Crate Training for my dog.

noir_blood

So this is Malone



He's about 8 months old and we'd had him since February.

Overall we really hadn't had much issues with him that were out of the ordinary or weren't corrected, but for the last two weeks or so I run into an issue that seems to be getting out of hand.

See, I go in to work earlier than the GF, so the normal procedure was for me to wake up at around five, take Malone out for a walk, and then he would chill with me as I exercised and ate breakfast, before leaving the house around 6:30 or so. At that time I would put him back in his crate, and he would stay there till around 9 AM when the GF would wake up and take him out again to be with her till she left for work.

The issue is, that now of all of a sudden the dog will start barking as soon as I leave. As you can imagine, this isn't good either for the GF or the neighbors. To make things worse, the GF has issues sleeping, so once she's awake, she has a really hard time falling sleep.

Now, I realize that I brought this partly on myself. When we first got him, I got him used to sleeping in his crate come night time. Then, I started letting him sleep in my bed, which I'm sure is part of the big issue. I have started putting him in his crate again and ignoring when he whines and barks, but I'm coming to you guys to see if I can get any more tips and advice.

Basically, I don't think Malone thinks of his crate as a home or place where he can chill. He will go there during the nighttime, and he doesn't seem to bark when we put him there and both of us leave, but otherwise he rather stay near us-that's the other issue, I think he's too attached to us. I imagine this is a bad thing?

TDLR- How can I get my dog to feel comfortable in his crate.

Deadfall

Treats. Lots and lots of treats. Every time he goes in the crate give him a treat. When we were crate training our dog we gave him a milk bone anytime he sniffed his crate. Eventually he associated his crate with getting some awesome biscuits and now he has no problem running up to his crate when we tell him, "Kennel."

That's my experience anyway.

Bagginses

This may also be ritualistic. My family dog harasses my mom to let him out and give him breakfast the second after my dad leaves for work, even though he refuses to go through the door if my dad tries to let him out.

mr_mich

Treats are important. It's also a good idea to leave a couple for them to sniff around and find. My dog, Gimli, gets sad when he sees you leaving. If he's distracted on a treasure hunt, he doesn't think you "left" he just sits around with his toys until the awesome surprise of your return. Use the same word; it will get to the point where when he hears "crate" (or whatever word you choose) he'll know exactly what it means.

This goes hand in hand with the principle that long goodbye rituals are bad for some dogs. If I touch the deadbolt, Gimli thinks I'm either leaving or taking him outside. Same goes for putting on shoes, finding my keys, putting on a coat, etc. Some of this can't be avoided if you don't crate train. If you do, then just get him to go to his crate and shut the door so he can't see you starting your ritual.

Terra

Your best bet is to get him thinking the crate is the BEST PLACE EVER once again. Failing that, you could try distraction with one of those toys he has to work at the retrieve food from. Give it to him right before you leave and hope it takes him a half hour to finish eating.

You say both you and gf are taking him for a walk everyday, but is there any other way you can exhaust him? Instead of walks, could you make those runs?

Skeith

The way we got my mother's dog to crate was with a Kong filled with peanut butter or a liver treat. After a few weeks, if she saw one of us toss it into the kennel or hold the thing up in the same room, she'd go in. Another week later and she was going in when my brother and I left for school on her own.

ihmmy

Apparently my first dog used to be horrible for whining when I'd leave in the morning, kai-aing and all that. I found putting a blanket over her kennel helped make her think it was bedtime, and she tended to be calmer (according to my roomie's reports). All of the above advice is great for getting the dog into the kennel (I got a new dog a month ago and she already goes into her crate when I say "kennel" because they get cookies in there almost every morning).

the other thing is... you can't give in. Your girlfriend can't give in. I know the noises are completely obnoxious to put up with, but he's probably barking in part just because he wants out/attention. Your gf getting up and letting him out rewards the barking by giving him what he wants. Even yelling at him to shush is attention of a variety. Can she invest in earplugs? Is there a room further away from the bedroom you could put him and his crate in, and toss a blanket over it (helps muffle the noise)?

amateurhour

OP I did the exact same thing with my puppy Harvey.

My wife was working 3-midnight part time, so the routine was that I got up to let him out in the morning, put him back in there, and my wife would get up around 10-11 to let him out again, spend the afternoon with him, put him up, and I'd be back at 6 to take over, so he always had someone around.

Then his adorableness got the better of us and we started only putting him the crate when we were both gone, and he started sleeping in the bed, and now the crate just doesn't work at night.

The solution we found was that he stopped chewing shit up in the living room, and hasn't had an accident in the house in months, so we let him have the living room. He's done pretty well sleeping there. We can even close the bedroom door and usually he'll sleep through the night on the couch just fine. Sometimes he'll get lonely and whine at the door, but he doesn't really even bark anymore.

Everything everyone else is saying about lots of treats is also great advice if you just want to get him back in the crate though. Honestly we've moved away from the crate just because it's too small for him now to fully stand up in so we've still got it, but he mainly stays out in the living room or in the bathroom and does just fine there.

mr_mich

Just wanted to follow up and say that this morning I went to open the box of treats and my dog literally sprinted to his crate and sat inside.

As for keeping him quiet, the above advice is priceless. Don't reward his whining. Even if it's time for him to come out, and he happens to be whining, wait until he quiets down. It gets way better with age (it's not really natural for pups to be completely alone, so they're allowed to be clingy) and the last thing you want to do is give them any attention for whining.