I have an 8 week old female black lab and she is doing pretty well. Driving me crazy in the expected behavioral areas (chewing, biting, etc) but is pretty good otherwise. I got her an outdoor kennel/run for if we have to be gone for more than just a hour. She has been eating her meals in the kennel but after a few minutes she starts yelping and screeching (yes screeching) and lunging at the sides in an attempt to escape. Sometimes when she lunges she'll fall backwards and I don't want her to hurt herself. The kennel is on the concrete but I can move it to the grass. Should I just wait her out and let her cry and cry or is she too young to be in an outdoor kennel? I don't want her to hate the run, our other dogs all adapted to an outdoor run very easily and don't mind being in theirs one bit.
I would suggest maybe hiding bits of treats or her favourite toy in the pen and put them there before she goes in. She may start to see it as an exciting place. Leave her and come back frequently and often but only when she has a short break of no noise. Also when you do come back after a little while, try to refrain being too excitable to her so she doesn't crave you coming back as much. She just might start to enjoy/tolerate her own company more. These strategies worked for me and my young lab Nelly. Good luck.
Also, do you have anything that smells of her litter or of you that she might like for a bit of comfort. Another thing is, I know Nelly likes background noise so I leave a radio on for her when I leave her, can you figure something out like that or a toy with a pretend heartbeat that's loud enough to here or a ticking clock? This worked well when nelly was little and she was in a crate.
