[ardavis324]

I got Rajko home last night. He is doing great and adjusting well. Last night I got home pretty late, so I did not force him to sleep in the crate since I had little time to even introduce him to it. Instead I gave him a little 'crated' off area next to my bed, in front of his crate. He ended up sleeping through the night without whining other than right after I woke him to take him outside, and even that only lasted a minute or two each time. He never slept in his crate though, even though he could have climbed into it from the small area he was limited to.

Today i've been giving him treats and praise inside of the crate, and trying to really entice him with toys and make it look like a fun place. He has yet to just go in and lay in there on his own though. He'll go in, get the treat, and come back out. If i try to shut the door behind him he turns around and starts crying.

Finally, I needed a break, so a while ago I put him in the crate, pet him for a while, gave him a treat, and then shut the door. He immediately began crying, but I just gave him a firm "NO" and a quick rap on the top of the crate a couple times and ignored him. That would make him hush for a moment, but then he continued to whine loud for about 10 minutes.... now he is sound asleep in there.

I know i've read tons of stuff about crate training, but I want to make sure I am doing this right. Should I just be consistent with what I have been doing? From tonight on, he will always be sleeping inside the crate, no matter what. Any tips???
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[Dannay]

When we got our two a couple of weeks ago, we had a very similar situation.

We tried to entice them into the crate, etc, and they didn't mind that, but didn't like to STAY in there, and if we shut the door, they started crying.

The first night they slept in the crate, we put them away, shut the door and walked away. They HOWLED and SCREAMED like someone was killing them.

We ignored them. That continued for a couple of hours until they fell asleep. The next day and the next evening when they were put away, the same thing happened. We ignored them, and when they had quietened down, we went and got them to go out.

By the 3rd night, it was down to just 5 mins of crying after we put them in there. Now, (2 weeks later) we tell them "CRATE" when we want them to go in there, and they go in, throw theirselves down, let us latch the door and don't make a sound.

It does get better, and yes, you need to be consistent. If they think that screaming/crying = being let out, that is of course what they will do. Ours soon realised that screaming/crying = nothing, so they stopped bothering with it.

Hope that helps!

 

[EJQ]

You are exactly correct by bringing him in to your bedroom. They do just fine when they can hear you breath and smell your presence. I think you are doing fine - you didn't mention your dog's age. You just need to show that their crate is a happy, SAFE place for them to be - it is a version of their den in the wild.

Eventually the crate will be an automatic thing when he is tired or he just wants to chill out. Crate training is the greatest thing since that sliced bread thing!!

yay spring!!

 

[Superpup]

My puppy will be 15 weeks this week. We got her at 8 weeks. From the beginning we crated her and she would not appreciate it. she basically voiced her opinion the first night... all night... the only thing we could do was to ignore her. any attention you give your puppy when they cry in the crate is reinforcing the crying. Try to find the furthest place for the crate so you don't hear the crying, some puppies are better off like that, some do better when they are right next to you and can see you, then they calm down. It will take a while before your puppy will go in the crate on her own. But you are doing the right thing by trying to make the crate the best place in the world!!!!
Keep up the good work!!!

 

[LUV_GSDs]

When we got our first pup my daughter had the crate next to her bed. Worked great. When we got the next pup the older dog was so interested she slept next to the pup's crate and again no problem.

 

[Helly]

Jackson still fusses some in his crate, but he is only 7 weeks old..he is doing better and whenever we put him in we say "kennel up" and he is pretty good about going in...he doesn't like it, but he is tolerating it better.

 

[lafalce]

Originally Posted By: Superpup some do better when they are right next to you and can see you, then they calm down.

I was really lucky with crating my pup in the kitchen and sleeping on the couch in the living room. She wasn't right on top of me, but she could hear and see me, which gave her comfort. Plus we were both super close to the kitchen door to get her outside, if I knew she couldn't hold it any longer. Worked really well, and boy, did the time go by fast. It wasn't long before she was upstairs with me, sleeping all the way through the night. Hang in there....it gets much better!!!!

