I hope i have the right spot for this, if not please let me know. Ok I purched a wire crate from pets at home about 12 months ago shortly after I got Charlie as a pup as I had full intentions of crate training him. Now this was great for the first two months, he'd sleep in it (though he would pace and whine and nip at night) but it was great. Now around the 3 month mark in the middle of the night he caugh himself on the hinge and ever since has had a terrible fear unless I physically pushed him inside it which I only had to do twice as then we got the crate out of the house and started to let him have free reign and he now sleeps on my bed which I dont have any complaints about. Yet recently he has become quite destructive in the house when left alone and I want to reintroduce the crate to him and hoping since its been out of sight for the past 7 months or so he'd have forgotten about it. Well he isn't having any of it, I've tried feeding him in it and he'll stand and growl at it and even with tough love he'll go without eating for days rather than go near it. If I set food as a trail he'll eat within head reach but he won't put his paws or legs over the lip. I even took the door off in hopes of helping but even cat food which he loves wont entice him near it at all. I thought seeing the cats go in it would help but still nothing. Is there any other tips I could try? Or possibly an alternative type crate? anything to keep him from getting into something he shouldnt as already he's eaten the door, ripped the carpet of the stairs, ate my dad's expensive remote, 4 pens, a 2p coin and his £30 Julius K9 harness
@Erisda I hope you've managed to solve Charlie's problem with his crate. How is it going ? Have you tried covering it with a sheet or blanket so it looks different ? If you can't find a way of getting charlie in his crate you could maybe try an indoor pen to stop charlie getting at things he shouldn't but still give him space while you are out.
Poor Charlie. Poppy hated the crate too, I think it had been used as a punishment in her previous home. We did what Jen Did, I put an very large throw over and it became a den. I fed her with roast chicken and sardines in the crate even if she only put a paw in. It did take time, But we have cracked it . Good Luck
My dog had (still has to some extent) a fear of a certain flight of outdoor steps that he fell on as a puppy. It's just these steps. No amount of luring with food would do it - and I really mean no amount of delicious food would do it. The obvious balance of food vs stay away from the scary steps meant that the steps would win every time. Making the steps appear different, helped. Covering them with a different look and feel contributed a lot, but what was the most successful was getting him to approach the steps using clicker training. Similar to the kikopup vid posted below (except it took ages, not the few minutes that it appears in the vid ). I got stuck when he would step up with his front paws, but it just didn't occur to him to move his back paws, so I had to train other things that involved moving your back paws for treats first. I'd treat the crate as a box as in '4 paws in a box' clicker exercise, but expect to take a long time over it. Plus try making the crate seem different, and leaving loads of food in it (in the vid, the dog gets clicked for moving for a treat).
I use a crate inside a pen, and the pen I use for an adult dog is a 1m high pen from a company called margo the dog. I think there might be cheaper options now though (it's a while since I bought mine). My dog just doesn't jump out of his pen, but there is the option to use the panels to create a 'lid' on the pen, to make a massive crate type structure - the necessary bolts come with the panels to do this. http://dogpen-margothedog.deal-net.co.uk/other-pens/large-dog-pen.html
It is covered and even tried putting in a different place and removed the door but he still won't go near it. Sadly we don't have the room to use an indoor pen and being the stubborn hound he is, he'd either jump the pen or push it all over.
I've been using this method over the time but sadly he won't go anywhere near it at all, even chasing the cats can't tempt him i think whatever has caused his fear in it is very deeply rooted in his mind and he has trouble stepping over that issue. He'll rather go hungry than risk putting his head in the crate to eat even if we leave his food there and won't touch his toys either. He's very stubborn when he wants to be lol
Could you try putting the crate in a different location? It could be that he's associating something to do with the placement and the crate. It may also be worth giving the crate a good wash I case there is something which is putting him off as their noses are so sensitive, and perhaps adding some adaptil to see if that helps him.
