# I need some positive reinforcement



## daul77 (Jan 22, 2014)

So crate training our 7 week old Tucker is going as expected. Lots of crying :'( 
were sticking with it though. I feed him all his meals in there. give kennel commands with treats without closing the door. Just treat him in and let him leave if he wants. I also do this with an antler that he loves. He will go in 
lay down take about 2 nibbles on the antler then bring the antler right back out to cuddle in my lap and chew. Should I give him his kong our antler then close the door behind him and let him either chew or cry? or continue with leaving the door open and let it be his decision to stay in his crate? Another thing is I try and place him in his kennel when he is napping. I do close the door behind him, sometimes if he isn't asleep enough he will cry. At that point I or my wife will sit in front of the crate with a calm demeanor and tell him he's ok till he calms down and falls asleep. Usually when he wakes up he just quietly whimpers. at which point I wait for a time where he isn't crying, no matter how brief to open the crate door. Sometimes he just sits in there and whimpers still until I give a command to come out. I've never trained that aspect, he just chooses not to come out till i tell him too. 
At Night we put him in the kennel in our bedroom, A small plastic kind and he whimpers for a few minutes then will sleep through the night. Last night he didn't whine to go out for a potty break about 3 1/2 to 4 hours in, so I decided to take him out for a wee. coming back in he was a little more whiney than usual, I think I'll let him sleep and if he wakes me up crying take him to potty then. So any advise or positive reinforcement is much appreciated/needed. I just want to make sure were doing this right and not making him upset. He tries very hard to please us and is a big lover. I don't want to let him down :-\
Thanks all
Ken


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Keep going the way you are. I have significant crate problems with our girl as some people in our family do not believe in crate training. And she now sleeps in our bed, won't leave us alone ever, steals the covers....... and absolutely hates going in her crate and being alone.
She will go in and out as long as the door is open and she does eat in her crate. Stay consistent and keep a schedule. Even putting them in the crate when you are at home is good too.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Just stick with it! You're way farther along than we were at that age. Dexter would flail around and cry/bark/howl/scream all at the same time the minute we closed the crate door. Dexter would actually wake up from naps if I put him in the crate and get upset. That's with the door open! It sounds like Tucker is adjusting a lot better and you can calm him fairly easily, which is great! I think you guys will be just fine  Even Dexter doesn't mind his crate now.


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

Great job sticking with it! We failed miserably at this. Bristol still sleeps under the covers at night, however, she doesn't mind going in her crate when I go to work. She is now 16 1/2 months.


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## emilycn (Jul 30, 2013)

yes, you're doing all the right things. Just have patience!


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## daul77 (Jan 22, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies so far. I have to go back to work tomorrow after having Monday and Tuesday off. Since we picked him up Saturday my wife and I took some time so we could bond and try and get him settled. Going back to work and having him cry all morning till I come home from work at lunch time has been a big source of stress for me. I've been trying not to show it to Tucker and try and be calm assertive.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

One thing we do with Dex... I'm not sure if it will help or not... is to hide in another room after he's crated. He seems to settle down more easily if he knows we are still in the house. We'll crate him, go in the bedroom to fold a load of laundry or whatever, and he'll usually cry for a minute or two. We call it "singing" and it's just like he's got to sing a little to soothe himself to sleep. He's tired and usually after a minute (sometimes he skips it all together) is fast asleep. We then walk right past the crate to the door and he just looks up groggily and ignores the fact that we're leaving because he's already settled down. If we just crate him and walk out the door, we usually get a few minutes of lazy barking unless he's really tired. I know you said Tucker calms if you sit by his crate, so you might want to try settling him like that before you leave instead. Might be something to try?


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## daul77 (Jan 22, 2014)

That's a good thought. I didn't know if settling him by his crate would cause any behavior issues with crating down the road. I kind of go back and forth between soothing him and just letting him protest it out. I think I'll have to think of it as singing as well. That good


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Dexter has a different cry when he wants attention - his "singing" is more like he's just kind of murmuring to himself? Sometimes he grumbles too, haha. The husband and I need to get it on tape, as it's actually really sweet (not high pitched and annoying, lol). He does it less as he's getting older though 

I think it's probably ok to settle him as long as you're not actually giving in to him (letting him out, etc. to stop his crying) but other forum members might know more. For us, we took baby steps and just wanted to get him to see his crate as a safe place in the beginning and realize that barking to get out wasn't an option.


