# Crate training



## Ioanjuan (Apr 5, 2019)

Hi there. New to the Viszla world! 

Appreciate this has been asked lots here, but feel it may be good to ask about crate training. So at the moment our 9 week old V, Magi (pictured - weve had her for 3 days now) isnt taking to the crate particularly well. This is what were doing / should we doing something differently?

1. Crate is located in kitchen (was in bedroom but I dont think thats helpful - was whining all night)
2. Havent given in to her whines between 10pm - 7am (only let her out to go to the toilet). She was screaming like a banshee at hour and a half intervals (screaming for 15 mins then sleeping and then repeating).
3. Feeding her in the crate (though havent introduced treats yet - will do that today)
4. In the day the pattern is usually wake up, toilet, play/explore for an hour, toilet, sleep (on us in the living room for 30-45mins) and then the same process again. Should we not let her sleep on us in the day and instead place in the crate?

Obviously she is new to the place and may just be adjusting, but any help welcome. Also breeder reccomended NOT taking away something with mums scent on so dont have that to hand. Instead he suggested putting one of my t shirts in her crate..

Thanks
Ioan


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

1,2 ) It's a big adjustment. Move the crate into your room, they like to be close. Take her for potty walks a couple times an hr, pick her up, go outside, smooch, put back in crate. You will be exhausted, but within 3 weeks she'll be trained. Ignore screaming during the day, at night consider it a cry for potty unless you just took her out.

3) Feeding in crate is fine, but also, vary this outside the crate too. You acclimate her to the crate by not over using it during the day nor only when you're away (which pairs the crate with loneliness). Leave the door open, make sure there's lots of soft blankets in there, special crate only toys, and let her go in whenever she wants to play or nap.

4) They like and need to be close, so sleeping on you is fine. The task is for you to be in control of that, so sometimes put her in the crate, door open, in room with you, to nap and come out and find you when she's up.


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## [email protected] (Jan 26, 2019)

We bought a “snuggle pup” off amazon,.... little stuffed animal dog with a “heartbeat” inside and give that to him when he is sleepy and our little guy loves to crawl into bed even now when we pull it out. He is 4 months now. Best purchase ever!!!!! We also give treats when we put him in, before we need to leave him, and keep a blanket covering the front and two sides so he can have a nice cozy space. That made a big difference for our pup as well!


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## Ioanjuan (Apr 5, 2019)

Hi all - just a bit of feedback after a week. So the tables have turned and I'm happy to say Magi just needed some adjustment time and a little help getting used to her crate. 

She is now happy to go to bed at night and doesn't make any noise (we do wear her out though, so she is ready to drop about 10pm) - she does make a fuss for 10 minutes when I wake her up to toilet at around 3am, but I'm confident that will disappear eventually (she's just excited to see me and wants to play and not go back to sleep I guess). 

Tactics we employed:

- Moving her crate slightly into the utility room which is much cosier (and has a door so she has no visibility of our movements once shes in our crate)
- Blanket over the top of the crate seems to add to the cosyness
- Loads of blankets and toys 
- One or two treats when she goes in her crate
- Hot water bottle (which I suppose is a poor mans version of the Snuggle Pup recommendation above)
- Ignore the whining (no excuses unless she needs to pee in the middle of the night)

What I'm discovering is there's a time to shower her with love and praise and then there's a time to be firm and more stubborn than she is! One problem at a time is how I'm finding the most progress is made - rather than trying to conquer every issue simultaneously.

Thanks for the help folks - love this community. So helpful!


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## Moby_1851 (Dec 11, 2018)

My pup is 11 months now. Got her at 8 weeks. She has an unearthly screech and used it whenever she got frustrated - including when in the crate or when I went into a different room. I am in an apartment so this didn't go over well with neighbors. It was pretty awful. I think there is a certain amount of problem resolution that occurs with some maturity and despite getting a ton of advice on what to and what not to do, I think the basic gist is to never give in to a tantrum. Before letting her ply with others I have her sit and stay first - then release her (she used to whine if she couldn't run right to the group - not anymore), in the crate if she made noise I'd do the opposite of what she wants - either walk away, break eye contact or cover the crate (she hasn't made noise in the crate for several months)...I really thought I had a serious problem on my hands but she has gotten a lot better. At day care - one facility I use crates the dogs around pick up time - she is still vocal - lots of dogs going home and activity after a day of playing. Other than that she is 99% better than the first couple of tough months.


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## martin500 (Jul 30, 2019)

Hi All, Not sure I am posting this correctly, but I have a question. My Vizsla is 11 months old and has been home with me since we got him at 16 weeks. 
He does not sleep in his crate at night, but in my bed. I am fine with that, but he does go in the crate during the day when I leave the house. He's been fine with going in the crate on his own, but now I've had to force him(don't have time to fight with him) and leave. He now breaks out of the crate by unlocking the bottom lock by pushing on it. His nose is all read because of this. I don't know how to get him back into going in easily. I have to go back to work at the end of august and he has to be in the crate or he will chew up my house. He's already done some damage to the rug in front of his crate. I can see it cause him anxiety, but I can't have him freely running around the house. 

