Crates: Crating Puppies and Leaving Them Alone

Discussion in 'Labrador Puppies' started by pippa@labforumHQ, Mar 5, 2020.

  1. Gertiegoo

    Gertiegoo Registered Users

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    Mar 24, 2021
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    Hi
    Hi Pippa and all on the forum!

    We are following the Happy Puppy crate training instructions with our almost 10 week black lab. We are at stage 2 and she happily chews her stuffed kong for around 10-15 minutes with us sitting next to her (while we are reading emails on our phone).

    She doesn’t whine much after the kitchen kong is empty, but sits up looking at us with the occasional whine. (Not loud at all)

    We pop extra kibble in occasionally to stretch out the time and only when she is quiet.

    She lasts up to 20mins (just over 20 minutes actually) we only let her out when quiet. And give her lots of praise and cuddles and more treats.

    We know that we need to wait until she is laying down in a relaxed state before moving on to stage 3 (with us away from crate in the same room) but should we be aiming to extend her time in the crate at the current stage (2)? Or do we keep our sessions at 20 minutes and just wait until she relaxes as opposed to sitting up looking at us?

    Thanks for any one who may reply!!
     
  2. Gertiegoo

    Gertiegoo Registered Users

    Joined:
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    *please note *kitchen kong was a crazy text prediction typo thanks to my phone! And should just read “kong”*
     
  3. Gertiegoo

    Gertiegoo Registered Users

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2021
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    Hi Ceri!

    I have posted a message in this thread a few days ago but came back and re read the thread and wondered how you went with your crate training?

    We are at a similar stage to where you were at with your pup. She is happy to chew a kong for 15 minutes max (with a few whines here and there) with us sitting next to her.

    We don’t really know where to go from here? She only lays down when working on the kong. She sits up and looks at us when she loses interest and then will eventually whine.

    We give her kibble when she is quiet but she could sit in the crate with us doing this for hours! We assume we just have to stick at this until she eventually lays down and relaxes. We’ve been working on training since 8 weeks, she is now 10 weeks.

    Grateful for any advice!
    :)
     

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