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## daul77 (Jan 22, 2014)

That's how we feel too. Just want him to realize its nice there and barking isn't going to get him out. Tucker does the grumbling too. It's very cute, I wish I could describe it good kinda like in tired don't move me it's adorable. Videoing it would be a good idea


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## aliciavp (Mar 14, 2014)

You're doing well! we kept Lazlo in a crate, in our bedroom for 3 weeks (which is when he started sleeping through the night, now he's in the living area, still in his crate)... Persevere! He'll get used to it. Lazlo would wake once or twice a night, start wimpering - that's when we knew he had to go potty, I'm a very light sleeper so I was all over his little noises. He did cry a little when he went back in, but I would speak to him calmly, telling him it was okay etc... until he was quiet again. 

Lazlo is now 16 weeks and will still make the odd whine when he goes in for the night, only because he'd rather be on our laps than in his crate... but he's a champion sleeper - I have to coax him out of there for his 6am walk!


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## daul77 (Jan 22, 2014)

Wow 6am! Today was like 4:45. But he seems to start night time sleeping at about 8:30. I wish he would start a little later and sleep in later in the morning in turn. 
Thanks Alicia!


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## aliciavp (Mar 14, 2014)

Daul77 said:


> Wow 6am! Today was like 4:45. But he seems to start night time sleeping at about 8:30. I wish he would start a little later and sleep in later in the morning in turn.
> Thanks Alicia!


When Laz was 8-10 weeks he was waking around 1-2 am, then again at like 5am... hopefully, like us, it's just a phase.... and he'll grow out of it quickly


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## daul77 (Jan 22, 2014)

Hi all, just a quick update. I thought you might want to here how Tucker has been doing with his crate. At night he settles in just fine now. he still gets up around 3 for a potty break but today he did let us sleep till 5:40. although I did get him up at 9:40 and kept him up till about 11. He is doing great with his crate in the morning as well. I load it with his blanket and shirt that I wore the day before, A couple Kongs and a deer antler. I treat him in and he settles in ok. A little whine here or there but hardly at all. Once he settles I give him a couple treats and get my shoes and head out without making a big deal. My daughter had to run back in the house this morning as we were headed to school and she said he had already laid down and settled in. He whined once when he saw here but she calmed him with a gentle shh and he was fine. Im sure he still hates being away from us but he is doing much better in the span of 3 days. Now I need to get some kong ideas because he has mastered the dry kibble pretty quick!!
Thanks all for the support and motivation, I didn't realize how hard a puppy was going to be, but were doing good!


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

We just took Dharma out of a 36 inch plastic shipping crate and moved her into a 34 inch shipping crate. It makes a big difference when she has to be alone. We are still hit and miss for her messing her crate up but we have more hits than misses now. She goes in and out of it very willingly but has never really slept in there. This is something I wish was better enforced. Keep going....... it can only get better.


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## daul77 (Jan 22, 2014)

Do you think those extra 2 inches help her feel more secure?
What do you meen by make a mess of her crate? Tucker will usually have done some rearranging of blankets in there and when he isn't sleeping in there he will sometimes pull his blanket out and wants to chew on it.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

I think the extra 2 inches does make a difference. I can't put any blankets or a crate pad in her crate. She will poop and mash it into any bedding. She digs to China. She is the runt of the litter and not very mature. A lot of this may stem from inconsistent crate training and the fact that she is such a VELCRO vizsla. Dharma has not been the easiest puppy in the world to train that way. We had her in a larger crate with a plywood divider originally. We ended up taking out the board to see if that would help. No luck........ so last week we switched to the smaller crate. So far we are 2 out of 3 clean crates.


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## daul77 (Jan 22, 2014)

Hi all just thought I would post an update on the crate training. I think it is going good. Yesterday and today he went in on his own volition to take naps. I'm a very proud poppa.


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## timowalk (Jun 20, 2014)

Excellent news! As I've posted elsewhere, my Vip regularly asked to go out to his car crate because there isn't one in the camper. It was his very own space. I think the taste for the crate comes as the dog matures and becomes a little less dependent on its people. In the house, he'd usually camp out upstairs on the sofa to be closer to his people, but if something really bothered him (like a big storm) he'd go downstairs to his crate.


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