Crate Games with Susan Garrett, a cheer and a question

[susanwrites]

Last week I ordered the Crate Games DVD by Susan Garrett.
Crate Games

Zoey is a new-to-me rescue about 16 months old. We started Crate Games 5 days ago. Right now we're just working on the first three stages and one step past that, where you "rev 'em up" and let 'em go.

My question is about how to "rev up" a 65 pound dog when you are supposed to keep them close to the opening of the crate. The DVD shows it with a very small dog. Zoey looks at me like I am crazy for trying to rev her up and just walks nonchalantly back to the crate.

My cheer is because it is working so well with her and she seems to love it. The first day she put all the pieces together very easily so now I am working on distance, duration, and distractions. Today was a great test of a huge distraction for her.

We were in the middle of a training session and Zoey was in the crate with the door open and I was 20 feet away from her with a chunk of steak in my hand when the mailman came up on the porch. Man oh man oh man she wanted to bolt and charge the door (another issue we have to work on) but she contented herself with just barking and stayed in her crate, even with the door open! I was so impressed!

[Karin]

Good girl, Zoey! This sounds like a really good DVD. I think I might order it myself.

Since we moved into an apartment, Heidi is regressing a bit in her training. Just recently, she has started having "hissy fits" in her crate. I never leave her for more than 3-4 hours, but lately, when I come home and let her out of her crate, I'll see that she has totally rumpled up her pad and blanket in the crate. She's never done this before and I only hope she's not whining or barking as she's doing the rumpling.

Keep up the good work! It sounds like you're making huge progress with her.

[susanwrites]

Karin I can totally understand the regressing with Heidi in the new place but wow, so frustrating I bet!

I am really enjoying the crate games DVD. If nothing else (since we're still in the first 3 stages) it is teaching her that some high value treats happen for just hanging out in the crate. I've been lucky and have only HAD to crate her a couple of times since I got her but I want to take a yoga class a few times week so she'll be getting crated more regularly going forward. I hope this makes it easier on her.

And then of course there's the fun stuff in the games idea of the DVD but like I said in my post, I'm having trouble revving her up for some of it because we're working on a very short distance from the crate and it's hard to rev up a big dog from that distance.

[Cassidy's Mom]

You might check with Wildo, I know he's a big advocate of Crate Games. We did a little of that with Dena in agility classes years ago, but I don't remember much about it, and the Crate Games DVD wasn't even out at the time so I'm sure there's much more to it than we ever did.

[susanwrites]

Thanks, Cassidy's mom! Will check in with Wildo.