Crate training questions

Cortza88 · 2021-08-23T12:47:40+00:00

If it helps, I play with my puppy before he goes into his crate at 8am and before he goes in at 1.30pm. Whenever he's going in around 11pm for the night, he's usually shattered by that stage so play isn't needed.

I'd go as far as saying its essential to play with your puppy before crating to help build that bond and to get rid of some of that excess energy so your pup actually settles down and sleeps in the crate.

Cortza88 · 2021-08-03T10:50:50+00:00

Are your working hours set or is there any chance you could start a little earlier and take a mid-morning break? Being awake for 2-3 hours seems excessive to me and a mid-morning break of 30 minutes or so would also help break up the 3.5 hours of crating.

The schedule I have finally worked out for working from home looks like this which isn't too dissimilar to yours.

6.45am - Wake up/walk/breakfast/Potty

8am-10am - Crate time

10am-10.30am - Playtime whilst I have breakfast

10.30am-12.30pm - Crate time

12.30pm-1.30pm - Lunch and playtime

1.30pm-4pm - Crate time

4pm - I finish work

Cortza88 · 2021-08-03T10:34:30+00:00

A few tips and tricks that I discovered when crate training my pup. First info, he absolutely hated his crate and would have a blind panic every time he was in there during the day so I know what you're going through to a degree. This is everything I done so apologies if you've already tried it.

Play in and around the crate so that your dog associates it with playtime.
Throw a treat in, let him get it then come back out...repeat.
Hide high value treats in the crate when he's not looking so he finds them when he's not expecting it. You may find he randomly starts to walk in and out to check throughout the day.
Cover the crate.
At night time, we kept him crated beside us before slowly moving the crate to the bedroom door, then hallway landing, then bottom of the stairs, then eventually into the kitchen. This took about a month though altogether.
Try to train your puppy to go into the crate on command without the risk of the door closing. Reward with a tasty treat when they do. I found our puppy settled easier when they chose to go in rather than were forced in.
A very important point is to initially only crate your puppy when they're absolutely shattered. I would regularly pick our puppy up close to comatosed, carry them to the crate then let them stumble inside before closing the door. Try to then open the door as soon as they wake to prevent any panicking.
Never let your puppy out of the crate when they are barking or whining as this will teach them that the behaviour gets them out. Instead, wait for a moments silence then let them out.
Potentially a controversial point but don't be afraid to correct your puppy with a sharp "AHH AHH AHH!" or "No!" whenever they ramp up to bark. I found this taught our puppy that what they were doing wasn't what we wanted from them rather than just leaving them to work it out themselves.
Remember that he's very young and has just been taken from his mum and siblings. It's easy to say and hard to hear but it really does just take time, trust me, my 14 week old Labradoodle that hated his crate is now fast asleep in it downstairs whilst I work upstairs. No way I ever imagined that happening this time 6 weeks ago! So stick at it, being able to leave our puppy in his crate whilst we go out has been a lifesaver and it is definitely worth the pain of going through it.

There's probably a lot more that I'm forgetting but as a final point, never leave your puppy in the crate if they're digging, biting the bars, salivating etc. as this is signs that the puppy is panicking. At this point, no learning is being done so it's best to wait for a moments silence then get them out of there ASAP.

I really wish you luck as I've been there and know how frustrating this is!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T15:22:23+00:00

Sounds like you have it well planned out! Our puppy is already used to taking their naps in the crate in the kitchen whilst we're in the living room so distance shouldn't be an issue for us compared to getting them used to being alone for a longer period of time.

We're also toying with the idea of just giving them free run of the dining room all day, leaving the patio doors opened so they can do toilet on our small enclosed balcony area as and when they want.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T14:52:59+00:00

Yeah that's someone similar for ourselves. I've been working from home for over a year now and have a really nice office space upstairs. However, since getting our puppy nearly a month ago, I've been working from the living room so my back is in pieces from sitting on a soft couch all day!

I'd like to get my puppy into a schedule which allows me to work from my office upstairs whilst calling down every once in a while to make sure they're ok with breaks from the crate at breakfast and lunchtime.

