NEVER punish your pup for going in the wrong place! The pups are too young to understand and this will only make them afraid to go in your presence (which is NOT what you want). ONLY give treats for doing it right, and help them to make sure they do it right so they catch on.

Good Luck! I remember very well what it was like to have a brand new little puppy! :)
 

dakota NB

Boxer Pal
crying

We just got our little puppy on Sept 16 (6 weeks)and she was OK with the crate for the first week she would go in on her own if we had toys or treats for her and she would lay down and sleep with the door open, now she will not go in at all even if she is sleeping on my lap and we put her in to sleep with the door open she will climb out and sleep elsewhere. She does cry when we put her in her crate to go out but when we return she is always sleeping (so I do not know how long she fusses for) she will cry 2-4 times a night and it is hard to ignore we will take her to pee and then put her back in the crate sometimes she cries for a few minites and sometimes for 1 hour.

I am wondering if i let her sleep with us in the bed at night that when she gets a bit older and is trained a bit if she would then sleep on her bed on our floor.
 

Lael

Super Boxer
I am wondering if i let her sleep with us in the bed at night that when she gets a bit older and is trained a bit if she would then sleep on her bed on our floor.
I'm not the expert on this, but in my opinion, once you give your puppy permission to sleep with you in bed, she will always want to sleep with you in bed (even at 70lbs...). If you want her to eventually be able to sleep on the ground in your bedroom, I would move her crate into your bedroom next to your bed. (This may help the crying too.) When she's able to sleep the whole night through consistently for a while, then put her bed out and leave her crate open. You might want to make sure you let her do her business right before bed and right when she wakes up (yep, even at 5:45am on Saturdays) :rolleyes: This is what we did with Lael, and now at 11 months she loves her bed and I love that she doesn't have to be crated at night. :)

Again, I'm not an expert; this is just my experience with Lael. You also might want to do a search for more information.

Good Luck. And congrats on your new baby!
 

jbbtlr

Super Boxer
We have had Koda now for a week and he is still crying when we put him in his crate unless he is just plain exhausted. Especially when it's time to go in for when I leave.

Yesterday I was home sick and I needed some sleep, so I put him in his crate, which is in our bedroom, and I was in bed and he cried and cried for almost an hour. He finally went to sleep but man.

We started pulling his crate out to the living room with us during the evenings thinking maybe he would start liking it a little better. When we are down on the floor playing with him, I make to throw his toys in the crate so he has to go in and get them.

Last night he did pretty well. He was exhausted from playing so we put him in his crate and he went right to sleep. The first time he got up, he only cried for a few minutes when my husband put him back in from going outside. But the second time, he cried for almost a 1/2 hour.

I have put his toys in there, a stuffed animal (which he loves), his kong which he really hasn't touched, he's got his pillow and blanket I'm out of ideas. :(

He's doing really well with house breaking, but we are not there yet so I don't dare leave him out of his crate over night.

Any suggestions?
 

Lael

Super Boxer
Keep making that crate as fun & comfy as possible. Also, make sure Koda doesn't get any attention when he cries; only good things happen when he's quiet in his crate. Keep consistent and be patient. :) It took Lael quite a while to be okay in her crate. If you keep consistent with all the good things in the crate, as Koda gets older he will probably stop crying/whining. If you have to, try feeding Koda in his crate. That seemed to be the turning point for Lael.

Hang in there. Crate training isn't easy at first, but your hard work and patience will pay off soon enough. :)

By the way, I love the pictures of Koda in your gallery - what a sweetie!
 

jbbtlr

Super Boxer
Thanks!!!!

I'll try the feeding him in his crate. I didn't think about that.

I thought most dogs loved peanut butter, Koda doesn't seem to interested in it. That is what I put in his kong along with some puppy biscuts. And he hardly touched it. I am going to try cheeze whiz, I heard a lot of people say their puppy likes that.

My dalmation Jasper loves everything, but he has such a sensitive digestive system, we have to be careful what we feed him because he can run you out of a room literally, if you get my drift...lol ;)

So we just let Koda cry and whine for however long and say nothing huh. Not even no??? We've been letting him go until he really starts barking to the point of howling, then we have told him no....we should stop that then?

I have been around dogs all my life but haven't had a puppy in almost 8 years. Our dalmation is almost 13 and our other dog was 8. Seems like we are having to retrain ourselves also...lol

Thanks for all your advice. It's really helped!

~~Jeanette~
 
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