Crates for bedtime should be in the same room you sleep in… especially with a puppy... if you are rooms away, how would you have any idea that he/she is having a problem? And if you are home, the pup should be with you... and you should be watching him/her.... every minute... the crate is not for your pleasure, so you can do other things... .... or you are bored with watching them every minute.. Certainly if you have to crate when you are out of the house.. that is one thing... but if you are home, they are totally tuned into you being there. If they fall asleep as puppies will do, you can pick them up and put them in the crate... just leave the door open.. and go about your business... but check on the very often.... I have raised many a litter that they are in our family room crashed out or on the back porch for hours sleeping... I can get stuff done while they sleep.. but I keep the eagle eye on them all the time..
Crate Games DVD
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We did not watch the entire DVD tonight only to the part that we have set our goal to get to. Because of all of our busy schedules we won't be starting our crate games class until March 28.
Overall, I think there are a lot of really good things in the DVD. There were a couple of things I sort of wondered about. Like she didn't cover how you first get the dog in the crate to start the training. This was one of the things we discussed after the viewing. For most of my dogs I could toss something really yummy in the back of the crate and in they would go. With Nicky, he would stretch until he is practically laying on the bottom of the crate so he could keep his back toes out so the door won't close. I will be bringing Nicky to the class at the end of March since I want to see how Stage 1: I Love The Crate! will work for a dog who has a long history of I Don't Love The Crate!
We all agreed that before starting a class using crate games it is really important to watch the video. There is just so much information packed into it.
I will update you all after the class.
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Like she didn't cover how you first get the dog in the crate to start the training. This was one of the things we discussed after the viewing. .
I think she talks about this at the very end. Not sure why she put it there.
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Thanks, I will check it out. We are having the training class next week. I will report back how it goes.
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I wanted to let everyone know how the Crate Games class went. I was very proud of my dogs. I decided to take the two dogs who like the crate least in my household figuring if it is successful for them then it should work just fine for the two who rush into their crates happily with their tail wagging. I was very surprised at how quickly Nicky took to the game. I was really worried that his dislike of the crate would make him less willing to work but he was a really good sport. He very quickly caught on that sitting was the "paying position". What really impressed me was that within an hour I could open the crate for a solid count of 5 with me standing to the side so there was a clear opening out and he would sit waiting for his treat. I thought this was huge. I was also very happy that he would allow me to get his leash on and wait to be invited out of the crate. Sophie made similar progress but is willing to try other body positions so didn't get to as much work with the 3 Ds, Duration, Distance, and Distraction.
For those who have seen the DVD we did not get to Yer in Yer Out but I still think we had a very good day. I really liked that we all watched the video together and then worked on it together since we were able to talk each other through any part we felt we were unsure of. We also did it at someone's house so we could review the video if we weren't sure we doing it quite right.
Tomorrow we are going to a lure trial so I am packing the roast chicken to see if I can do some reinforcing while we are there.
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I'd always taught my basenjis to wait on cue while I opened the crate (a must IMO), but what I really liked about CrateGames was that there is NOT a cue for that behavoir. The behavior is default. That's so much better. So this is what is expected for Zest. I don't, however, have her sit at the back of the crate since that would make my life difficult for the car crates. (I'd have to just about crawl into the crate to leash her.)
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I agree that the real benefit of Crate Games is that waiting is the default behavior. Nicky was about midway in his crate which seemed to work well. He wasn't so far back that leashing him was difficult but he also wasn't right up at the front so that if he started to move forward he would be half way out before I could get the door closed.
I have always found that teaching wait was really hard for my dogs and liked how quickly they really "got" the rules of the game.
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Have you got any link to that DVD, thank you!
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