# Please help - My dog hates his crate!



## Lokiko

Hi - I am new to these forums and I'm sure my problem is not 100% unique but I could sure use some advice. We adopted a shepherd mix from the pound and his name is Shadow. He is approximately one year old. He is super intelligent dog with an amazing temperament. We have had him almost two months with the exception of sending to a two week board & train for obedience. Shadow did not have problems with the crate at the trainers. We ourselves were "trained" by the trainers on handling him. My husband takes him on daily "training walks" and throughout the day I practice basic obedience with him. He does really well with this.

However... the one thing we cannot seem to get down is the crate. He hates it.... with the exception of when its time to go to bed at night. Shadow does not mind sleeping in it at night. He absolutely flips out during the day when we leave him in it. Since, I am a stay at home mom this means that Shadow does not spend lengthy periods of time in it ordinarily. I would say on average if we leave the house the longest he spends in the crate is about 3 hours... which for his age he should be able to do.

He started destroying the inside of the crate. So, we set up a Shadowcam to see what he was doing while we were gone. First, trying to pull the door in with his teeth. He pulled the plastic off of the latch and was grinding a canine down on a sharp piece of metal. Barking nonstop.

We tried an all metal kong crate where he couldn't reach the latches, but his nonstop barking and rabble rousing in the crate was setting off the glass breaks for our house alarm. We moved him back into the plastic crate and my husband rigged it up to block the clasp mechanism with a cutting board because at least it was heavy duty plastic that wouldn't wear his teeth down and spraying it with some bitter stuff. This has not deterred Shadow. He gnaws and barks still. We took him to the vet and got a DAP for the room. He is undeterred. I give him toys and kongs... he cares not.

For a short period of time, crating our other 12 year old dog in the same room with him stopped all his problems, but now he is back to his old ways.

I was gone for three hours today to run errands. The front of the kennel was covered in drool and moved at least 6 inches from its normal location.

I've never had this much trouble with crating a dog before and I don't know what else to do. Will this ever get better? Please help...


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## theyogachick

Before we can offer any advice, can you let us know if you have done anything to acclimate him to the crate? (not just giving him Kongs, etc., but what you have done to get him used to the crate.)

You need to make sure that you are working on making the crate a happy place. (Sit next to the crate and throw a treat in, let him go get it, let him come out on his own, etc.)

Make sure you crate him while you are home. Right now he is associating the crate with you leaving and that makes it harder for him. If it is an everyday thing (no matter if you are home or not), he will maybe ease up.

I have other things, but I don't want to repeat what you have already done...any mor einfo is appreciated.


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## Lokiko

Thanks for your reply!

So, far.... for sleeping time he has no issues with the crate which is in our bedroom. He whines in the morning to be let out to go to the bathroom, but I have no complaints about that. He does not cry in the crate as long as we are in the room with him.

I'm somewhat lax about putting him in his crate during the day. I don't think about it because I'm home and he likes to sleep a lot. Shadow is not nearly as active as my Aussie/Collie mix (Pepper) was at the same age. Plus, we live in Houston and the temperatures are reaching over 100 degrees every day.... which means we don't spend as much time outside right now as the heat and ozone levels are not safe. 

We started by leaving the crate open and he wanted none of it. We dropped treats in but he would reach in grab the treat and never go in on his own. We ended up buying two crates (plastic and wire) because for awhile crating Pepper in the same room with him seemed to solve the problem... even though Pepper no longer needs to be crated. 

He prefers to sleep in the plastic crate at night, but take his meals in the wire crate... both of which he does on his own accord without any encouragement or forcing. I know that this probably already causes confustion by letting him use both crates but I was willing to take whatever Shadow was willing to give and Pepper has no preference.

I also put him in his crate whenever we sit down to eat at dinner. He goes in, I praise him and give him a treat. Sometimes he will whine a little bit and other times he will start barking nonstop.

Over the past few days, I have started getting him to go in his crate and shutting the door, giving him a treat, tell him to stay and walk away. He almost immediately starts whining. I wait for a break in the whining. I go in, say nothing and once he settles down by sitting or laying down, I give him a treat and "disappear again." Repeat.

The other thing that I have noticed is that his unhappiness in the crate is much worse if we leave the house as opposed to just go in another room. If we go in another room while he is in the crate, he might bark for awhile, but eventually he will settle down and not try to destroy the crate. However, if we leave the house then I have watched him on the Shadowcam and he will alternate between attempting to pull the door in on the plastic crate, barking and some moments of rest, but not much.

It just confuses me because he stopped all of this a couple of weeks ago when we put Pepper back there with him and he would sleep peacefully or just hang out, but in the last week we are back to square one.


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## doxiemommy

That IS confusing, if he was ok a couple weeks ago, but is now freaking out again.

One thing you said you'd been doing over the past few days: putting him in the crate, shutting the door, giving him a treat, walking away, then you go back, and once he settles, you give another treat, and then walk away again. I'd make a tweak to that routine: don't do the second walk away, just let him out. So, put him in, give the treat, walk away, come back in a few minutes, wait for him to settle, and then let him out. Doing the second walk away, in my opinion, is a bit of a tease, for a dog you know has some anxiety about being in the crate. It seems like that would work toward making him more anxious. He sees you come back, gets relieved, thinking he's ok, he's getting out, but you just leave. I understand the point is to get him to calm down, and then leave again, to build up his tolerance for the crate, but it's also building up his anxiety, so it may not be doing what you want.

What I'd do is this: (called crate conditioning, btw)
- put him in the crate, with a frozen, stuffed kong, shut the door, and leave for 2-3 minutes.
- come back, let him settle, and then let him out.
- do this as many times as you can throughout the day, put him in the crate for 2-3 minutes like this 15 times a day if you can.

