Balking At Crating

[Guest ayimera]

So our new girl has been great. A little shy, but we're working on it. At first she was really good about going into her crate when told. She'd get a treat, toys, etc. But lately she has been refusing. When we say "crate" and point to her crate, she will get sort of excited and run over to her bed and lay down. It's super adorable, and I get the feeling she's trying to say "look mommy, I'll stay right here and be good." But I know she won't, lol. I threw a biscuit in to coax her and left the room for a second when she refused, and the little sneak dashed into her crate, grabbed the biscuit, and went back to her bed!

 

Anyone else have similar problems? What did you do? I wish I didn't have to shove her butt in there, but I don't trust her yet alone Fortunately she doesn't make much of a fuss (a little whining sometimes) once she's finally in.

[a_daerr]

Are you crating her only when you leave the house? If so, she may have started to associate going in the crate with you leaving. That's the most common way adopters create crate aversion in new dogs. You can help the problem by crating her at random time and random intervals, even when you're home. Always reward and praise. Give her a high value treat, kong, or chewy to keep her busy.

[Padfootx13]

We had this issue too when we first got Padfoot. For about a week he was great. He would go right in, he would get a kong with peanut butter and settle right down. Then I think he was trying to test if we would really make him go in and he started darting around and would hop onto the couch instead and lay there just like how you describe your girl does. Then after a few times of forcing him in he gave in and realized we were serious. One thing that has really helped is that we give him a kong with about 1/2 TBSP of peanut butter in it each morning when we leave for work but that is the only time he gets the kong or peanut butter. Now after 4 months he comes in from his morning walk and runs right in the crate, whether his kong is ready or not.

 

Maybe try something like that with your girl, a special treat that she loves and only gets when she is in the crate. Also, it's possible she is just testing the waters a little bit to see how much you really mean business.

[Guest ayimera]

We do crate her when we're leaving or no one is downstairs to supervise (she is still learning the open-backed stairs so she doesn't like to follow). So maybe she has associated it with that.

 

Maybe try something like that with your girl, a special treat that she loves and only gets when she is in the crate. Also, it's possible she is just testing the waters a little bit to see how much you really mean business.

 

I give her a kong filled with yummies after our walk before I leave for work for the day. She normally goes in no problem when that's placed in the crate, but I was really surprised today when she refused it and did the bed thing.

[Jerilyn]

My Lila was the same way. But in our case, she was right, she was ready to be home alone without being crated.

How is she when you’re home? Does she settle nicely or is she roaming around looking for trouble? If she’s generally good, maybe it’s time to try her without the crate. Can you use doors and/or gates to limit her to a smaller area of the house? Make sure anything dangerous or valuable is safely put away and give it a go. It’s scary the first time, but you’ll never know if you don’t try.

Good luck!

[Guest ayimera]

My Lila was the same way. But in our case, she was right, she was ready to be home alone without being crated.

How is she when you’re home? Does she settle nicely or is she roaming around looking for trouble? If she’s generally good, maybe it’s time to try her without the crate. Can you use doors and/or gates to limit her to a smaller area of the house? Make sure anything dangerous or valuable is safely put away and give it a go. It’s scary the first time, but you’ll never know if you don’t try.

Good luck!

 

She does tend to wander around a bit and grab things she shouldn't (we're still learning the ways of dog-proofing!), like gloves, hats, etc. I trust her around the cats when we're home, but not sure I'm 100% on that when she's by herself. I'd like to get her upstairs to the bedroom so we can stop crating her at night, but she just doesn't understand how to get up (she's a pro with our solid steps). Think I'm going to push training on that a little harder.

 

It is scary to think of her out by herself!

Edited February 4, 2014 by ayimera

[robinw]

What do you think would happen if you didn't crate her? Maybe it is her way of telling you that she no longer needs it.

[Hollis]

We had this issue too when we first got Padfoot. For about a week he was great. He would go right in, he would get a kong with peanut butter and settle right down. Then I think he was trying to test if we would really make him go in and he started darting around and would hop onto the couch instead and lay there just like how you describe your girl does. Then after a few times of forcing him in he gave in and realized we were serious. One thing that has really helped is that we give him a kong with about 1/2 TBSP of peanut butter in it each morning when we leave for work but that is the only time he gets the kong or peanut butter. Now after 4 months he comes in from his morning walk and runs right in the crate, whether his kong is ready or not.

 

Maybe try something like that with your girl, a special treat that she loves and only gets when she is in the crate. Also, it's possible she is just testing the waters a little bit to see how much you really mean business.

 

Love love LOVE your screen name. LOVE.

 

 

end hijack.

 

 

(Don't know if that's /hijack or //hijack. And do you have any idea how hard that is to google? I fully expect the NSA is no watching me!)

 

Really ending now.

[Guest Houston1219]

 

She does tend to wander around a bit and grab things she shouldn't (we're still learning the ways of dog-proofing!), like gloves, hats, etc. I trust her around the cats when we're home, but not sure I'm 100% on that when she's by herself.

 

 

Our guy was a klepto when he was new too. Gloves, hats, dish towels, remote controls, socks, the list goes on. We worried at first , but he was never destructive with these items, just wanted to hold and enjoy them (he would pile things in his bed and sleep atop his pile of found treasures like a mother hen with her eggs) We didn't praise or correct the behavior, and eventually he grew out of it. He has a toy box full of his own things (which i randomly hide treats in to keep intrest up) and aside from the occasional dirty laundry under his pillow, he leaves our things alone. I think it was like coping in a new environment, he wanted to surround himself with items that smelled like us.

 

As for the cats, why not put the kitties in a bedroom and close the door while you give her a a trial run for an hour or so?

