One more question and then I promise I’ll leave you all alone for a while . I go back to work in 5 weeks (teacher) and feel like I really need to start making some progress with the crate. I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time with this. I’m having horrible anxiety that my girl is going to develop separation anxiety I guess, and I’m worried that I’m being overly cautious and might be causing more harm then good. I know 5 weeks is a lot of time, but I feel stuck and at the rate we’re going she’s not going to be ready for when I gonna to work. Me and my baby need some anxiety relief please! This is the situation: She’s almost 14 weeks and I have only crated her maybe 6 times since I’ve had her in the last 5 weeks, for anywhere from 45 min. to 1.5 hours each time. I recorded her on some of those trips and a couple times everything went great. She whimpered or barked a little bit but that was all. The other times were not so great...barking/howling most of the time, digging at the base. I live on the 3rd floor in an apartment and I could hear her howling as soon as I got out of my car and she was a total spaz when I let her out. Not only am I worried about her developing separation anxiety, I’m worried about the barking because I live in an apartment and leave for work very early (6:00-6:30am). I’ve been following all the advice as far as making the crate happy place...she will go in on her own, and will even hang out in there on her own as long as I’m in the room. I feed her meals in there. I leave Kong’s with high value treats, tried freezing them (which she hasn’t figured out yet...so I’ve stopped that for now), bully sticks, left a shirt with my scent in there, i leave the tv on for background noise, I dont make a scene when I leave or get back, I don’t let her out when she’s barking... I guess I’m wondering if I just need to bite the bullet and let her bark it out while I gradually increase the time I’m gone? Is this all normal?? She hasn’t defecated during any of these outings, and she’s continued to enter and hang out in the crate on her own (with the door open). I’m thinking maybe starting tomorrow I’ll leave for an hour two times a day, then the next week leave for 1.5 hours twice a day, next week 2 hours twice a day, and so on until We reach the work schedule. During the school day I have someone who will let her out at least once (probably twice at least for the first semester) so she will not be crated for more than 4 hours at the very most. ***side note - she has been very much velcro puppy and still is, but I’ve noticed a very slight improvement there. She does seem to be gaining a little more confidence. I feel like I’m starting to gain a little confidence too...haha Please, if anyone can give me an idea of how to proceed on making some progress, without making things worse, I would really really really appreciate it!!!!
You start crate training by leaving your pup fir a few seconds at a time and the releasing from the crate, building to 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes and so on - not by leaving for an hour or two to begin with. You build the time duration slowly over day, weeks even months if necessary as each pup is different. If your pup is crying and howling when left in the crate you could already be on the road to separation anxiety/distress.
How about considering a pen instead of a crate? Four hours (when you are back to work) is a very long time to keep a young dog confined to a crate. Or possibly think about day care?
It's certainly what a lot of people do, and at one time what most everyone did. But, it is better as Jojo has said, to start with very short sessions. find a period of time that your pup is happy to be crated for, and build up. Many people start with five minutes or so. Leave your pup with something interesting to chew, grab your keys, and pretend to leave. Go through the whole routine, out through the front door as if you were going to work, then come straight back in again and let the pup out. You'll only have to do this a few times before your pup thinks 'whatever' and pretty much ignores your departure. You might think that is an impossible task to work up from there in five weeks but in practice, once you get to the point where a dog is happy to be crated for an hour or so, you can increase the increments more quickly so it won't take you as long as you think. The initial few days are a bit a drag, especially when you get to fifteen minutes or so - you might need to take something to read, and the neighbour's might wonder why you are wandering about in the road! But it all helps The second point that Joy made is that four hours is quite a long time to be crated, and it might be worth considering a play pen arrangement instead. You've time to get her accustomed to that. It's a system that has worked well for some of our other members.
Ok so I’m thinking about clearing out a kitchen nook area (tried to attach a pic but won’t let me). The pen I have is a 36” wire one, but I worry about it being too flimsy. When I had it up and she jumped against it it would slide on the floor (it is wood laminate). I looked at gates thinking maybe I could just close off the area but the opening to the nook is 8 ft. And didn’t see anything that wide. Any pen suggestions?
Also, when I’m building up the time in her crate...I know I’ll be slowly increasing, but what if she barks before I come back in? Do I decrease the time? Or stay at that time for a while? I also want to wait until she stops barking to come in, right?
The way I train with my clients is that they return to pup BEFORE the pup has the opportunity to start barking or fretting. If the pup starts barking you have left them too long. That's why I start with seconds away and then return - literally just walk out of sight, count to 5 and return. Then repeat, and repeat etc. If pup has a kong you can possibly extend the time but you must return before the kong is finished in the initial stages. The aim at all times is to build confidence in your pup to be alone, confidence that when left you will return and that really means no crying from pup.
