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Crying in Crate

Behavioral Issues
  • T

    Hi everyone! Watson is our 1 year old male basenji. We have always had some issues with prolonged whining when he is in the crate, which we attributed to him being a puppy, but he has yet to outgrow these. He goes in his crate on command and always gets a treat for going in, and he eats his meals and sleeps through the night in his crate. Sometimes he does fine and goes in without complaint, but other times he will whine and cry for about 15 minutes, but sometimes up to an hour. This happens often enough that we know it is not because he has to potty or because he is not getting enough exercise, and since there are plenty of times when he does not cry, we know it is not because he is afraid of the crate. Does anyone have any advice on whether this is puppy behavior he will (eventually) outgrow, or if there is something else we should be doing to discourage him from whining/crying? I should add that we never give him any attention while he is making noise in his crate and we only let him out once he has quieted down and remained quiet for several minutes. Thanks for any help anyone can offer!

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    She has a Kong and a chewy squeaker in there with her… Most of the time she has is tired out by the time we put her in there... It's weird b/c all of the times we've had incidents she had plenty of play time before the crate... our weekly morning routine is that i feed her and take her our before work and she gets back in bed with zack and sleeps another hour or so before he goes to work... She never chews anything during this type of routine... Seems to be happening on weekends on days off from work.
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    I agree. Restart your crate training using small increments of time but also work on this while you are home. That way she doesn't equate the crate with your leaving. The crate/kennel should be a place she wants to go to - feed her in there, put her there with her favorite toy while you are in the room doing something else, give her her treats in there, etc. In fact, give her a treat (or lots of praise) every time she goes in there on her own. Bring the crate into your bedroom at night (even if she doesn't sleepo in it. She should not feel it is a place of punishment but a place of safety and comfort.
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