 

It took us almost a year to ditch the crate because we were nervous about leaving him, which made him nervous too. It happened totally by accident (He though i closed the gate, i though he closed it) to figure out that he was ready.

 

Best of luck to you! I know it's scary!

[Ragsysmum]

I'd leave her crate-free, move out of reach anything she has shown too much interest in previously, and see what happens. All of ours have had free run of the house from the day they arrived, some straight from kennels, and we have had no problems but they are never left for more than four hours.

[KellyandKris216]

We had a little trouble with River at first too, but as Padfoot said, it was just his way of testing us to see how serious we were. Bribery generally worked, though we'd occasionally had to move him paw by paw into the crate. This only lasted a short time though, once he realized there was no way around it. We turned his crate into the place where all the good things happened - meals, treats, and extra special turkey necks. He'll even crate himself now if he smells me bringing in turkey necks from the grocery store! (No, really, he'll sniff the grocery bags and then go running in his crate). It's also the one place he knows we'll never disturb him, which was sometimes rather frustrating when we were trying to teach him stairs. He was scared of them and would run into his crate and knew we wouldn't drag him out (we'd have to wait until he came out of his own volition before we could try again - stinker!) Now his crate is one of his favorite places to be. He stays in there while we're at work, sleeps there at night, and can be found there when he decides he wants a few minutes to himself.

 

Another thought, what kind of bedding do you have in her crate? We used blankets with River at first which were fine, but on a whim one day I stuffed a rectangular Costco dog bed in there and he's been in heaven ever since.

 

ETA: We need pictures of your sweet girl!

Edited February 5, 2014 by KellyandKris216

[Feisty49]

My Annie hated her crate from day one, but I followed instructions/directions from my group and used it anyway. She strongly balked when I insisted she go into the crate but would go into the crate almost easily if I put a leash on her and led her (she'll do a lot of things with a leash on her). After day a couple of days post adoption, I decided if Annie hated the crate as much as she acted, then I wasn't going to use it. She was fine. Like others have mentioned, she was a bit of a thief in the beginning. A sock here, a mitten there, but all she did was hide them in her bed. They were never chewed or destroyed.

 

The crate was put away at the end of her first week with me.

 

BTW, I also have a cat and have never separated them. Annie, though, is very non-prey driven.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Feisty49

[Padfootx13]

I give her a kong filled with yummies after our walk before I leave for work for the day. She normally goes in no problem when that's placed in the crate, but I was really surprised today when she refused it and did the bed thing.

 

If you still feel like she isn't ready to be left out (it will be a while before we let Padfoot roam free, mostly because he likes his crate and there isn't a whole lot of blocking off that could be done in our 750 sq ft apartment) you could try, as other (way more experienced) people above have said, having her go in the crate when you're home. If you do that, just make sure it isn't at a time where she is being punished. When Padfoot started to "balk" we started putting him in there when we were doing stuff around the apartment like cleaning or working in the living room and he would whine a bit but then settle right down.

 

I still think, give her a few days of showing her that you really mean she has to go in the crate and she'll come around. If it helps, Cynthia Branigan talks about the exact same scenario with one of her greyhounds in Adopting the Racing Greyhound.

 

 

Love love LOVE your screen name. LOVE.

 

 

end hijack.

 

 

(Don't know if that's /hijack or //hijack. And do you have any idea how hard that is to google? I fully expect the NSA is no watching me!)

 

Really ending now.

Hahaha! Reminds me of a parody I heard during a comedy show over Christmas vacation "You better watch out/you better not cry/you better not pout I'm telling you why...The NSA is tapping your phone"

 

And thanks so much! We love Harry Potter, and seeing as he (our Padfoot and Sirius) is a big black dog, we thought it appropriate

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Feed every meal in her crate. She will soon get the idea that the crate is a nice place. I have 3 hounds and always foster so 4 total in the house at any given time, 3 crates always up. All of my hounds are what I call "crate ready". If for any reason you tell them "crate" they will race for the crate. They will stay in for as long as you desire. This is because I feed every single meal as well as all long lasting treats (bully sticks and such) in the crates. I have to do this for safety reasons as with multiples there is always the chance of someone getting upset and pack mentality starting up. I also train daily with vegetables or raw meat (obedience and tricks). When you have multiples it is easier to put three away and have one out for training at a time. I am very pro-crate if you have multiples, or would if you live in an apartment or have a situation in the house where it is possible for people to be in and out of your house when you are not at home (such as room-mates, or children) for the safety of the hound.

 

Chad

[Guest DogNewbie]

Wiley was a klepto with dirty socks and underwear. The socks were NBD, he would pounce on them and chase them and stuff. However, the undies...not as amusing. He would go into the laundry basket and fish them out. This was VERY embarrassing when a friend comes over and there is Wiley, walking around with a g-string stuck in his mouth and on his leg... Some awkward moments there for sure...

[Fruitycake]

If your living room is big enough and you want to deal with the hassle of a large blocked off area, you could try using an x-pen instead. We did that with Monty after he'd had some seizures in his regular crate and I feared him hurting himself. It also is good for feeding, having a large bed in there, allowing the dog to see the entire room and yet still be out from underfoot or just keep her safe from being bothered if you have company over. We used ours full-size and it fit two large beds in there easily, but if you wanted it a bit smaller you could take a panel or two out. And after "graduation" or even before, you can use the x-pen on trips or outside at events or even to block off areas you don't want her in in a very mobile way!

 

ETA an example on Amazon (but we got ours from PetSmart I think): http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Black-E-Coat-Exercise-Pen/dp/B000H8YTJI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391881997&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+exercise+pen

Edited February 8, 2014 by Fruitycake