crating and crying during the night

[jray]

chris you are right in not taking him out when he's crying. This will teach him that crying will get what he wants. Try waiting a few minutes after he stops crying. then let him out.

Jenny & Oskar

Oskar is 8.5 months now and loves his crate. He goes in with no problems now and we often catch him in there sleeping on his own!

 

[bosco17]

Thanks all for your input.

I had a yellow lab before this boxer. The lab took to the crate like a human takes to a new home! It was so easy to train that dog. He loved sleeping in there when it was time to sleep. He would also go in the crate on command! I can't wait for that moment with Bosco.

I have to admit though, Bosco is only 6 wks and 3 days old and is probably still suffering a little from being away from the littermates and mom. Hopefully I'm handling the situation appropriately. I'm always trying to think how the mom would handle each of the situations he's getting into and try to handle them accordingly.

Thanks again!
Chris

 

[Krikkit]

Chirs, you can buy plush toys that have a little battery operated heartbeat inside them for pups. As your boy is so very young, something like this may help him in the crate

Here is a link for SungglePuppies:
http://www.snugglepuppys.com/

I'm sure there are many brands available.

Sharon

 

[Starlitew2]

I have a 10 week old boxer named Jessie and we have had her for 2 weeks. Her crate training was going great until we decied to take a trip to see our family for a few days for the holiday season. We took Jessie with us so that she could be reunited with her brothers and sisters (my husband's aunt was the breeder). When we got home, she would not sleep in her crate, as we had let her sleep in the bed with us while we were away from home (crate wouldn't fit with the luggage this trip).

I am now re-training Jessie with her crate and having a heck of a time. She starts crying after only one minute in the crate with the door closed, and then just starts freaking out...but I think I found the solution. I put her crate in my computer room where I spend most of my time, and I took the pillow off of my bed that she likes to sleep on and put it in the crate. It is (or was) my personal pillow, so it has my scent on it. She went in there on her own for a nap twice today, and has been resting in it like it's the greatest thing since peanut butter. Just now, she's been in her crate with the door closed for almost 25 minutes now with no crying, just listening to me type. I think I will start leaving the room for a few minutes each time I close the door, and treat her if she is being good, then gradually increase her time alone in the crate until I feel comfortable leaving the house for a couple of hours.

I will probably drag the crate to my bedroom when I go to sleep tomorrow night and see if she will stay in it during the night. I think tonight may be too soon.

My question is... is any of this wrong to do? The pillow is a pretty good sized pillow and it fits nicely in the crate...just a little fluffy in there. I just want this to be a really good experience because I want her to be happy inside her "condo" as well as outside.

Thanks for reading.

Jessie's Mom:D

 

[Krikkit]

It sounds pretty good to me A pillow in a crate does sound very comfy, I'd be tempted to curl up and sleep in it myself. You are right to keep the crating experience as positive as possible. There may be a day when you really need to crate (health reasons) and if they are happy then that is half the battle won

Sharon

 

[Trakehner]

A Simple Solution...Really!

I'm one of those people, horrible I know, who hates to hear dogs barking mindlessly.

When my boxer, Katie Scarlett, was a new member of the family we had a "learning experience".

Her first night, she was in her crate and started whining then barking. I was waiting outside the kitchen door. The first bark, the lights went on, I took her by the jowls to control her head and make her make eye contact, did a low growl. then went away.

"Hmmm" she thought, "that wasn't pleasant".

A minute or so later, she was whining and barking again. My reaction was the same, lights on, a stern unhappy growl and then leaving. It took about 20 minutes of this and she was quiet.

Of course, I made sure she'd hit the bathroom, so it wasn't a "gotta' go" pleading.

The next night, the same thing. It only took about 15 minutes.

The third night, she was quiet.

She also learned not to bark. If something/someone concerned her, she'd look at us and give a "grrrr" as a heads-up. No barking just because the neighbor's dogs were barking their brains out...she was a real lady.

She would go stay at a friends house when we'd be on vacation. Their dog would bark away, and Katie would look over her shoulder and give a quiet "woof", doing a Boxer smile the whole time.

She wasn't "crushed" or the least little bit curtailed by not barking, Katie was a dog who could go anywhere and be a perfect guest.

If you would like a quieter dog, now's the time to do it.

 

[Kdiplacido]

My Bandit would cry when we first got him so I brought his cage into the bedroom..he was fine after that. then I started sleeping downstairs on the couch with his cage next to me. He was still fine. Now I still leave the cage downstairs and I sleep up in the bedroom..he is still fine now..doesn't make a peep till morning. Guess he just needed to get used to being in the cage. Now he knows that I'm not that far away. :p

 

[roxydaisy03]

Roxy is pretty good about going in her crate. we put a few stuffed animals and 1 kong and she is fine. the only problem we have is that she crys when she first goes in at night. to solve that I get in the crate with her (its very big) and she is fine then & she has been outside in her crate from day 1 with us. i agree with everyone else...put her in your room if thats where she will be long term.