# Crate Issues



## Tetley (Apr 15, 2014)

Hello again!

Major is having some serious issues with his being in his crate. He's almost 9 months old and hasn't liked his crate since the day we brought him home. He spends roughly 4 hours in his crate per day.. 5 days a week. We feed him his food in there, we have made it smaller with the hope that he'll feel safe and calm down and while we're home, he's more then happy to go in it, (door open) and sniff, root and run out again! But! the minute we close the door he loses his mind. It's clear he has separation anxiety but we aren't sure how to cure him of this fear. By the time I get home to him in the afternoon the crate is on the opposite side of the room and he has usually hurt his nose, mouth or forehead by throwing himself back and forth in there for hours. 

He's perfectly sweet, happy, gentle and super hyper the rest of the time while out of his crate.. He walks on his leash like a dream, loves on my kids like no other and obey's most commands (selectively), I'm just at a loss of what to do to help him.. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be so so grateful! 
Thank you,

Elisha


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## Becky68 (Feb 4, 2014)

Hi Tetley

I to have this problem with our 4 1/2 month old little girl she is also happy to sleep in her crate during the day with the door open and she's in there now as I type. The min I leave the room to do anything she's straight out and looking for me.
We also feed her and give her treats in the crate but like Major the minute I shut the door to leave her she starts her little tiff, she's not messed our turfed it up but I can hear her braking as I pull up and her cuddly toys are soaking where she's been holding them in her mouth and braking at the same time. 
We leave the normal daytime TV on for background noise which she's used to and have it partially covered, I've given her all sorts of special treats stuffed kongs, chicken feet, pigs ears etc which were kept only for the crate but still not made any difference.
She always has a good walk before going in so she should be ready for a nap.
The on thing I must admit to is her sleeping on our bed during the night :-\
Also like Major she's an amazing, loving and well mannered girl.
I'm looking forward to responces to your post as I too am at loss what else to do.

Becky


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## SuperV (Oct 18, 2011)

Without knowing all your details...some thoughts...

Somewhere along the line the dog learned to associated bad things with his crate. You will need to work to reprogram this thought. If its a separation issue, my guess is that Major was only put in the crate when you were leaving for a duration. So that is all he associates the crate with - "When i have to go into the crate and the door shuts then it means I am in here for a bit and he doesn't like that idea". 

Soooooo work to change that...Find some real high value treats and start from square one, make treat/training time pivot around your crate. Teach him to go into his crate on command, when he does, treat. Give him the command to leave the crate - treat. (side note - your dog should not bust out of the crate until you tell him to - if he doesn't wait for your command - cool - now you have another exercise to work on).

Now that he is going into is crate and getting treats and you know that he loves this game, start putting your hand on the door, swing it shut and then open it like you were going to keep him in it, but immediately open it back up, treat/praise. Now the dog should be thinking, I love this game, I go into my crate and get a treat, owner shuts the door and then opens, I get a treat, I leave the crate I get a treat....

Slowly and as the dog allows, gradually increase the duration the door is shut, and this may be seconds, not minutes..... This will work to desensitize the dog to the crate...rather than always be in the crate when left alone. You can expand the exercise to putting the dog in the crate, shutting door, and walking away a step or two, and then coming back....eventually to leaving the room...

The big take away is you should make this a fun game, so he loves his "crate games" so much that he frequency in which he is left for 4 hrs or is small in comparison..

Also try freezing peanut butter, yogurt, or something in a kong and giving it to him everytime you leave him in the crate...so that he will look forward to you leaving him in the crate everyday as it means he gets a delicious kong that will keep him occupied...

Nate


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## SuperV (Oct 18, 2011)

a follow up thought... if at some point you have the door shut and the dog throws a fit..DO NOT open the crate door...you should just sit there quietly (don't talk ....DONT SAY ANYTHING) and just watch for that split second the dog calms down, it may be seconds or minutes...you want to teach the dog the appropriate behavior to open the crate door... If throwing a temper trantum gets you to open the door, you can be **** sure he'll try again if it worked once and you'll only have yourself to thank for teaching the dog that trick..... If he just as easily learns that sitting and keeping quiet opens the door, then he'll do that instead and it'll be the first thing he tries...

