Hi all, I have a 9 week old Labrador puppy. Once tired out he takes very well to his crate, however we haven’t successfully made it an entire night with him sleeping there. We worked really hard over the course of the week with this and last night was going to be the night. He made it until 4am when he needed to go out to pee, and when we came back in and he went back into his crate with the door latched shut, he began chewing on the metal bars and got his teeth caught with his mouth open. He panicked, which resulted in me trying to sooth him and unlatch his teeth. Luckily I think the only one slightly injured was me, but during my “I’m a horrible dog mom” meltdown I was too scared to relatch the crate door as he continued to chew on it afterwards. I work three days a week, one of those he has a puppy sitter but as of this week I was planning on keeping him crated for 4 hours each of the days with a potty break by one of my roommates. Now I’m afraid he will hurt himself if left unsupervised. Any advice or constructive criticism is welcome - please help.
I wouldn't let this stop you from using the crate. I know what you mean and it's happened to me a few times, but the dogs do unlatch themselves without permanent injury! Don't let him wake you up to go out to pee either - set your alarm clock and you should wake up to take him out. Otherwise he will only learn to make noise and get your attention to go out.... and you might never get through the night.
I will try again tonight! I’ve started taking his food away before bedtime which has cut down on the amount of times he goes out. I have been taking him out at 4am and 6am which seems to be exactly when he wakes, which has let us go two nights without accidents. Both of these nights he slept with the crate open and moved back and forth between inside and outside. I’m desperate for this to work for our nighttime routine. Thank you for the reassurance.
You might consider a different, perhaps smaller crate, that he can't get his jaw through. The plastic crates only have bars on the door. Also make sure there is something in the crate for him to chew on.
He always has kongs and puppy friendly chew bones in his crate – I think I will take your advice and pick up a smaller plastic crate. He likes to sleep under my bed so he may find something smaller more comforting.
