Crate training help please

J

Jingleballs

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My new girl is apparently crate trained and in her previous home spent 7 hours a day crated and slept in her crate at night. Apparently she was fine at night but a bit unhappy during the day as the other dogs were left loose and she was the only one crated.

I ordered a crate for her which unfortunately arrived after she did so she spent last night in our bed!!! The crate is here now and we've set it up in our bedroom.

Should we just pop her in it when we go to bed and see how she settles? Or is that being a bit presumptuous?

Any hint/tips are most welcome!!!
 
I would take it easy and start during the day. Put the crate in the room you spend the most time in, make it cosy, leave the door open and feed her in there (food and chews). See what happens. Ideally she will settle in there by herself but don't shut the door yet. At night move the crate to your bedroom but again try not to shut her in. If you force the issue now you may create a problem. If you let her take her time it may work out better.
 
Booboos said:
I would take it easy and start during the day. Put the crate in the room you spend the most time in, make it cosy, leave the door open and feed her in there (food and chews). See what happens. Ideally she will settle in there by herself but don't shut the door yet. At night move the crate to your bedroom but again try not to shut her in. If you force the issue now you may create a problem. If you let her take her time it may work out better.
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^^^^ This, take the time it takes. I had a dog here who had been "trained" with food and an open crate door. When they thought he was happy they shut the door - and left the house for half an hour! When they got back dog, room and crate were all trashed. Shut the door for a few minutes while you are there and build on that - she may have been in a crate before but I would restart as though she never had. The one here did take to it after a couple of weeks of taking it slowly, he needed to travel in one whenever he was in the car, but he was still a little stressed for the first 5 minutes.
 
Hi - just a quick update. On the advice of a friend with crating experience, we just put her bed and toys in and then popped her in at bed time - she went to sleep pretty much right away and then slept right through until I let her out at 7:30 am. :)

I did PM Cayla re buying her rehoming guide but she's not got back to me yet :)
 
Glad all went well - I was going to say that as she is used to the crate already I would just pop her in, but I hate to fly in the face of popular opinion :D Mind you, I have crated my latest greyhound with absolutely no training at all and I know he has never been in one as he was straight out of training - maybe I was just lucky :)

I need to message Cayla about something else, so I will tell her you are wanting a guide
 
Ok ok, im going to delve into the PM box right now....thanx for the voice mail, txt, letter in the post and Fb message "Levrier" (lol another bleddy name change) :P
 
Haha..... LOVE you two!! Have to agree about the name changes but at least we kept up with it this time.

Was impressed by Cinnamon Toast tho' ééé now I can write Lévrier!

Sorry OP, glad the crate is a success and good luck with your new friend.
 
7 hours a day in the crate?! What?! Poor girl.

You've probably already got it sussed now but here's how I got 2 of my dogs into their crates.

I got a 1 year old springer some years ago, who could be a contrary mare sometimes, bless her :) . I decided the best way to get her in a crate was to keep her out of it. I got in there myself, taking her teddy with me, and closed the door so she couldn't get in. She ran round and round the crate for a while barking, whining and scratching to get in. Finally, I 'gave in' and let her in. A little unorthodox perhaps but that was crate training done and dusted in a matter of minutes :D :D .

I got a puppy about 4 weeks ago and he had to sleep in my bed the first few nights till I could get a crate sorted out. He liked to snuggle up to me to go to sleep so his first night in his crate (in the bedroom) I put his favourite teddy in there and then put one arm and my head in the front of his crate so he could snuggle up and go to sleep as he had done in my bed. I must have been really tired and dozed off because I woke a little while later with a dead arm and puppy breath in my face :D . He whined a couple of times the next night but was ignored. Now he just sees bedtime and the crate as routine and settles down straight away (he always gets a little stroke and a 'good boy' when he sits nicely on his bed).

He had started to not like/want to get into the car crate so I got a tube of that doggy liver paste and held it at his level by the car door. I unlocked the car and opened the door while he was licking at the paste so he could associate the sounds with the taste. He then got another little lick of it once he was in the crate. That's our routine at the moment for getting into the car (which I'll start to phase out soon). That was that issue nipped in the bud and we now don't have a problem with it.

In short, I guess we all find ways (orthodox or otherwise :D ) to make crates places where our dogs want to be. Hope it all went well or is going well with you :) .
 
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