Skip to content

Crying in Crate

Behavioral Issues
  • 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!

Suggested Topics

  • Apparently crate trained?

    Behavioral Issues
    4
    0 Votes
    4 Posts
    3k Views
    D
    Usually aggression during eating is when you would put your hand over the food bowl while the dog is eating or touch/pet the dog while it is eating and the dog will try to bite you. Shelters will often test dogs while doing the first one. Many dogs flunk because they will bite the fake hand and they become rescue only because of it. Jennifer
  • Suddenly Destroying Crate

    Behavioral Issues
    3
    0 Votes
    3 Posts
    2k Views
    KristinK
    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.
  • Help - peeing in the crate

    Behavioral Issues
    12
    0 Votes
    12 Posts
    5k Views
    renaultf1R
    @Lesco: We got her from Debbie Hauri in New Hampshire Welcome and congrats on your new pup…how exciting! Is this one of the pups from the Tango & Dora breeding? One thing that I did when I brought my pup home last winter was set up a crate, a litter box (with wood shaving pellets - equine pine) and put an xpen around it (also had a top on the xpen). That way when Liyah was crated for an extended time when I wasn't home, if she had to potty she could use the litter box. It was a great setup and consequently she never went to the bathroom in her crate...sometimes she partially missed the litterbox, but she was just a baby so I was happy she did as well as she did. I left the crate door open with treats, toys and soft bedding so she would choose on her own to go in the crate to sleep. I clipped the xpen closed. If you have space, I highly recommend this sort of setup so that your pup can keep her crate clean. The only other thing I would add is don't hesitate to contact Debbi with questions. She is a wonderful person, super helpful and a good breeder. Not to mention she is a good trainer so I'm sure she'd have plenty of tips. Please post pics when you get a chance...we love pics!
  • Cry Baby!

    Behavioral Issues
    4
    0 Votes
    4 Posts
    2k Views
    wizardW
    You need to work on calming her – I've done this with mine by making sure I ignore the outside noises, yawning and sighing when there's noises, anything to show her that as alpha dog you choose to ignore the outside distractions and she will catch on -- it does take some time though. You might have her do some sit+reward or other behavior+reward to help her calm down when she hears the noises.
  • Crate Training suggestions

    Behavioral Issues
    3
    0 Votes
    3 Posts
    2k Views
    BDawgB
    http://basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=921 Here's the link. :)
  • Crying at Night

    Behavioral Issues
    3
    0 Votes
    3 Posts
    2k Views
    SkeateS
    Thanks for the advice. I'll get her into the vet and give your suggestions a try.