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Crate Training suggestions

Behavioral Issues
  • My wife and I have enjoyed the company of two B's over the last 3 years. They are perfectly crate trained to the point where they sleep in their crates with the doors open all night.

    We've recently adopted a male foster B, and we are overjoyed at the new addtion to the family (the resident male B probably isn't at that point yet, though). However, we've noticed that our new B, a 10-month old, acts quite anxious in the crate. We suspect this stems from having been stuck at a Petland store in a display crate for more than 4 months before being purchased and consecutively owned by two previous families before coming to ours.

    Any good tips on deconditioning the bad experiences of crating for our new B? We've got him going into the crate and sitting for a treat, but closing the door seems to make him frantic. We've left him in there for a few nights, but his constant anxious behavior has trained us to let him sleep with us. It's gotta end so when we travel, he'll be ready to sleep in a crate at night at the dogsitter's place.

    TIA

  • Check out our post on Miles: A Rescue – you might something useful. ;)

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    P
    Sorry, I forgot you asked for advice to reduce the incidents. I can only say watch when they're playing and stop the play when it starts getting 'over the top'. When that happens with mine I don't physically intervene but say 'Stop' in a firm voice. I then give them each some calming massage.
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    JazzysMomJ
    As some of you may recall, I had HORRIBLE problems getting Keoki to crate – took me until he was 9 mos old {and three crates!!} before he would sleep at night at all w/out screaming and shredding his bedding. For him, the issue was NOT crating, but separation. I could put him in the crate and while wasn't crazy about it, he would lie down and go to sleep as long as I was in the room w/him. As soon as I moved to leave, he would go absolutely insane. X-pen didn't work either as he tore his nose up while moving the pen across the floor. I finally bought a large crate {-a great dane could be comfy in our current crate} and we crate Keoki and Jazz together. Jazz would prefer to be alone, but she has always been a dog that rolls with the punches, so she does fine. Keoki now runs to his crate if I just say, "Go to bed". They go to bed at 10 PM and although I open the crate door at 5:30 AM, the seldom come out before 9 AM. I can crate them when guests are over if necessary {Jazz gets uncomfortable if too many people are over}, when we go out, and all night w/no complaints. {I am home all day, most days}. My family says he still whines at the window for a few minutes any time I leave the house, which is funny to me because he doesn't seem to be particularly attached to me when we're all home together although both dogs seem to know that I am THE MAMA and they behave best and listen most to me. I wonder how often the dog's anxious behavior in crates is like Keoki - not a crating problem, but a separation anxiety issue.
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    Couldn't agree more! Although, I do think that in most situations it is the OWNERS that need training not the dogs!! We frequently have people attend our training classes who think they can just come along for an hour or so and that I will 'fix' their dog! We always explain that most of training the dog is about training the owner to be responsible, consistent and to keep up the training at home. There's no point in just doing an hour a week at club and not practising at home. So well done to jys1011 your training efforts are paying off! :)
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