Nate


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## Tetley (Apr 15, 2014)

Hi Nate,

Thank you so much for the tips, I will get started on this right away. If I can pick your brain a little more!?!

Where would you suggest the best place to put the crate is? I have read that the puppy enjoys somewhere quiet and peaceful, (low traffic areas), so they associate being safe with their crate? Do you find this to be true? 

Also, he has chewed up every single bed and/or blanket I've put in the crate with him. Should I keep buying new beds to provide comfort for him while he's in there or 'kick it old school' so to speak and only give him his favourite kong & toy? 

I'm sure I have more questions but you've been extremely helpful so thanks again!

Elisha


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## Tetley (Apr 15, 2014)

Becky68 said:


> Hi Tetley
> 
> I to have this problem with our 4 1/2 month old little girl she is also happy to sleep in her crate during the day with the door open and she's in there now as I type. The min I leave the room to do anything she's straight out and looking for me.
> We also feed her and give her treats in the crate but like Major the minute I shut the door to leave her she starts her little tiff, she's not messed our turfed it up but I can hear her braking as I pull up and her cuddly toys are soaking where she's been holding them in her mouth and braking at the same time.
> ...


Hi Becky!

I'm so glad to know I'm not alone in this struggle. I'm sure it's the mistakes I've made training Major, (or lack there of), that have assisted in his anxiety however it's so heartbreaking to see him injure himself, I just want to fix it...

Please keep me posted as to how your little girl does in the future! I'd love to hear..

Thanks,

Elisha


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

SuperV has great ideas! I would add that I would sit with my back turned or at least looking at something other than the crate waiting for that moment of calmness.

I would also put the crate somewhere different from where it has been. Savannah associates specific areas of the house with specific actions. I'll be curious to see what the rest of the forum thinks, but I would put the crate somewhere he can see you or at least somewhere that he knows you spend quite a bit of time - the kitchen or the bedroom, for instance.

Savannah shredded her bedding when she was around that age, too. We put the beds and blankets away and just used old bath towels until she outgrew that phase. She still chewed on the edges, but the towels held up better than the blankets.

Good luck!


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## SuperV (Oct 18, 2011)

Please ask all the questions you have!!

With respect to location, I would just put it where you plan on having it indefinitely. Mine was in the kitchen, but is now in the front room. Our crate is covered and when left alone, we turn the radio on..no idea if that helped or not, but we never had a problem crate training her either...

Putting "stuff" like pads, pillows, beds, etc in the crate, make us humans (myself included) feel good, but keep in mind wolves/coyotes etc, sleep on a dirt floor in their den. Bella ripped up most of her beds so resultantly she didn't get anymore.... When she was a pup, we just used some blankets that we could easily wash. She still doesn't have a bed, but prefers to use her sleeping bag. Well I take that back, she has a real nice dog bed, that'll she use, but it isn't in her crate, and she is crated at night.

Also - when you do these training exercises, be sure to mix up the training and do other things intermixed with the crate work. I.E....don't spend 15 minutes doing nothing but crate drills, do maybe a few minutes, then play, do something else, come back in 20 minutes try some more. Young dogs don't have a long attention span, so if you act like a drill sergeant the dogs will learn to dislike it...It has to be fun!!!! Your body language and mindset also should be "fun"..

Feel free to pepper away with questions...everyone on the board is here to help, as we've all had our trials and tribulations...

Please report back and let everyone know your progress too...what worked, what didn't, so future readers can learn as well...

other thoughts... with respect to high value treats, you may want to reserve "special treats" only for the crate exercises...remember the dog gets to pick what it loves the most. Expensive doesn't mean the dog will love it any more. My dog will do just about anything for small slice of cheap hot dogs....

if you do the frozen kong routine, do yourself a favor by a couple so you can make several kongs at a time and have the ready and frozen as needed. You'll be far more likely to carry through with that approach rather than having to make one every time and waiting for it to freeze...

Final thought for this post anyway - Keep this bit of wisdom in mind "You can ask 5 trainers how to do one thing, and you'll get 7 answers". All of them will likely be right. The key is that every dog is different so you as the owner will need to learn to read your dog and adapt your training approach as needed to fit you, the dog, and the situation....


Nate


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Oh man! I definitely hear you. I thought I had trouble with Dharma who is now 1 year old. She never slept in her crate. She used to poop in her crate. She would mash her treats into her crate. She would bang her nose on the door and it would bleed. She still destroys any bedding so consequently doesn't have anything comfortable in her crate. Dharma digs to China(although I'm not sure she does any more). Just lots of training, patience and consistency, analyze your routine and your signals to your dog. Every dog is different. Your successes are your dogs and vice versa. Good advise in the above posts. It will get better as they get older.


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## Tetley (Apr 15, 2014)

Thank you everyone for your input, advice and stories. I'm so glad to have found this forum!

We have been working with Major for the past 2 days and he is still obviously very violent towards himself and the crate while he's in there but he actually went in by himself this morning without having any verbal encouragement from me so I'm celebrating this small victory for now. 


I will update again next week with, (hopefully) some good news.


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## Becky68 (Feb 4, 2014)

Many thanks to all you wise advice it has given me so much more confidence that we will crack this!

We have changed her crate over as we have one in our car which she has no problems jumping in and never mutters a word but i know she associates this with either a walk or going home. The car crate is black and the house crate is silver so we've switched them over and appears to be helping and we've also moved it to the main living room which she's only been let in when it's quiet time and she's not let up on the furniture either.

Just one question as Anwen still a pup the need to crate for her safety when left is important and as we have a 13 year old Golden Retriever but at what age would you consider letting her have more freedom ( i appreciate all are different ) but just experiences.

Diolch!

Becky and Anwen


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## SuperV (Oct 18, 2011)

Becky,

There isn't a correct answer for when to let them have more freedom. Our dog is almost 3. I know if i let her out, she would simply sleep on the coach until we return, however i still crate her when i am at work, just in case she gets a hair up her butt and wants to chew on something she shouldn't or get into something dangerous. All i would say is there is no need to rush the freedom thing...its a really just something that make us humans feel better about leaving the dog.

Glad to hear you might be making some progress. Remember to approach training like teaching an infant to run. Before they can run, they must walk, before they can walk, they need to take a single step, but before they step, they must have balance..... point being recognize and celebrate some victories and advance from there...you won't start out running....

Nate


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## kperchang (Mar 13, 2014)

We have this problem with our lab/vizsla mix. His temperament is pretty much all Vizsla. Enzo will sleep in his crate all night with the door closed no problem, but as soon as we leave the house all **** breaks loose. Even after only 20 minutes he will have his bed pushed all the way back, barking like mad, and soaked in his own anxious drool. Definitely stressful (for everyone involved). 

We just started working on this issue with a private trainer. Same as what other said above, our trainer basically said that we need to work him up to spending 4 hours a day in the crate when we are actually home. Once he is able to do that he hopefully will stop associating the crate with us leaving, and just think of it as nap time. A training tip he gave us (that works with about 75% of dogs) is the concept of a throw chain. Buy about 3 feet of the medium weight chains that are used for lamp cords (i'll see if I can find a pic). Break them up into 4 links per piece. Then, when training him....every time he whines, barks, pushes on crate door, etc. Throw one of the chains lightly at the crate from a distance. It will make a light rattle and startle him out of his whining. Since Enzo is so sensitive scolding doesn't work and is actually counter productive since in the end....any attention (good or bad) is what he wants. By throwing the chain from a distance (when you are out of sight) he will think it was an "act of god." Eventually he will respond well enough that you won't even have to throw the chain....you can just rattle it in your hand from the other room and he will quiet down. We have only been working on it for a few days and he can already spend almost an hour in there mid-day without a peep (granted he still knows we are home). But, it's a start!


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Someone asked about experiences on what age tho leave them out. I can say that our boy was out at around 11 months... but our girl is now 26 months old and still MUST be in the crate and still cannot even have a bed in there. However, she can't have the bed due to boredom, not stress. So she has towels and sheets. It took FOREVER it seemed for her to be able to go a full day (with a lunch break) in the crate without peeing in it. Drove me crazy!! But we persevered bec there is no way she can be trusted out the crate when home alone.

Keep on it and hopefully you can conquer this.


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