Is it a bad sign that the crate is still a major production?

[bustermom]

Different dogs prefer different crates - what kind is he in now? The metal kind or the airline, plastic kind?

I know that Buster never really calmed down in his crate until we put an area rug over the back half of it. He has the wire mesh kind, and he always seemed a bit nervous being able to see everything but not be involved. Now he lounges in the front half to watch the world go by, and moves to the back for naps.

My other dog, a Boston Terrier, prefers the total enclosure of the plastic airline type kennels - she stays very restless in the wire mesh crates.

Just a thought! It will take more time but it sounds like you're on the right track. :D

 

[kflanaga]

He is in a very large wire crate, with a seperator up giving him only about a third of it. I have to leave him alone for about four hours a day right now, and I've learned that he has no chance of holding it that long (Number 1 or 2). Yesterday and today I took him out right before leaving, he pooped, but when I got back within four hours, there was an unimaginable amount of poop in the crate. I might take the seperator out for those occaisions. I tried covering it, but he very quickly uncovers it. I guess what I want to know is, on average, how long until a pup "accepts" his crate? By accepts, I mean, you can put him in there without putting earplugs in first!

 

[bustermom]

All dogs are different - it took Buster just a few weeks to be comfortable in his crate, but it took my chihuahua about 6 months....and that's probably because my little Carlos was crate-trained 14 years ago and I have since gotten a bit more intuitive with our canine crowd. :D

Here are some other things you can try, if you haven't already:
- a hot water bottle for the pup to curl up with
- one of those "beating heart" stuffed animals (he is still just a baby!)
- a radio near his crate playing soft music
- a second puppy to keep him company (KIDDING!!!)

Figure out which causes him more angst - when you're in sight while he's crated or if he can't see/hear you. With Buster's naptimes, it would take much longer for him to settle if we were in sight and he couldn't get to us than if we were in another room. A lot of people advocate staying within sight or touch distance, but Buster just got very frustrated with that. Left on his own, he settled down much more quickly for his naps. Then again, some dogs relax better knowing that mom/dad is nearby.

Patience, grasshopper. All that's missing from this equation is time. Once you add that in, you'll have one very-well adjusted pup.

 

[kflanaga]

Thanks, bustermom, you've been VERY encouraging and helpful. He does seem to be more agitated when I am sitting there, so I tried putting towels over the back half of the crate to give him the option of "denning", but towels last about twelve seconds before being pulled into the crate. And, I live in a one-bedroom apartment, so I can't exactly avoid him for too long!

I'm pretty sure that he is making (slow) progress. I'm just trying to be able to tell the "I want to pee" bark from the "I want out of here" bark so that i can tell whether I'm supposed to ingore him or attend to him immediately. This is hard!