 

[StGeorgeK9]

The only thing I wouldnt do is rap on the top of the kennel, I think that might be a scary sound and not a good association with being in the crate. Everything else sounds wonderful!! Congrats!! As far as crying at night, I did put a wind up alarm clock in with Ava and it seemed to help, but she started sleeping in our room and still does.

 

[ardavis324]

I definitely don't want to jinx anything here but overall it has been relatively easy to get him crate trained. He hasn't FULLY embraced the crate...he has yet to go into it on his own, but when i put him in there he fusses for less and less each time. I noticed that he does much better when I drape something over the front of the crate too, maybe when he can't see me outside the crate he realizes things are boring, and falls right asleep.

I still let him out every 2-2.5 hours and he pees almost every time. Should I slowly increase that interval? Last night I let him out at 11pm, 3:00am, and 6am...none of those times did he wake me whimpering, I had to wake him from sleep and give him the command to "hurry up" when we got outside. Should I try to play it by ear and only let him out if its been a few hours and he cries?

 

[doggiedad]

before we brought our boy home at 9 weeks old we asked his breeder to crate him a couple of times a day, moring and night. his first night home i thought all **** was going to break loose. his crate is in the living room. so it's time to go to bed. i put him in it. i left a light on for him. we go to bed and he started whinning but to my surprise it only lasted a half hour or so. the next night it only lasted 15 minutes or so. the third night 10 minutes maybe. the fourth night all is quiet. i took out during the night every two hours. now at ten months he sleeps in our room. sometimes he goes in his crate to nap or to play with a toy or bone. now i can say "Loki, go to your crate" and off he goes. i crate him when we're gone. at 4 months old he was out of his crate all of the time but he started to chew things around 7 months so now we crate him when we go out. don't wait untill bed time to crate your pup. do it several times a day to get him use to itnad he'll also learn not to whine when you put him in it and your home. this was the first dog i crated. i never liked the idea of a crate, you know, i wanted them to have freedom. they learn freedom from being crated. good luck with your pup.

 

[ardavis324]

Okay, generally speaking things are going well with crate training. He has had zero accidents inside the crate..last night he slept from 11p-4am without being let out.

However, he still doesn't seem too fond of the place. Even when limited to a small amount of my room with me with the crate door open and treats and toys inside, he will come lay by my feet and fall asleep. He has not once gone into the crate on his own and laid down. Every time he is put in the crate, he does cry, even though its only for a few moments.

At this point, is there anything I can do to help him embrace the idea of the crate as his personal space/den?

 

[Cassidy's Mom]

Aaron, it will probably just take time and patience. If he's only crying for a short time and then settling down, he's doing very well - he's still very young and you've only had him a short time. I'd tell mine "go to bed" and toss in a treat, then close the door. I can't remember how long it took for them to go in on their own, or with the command and no additional incentive, but expect months, not days or weeks for that to happen. It's perfectly normal that he'd rather be with you than in his crate if he's got a choice. One of my dogs will hang out in the crate for naps as long as I'm in the bedroom with them, (I have a Lifecyle recumbent bike that I use in the evenings) but the other pretty much never goes in except at bedtime, she'll lay on the floor nearby instead.

I personally never set the alarm and took them out on a regular schedule during the night, although many people do. I like my sleep too much to wake up if I don't need to, so I'd let them (and me!) sleep until they woke up and fussed.

 

[doggiedad]

if you can put him the crate a few times a day. maybe for 1/2 hour and then let him out. he'll learn that the crate is his den. maybe put his toys in the crate so that he has to go in there to get them. place some treats in there. your dog is very young isn't he?? he still has alot of ajustments to make. he'll come around. be consistent. good luck. having a pup is so much fun.

 

[ardavis324]

update: So I went to church this morning and was gone for 2 hours, had my brother make sure to let Rajko out to potty if he whimpered. When I got home a few minutes ago, I asked him how Rajko acted. He said he peed and pooped in his proper soiling area outside, came back inside and played, then wandered off right into his crate in my room on his own, plopped down and fell asleep. My brother came in later and shut the crate door behind him.

LOL so I guess its just me..little velcro spitfire doesn't want to be away from my side when i'm home.

 

[StGeorgeK9]

Ava is that way, if I'm home she has a fit if she cant be with me, anybody else she will just flop over in her kennel.