Crate training

Hate it. Just hate it.

Pippin has figured out how to jump out of his X-pen so we're working on crate training and WHAT A DRAMA KING. Screaming, yodelling, howling, barking. He does get things to chew, stuffed with good stuff and I do throw treats in the crate off and on throughout the day, but he still acts like I've thrown him in the deepest pit of Hell. He'll happily clean out the kong or stuffed bone, but then the yodelling and screaming start.

He's only in there for short periods of time as he has to be crated when I'm out, but my God, I hate it.

Face it, he has you wrapped around his little paw. We all know that crate training is fine, but he is working you! LOL!

Try covering up the crate with a blanket, then he can't see out. And always ALWAYS reward him with a treat when he goes in the crate. Some of guys do okay in a crate...if we aren't home, but as soon as they think we're home, they cry. I have one pug that won't deal with a crate, and we shut him in our room. The King sleeps on my bed all day.

He's got your number, Blanche! You've probably already tried this but do you think a Kong-filled treat or a bully stick (when you're home, of course) would help ease his indignity at being in the crate?

ETA: Duh, my reading comprehension stinks today. Of course you've already tried those tricks. Does Pippin like TV?

More than likely two second after everyone leaves the house he shuts up and sleeps. *LOL* Then he has more energy for when you come home...

Believe me, he's getting the full scale "make the crate fun" treatment. He gets a kong or a bone stuffed with pumpkin, peanut butter and yogourt when he goes in, I throw treats in the crate off and on during the day so that when he does wander in, he finds something yummy when he goes in on his own. He's not crated at night--he sleeps with me. Maximum, he's in the crate an hour and right now, not even that long since I'm transitioning him from the X-pen--which he was fine with--to the crate. I don't cover it with a blanket as it is a Vari-Kennel which is pretty enclosed except for the door and small slits for ventilation--I don't want him totally in the dark. I don't use wire crates as I'm worried about damage if they do freak out and since he is a seizure dog, I don't want him in anything that isn't safe if he should seizure.

And I won't release him until he stops screaming as I don't want to reward the screaming behaviour. He'll get there. It's just hard on the nerves......

He's just being a jerkweed.

northernwitch wrote:
And I won't release him until he stops screaming as I don't want to reward the screaming behaviour. He'll get there. It's just hard on the nerves......

He's just being a jerkweed.

Awww, and you thought your child rearing days were over.

Blanche, you have my sympathy. No really, you do! Baby Elvis would cry and scream when he had to be in his crate, and I thought I'd go crazy.

northernwitch wrote:
He's just being a jerkweed.

haha...jerkweed....

Ive always crated Rodney ( Mister pissy-pants) and Slugger ( Mister crawl-up-on the-leather-couches-and-stare-out-window-all-day-daring-some-sort-of- minute-activity-to-happen-so-I-can-jump-around-on said-couches-barking-and-scrabbling-my-70-lb-body-all-over-them-clawing-things-to-bits) when we leave for the day. I have both the vari-kennel(closed in type) and the more open wire type. I must say that Slugger HATED going into the closed in kennel everytime and would make a fuss but now that he has a wire one he runs in willingly. They both have the hugest wire crates available filled with beds and toys and food and water and can see out into the backyard a bit from them . Now when I need to leave they both charge ahead of me and rush into their crates without me even trying..they seem to like them.
I know you said you worried about the seizue activity and getting hurt but I wonder if there is any way to sort of modify one of the more open type crates so that it could be made safer? Baby bumpers on the bottom half of the thing? Just a thought.
Take care
Holly

Blanche, Blanche, Blanche! You're doing it ALL WRONG! You need to crawl into the crate WITH him! Who's the jerkweed now????

Not Afraid wrote:Blanche, Blanche, Blanche! You're doing it ALL WRONG! You need to crawl into the crate WITH him! Who's the jerkweed now????

I think that would be you.....

I might log some X-pen time, but at 5 ft 8 in, I'm not going to fit in a crate. Nor am I willing to try.

(boy, these folks from California just get stranger and stranger)

None of my babies have ever liked crates. I did everything possible to make them a fun place. Tinker was by far the worst. He would howl, scream, bark and cry. For the first two months, I don't think he stopped when we would leave. I would wait outside the door for 15-20 minutes, and he would be screaming then when I would come home, I could hear him when I opened the car door. He also peed and pooped in his crate for the first 2-3 months even if I was gone only 1 hour and he had peed and pooped right before I left. He finally settled down, but he never liked it. I've always envied people whos dogs love their crates. All of my pugs were never able to jump the xpens, but both Tinker and Ruffy can jump them without any effort.

If he hadn't figured out jumping the X-pen, I'd have happily left him in that. And I don't feel all that sorry for him--it's not like he's in there for hours. He sleeps in bed with us--I caved on that one early on. But I can't let him run around when I'm not here. He bugs the seniors and his preferred place to pee in the house is on the pillows--bed, sofa, armchairs, he doesn't care just as long as it's a pillow.....

Blanche,

It was such a bummer when Tinker and Ruffy jumped the pens. Tinker had finally gotten trust worthy to be left in the kitchen/dining area when Ruffy came to us and jumped the gates then Tinker followed. We had the freestanding wood gates so Tim was able to buy some plexiglass and add an additional 18" to the gates which keep them from getting over the gates.

Bill Bailey hated crate training too when I first got him, the previous foster said that he didn't do crates so I baby-gated him in the laundry room with a belly band. This went on for several years UNTIL one day a few months ago. He would always go with me to the 'dog room' when I crated everyone else and he saw each dog get a treat after they got in the crate then we'd go to the laundry room and put him up sans treat.

One day, I'm doing my routine, each dog goes in the crate, gets treat, on to next dog and lo and behold, Bill Bailey steps in a crate to get HIS treat. I almost fainted! I guess the peer pressure was too much for him, all those years of watching the other dogs get a treat and they all get to stay in the same room together and poor Bill Bailey was going in the laundry room all by himself.

He goes willingly into his crate now, just like the other dogs. Smart (and greedy) Bill Bailey!

That Bill Bailey is no dummy. Pippin happily runs into his crate--he knows good stuff is in there or soon will be. It's once the good stuff is gone that the yelling starts. But it only lasts for about 10 minutes, then he settles down. He will start yelling again as soon as he hears my car pull in or the door jiggle. But I'm positive he hasn't been yelling the whole time I've been away--or I hope not.