# My dog goes crazy when we let him out of his crate.



## Mags (Feb 21, 2009)

We have no problems getting him into the crate because we give him a treat to let him know it's not a punishment, however the minute we open the crate doors Lucas goes crazy. He runs at full speed all over the house leaps up on the counters, knocks things over, spills his food & water, and jumps on anyone who happens to be standing in the way etc. We try ignoring him when he does this, but it doesn't seem to help. I'm trying not to lose my temper with him when I hear things break, but I'm on the edge. I understand a little hyper but not like this.

My friend mentioned that it's probably separation anxiety and that Lucas is just really happy to see us after being alone for so long. I feel like we are giving him a lot of attention, but me and my husband both work 10am - 7pm, and I'm wondering if it is the problem.... 

here is our schedule.

5:30am wake up get dressed take Lucas for 30 min walk
6:00am play/train with Lucas for about 15 - 20 mins
7-9am get ready for work
9-9:30am our time to just do extra things around the house (ie laundry)
9:30am put Lucas in his crate and we leave for work
2-3pm I come home for lunch and take Lucas on 30 min walk & then play with him.
3pm put Lucas back in his crate
7pm we both come home take Lucas on 30 min walk 
7:30-bedtime play with /love on Lucas

The we get up the next morning and do it all again. Are we giving him too much attention????


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## HyperFerret (Feb 7, 2009)

My dogs were hyper sprinters zooming around the house too. They'd do it when I came home from work or if they've been in the back yard for a long time they'd have the zoomies when they come back inside. Although, my dogs _normally_ would not run into things and break them. They would, however, sometimes run into humans. But here are some things I did with my dogs. 

1.) Do not give him an opportunity to run about the house. AS SOON AS you let him out of his crate immediatly direct him out side. Hold him/his collar till you get to the door. Praise when you get outside.

2.) Teach him the stay command when he's in his crate. Train him that when you open the crate door he has to "stay" and wait for you to say okay/good boy. Once you say good boy he can come out. But then have a cookie ready for him and give him the cookie/praise when he comes out of his crate calmly. **This will take patients but be *persistant*! If he comes darting out of his crate, calmly and gently put him back in the crate. Do not say anything while you do this! Just put him back in the crate, close the crate door, wait a second, re-open the crate door as you tell him "stay" and then say good boy! Keep repeating that until it clicks. You may need more than one person, that way you can catch him if he darts out. Again, do not give him the oportunity to run about the house while tyring to teach him this. Also this is something you'll need to practice even after he learns this. Also, it helps if you apply this to leaving your house, make him stay at the open door and not to step out of the house till you say good boy. Plus make him stay in the car when the door opens, again open car door, make him stay and then jump out after you tell him good boy.

3.) If it's at all feasible, you could always put up some baby/pet gates to confine him to the room his crate is in. (Remove all breakable items from that room.)

Okay, well, I wrote that in a big hurry, so I hope that all made some sense. (Leaving late from house, now I'll do the zoomies, lol!) Hope that helps out some.


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## Mags (Feb 21, 2009)

Thank you for this advise... I tried the new technique today at lunch and it worked wonders... 

We've been told to only work on one command at a time... we are currently working on "sit". Can we combine the two???


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## HyperFerret (Feb 7, 2009)

Glad to hear it already helped on your lunch break.  As for combining commands. It really depends on the dog. However, working on one command at a time would be good so you don't confuse your dog. But at the same time, you can work on one command and then later in the same day try a different command. At least that never caused any problems with my dogs. 

Once he understands the commands, you can do them in a row. Or if he learns one and performs it well, you can use that command as a control. Like, for my dogs, "sit" is usually the first learned command. So, I'll use "sit" to have them sit and watch me, that way I know I have their attention and focus.

For "sit" with "stay" together, when they are in their crate, usually, I only have them "stay". Every now and then will I tell them to "sit" first then "stay" while in the crate, just to keep it up. Now at the front door to the house, I usually always frist tell them to "sit", then "stay", before I open the door. (Other wise, they'd be jumping and pawing at the door, lol.) Though, I have worked with just "stay" at the door. It's good practice.

By the way, for teaching sit. Before you feed your dog, have a handful of kibble and feed it to him one at a time as he "sits" for each one. Walk around also so you're not telling him to sit while he's already sitting. (You can also use favorite treats for this too.) It's great "focus on me" practice too. You can use hand feeding for sooo many things.  (With hand feeding the kibble, of course, feed your dog normally afterwards. Comes across as a reward for listening to you.)


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## Max's Mom (Feb 24, 2009)

I agree with the stay commands. I would also put a leash on before letting him out of the crate so that you have control as you give the release command to come out. Then take him out for a bathroom break a walk and/or play to get rid of the pent up energy. You can finish with some more training such as sit or down. Then lots of pats and attention.

Just had another thought. Is doggie day care an option? I use it for Max if I'm going to be gone all day and he is nice and tired and mellow when I pick hem up.


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## midnight mojo (Oct 7, 2008)

We just had a conversation about this in PK tonight! We watched a video about crate games that focused on dealing with this very issue! 

Sadly, it's a 3 step method and all I know is the first step! The first is to feed a high value treat high (as in towards the top of the crate) and back (as in away from the gate) to get him to sit at the back of the crate. Then you close the gate and latch it, removing your hand from the door and waiting just a second before repeating the process. Our homework is to do this 5 times in a row, 3 times a day.

Perhaps someone else can fill you in on steps 2 and 3, or if you like I can post those when we go over them in class.


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## nikelodeon79 (Feb 3, 2009)

I was just given this advice, and it worked well with my own zoomie dog. 

I tend to be excited to see her when I get home from work. Obviously, this excitement rubs off on her, especially when I talk in high tones. Keeping my voice/body language calm and even seems to help Luna stay just a little bit calmer, herself. The trainer who told me this basically said that if I make coming home a lot of fun/a big deal, the dog is going to anticipate it all that much more, and the time when you are not home is going to be even more boring.


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