# New pup difficulties with daytime crate training



## Theopup (Dec 27, 2011)

Hi all! First I apologize if this question is repeated elsewhere - first post & I didn't see quite the same question elsewhere.

I have a 9 week old lab mix (potentially lab-German Shepherd by his coloring, but his personality is ALL lab!) who's been with me for a week. Since coming home, he has been potty trained and is starting to learn commands and polite behavior - sit, come, etc. He has no problems with his travel crate and car rides and sleeps from 10-6 in his wire crate in my room with no problems. He prefers to have the crate locked at night and music playing to fall asleep to and only goes outside 1-2 times a night.

He will go to his crate to take a nap during the day if he is _really_ tired, but I can't get him to not go crazy spending any time in his crate if he is is awake for the life of me! Starting yesterday morning, he was good in the crate for about 15 minutes with a puppy busy bone so I could shower, but no longer than that. He goes a little nuts jumping up, crying, and biting the crate (same thing has happened in the small plastic travel crate too). Stuffed treats only keeps his attention for a very short time - the thought of being alone trumps the excitement of a new toy. He is very attached, follows me around everywhere and doesn't like to be alone.

I have one more week of vacation left, then it's back to work for me. Though my boss is also a dog lover, so I'm planning to spend lunches at home so he only has a couple hours at a time by himself.

So does anyone have any suggestions on how to help him become more independent so he can enjoy alone time while awake and learn how to entertain himself in the crate?


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## marap43 (Dec 23, 2011)

Hey Theopup!

It seems to me like you're doing everything right with crate training your new pup. If he's going into the crate on his own sometimes, and sleeps in there all night without problems then those are really good signs.

You said with a busy bone he's good in the crate for about 15 minutes, and then starts to go a little crazy. I think this is perfectly natural with a puppy, and with time you should be able to keep him inside the crate for longer periods of time. But it will probably take just that, time. I remember when I first crate trained my dog it took about 2 months before he was completely cool in the crate, and I adopted him at 1 year. So just keep doing what you're doing, and hopefully after a month or two the anxiety will subside.

Have you tried keeping him in the crate for say 25-30 minutes while you're in the same room, and not showering etc.? This may be a good idea, because hopefully he'll feel like the crate is not somewhere he goes every time you leave the house or room. He can go in, chill out, have a bone, and hang out in the crate while there are still people around. This should help him to not associate the crate with something bad like being left alone, punishment etc. Hope that helps!


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## WiggleWag5 (Dec 29, 2011)

Hi Theopup,

I agree with what has been said, it takes time, and is a good idea to crate the dog when you are nearby. I know it will be hard to go back to work, but dogs need lots of sleep, so just make the time you are gone a nice rest time for the puppy.

I have one of Barney's crates in the family room, and make a point to walk by a few times when Barney is in there. If he is calm, I say good boy, and go about my business. He seems to be learning that it is a good place for a safe nap and that whatever is going on, I'll come back for him and give him a hug, so he just has to wait.

Congratulations on your puppy !


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## chubby (Aug 18, 2011)

Aww sounds like a great puppy  Really great start!

To learn to be independent....pretty tough when your puppy is so cute and you want to spend all your time with him!! My suggestion is to practise coming and going throughout the day, with increasingly longer intervals. Put on your shoes, pick up your keys randomly so they don't associate those cues with you leaving. Leave for 30 seconds, come back, keep doing it until you coming and going is no big deal, and they are well aware that when you leave, you will always come back  When you leave, ignore your puppy for 5-10 minutes before you go out the door, so it's not a big deal to them. When you come back, ignore for a few minutes. This will be hard as you want to greet your dog, but if you make a huge fuss when you come back, your dog will think that your absence was a bad thing.

Before I leave I always leave her a few treats scattered across the floor so she associates me leaving with treats! Quite an easy way to distract her for a while so she's not too bored. Frozen stuffed kongs are good too 

Get up randomly from the couch, and do boring things so your dog doesn't keep following you everywhere you go. 

Hope this helps!


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## Theopup (Dec 27, 2011)

Thanks All! Your encouragement is much appreciated : ) You know how it is with a new puppy - the ups and downs. Doing it by myself this time has been particularly exhausting. So after getting a sitter so I could have some "me-time" and my little exhaustion-driven meltdown, things are SOO much better!

In case this helps anyone else, here's what we've been up to...

