my max HATES his crate

[mymax]

Hi Everyone! I'm new to BW, (I just said Hello in the introduction forums) but I've have a problem with my pup. Max is a four month old male who HATES his crate. I've tried everything from kongs, to his favorite treats and toys, putting on soft music...etc. I've been off for the summer and will now be going back to work and I'm very stressed about leaving my poor pup. I'll be gone for seven hours and I'm hoping to find someone to drop by and let him out for an hour but until then....My husband and I have been leaving him for a few hours for a couple of weeks now and we've recorded him to see how long he barks and he uses up the whole 45 min. tape:mad:( Any suggestons? Should we not put him in the crate and put him the kitchen with baby gates?? Help! MYMAX

PS. On the tape he not only barks but makes these sounds that just break your heart...my eyes are welling just thinkling about it:(

 

[Emma'sMamma]

I totally know what horrible sounds you are talking about. Emma would climb to the top of her crate and scream and yodle and bark. It just breaks my heart to hear her do that. She also did it for 45 minutes(I was at the other end of the house where she couldnt see me) and then after stopping for about 10 minutes, she continued for another 45 minutes. I stuck it out and didn't let her out til her next break. I really want to hear what everyone says about this too. Good post! Too bad it's such a frustrating one. Good luck, I will be reading the responses right along with you.

 

[Eric J]

The way I am breaking in Jedi seems to work well for him. We put him in his crate and sit next to it (reading, watching tv, talking to each other) and ignore him when he whines. When we play we throw toys into the crate and he now runs in FAST to get them and runs out FAST so we don't close the door on him, it is funny. When he is good we also play with him while he is in the crate. He loves to lick my hair, and I have had many puppy hair cleanings throught his bars.

After a week of being used to the crate with us near him (yes, he had a few days of OMG WTH sound is that and why does he act like I am killing him. It is your job as the parent to not give in, if you do, you will never train him) we started to leave him alone in the crate, but usually left the room when he was sleeping.

A few times my wife would crate him while I was upstairs and Jedi didn't know it. He carries on now a little when we leave, but gives up after 10 minutes.

Now he seems to whine more when we are in site and he CAN see us while crated (he wants to come out and be with us) then when we are not around.

We also have a water bowl that tightens onto the bars with a wingnut, and the bowl can be removed from the stand with ease for refilling (but not for dogs, well so far). So when we do play in the living room, we close the kitchen door so if he wants to drink water, he HAS to go in his crate. This helps get him used to it.

When we come back from being out of house, we ignore him for 5 minutes from when he stops to whine, not from when he sees this. This way he learns not to get excited when we appear, because it does nothing to him. Especially when we talk to him, give treats an hang near him when he is being a good boy in his crate.

The TOUGHEST part is not giving in, I know how hard that can be, but you have to steel your heart to the pup and let the pup get over it.

So basically we just slowly got him used to it with us near. Then we slowly added times with us away. We dont broadcast when we leave the room and are going to be right back or if we are going to the store. He is getting better with all aspects of crate training, but going in, that is something we are still working on.

Luck to ya :D

 

[Boxer_21]

First off I'll say that I was NOT a fan of crates. I always thought it was cruel and I swore that my dogs would NEVER set foot in one. For that reason, when we got Riley I decided to get a baby gate and block him off in the hallway while we were at work. The first day was awesome. He did really good. The second day, he had gotten out somehow, but luckily he wasn't hurt and he didn't make a "huge" mess. Knowing I could not keep him blocked off in the hallway because he apparently could jump the gate, I had to break down and get a crate. So the point of that is to tell you that a baby gate WON'T do the job. You'd be better off to crate train.

Luckily for us, Riley's a "go with the flow" puppy. He never really whined and he seemed to accept his new crate right away. We basically just tossed (and we still do) a treat and a safe/durable toy in his crate with him and he seemed to be ok with it. Because it went so smooth for us, I'm sorry that I don't have much advice to offer. I can give you some tips though.

- This is more of a safety issue, but it is VERY important. Be sure to remove your dogs collar when he is to be locked in the crate. There have been several stories of dogs who have caught their collars and literally hung themselves in their crates. So please, be very cautious when your dog is wearing a collar.

