Crate Confusion

Discussion in 'Labrador Puppies' started by HopeGracie, Aug 12, 2018.

  1. HopeGracie

    HopeGracie Registered Users

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    Hi everyone! I am a first time lab owner and first time puppy owner. Oh boy!! :) Our little girl “Hope” is now 9 weeks old and we have had her home for a week as of today but I am super confused about how to keep her crate a positive place yet still be able to use it at times other than night time.

    We’ve been using her crate since night number one and have been having great success with it I think. She sometimes will go in by herself to rest and sometimes to play. She sleeps at night with almost no whining. We’ve been feeding many of her meals in her crate as per our vet to try and keep it positive, we’ve been doing training with treats to also strengthen her desire to go in by herself.

    There are times though that we know she needs a nap and just wont settle down by herself. She gets super riled up, starts biting like crazy, goes after my kids, and wont settle down. I’m nervous to put her in her crate when she’s doing this because I don’t want her to start to view it as a negative place (and undo all the progress we’ve seemingly made) but I’ve read that that’s what I should be doing. How do I put her down for a nap? How do I make sure that when I need to use it in situations like this that her crate remains a positive place? And what’s the difference between doing this and actual crate training so that we can start leaving the house?

    I feel like her crate has become her “happy place” but will it remain that way if I start putting her in it as opposed to her going in herself? We started trying to crate training yesterday while she was awake. Put her in with a kong, started small and made it to 10 minutes very quickly but haven’t made it past that yet.

    I am just so confused!! Thank you so much for any thoughts/advice!!
     
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  2. Remington’s Dad

    Remington’s Dad Registered Users

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    You can try a play pen when your puppy is too wild. However, my almost 11 week old is getting more and more confident each day and I don’t know how much longer the pen will contain him. His front legs can clear the top of the pen when he jumps up on it. I predict he will be able to “climb” out in a week or two like I have heard and seen on YouTube. He does like to nap in there when he settles down.

    My wife and I are like you. We don’t want our pup to think the crate is bad. He sleeps very well in it. Basically through the night and never had an accident in the crate.
     
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  3. HopeGracie

    HopeGracie Registered Users

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    Thats just like us! Sleeping pretty much through the night with no crate accidents. That part is wonderful!

    Ours is getting bigger too, almost 9 1/2 weeks and can put her paws on top of the gates we have up. They get big so fast!
     
  4. Browneyedhandsomebuddy

    Browneyedhandsomebuddy Registered Users

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    Well we picked ours up yesterday, I made a post about it. We’ve just been putting him in, he cried a bit the first day and night but this afternoons naps we’ve just caught him when we know he’s tired and but him in there, gave him a treat and a bit of fuss and he never made a sound, sleeps for around an hour at a time then out for a wee etc, hopefully this will continue. I don’t know much but I think you’d probably be ok just putting her in.
     
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  5. Granca

    Granca Registered Users

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    That's a good way to start, but it's early days yet to expect her to settle for long. It's sounds as if she's already doing very well at night, as well as using it as her special place during the day. Try building up the time gradually, leaving the room if you can when she's busy with the Kong. Have you tried a frozen Kong, using some of her kibble allowance (soaked)? That would keep her busy for longer and probably tire her out more too, so that she may well fall asleep for a little while.

    As long as she associates the crate with treats it should still be a positive place for her. Tempting though it might be, it would be a negative approach to shut her in for chewing/biting, etc, but it doesn't sound as if you're doing that anyway.

    She sounds lovely!
     
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  6. HopeGracie

    HopeGracie Registered Users

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    Thank you so much everyone!! I really appreciate your thoughts and input!!
     
  7. Aisling Labs

    Aisling Labs Registered Users

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    The trick to keeping the crate a positive place is to have a schedule of sorts; it takes a while to get into one because the first two weeks, puppy just seems to suddenly stop, drop and fall asleep. But over time, you'll see that there is a pattern to her/his behavior.

    Our boy is 11 weeks now and on a pretty good schedule - he gets an hour to hour and 1/2 outside of the crate and then in for at least an hour sometimes two. He comes out after he's been awake a few minutes not the minute he wakes up.

    Basically it's up and out in the morning for some potty and some focus training (which is simply getting him to follow us off lead, come when we call him and so on) and some running off of the energy. Then its inside for breakfast (in the crate at this point) and then out again. Then we do about 30 minutes of allowing him to play in a carpeted and closed off room (my office in this case) and then out to potty and then in the crate with a Kong (he gets 3/4's cup of food for breakfast and a 1/4 cup in his kong). He then sleeps for about 1 to 2 hours. We then repeat the same thing for lunch, play/light training, kong with nap, and then again dinner, kong while the family eats dinner. Out for about an hour and then to bed for the night. (He is sleeping through from about 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. which is when my husband gets up). Back to the crate till about 7 a.m. when we do it all over again.

    If a biting frenzy starts, we are immediately off outside to run off the energy...usually this happens with him mid-afternoon and then its in the crate with another kong or a small milk bone. At this age, he has started butt-tucking around the back yard - this gets rid of that energy that is usually responsible for the jumping/biting craziness we just escaped from. That or he is over-tired.

    This type of schedule has been learned over the last five years in which we have had a new puppy nearly every year! Angus (home June 2013), Kona (home Oct 10th 2014), Dreama (home February 5th 2015), and Cain (home July 17 2017) and now Roamin' (home July 26th 2018). I first used a crate with Callie who was born in 2006.
     

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