Just brought my new lab home yesterday. He slept for 6+ hours in small crate by my bed but when I put him in the large crate while I showered this morning, he went crazy....howling, barking, crying. Should I put him in crate when I am in room, for how long and how many times a day? Thank you.
Re: Crate training Hi Yvonne, might be a good idea to get him used to the larger crate for short periods whilst you are in the room. Start by putting the odd treat in there and encourage his calm behaviour whilst in there, maybe even feed his tea in there tonight so he associates it as a positive It might be worth putting a divider in the larger crate as he might end up weeing it pooing in his crate.
Re: Crate training Thank you, Naya. I have now put a divider in the large crate. Put him in there after he has a meal and has gone out to do his business when he looks like he wants to nap but he cries the whole time he is in there. Today, one time I was home (showering) but second time had to go out (had someone here in the garden working) and he cried the whole 50 minutes I as gone. I WILL do it when I am here with him .....I do realize he has to get used to it because it will happen all the time. It has only been two days! but I feel awful when he cries and cries! Thanks for taking the time to answer.....much appreciated.
Re: Crate training Hi, I have an 8.5 week old lab called Maisie, we have had her home for 1 week. She hated her crate to start with, and would cry and howl every time I put her in for a nap or if I was showering, etc. She would sleep anywhere but the crate! I was really worried that the crate wasn't going to work. For the 1st two nights she cried so loudly it was heart breaking. We had brought her home on a Friday so always had some either cuddling or fussing her, so when Monday morning came round and kids went to school and hubby off to work the crunch came! She had to go in her crate if I was to have a shower! She howled! Every time she fell asleep I popped her in her crate and she woke up! But, after three days of ignoring the crying and going in the crate to sleep she suddenly stopped crying! She stills whines a bit, but not for long. Night time is much improved as well. She just needs to sleep past 5am - yawn!!! Stick with the crate, he should start to settle. Maisie still likes to sleep anywhere but her crate and will not willingly go in it, but when put there she will now settle. Hope that helps a little bit. Let me know how you get on.
Re: Crate training There is a good article here: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/crate-training-your-labrador-puppy/
Re: Crate training Thank you Debs....much appreciated. I WILL keep working the crate but thanks for your supportive words. Also, Naya, you mentioned "evening tea".....what is this? I've noticed my guy is not drinking much water but I do put quite a bit of water into his dry food to make it really soft.
Re: Crate training By evening tea I meant his meals as he will associate his crate with positives hope that makes sense
Re: Crate training Thanks, Naya....sorry...I'm from USA and thought it might be something "special" that I could get to calm him down. So dinner.....that's a great idea. I was feeding him outside of his crate. Will try it for dinner tonight.
Re: Crate training Lol, no problem You could always try Adaptil spray on his bedding. I used it on blankets in the car as it releases pheromes and helps calm dogs. Some people don't rate it, but it has worked for us
Re: Crate training Hi there Yvonne! Welcome to the forum. I would recommend associating the crate with good things, So feeding your pup in the crate is good. When we left Lilly as a pup we always put a Kong into her crate. She was always happy to go in. You can stuff it with loads of things, there are threads elsewhere giving ideas, but for a new puppy I would just stick with some of his normal dry food allowance and moisten it, then stuff it in the Kong. If he gets through it really quickly then pop it in the freezer - just a couple of hours at first and build up to longer if it is getting emptied too quickly. Overnight is perfect once he is a little older. Hope this helps, Jac
Re: Crate training To all of you that wrote to me with advice I want to THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am now crating Cooper four times a day and he grumbles a little but finally lies down and, frankly, falls asleep.....this has been WONDERFUL! Can't thank you all enough. I am using his meals in the crate, Kongs in the crate, and chewy toys in the crate. The night crate is no problem....it's the large "day" crate that WAS! Want you all to know how appreciative I am for your responses and help...I am a "new Mother" so all of this is overwhelming at times.. But not any anymore in the crate training!
Re: Crate training Pleased to hear it is going so well now. I really don't know how anyone copes without a crate. I always drop 2 bits of kibble in through the bars when I put Molly (7months) and she trots in. I once only dropped in 1 bit of kibble and was roundly informed of my failings
Re: Crate training I love threads like this! Glad to hear there has been an improvement and I am definitely taking mental notes for what to do when my time comes
Re: Crate training What helped me in the end was just putting him in the crate AND turning on a radio that just had talk on it! This was my niece's idea and it worked......Good luck!
Re: Crate training We've just got a 14 week old pup and he hates the crate too we got him on Saturday and he has howled, barked (if you can call it that - more like a high pitched yipping!) He absolutely hates it however and i've been a zombie at work because of it, however last night we put a cover over the top and three of the sides and left the radio on - he cried for abou 10 minutes then settled down RESULT! I finally had more than an hours unbroken sleep. he did wake up a couple of times and start again but settled after a while. However he seems to make a huge mess in there i.e. toilet business even though we make sure he does it before bed time. I spent half an hour this morning cleaning it up before work - do you think this could be just down to the stress that he causing himself by getting so worked up? WE've only just today finally got him into to routine of going outside to the toilet as he could only go out today due to injection timings. I'm just hoping it's not going to be a forever thing! So it's hard to always judge when he needs 'to go' to be able to come down and let him out as he doesn't 'go' if we just puit him outside. When we got him he had been able to just go wherever he was as it was from a kennels/breeders. thanks!
Re: Crate training Hi Hollie, have you done any crate training before putting the pup in there for long periods? It might be worth reading up on the main site. Also, you could feed pups meals in there to show that it's a nice place to go Have you got a garden? Or an outside space? A pup needs to go for toileting outside from day 1 or they think it's normal to wee inside. I would take pup out every hour at 14 weeks and encourage them to go to the toilet and reward when they go. What is pups name?