Theo and I started again from square one on the crate training during his awake times, with the clicker stretching out treats by the seconds till we got to 12 minutes with the door closed and me near by. Then I started sitting further and further from the crate and eventually taking quick trips out like I was doing my normal things. He's been eating in the crate and I took your suggestion of chowing on a busy bone with me in the room doing some work which really helped I think (plus I got some things done!). We are no where near done, but he is doing much better!

Continuing the basic training sessions I think is really helping to navigate the dog-person boundaries. I also realized that all the whining might be stemming from Theo thinking _he _needs to let me know when he wants out, when he needs to go potty, when he wants food, etc. instead of him being sure _I _would automatically take care of those things for him and come get him to go outside, etc. _Huge_ mind shift! I started waking him up to go outside at night and that eliminated all nighttime whimpering. He even is getting better at sit/stay around my neighbors and paying attention to me during short walks instead of the all the crazy scents around him.

Oh, and also one more thing: we had been running outside for a really short lap around the parking lot before bed to be sure he was all tuckered out, but today we went much earlier in the evening because he was getting rambunctious. When we got back, he ran to his crate (which had the door closed) and asked to be let in and locked in. Now I don't believe this will translate into being ok when I leave for work yet, but it sure will help.

So my next question: what things do you leave in the crate with your dog when you head to work? The busy bone makes him SOO thirsty, I don't think I can leave that unless I leave water, which I don't want to do because he hasn't [cross fingers] had an accident in the crate yet. I imagine the kongs do the same thing, don't they? He has some teething rings that have retained their novelty and the duck he sleeps with. But do you have any suggestions on what is absolutely ok to leave and things that are not?

Also, for fun: here's two pictures so you know who I'm talking about: one from the rescue at 7-8 weeks and one from this week:














Any thoughts from you smart folks on his breed mix?

*note: i don't dress him up and he's using a regular collar, which immediately helped our walks. : )


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## PatchworkRobot (Aug 24, 2010)

First off, your puppy is freaking adorable!

It sounds like you're doing a GREAT job with the crate training. My boy didn't like it at first but he loves his crate now. I really have no advice to give on the original problem that hasn't bee given already. 

As for your next question, the only thing my boy gets in his crate is a Kong. I put peanut butter in it ad the freeze it and give it to him frozen. It's great for teething and keeps him occupied for a little while. I've never gotten the sense that they leave him thirsty. There are a ton of different (and easy) Kong "recipes" that you could look into :]


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## Gigit (Dec 30, 2011)

marap43 said:


> Hey Theopup!
> 
> It seems to me like you're doing everything right with crate training your new pup. If he's going into the crate on his own sometimes, and sleeps in there all night without problems then those are really good signs.
> 
> You said with a busy bone he's good in the crate for about 15 minutes, and then starts to go a little crazy. I think this is perfectly natural with a puppy, and with time you should be able to keep him inside the crate for longer periods of time. But it will probably take just that, time. I remember when I first crate trained my dog it took about 2 months before he was completely cool in the crate, and I adopted him at 1 year. So just keep doing what you're doing, and hopefully after a month or two the anxiety will subside.


Great post!


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## Ice222 (Nov 21, 2011)

Since you seem to be doing well on the crate training (better than me) there's not much to add. Only thing is I've found that training a stay command and a crate command has really helped my pup settle down in his crate quicker than normal usual. First I taught him to stay, and getting it to a point where he often stay even if I go around a corner out of his sight. Then I taught him a crate command, when I say "crate" I follow by tossing a treat in the crate for him and say "goodboy" for when he makes the move into the crate (but before he gets to the treat. I kept practicing and now he will dash to his crate when I say "crate". He used to run straight back out and stare at me for his treat but since he already knew stay, I tell him to stay just as he gets in the crate so he stays inside. Once he was used to that, I started shutting the crate door for longer and longer after saying stay and treating him later. He seems to be more willing to get shut in his crate now, won't whinge as much when I put him away.

I think's it makes sense psychologically. I mean when I taught him to go to his crate like this, he himself makes the decision to willingly go there, and gets him used to being shut in on his own terms. Whereas before, even if I lured him in and shut the door, he doesn't really choose to go in and stay, he was kinda just being 'tricked' into doing it.


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## maciepup (Jan 1, 2012)

Has your crate training included meals in the crate? We have an 11 week old bernedoodle and she sleeps well in her crate, but she has done her eating in a pen (6 gates in a hexagon). We're anxious about heading to work on Tuesday and leaving her...


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