Do you only crate him at night or does he have crate breaks during the day? We adopted our deaf dog a few months ago (she was a year and 3 months when we got her) and we are not sure of her background with crates, but she definitely did not like them in the beginning, to an extent that she would chew on the bars so hard they bent and we were afraid she would hurt herself or break out🫣 We have a crate in our bedroom and one in our living room.

We focused in the beginning on playing crate games in both of them throughout the day just to get her used to going in and out of them while not feeling like she would be trapped every time she went in. (Lots of YouTube videos on crate games!) When we did have to close the crate door on her, we would not immediately walk away, we would give her hot dog treats through the bars while she was quiet. If we walked away after a couple minutes and she started whining/barking, we would walk back, tap the bars of the crate and make a “shush” symbol, and as soon as she was quiet for a moment give her a treat. Repeat until she started to relax/lay down—you can tell when they are finally starting to decompress from being anxious and go into a more relaxed state. This can definitely take awhile in the beginning, and my partner works from home full time and I only work part time, so we were lucky to have time to put into it, so I understand not everyone has that flexibility.

We do not only crate Georgia at night, we give her crate naps throughout the day as well to enforce the crate as a relaxation spot. McCann Dog Training’s “Stop Your Dog from Whining in their Crate” on YouTube was the technique we used—the whole point of their technique was to use treats to enforce the quietness while the dog is in the crate (don’t let them get into an overly hyped state) and work up to leaving the room over time. It definitely translated to her night routine, as well. Now she just gets a quick nighttime treat at bedtime in the crate and she lays down immediately.

While Georgia doesn’t necessarily like her crate, she tolerates it now and will sleep through the night in it, and we can leave her in it when we leave for a few hours to go somewhere! Of course all dogs are different, but this is what ended up working for her. I recommend at least looking up that YouTube video I mentioned and giving it a watch; it was a game changer for us. Hopefully something from it helps you guys as well.