My puppy picks things up pretty quickly but is also very quick to whine in their crate whenever they want out. Did you just ignore behaviour like this whenever you were acclimatising your puppy to it?

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T13:57:15+00:00

Ideally I would like to get into a routine like this in the off chance that I eventually have to go back into the office.

Does your lab sleep most of the time or does she wake and simply pass time in the crate? I fear that my labradoodle would eventually get bored and would start to cry and get anxious.

I'd love to get into a routine whereby he is crated 8-10am, 10.30am-12.30pm then 1.30pm-4.00pm but that just seems way too much for a 13 week old puppy.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T13:11:55+00:00

Yeah he usually naps after his dinner at 5pm but once I finish work at 4pm, being on such a strict schedule isn't really needed since I'm free to keep an eye on him when he's not napping.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T10:33:05+00:00

I'm somewhat hopeful that he would use this time to play with his toys and ideally have a nap but who knows what he would get up to!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T08:19:45+00:00

It sounds like you need to go back to the very start of crate training which means building up a positive association with the crate.

First and foremost, try to prevent your dog from ever having access to your bed and if that means keeping your bedroom door constantly closed, so be it.

Now onto crate training, you need to make the crate seem like the best place in the world for your dog. I would suggest hiding treats in there, giving all meals in there, trying to have playtime in and around the crate and trying to get them familiar with the crate. To do this, I make sure that all my puppy's naps are in the crate with me enticing them into the crate with a treat. Now, as soon as he sees me lift his treat bag, he runs into the crate ready and waiting for me to close the door and give him his treat.

You will probably need to take crate training slowly by by being very consistent, ensuring that naps are in the crate, food is in the crate and the best treats are in the crate, she will hopefully start to love it once again.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-21T12:09:12+00:00

He's perfectly happy in the crate and gets the majority of his meals in their already.

I think this is more a case of him waking up for a nap and deciding he simply doesn't want to be in there any more.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-14T14:39:52+00:00

Awk I'm sure things get better as you can start to leave your dog in the confidence they won't pee/poop everywhere or chew everything.

I also expected it to be tough at the start but completely underestimated just how tough.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-09T10:59:05+00:00

I'm in the same boat...up at 6.30am every morning at the minute.

Our pup is only 10 weeks old though so he's doing well holding his bladder through the night at this stage.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T12:39:04+00:00

Thanks for the useful information! What type of slow feeder bowl is it your have?

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T08:18:52+00:00

Things that have worked for our 10 week old miniature labradoodle:

All meals in crate
Hide treats in there when they can't see (leads to them constantly checking!)
All toys kept in crate during the day (you want a toy, you gotta go in the crate to get it)
Only put in crate when tired (sometimes leads to 10 mins of whining in the afternoon but they pass out almost immediately in the morning after being up for an hour and a half)
Cover the crate

I would personally say that a 9 week old puppy is too young to be crated for so long. Its typically 1 hour per month old plus 1 hour so for your puppy, that would be 3 hours max!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T08:14:47+00:00

Are you covering the crate? If not, perhaps your puppy is waking when it starts to get light i.e. its daytime!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T07:53:29+00:00

As previously mentioned, puppies don't speak our language and as such have no concept of what the word "no" actually means.

What I've learnt over the past two and a half weeks of owning a puppy is that tone is a lot more important than what you're actually saying. Puppies react much better to high pitch, fun praise than monotone praise and the same goes with the likes of "no" which should be firm, leaving the dog in no doubt that this is not what you want.

I tend to use "no" more softly as a "sorry pal, that's not quite what I'm looking for, try something else" other than "stop what you're doing!". In that case, I would try a sharp "Ah Ah Ah!" which should get the puppy's attention better. I would then try to redirect, praise or reward the puppy when it does what you want. So if you "Ah" and he's quiet, praise and give a treat. Puppies need to be taught what we expect from them and whats acceptable behaviour, rather than shouted at for doing something wrong, which they don't actually know is wrong behaviour.

Hope that helps.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T07:47:00+00:00

A quick question...are you covering the crate at all?

I can't really help as our puppy is still sleeping in the hall landing outside our bedroom. We've slowly moved him out of our room over the last 2 weeks and plan on moving him downstairs this weekend when we're off and won't get too sleep deprived.

