Day 4 with Buzz . . .

[MorganIL]

And he just hates his crate, or any type of confinement. He absolutely goes nuts when I latch the door. I've tried leaving the door open, throwing treats and toys in, he goes right after them, we throw a HUGE party, he comes right back out and we repeat it over & over. As soon as that door closes, he cries, barks, bites the wires, I'm afraid he is going to hurt himself.

I've let him fall asleep in my lap then carry him to his crate in "his room" and he wakes right up and can't wait to get out - I don't close or latch the door. What am I doing wrong? He is 9 weeks old.

I have to go back to work on Thursday for 1/2 a day and I really don't want to leave him as I'm afraid I"ll come home and he'll be hanging by his teeth on the wires!

Any advice?

Thanks,
Buzz's Mom

 

[Net45582]

You need to put him in with a stuffed kong on some other treat that will keep him occupied for a while and walk away. If he gets fussy-let him fuss.Leave a radio ot tv on for noise. Don't give him any attention when he's fussing-that's what he wants so you are rewarding him. When he quiets down for a while,then reward him....don't make a big deal of him being in the crate whether he's good or bad. Good luck-its going to take a lot of time and patience...and ear plugs

 

[Lola's mum]

Just keep putting him in there, don't go to him as soon as he starts creating or he learns that to get out all he has to do is display that behaviour and you'll come running. Also try leaving it longer before you do go to him, he'll hopefully be so tired he'll fall asleep after a while. It's not going to hurt him to be whining etc for over 1/2 hour.
Putting him in there while he's asleep is the worse thing to do the same with babies, they tend to wake right up as soon as you've put them down.
Just keep putting him in there with blankets and toys for short periods and build up to longer as he hates it so much.

Good luck

 

[KonaKoffe]

I have to go back to work on Thursday for 1/2 a day and I really don't want to leave him as I'm afraid I"ll come home and he'll be hanging by his teeth on the wires!

Any advice?

Thanks,
Buzz's Mom

The best thing we did during the crate training process was go to work. This way we didn't have to listen to Kona's crying. Eventually she got used to the routine and the crying stopped after about a month. Incidently we only crated her when we left the house. At night she slept on the floor in our bedroom.

Just take his collar off when he is in the crate.

 

[MorganIL]

We made it through the night!

Buzz stayed in his crate all night - he cried, barked, howled for about 20 minutes, then settled down. I heard him a couple of more time during the night, just a bit of whining, then he was pretty upset again around 5:30 this morning. We get up at 6:00am so by the time I went to get him he was settled down again. The ear plugs were a wonderful idea - Thanks!

Today we're off to the vet for some shots and a check up, then we're going to go sign up for puppy day care. He'll go for half-days for a while then we'll probably change to 2-3 times a week for full days.

Thanks again!