Then, after a few days at 2-3 minutes, increase to 4 minutes. Again, put him in the crate for 4 minutes as many times a day as you can. After a few days at 4 minutes, increase to 5-6 minutes. You get the point. You are gradually building up the time he'll be comfortable in the crate. 

Now, of course, when you need to leave the house, you still need to leave him in the crate. And, he will probably still be upset. But, as you continue to use the crate conditioning, and build up his time, the goal would be that he doesn't get as upset when you leave, because he's learned that he'll be ok, and you'll come back and let him out.

Something else, sorry for the long reply, is: do you leave anything for him to do in the crate? A frozen, stuffed kong, or other treat/food dispensing toy is really handy. You don't have to put lots of food or peanut butter in it (we stuff our kongs with peanut butter), but having something to occupy his time could help. Also, bully sticks keep our dogs quiet for a super long time.


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## Lokiko

Thanks for these tips! I will try it the way you suggested and let him out.

I typically leave him a nylabone in the crate. I have not tried the frozen peanut butter kong, but that is a good idea because he loves peanut butter. 

What about barking and whining in the crate? Ignore it or correct it with a "quiet" command?

Also... does it make a difference whether he eats in one crate and sleeps in another?


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## theyogachick

Have you tried keeping him in the crate that he seems to have no issue with? 

doxiemommy has very sound advice. Crate conditioning is key. You need to start slowly (no more than a few seconds) and build up. It is very important that you crate him when you are home, too. I teach, so I am home all summer. I have a dog with crate/separation anxiety. When I was working, we had a routine and she was comfortable in her crate. When I was off for the summer, I was more lax about crating her because I was home...and it showed. When I did have to crate her, she was a nightmare. I got her back on a routine and it made all the difference. I also crate her when I am here (eating, vacuuming, etc.) so she realized that crate did not equal me leaving.

Most practices are to ignore it. I would go that route because any attention is still attention (thus giving the dog what he wants). For me, ignoring never worked, so I tell her hush (once) and that usually does the trick. (Gracie is a GSD mix, too.) 

I leave Gracie with a treat ball full of treats and a bully stick. That usually keeps her happy. You can also have a "crate only" treat. Something super yummy and super special that only comes out when he goes in the crate.


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## Lokiko

Thanks for all the great advice! I went out last night and bought two different types of kongs, stuffed them with peanut butter and some other goodies and popped them in the freezer. Because Shadow loves, loves, loves peanut butter then I will only let him have these treats in the crate. What is a bully stick?

As for a different crate.... He has two. A standard wire crate and a plastic one. Is there another kind to try? It's been hard to find one that does not have any sharp metal edges or a clasp mechanism that he could not take apart and wear his teeth down on. But I guess the goal is that eventually he will be calm in it and not tear it apart.

It's just so confusing for me. My Aussie/Collie, Pepper, never had these issues with the crate. She loved it. I always felt a little bad about crating her because she was so high energy, but it never bothered her from the get go. She just accepted it. I guess I thought Shadow would be the same... especially because he is so chill and laid back about everything and has been so easy to train in all other respects. I've never had a GSD mix before and I must say that we are enjoying him, but leaving him has become a trial. My friends all think we are crazy setting up a dog cam, but what can we say... we love our dogs.

Btw... I'm truly grateful for the kind reception and all the willingness to offer advice. It really helps to know that this pretty normal.


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## theyogachick

Which crate does he have less issue with? Some dogs don't like open wire crates and prefer the den-like feel of the plastic ones. I would stick to the one he likes the most and go from there.

A bully stick is, well, bull penis. Yep. Better than rawhide because they are fully digestible. I get mine here: www.bestbullysticks.com. There are plenty of places to go, though. (If you go there, buy a few at first to see if your dogs likes them. If he does, I would suggest the grab bag because it is the best value and lasts me a month or so).


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## Shiningsummer

My dog Molly hates being in the crate too. She would do the exact same thing your dog does plus she would drool so much the crate would be soaking wet when we got home. No amount of crate conditioning helped. I thought she had SA but she was just fine when let out to roam the house by herself when I was gone. I came to the conclusion that she just hates being crated. Does your dog absolutely have to be in a crate? Can you put him in a doggy proof room or maybe do short trial runs to see how he acts when he's allowed out when you're gone?


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## doxiemommy

I agree with Shiningsummer, some dogs do not get used to their crate, including some dogs that have separation anxiety. We used to crate when our dogs were very young. We chose to switch to an ex-pen in the kitchen when they got a bit older, and then we eventually switched to the whole kitchen blocked off with a baby gate. But, our reasoning was that we were giving them a bit more freedom as they got older, so we could eventually leave them free in the house, which we do now.

But, it seems to me like it could work, the crate, as it did work once, but has only since gotten worse.

We have small dogs, and we travel a lot, so the plastic type crates work for us, like the "Pet Taxi" type.


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## Jenn~n~Luke

Shiningsummer said:


> My dog Molly hates being in the crate too. She would do the exact same thing your dog does plus she would drool so much the crate would be soaking wet when we got home. No amount of crate conditioning helped. I thought she had SA but she was just fine when let out to roam the house by herself when I was gone. I came to the conclusion that she just hates being crated. Does your dog absolutely have to be in a crate? Can you put him in a doggy proof room or maybe do short trial runs to see how he acts when he's allowed out when you're gone?


Same with Luke. If he is ok left out of the crate (no destruction) when you leave the house, and no amount of trying helps, I'd just say to heck with it and leave him be. It's not worth the constant stress on the dog IF he's going to be fine uncrated.


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