Hi all, I am a new Labrador owner. Our girl is 8 weeks old (she was 8 weeks on Monday) and we have had her 3 nights. We decided we wanted to crate train her (we have our reasons) but she seems absolutley terrified of it... both during the day and night... She will happily go in when she is sleeping (we put her in) but when she wakes up, she screams... She will eat her food in there, she will play and she will go in for treats, but as soon as that door is closed, all hell breaks loose... I have never heard anything like it. Things we have been trying to get her more comfortable with the crate: 1) feeding her in there 2) treats for going in 3) putting her in when she is sleepy 5) putting a hot water bottle under her mat so she has some warmth 6) having a ticking clock there for her 7) having the radio on 8) covering the sides and back with a dark blanket to make it cosy and more like a den. Last night we had her in the crate, she did a wee and went in when she was sleepy... she proceeded to scream for over an hour before we gave in... she then came to our bedroom and slept on our floor for 5 hours, woke up and went for a wee... I then went downstairs with her and decided to see how she would go being in the dining room with her crate door open and the dining room door shut... she howled for a bit, but nowhere near like during her time in her crate... she then took herself in to her crate and went to sleep... when she woke up after an hour, she started to howl and I waited for a pause before I went in, took her for a wee then gave her breakfast (I put it in her crate) Please help... I don't want to scare her or make her too anxious or frightened of the crate, neither do I want to give her seperation anxiety...
Hi @Lils23 I suggest you read through the following guide. By all means raise as many questions you have after reading it. For the next couple of nights I suggest you put the crate in your bedroom at night. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...Vaw0dhwVAX5REDaBebLpZiB3J&cshid=1557917115988
Hi, thank you for the link to the article - will give it a read. Ok good thanks for that pointer i am sure i will be back with some questions! Lily
I agree with Michael about reading that article (cos I wrote it!). I would play lots of games with the door open, involving going in the crate for a click and a treat, then a release word and out you come again - click treat. And back in again. And so on. Look up the DVD called Crate Games on Amazon and try that - it is essentially loads of training games involving the crate, which powerfully associates the crate with fun and games and your presence. When you first close the door, you should not move away from the crate - you should be right next to it. At night, the crate (or a smaller crate) should be by your bed. You can't train for separation at the same time as conditioning a dog to like the crate - you will only teach the dog to hate the crate because it will be associated with separation. You need to condition the dog to love the crate in your presence and with you right next to it, before you introduce the element of separation.
