Nerdy…
Kairoe is pretty much like Gizmo, in sense that he does not hate his crate when the door is open. He too, will readily go into his crate when we take away his den bed or eliminate his urge from sleeping on the carpet by the door. He then has no other option but to go in his crate when he wants to rest. However, once the door is closed he'll whine a lil bit - especially when we're sitting next to it. When we leave and go to another room and we're out of sight, then that's another issue that we're working on, but we've come a long way, and he whines for about 5 minutes until he figures out that he has no other option than to sleep. We must add that we gave him a cue phrase of 'go to sleep' when he begins digging or whining - this works, but only when it's towards the end of the night or if he's in his car crate and on a long drive.
Regarding the chewing on the bars. He has caught his jaw on the bars more than once but after those ordeals he's been a bit smarter and will only chew the areas where he knows he can't get caught. Perhaps it's a fear that you may have to work on? Hell, the fear of coming home to Kiaroe choking on a crate toy still freaks us out but we're smarter now and have learned that he cannot get hurt if there's nothing in there!
If this helps, maybe sit with him for at least an hour with the crate door closed and not say a word, no corrections - nothing. And then take an hour with treats and work with his movement in the crate, only correcting and treating what you like - no pawing the door, no nosing the door and keeping his paws inside at all times. If he bites a bar correct. Once he lets go and with a cue of 'leave it' - give him a treat. Another thing that we do is use the latch sound as a cue. His crate has two latches and once we reach for them he'll whine to get out. He can be quiet right before, but once he sees us go for them he'll whine. What we do is wait for him to be quiet and then open one latch, the other latch does not get open until he is totally quiet. I worked with him for two hours in his car crate until he actually got this. He is in a sit stay position for the whole time and cannot come out of the crate until we give him the command. This was helpful as he used to bolt out of his crate once the door was opened and would run off in a parking lot!
The size of your crate is perfect. Kairoe's crate is probably 2 inches smaller in length wise but 2 inches higher in height. Does Gizmo eliminate in his crate or just in the room? If he does eliminate in the crate then take away his bedding and leave him for a few hours and see what he does. If you decide to leave the bedding then be warned that he may destroy it. We too use the fleece blanket, and it's the only bedding he gets when we leave him in his crate alone, otherwise upon our return, his normal bedding is replaced.
What we're learning about all this is our fear. The fear of him being caught in bars, but knowing after his ordeal he does not go for those areas and knowing that we worked with him all those times to keep paws in and nose off provides that added security that he is safe....still freaking out for 15 minutes at a time, but safe...you should take a deep breath, ensure his crate is safety proofed and plan a night out for at least a few hours....close the crate and leave...you may come back to a mess here and there, but after you get the hang of it and once Gizmo gets the hang of it, you'd be thoroughly surprised how smart our B's actually are!
Clar will post the pics of his crate - I have to go to work...
Cheers,
Emm & Clar