My schedule has not been consistent and I am sure that has something to do with it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

martin500 said:


> Hi All, Not sure I am posting this correctly, but I have a question. My Vizsla is 11 months old and has been home with me since we got him at 16 weeks.
> He does not sleep in his crate at night, but in my bed. I am fine with that, but he does go in the crate during the day when I leave the house. He's been fine with going in the crate on his own, but now I've had to force him(don't have time to fight with him) and leave. He now breaks out of the crate by unlocking the bottom lock by pushing on it. His nose is all read because of this. I don't know how to get him back into going in easily. I have to go back to work at the end of august and he has to be in the crate or he will chew up my house. He's already done some damage to the rug in front of his crate. I can see it cause him anxiety, but I can't have him freely running around the house.
> 
> My schedule has not been consistent and I am sure that has something to do with it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


Martin, you need to work on changing his experience of the crate, right now he associates it with loneliness. So, feed him in there with the door open, put a desirable treat in for him to discover, and gradually add crate time (Preferably the times you anticipate being way), but when you are there and in view. So, it's a dress rehearsal, with you still present so you eliminate the separation anxiety.


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## duke.the.viszla (Aug 28, 2019)

Here is what has worked with Duke our 12 week old Vizsla. Tried feeding in the crate. He made a mess. Tried leaving him in there for a couple hours so I could go to the store and he deficated everywhere, cleaned up the crate and gave him a bath. Lured him in a few times with treats after wearing him out with some games. Now we only use the crate for bedtime, and its been working like a charm he only whines to go out to poo and pee. We just make sure we give him enough exercise so he sleeps at night and made his crate like a "den" quiet and dark.


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## duke.the.viszla (Aug 28, 2019)

Oh and we leave the crate in our room, which is off limits except for bedtime.


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## cosmoKenney (Dec 8, 2017)

I've posted about this here before. I don't believe in crates for any kind of training or forcing them to stay in it when you aren't home. 
By the time I got O.G. he was my second V and fifth dog overall. I do own a crate but only keep it setup and in an area nearest to all the "happenings" in the house. I make sure the door is not able to close and put a blanket over all the sides and back. Only the front door is open. That way the crate is his "safe place", but he is free to leave at will. And he can see out the front door if he wants to be safe but observe. After a few months he out grew it. 
I much prefer to set aside a place in the house close to the potty door. And I put down a tarp during potty training. For the first few weeks I will even setup a temporary bed in the puppy area so I can sleep there and wake up to take him to go potty during the night without a lot of hassle/delay that might cause accidents. I've done it this way with my last three dogs. O.G. took the longest because I got him in February and that is our rainy season. He hated going outside at night in the cold rain. But we got through it. Once he started getting to the point he could hold it longer he was allowed to start sleeping in my bed. Luckily I have an outside door in my bedroom so I could continue to get up and take him out. This works out great because he's never known a time when the whole pack including the human members don't go to sleep at night. So now, he's the first one to settle down at night. And has, since he was just a few months old, slept through the night.
As for the other popular use of a crate -- for training them to be home alone -- I just do a lot of 1 minute "home alones" at first. Then ramp up to longer and longer separations with lots of praise and treats when I come back in. Then as he gets older take him to do little grocery shopping trips where he stays in the car for a few minutes. During the winter this is feasible. But you shouldn't leave them in the car in the summer. Also mix it up with the places he's left alone. Like, for instance, when I go dirt biking the dogs stay in the car, or roped outside the car (depending on the season) while I'm riding. But their reward for being chill is to get to run around the trailhead when I get back. This trains them that home isn't the only alone place. Here again, though I start small and come back after only a few minutes. After some time it's cool to leave them for an hour or two. 
It may sound like a lot of work but if you start early you will build a life time of an easy to deal with dog.


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## Helenmcg2 (Dec 21, 2019)

Hi iv adopted an 8 month old vizsla and every time I put him in crate he goes crazy barking and whining iv put blanket he came from mother with ....iv put a kong in and treats even a t-shirt with my scent ...iv bought an anti bark ultrasound machine although nothing seems to be working 😩🙈 iv only had him from 21 st December...had a hospital appointment and set up dog camera he barked the full hour and a half I was gone .🙈 He sleeps n bed with me at night as my neighbours need there sleep as they’re up at 5 am for work.Its that bad I haven’t even delivered Christmas presents 🎁 as can’t leave him to go visit and hand out gifts ...please help iv read everything on YouTube..🐕😩🙈..I adore him but need this problem sorted .


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Do you know if his previous family ever crated him, or if they had the same problem?
Just wondering how deep his problem is rooted. 
I've crate trained tons of foster dogs, at all different ages. But also had one that I could never get crate trained.


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## Helenmcg2 (Dec 21, 2019)

Hi the previous owner put him in at night and just let him cry 🙈


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## Helenmcg2 (Dec 21, 2019)

His crate is in kitchen this morning I hand fed him his food in there and tonight after exercise while preparing my dinner I put him in so he could see me but remained in there with a kong he whined a bit but no excessive barking ...he tends to take treats I give him in crate out of it and run in living room....I leave crate door open also throughout the day .


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