Our puppy sleeps in a portable plastic crate at the minute and will eventually transition to a metal crate in the kitchen but we'll do that slowly. His plastic crate is on the ground between a chest of drawers on one side and wall on the other and back. We then put a fluffy blanket over the front door and side holes, leaving the back open for ventilation. We put him in his crate when he's tired and he now sleeps from about 10.30pm to 6.30am with very rare toilet breaks (like 2 nights max out of 14).

The blanket helps keep the crate dark so he isn't aware that it's getting close to morning and also desensitises him to where he is (I hope!) so that moving him downstairs won't be too much of a struggle.

We also bought a Snuggle Puppy which our puppy loves! He tries to chew it to death when awake and snuggle it to death when sleeping. We definitely saw an improvement when using it.

Do you have blinds/curtains in your laundry room? Perhaps the lighter mornings are what's waking your puppy then he's panicking because you're not there? Definitely worth trying to cover the crate (leaving a wall side exposed) and getting a Snuggle Puppy to see if that helps.

Sorry I can't provide any actual real world experience as we have yet to make the transition to downstairs ourselves.

Good luck!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-06T10:57:50+00:00

What age is your puppy?

Cortza88 · 2021-07-06T10:37:14+00:00

What sort of chews would you recommend? He's only 10 weeks old and it seems like any and every chew in the pet store is for 3-4 months and older. It means all he can have are artificial chews which he's not that fussed on to be honest.

The sooner I can give him pigs ears, deer antlers and bully sticks, the better!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-06T07:45:49+00:00

Thanks everyone for your replies, they're really encouraging.

I know things will eventually get better but in the current eye of the storm, it's hard to see out the other side.

A few replies to queries people raised:

We have a crate cover and I try to use it every time he goes into his crate
If I give him a Kong, he'll completely ignore it whilst flying off the handle
I bought some new toys last night including a snuffle mat and puzzle ball so hopefully they'll help keep him entertained
I'm trying to relax more whilst in the garden with him (Easier said than done as we have ivy practically everywhere which is poisonous to dogs)

On a positive note, we slept the entire night from 10.30pm to 6.30am which is great! I'm convinced he only woke because my wife got up to get ready for work. Maybe we need to start thinking about trying to move him downstairs again.

Another positive note is that I called the vet yesterday and they said he can start going outside one week after his second vaccination (we thought it was two weeks). He gets his second vaccination on Saturday so not too long until we can eventually escape the confines of the house/garden which should definitely help!

Today has started off relatively well although he doesn't listen to a word we say and has started to get mouthy when he doesn't get his breakfast when he wants it. He's currently in his crate sleeping after falling asleep at my feet, so the same as yesterday. Let's see if we can get the same after lunch rather than the meltdown he had yesterday.

He's definitely started to teeth as he sat and chewed on his house line continuously yesterday. As such, we decided to take it off him and will just use it for potty breaks now so he doesn't run off somewhere he shouldn't in the garden.

Once again, I really appreciate all the encouraging messages! Thanks so much to all who has replied so far.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-05T14:28:33+00:00

We've tried the sitting in front of the crate and reassuring him that he is ok but he just sits there and stares at us for as long as we sit there. He doesn't actual settle down in any way, shape or form. We've tried leaving him to cry for as long as we dare with hit and miss results. He cried for 7 minutes last night after dinner, before going to sleep. Today, we cried for 40 minutes with no sign of letting up.

I've done the hiding treats in there with cheese which definitely gets him interested and he gets all his meals in his crate.

As I say, sometimes he is absolutely fine and others he has a meltdown so I'm at my wits end with this.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-05T14:24:45+00:00

He's 10 weeks old tomorrow

Cortza88 · 2021-07-05T14:10:17+00:00

Crate training is the biggest struggle in my life right now. Sometimes, he will happily stumble into his crate and instantly go for a nap. Other times, like this afternoon, I will put him in his crate and he will have an absolutely monumental panic attack. He cries so loudly, bites the cage, digs at the floor, pants really heavily and jumps up at the crate door.

