Since then I have desensitized her to her crate, and she will go to sleep in it when I leave the house, but there are still times when she’ll whine and cry and bounce around and dig in her crate. Today I left her for 2.5 hours and came back to find her asleep, but I could tell that she had done some bouncing around.
Anyhow - I try leaving really delicious things in there for her to be entertained with while I’m gone, like stuffed kongs, flossies, bully sticks, etc., but she will NOT chew on anything when she’s in her crate. It’s like they don’t exist. I currently don’t work so I don’t have her on a schedule for when she goes in her crate, which I think is what is making my progress so slow.
So anyhow… does anyone have suggestions for how I can help her get even more comfortable in her crate? She doesn’t see it as a place of refuge at all. The only way I can get her into her crate is to throw treats inside, distract her with a kong filled with some peanut butter (which she’ll toy with for about 5 minutes), and then take off. She will sleep in it at night only if the door is open, so I guess that’s something.
Should I have her on more of a schedule? Like, put her in the crate at scheduled times even though I don’t need her to be in it? Or will she eventually just adjust and get used to it? As I said before, most of the time I will come home and she’ll be fast asleep in her crate, I just don’t know how long she whined and jumped around. It could have been 5 minutes, it could have been 50 minutes.
I would say on average I have her in her crate for about 2 hours max a day, but it’s varied as to WHEN I have her in her crate.
Any suggestions? And please don’t criticize me for crate training her. She does WILLINGLY go into it at night when it’s bed time, so it’s not like she’s terrified of it.
Thank you very much for any positive feedback!
Thanks so far for the advice! I agree with both of you who said close the door on her at night. I’ve been thinking I just need to swallow my feelings for her and shut the damn door. I know I keep humanizing her, and so when I hear her whine I feel bad and get worried that all of my hard work is going to go down the drain, but I know I’m just being silly.
Tonight my mother is watching her, but I think I’ll start closing the door on her tomorrow night. Thanks again!
Posted by kdmarsh020285 on 2009-05-18 23:31:20
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May 21st, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Posted by yo mama
yes i understand how hard it is, we actually bought a rabbit cage that is all wires so our puppy could see out so it wouldn’t get freaked out maybe try that they are around 20-30 bucks, there really isn’t much else just keep trying she/he will eventually get used to it!
Good Luck!!!
P.S. it took us 2 yrs to crate train our 2nd dog
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:28 pm
She doesn’t need to be scheduled for that. What she does need is more desensitizing.
You’ve got time right now so use it. Crate her often through the day for very short periods and then let her out. Get her to never knowing if she’s going to be crated for 3 mins while you check the mail or an hour if you go buy groceries. And keep at it.
Also, close the dang crate door at night. Right now, she’s training and manipulating you. It might not seem like a big deal to you know, but when you allow a dog to take advantage of you like that, even just a tiny bit at a time, they keep doing it. They’ll keep testing you.
So stop feeling sorry for the pup. Realize that she’s throwing temper tantrums and you’re buying into them. Ignore the bad behavior and praise the good. When she’s not settled in the crate, ignore her. When she’s been in there being quiet fpr some time, go praise her for being good.
May 24th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
My suggestion is at night put the crate next to your bed or in your bedroom and put her in it every night when its time to go to bed with the crate door closed. Make it her bed, put nice soft comfy blankets in it maybe some pillows, make it very comfy for her. The only time you are making her stay in there is when you leave, thats showing her crate time is alone time and dogs hate when you leave them. By making it her bed it creats a safe place for her that she won’t be so scared of it. Thats what i did with my dog and it worked great. It took a month or two for him to get used to it but now he loves his crate, he willingly spends alot of time in it actually. and if he is ready to go to bed before i am he just goes in his crate all by himself, its really cute. Hope this helps
May 25th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I crate trained all three of my dogs and each one was very different. During crate training I always do my best to only associate positive things with the crate. I have Labs and they love food, so as puppies I feed them all their meals in their crate. Whenever one of my dogs would fall asleep outside of their crate I’d pick them up and put them in their crate to sleep. I never let my dogs out of their crate if they’re barking, crying, whining, etc.
It sounds like your doing a lot of things right. It can sometimes take a while for your dog to get used to the crate.
I’m not too sure a schedule would help much. If you haven’t already done this I would try crating your puppy while your at home. Just be sure you don’t let her out when she’s misbehaving (crying, barking, etc). By the way, if you’re at home when you work on crate training you will find out how long she whines and barks and how long she sleeps.
I hope some of these suggestions help.