- NEVER use the crate as a punishment. If your dog is misbehaving and needs a time out, DO NOT put him in the crate. Doing that would only associate your anger with him being locked up. Which would only make him resent the crate even more and make training that much more difficult.

- Leave the crate door open at all times. Allowing the dog to go in and come out of the crate as he pleases may help him to adjust.

Basically only associate good and fun things with his crate. When he is whinning, ignore it. I know it's tough, but don't sit there saying things like "it's ok" "you're a good boy" doing this while he is whinning is only telling him that he's doing a good thing when he whines.

I hope you found some of this as helpful advice. Good luck with your baby!!

 

[Scrapper's Mom]

Does your boy also sleep in his crate at night? This might make it feel more like his den instead of a confinement. Scrapper started out right away sleeping in the crate with his puppy bed and fleeces. Since puppies take a lot of naps, we just put him in there when he was tired and he never complained. Also, I'd put on the radio for him to listen to when we were gone so the house didn't seem so quiet.

Is the crate in a cozy dark place or covered with a blanket to make it more cavelike?

Seven hours IS a long time to leave Max in the crate at four months old. It will be very hard for him to hold his bladder that long at such an early age. If you could get someone to come in the middle of that seven hour stretch it would help a lot. Also, he'd get out and be able to stretch his legs and play a bit. And, Boxer_21 is absolutely right - never leave the collar on when he's in the crate.

 

[Scorpio]

You cud try putting him in another room or kitchen with gates or do you have a big back yard ? you cud build or buy a dog run, I know its so hard to crate them but sometimes its best, knowing someone will be letting him out is good.

 

[malinda]

I want to share my crate experience with you. Megan hated the crate. We tried numerous approaches and still couldn't get her to go into the crate and the few times she did she cried, barked and carried on. I called the vet several times for suggestions and the vet finally said to me "Malinda some dogs can not be crate trained." That was not an option for me. You see as others had suggested we bought a baby gate, Megan crawled over it. We tried to keep her in the spare room, to this day she wouldn't go by that door. It was persistance and me getting over the fact that it wasn't so much her that didn't like the crate as me.

It was someone here who said that the dog being crated was the safest thing for the dog because they couldn't be eating up electrical cords or damaging other stuff while we were gone. It was that thought that made me realize that Megan had to like this crate. Persistance was what I needed. It took months for her to go into the crate by herself without making a fuss. But we did it. So I feel your pain.

There are lots of crate training threads here if you do a search I'm sure you will find a wealth of other information besides what you get here.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Mrs. Dog]

Dexter did not like his crate either. When I would put him in it he would box the door on the crate moving the crate as far as he could. It would get wedged inbetween the fireplace and the fridge. And there he'd be when I got home. Lucky it would get wedeged or I swear he would have went right through the front window. One thing I did to get him used to it was to feed him his meals in the crate. At first I would lock him in until he was done eating. Now when it's time to eat he runs in his crate and waits for his food. I guess it changed his crate to a more pleasant experince for him. Now if i'm on the computer to late he will go in his crate and lie down. Also if he doesn't want to do something he will go in his crate and just stand there and look at me.:D

 

[Emma'sMamma]

I know Im just kind of butting in on this crate thread, but I just can't seem to get past the fact that Emma broke through the crate. She bent that outside bar at the bottom that helps to keep it closed. One time she was climbing to the top screaming and tipped it over. That didn't stop her from screaming. It's not like she could see where I was. Maybe smell my presence...I don't know. In January I am going back to school full time and am already trying to figure out what to do with her all day. She does jump the baby gate we have in the kitchen and I'm not real fond of leaving her in the bathroom all day. Keep the suggestions coming. I'm reading them all too!

 

[Mrs. Dog]

Sally ,
Was that on an all wire crate or like a veri kennel? I don't know if it makes a difference but I have the largest vari kennel for dexter.I also at one time had a sheltie that could jump a very tall gate. So what I ended up doing was putting up 2 gates one stacked on top of the other. You just have to be careful that the little bit of space at the top is not wide enough for the dog to get stuck in if it learns how to climb to the top of both gates.