Samson DISLIKES his Crate...

[My Samson]

Has anyone ever had an issue with your dog not liking their crate? I use the work 'dislike' because he will go in it - only if we put him there. He never just lays in his crate for the 'heck of it' - but refuses to go in unless I 'walk' him in. He doesn't cry while he is in it - unless he has to go potty. I've tried luring him in with treats and/or toys but he just looks at the treat and toys and then looks at me like - do you think I'm stupid? I've made the crate as 'comfy' as possible for him - he has as blanket on top of a pillow (he likes to snuggle up). The weird thing is that he will often (not always) pull his blanket out of the crate (when he isn't locked in it, of course). I've watched him run up to the crate door and quickly pull his blanket out and just leave it outside of the crate - which makes me wonder why he keeps doing that? He doesn't pull it out and lay on it...any ideas or similar situations??

 

[Dempseysmama]

This is exactly what Dempsey does, except I can lure him in with a yogurt Kong. He doesn't cry or freak out when he goes into it (only when he's home alone), but he's not one of the dogs that make it their "room". But that's okay by me. He also pulls out the blankets and toys and pilows. He used to flip his water bowl everytime, but got over that. It doesn't bother me much that he doesn't love his crate, and I'll be moving him into the kitchen around 6 months or so anyway.

 

[Wooof Wooof]

Valkrie does the same thing except when we go to put her in she fights the hole time and sometimes cries. I don't know why she doesn't like her crate but I don't want to incourage this so I just leave the door open and never force her in because she freeks out so bad she gets close to beeing sick and I don't wan't to tramatize her. I hope things go well for you. I just think that some dogs don't like closed in spaces so that could be our problem.

 

[KonaKoffe]

We have to walk Kona into her crate. She never goes in there on her own.

 

[My Samson]

It's a wire crate. I give him A LOT of praise when I walk him in - like he's the greatest puppy in the world for going into his crate...another thing I've noticed is that he will not play or use any of his chew toys or even his treat filled kong when he's in his crate. He doesn't touch them.

I haven't tried sitting outside of his crate with him in it for a little bit - I'll try that and see if it makes him any better!

Thanks for everyone's replies so far!

 

[JenInIndy]

Odie is not crate "enthusiatic" either..

He will go in there if I bring him there and will stay without a fuss, but will not "hang out" in there at all.

Since he only goes in there when we leave the house - it's not his favorite location. We give him a treat if he goes in without assistance - but he WILL NOT EAT that treat until we come home and let him out of the crate. Odie will go back, get the treat out and eat it.

 

[Xerlot]

Exact oppisite

My Jersey is the exact opposite. She will go in if you ask her and does really well as long as no one is home. However if someone is home she wants nothing to do with staying in her crate and will cause her self to be sick by crying if we are home. All it takes is her hearing anything to set her off. She just knows that someone is home. We spent time at the begining with her next to the crate. We also left her in it and left the house to make short trips at first so she knew that she wouldn't be trapped for ever.

 

[luvduncan97]

New Crate for Sophie!

Sophie really disliked going into her crate. DH bought a new one because her old one was a hard plastic crate that did not fit into our volvo so we were having to always take the truck out of town with us, and the diesel gas is killing us in price! He picked up a "Noztonoz" Sof-Krate. It is dark green canvas and all the sides are like a screen. SHe can see out of all the sides, it is also collapsable for travel. We have had it for about 2 weeks and she LOVES it! She goes in on command, naps in there, plays in it! She has never whined once now, and no pouty face when we says it's time to get in. It is also water proof incase of accidents. I never thought it was possible for her to actually like a crate!

 

[TheDuke]

Duchess does not like her crate except at night when we are going to bed, I say go to bed and she runss in there. During the day, we tried to crate her, but she cries and barks so we just leave her in our bedroom with the door closed and she has been fine.