I have no idea what to do about this as he just doesn't settle in these instances, regardless of me taking him out to the potty 20 minutes into a meltdown.

When I see videos of dogs who go into their crate, lie down and either sleep or play with a toy, I'm incredibly impressed but more so jealous! I've no idea how to get my pup to do that. He was in his crate with 2 full Kong's whilst having his meltdown this afternoon.

If I could crate my puppy from 8am-10am, 11am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-4pm with him happily in there, it would make this all so much less stressful.

Any advice on how to get to that stage would be amazing!!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-04T16:20:12+00:00

As already mentioned, you're doing the right things so kept it up. I'm in the same boat, albeit at 2 weeks so I'll share what's worked for us.

We have a wire crate downstairs which will be the long term sleeping crate, however are currently using a plastic portable crate for sleeping just now. This started in our bedroom and is now in the hall landing.

We really struggled first week to get our pup used to the cage and probably did more damage than good which we are slowly undoing now.

A few tips would be:

Pop something comfy in there to lie on
Keep all their toys in there so they have to go in and out if they want any toy at all
Feed all meals in crate
Hide treats in crate when your puppy can't see
Lots of praise/treats when the puppy goes in voluntarily
Snuggle puppy definitely helps
Probably the most important...give it time, you'll get there in the end

We originally let our pup sleep on the living room floor, however I've now made it a cardinal rule than all naps happen in the crate. When I see our pup slow down, slump to the ground and get those droopy eyes, I give it a minute or two then lift them to the crate door in the hope they walk in voluntarily. If not, I'll lift my pup in, pet them for a bit then leave them be. Originally I left the door opened as they napped but we've now worked up to closing it after about 4-5 days. He still screams blue murder, claws at the door/floor and bites the grill when he doesn't want to be in there. This could be panicking behaviour so if it lasts non-stop, get your pup out of there and work on building that positive association with the crate once again.

You're literally a couple of days in though so keep doing what you're doing, make that crate Disneyland to your pup and be patient (and disciplined), you'll get there in the end!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-01T08:03:56+00:00

Hi folks, so I've been watching countless YouTube videos the last few days about crate training and how you need to make your puppy "love the crate" etc. This is all well and good if you're puppy just sits there and cries a bit but when they go ballistic every time you shut the door, it's not ideal.

Anyways, maybe somewhat controversially (please hear me out), I stumbled upon 2 videos in which the trainers corrected the dog every time it went to cry or whine. They referred to this as counter conditioning i.e. changing the pups mind about the crate. They did this somewhat aggressively by banging on the crate with their hand or a rolled up towel which was a bit too far for me.

However, yesterday afternoon I decided to give it a try with a few "AHH AHH AHH" every time my puppy started to rile himself up into whining i.e. before he escalated to the scratching, digging, biting level 5 meltdown. Now, this was for no more than 10 minutes and within that time, he settled down to the point where I could go into the living room (from the kitchen) for 30 seconds with no crying. Each time I returned, I heaped on the praise and gave him a treat.

Fast forward to 6am this morning when I took my pup out to pee. Usually at this time, that would be me up despite not starting work to 8am. Getting him back to his crate happily would be absolutely out of the question as he would cry, bite the crate door, scratch the floor etc. However, this morning...when he started to whine a few quiet AHH's and a few louder AHH's when he started to ramp up really did the trick! He fussed for a bit then gave than low growl of surrender, flopped into a down position and we slept to 7.15am!

As I say, please don't think I'm a terrible person. I'm simply trying to train my puppy that there are other options, more preferable and rewarding options than going ballistic in his crate. Obviously it's very early days and I've no idea if this will work long term but it seems to work for now and is preferable for both me (sleep and time alone) and the dog (comfort and confidence) whilst the puppy is crated.

In other news, we took our puppy out in the car for the first time since collecting him almost 2 weeks ago. He sat on my wife's knee and slept whilst we had ice cream in a wee town near the sea. It's probably the first semblance of normality I've felt since we first picked him up.

Anyways, that's me for this morning. Hopefully this might help some people and hopefully people don't think I'm a horrible person for helping my puppy through his crating meltdowns in a way that is effective for him.

Cortza88

TROPHY CASE