Paging flvegan and other pooch experts...

[SallyMander]

Our little pupster Simon is doing great, health-wise. He is a rambunctious adorable 6-month-old puppy now, he and Elmo are best buds, and Iza and i are completely smitten with him. All good! The only problem we're having is with his crate training. When we crate him, which is just when we're not home, he goes ballistic. I've had foster pups before that didn't like their crates, but i've never seen anything like this! He barks and barks and barks, and often when i get home he has relocated the whole crate and/or slid the pan out of the bottom (or both) - so i think he is just crashing around in there like a hellion trying to get out. I'm really worried he's going to hurt himself!

We've made some progress - he'll go in there on his own now, because i've started feeding him and giving him all his treats in the crate. So now he'll go in when i say "go to bed," but he still must be going bonkers when i'm not home. I'm going to get Elmo's old crate back from my future mom-in-law, which is a larger plastic airline-style one. Maybe he'll like that better? At least i won't be worried that he'll get a paw jammed through the wire or tip the whole thing over or something...

Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated! We've tried leaving him out of the crate for periods while we're gone, and he usually gets into some sort of mischief. So i need to crate him for my own sanity, but i don't want him to be berserk and miserable. :(

Gratuitous puppy pic:




Thanks! :hi:

[Midlodemocrat]

1. flvegan doesn't know anything about dogs.

:hide:

[SallyMander]

2. ...

:rofl:


:evilgrin:

[LeftyMom]

11. Also, he's fat.

I learned that in GD last night.

[flvegan]

12. Charming.

:rofl:

The deleted subthread got some applause if you go look.

[Midlodemocrat]

14. Linky?

Cuz, that would be beyond priceless.

[LeftyMom]

15. Apparently the mods ate it.

:shrug:

[XemaSab]

3. Have you tried "graduating" him to a room

where he can't get into mischief? :shrug:

You know, a room with no shoes, books, furniture, drywall, etc? :shrug:

[SallyMander]

5. We tried puppy-proofing, but our house is tiny (880 sq ft)

We baby-gated off the living room, but he would pull books off the bookshelf and munch them, and he even flipped the (large, heavy!) rug up and chewed the rug pad underneath. We just don't have enough space to make a real puppy play room - i'd love that though! Maybe the next house. :)

[Phillycat]

4. Do you have the crate in the room where you and your family spend the most time?

We had luck putting it in our living room, and then making it super-comfy. It was the most comfortable place for the puppy to lie down, and so she would use it for that purpose when we were home, in the room with her. That way she got used to the crate and it wasn't the enemy anymore. She still didn't love being crated (separation anxiety) but she didn't freak out anymore.

[SallyMander]

6. Yup, it's in the living room now

But that's a good point about making it the most comfy place. Right now there's also a big cushy dog bed in the room, so that's where he lays when we're all home. Maybe i should move that, but then he'll probably just get on the couch. :P

Thanks! :hi:

[Phillycat]

7. Can you put the dog bed INSIDE the crate?

That might work. :) Good luck! :hi:

[SallyMander]

8. I may be able to when i get the bigger crate

I may end up with a chewed-up dog bed though... stoopid puppy! ;)

[mopinko]

9. my daughter has a pup exactly like that.

zeke is a nut and a bad boy, too.
you might try a kong, or some other good chew toy, and only allow it in the crate. make a big show of giving it to him inside the crate, and taking it away when you let him out.
also, some really short visits to the crate when people are around, with a lavish treat when he is good. maybe working on down, using a hand signal to down him inside the crate? maybe this is too advanced.
and of course, working on learning to stop barking when told to do so is always useful. i don't use "no" because i want them to bark when there is something amiss. i tell them "that'll do".
good luck. cute pup.

[SallyMander]

18. He has some crate toys

I may have to pull out the old standby peanut-butter-Kong though! ;)

Thanks! :hi:

[flvegan]

10. Have you tried covering the crate?

That can have a calming effect on many dogs. One caveat, you want to try that while your home for a few hours. Rambunctious little dogs may try pulling a sheet in, which they can get tangled in. A heavier blanket may not allow enough airflow either. You might also leave a radio on nearby, classical music I've found works best.

He also may be getting excitable because the other dogs are roaming free and he can see them and wants to play. If the covering doesn't work, maybe relocate the crate to a separate room while you're gone.

He may also be going nuts simply because you're leaving. Separation anxiety type stuff.

Do you crate him at night, or just when you're gone during the day?

[SallyMander]

19. I haven't tried covering it

I wonder if using the plastic crate instead will create this same effect. I should be able to get that one this weekend. I'm sure he'd pull the blanket in - today i had the crate sitting ON a towel, and he somehow got it out from underneath and into the crate! :o

Elmo just sleeps on the bed while we're gone, so Simon shouldn't be able to see him from where he is...

We don't crate him at night. The barking is so horrible, and we can't put him somewhere that he won't keep us up all night. So we caved and just let him sleep in a puppy bed in the bedroom, or on the bed. He does fine at night - sleeps like a champ and doesn't get into mischief. :shrug:

Thanks!!! :hi:

[taterguy]

13. Believe the hype about Cesar Milan

Read his books
Watch his Dog Whisperer show

The man is a genius when it comes to dogs

[mopinko]

17. second that.

everything that i have ever tried on my dogs worked exactly like he said.

[SallyMander]

20. I will have to check that out

We are TV-less so i've never seen him, but i've heard a lot about him!

Thanks! :hi:

[mopinko]

22. he's got dvd's

if you are going to buy them, i would get the 1st season. after that, he kinda repeats himself.

[SallyMander]

23. Cool, thanks for the tip!

I will probably see if i can get them at the library or Blockbuster! :D

[mopinko]

24. the book is ok, too

it's just a lot more fun to see these dogs before and after.

[Madrone]

16. The little dog that ended up at my house last fall freaked about the crate too.

What helped me out considerably was having my own dog that was already crate trained, and very comfortable with it. The little dog and the big dog crates faced one another, and the little dog adjusted amazingly well. I figure he saw that Bodhi wasn't freaking out, so that helped keep him calmer. Now he goes in there on his own in the morning when I say I "have to go to work" and he stays in when I open the crate door to let him out until I say "okay".

So... my advice would be to use Elmo. ;)

[SallyMander]

21. Aww, i'm glad you got him all settled in

Elmo hasn't been crated for a good 4 years now - he just sleeps on the bed while we're gone. He's a champ of a dog and never gave me a moment's trouble, so i'd feel bad crating him all of a sudden!

Thanks! :)

[Madrone]

25. Yeah, Bodhi would probably fare perfectly well un-crated now.

He just got used to it, and it was part of his routine so I kept it. Plus, as a renter, I've never had to worry about coming home to damage ... not that I really believe he'd do anything. :) I WILL say that the crate training has proven to be invaluable in a couple of different situations. My eldest cat, over the last year or so before he was put down, had a few seizures - that someone saw. The dogs FREAK out and try to attack the cat when he was in a seizure (something about the smell they give off) and because there dogs were always crated I never had to worry about what would happen when I was gone if Othello had a seizure. The other bonus has come recently with my dog's TPLO surgery. He's to remain immobile as much as POSSIBLE (and he's making that difficult) - but I don't have to worry about him moving around at all when I'm gone because he's happily contained in his crate.

But yeah, I understand your apprehension to bust out the crate on that cutie Elmo, all of a sudden-like. LOL He'd be seriesly - :wtf: