I actually don't have a pure lab. I have a 1 year and 2 month old petite double doodle and I am new to this forum. My dog is actually a mix of labradoodle-goldendoodle-mini poodle. I used to put my Willow in her crate for a nap at 10am in the morning and she would sleep there happily for 2-3 hours (that is often when I would try to schedule any appointments, and had to leave her home alone). She would have a second nap in her crate at 3:30 -5:00pm inside her crate as well. During both naps, the crate door would be closed and she never minded that. She loved her crate which was situated in mine and my husband's bedroom. During her naps, we also got her used to our bedroom door being closed too in order to minimize her anxiety right down to zero (because she hated being away from us. When the bedroom door was closed and her crate was closed, we would wait for her to fall asleep for her nap and then sneak out quietly and slowly to our appointment or grocery shopping etc...) At all other times, at least one of us was always home with her and she would be running and playing all over the house. During these times we would have training sessions or play times, often, throughout the day. This arrangement worked extremely well for us and for her. However, when the covid lockdown happened, we were all home with her daily. At first we were able to keep the nap times in her crate, but as time went on, this became tougher and tougher. My parents are elderly and both quite ill. My huaband also broke his foot in 4 places and for the past 6 months, has been either in a cast or in rehab and physio so was unable to keep up with putting Willow in the crate for her naps, during the times when I had to go help my parents for a few hours each day. Also, my daughter has some health issues and has been remote learning from home (due to covid) so has tons of school work and is in her room for a good portion of the day. She did her best to help out with crating Willow for naps but was not able to strictly stick to Willow's nap schedule all the time. Now, due to all this, Willow has had to have most, or even all, of her naps out of her crate and in the family room near my husband on the couch or on the floor. We have a bed for her in the family room as well but she hardly uses it and prefers to sleep on the couch or on the floor by my husband who is on the couch. Now we need to get Willow back into the crate for her naps because our old routine (before covid) may be somewhat resuming in September. So, we are trying to get her used to havithe her naps in the crate because she has a great deal of anxiety if we leave the house when she is awake and out of her crate. As I mentioned earlier, we used to put her in the crate, close the door, and close our bedroom door and wait for her to fall asleep, then sneak out quietly for a couple of hours. We usually returned before she woke from her nap or while she was in the process of waking up. Once we came inside we always went straight to our bedroom and let her out to potty, play, etc... However, we have researched a lot and tried all suggestions that have been offered including giving her a frozen treat filled kong or treat filled towel to occupy her and then hopefully she would relax and fall asleep but no such luck! She cries and barks after she finishes her treat and wants to be let out. We tried ignoring her but she is relentless. We tried playing a lot and taking her for a long walk before her nap to tire her out, as well as taking her to potty. However, when we get back, although she is obviously exhausted and ready to drop, she still refuses to fall asleep in her crate. She barks and cries a lot and won't let up. We tried going in to give her a treat and quiet praise every time she is quiet but that didn't work either. Yet, when we let her out, she falls asleep on the family room floor close, to where one of us is sitting. She sleeps in her crate nightly and through the night, thank God, with no problem at all and has been sleeping in her crate at night ever since she was 8 weeks old. However, ever since we began trying to train her to have her naps in her crate again, she has been slightly reluctant to get into her crate for her nighttime sleep. Whenever she senses that we are near the crate door at all, while she is in there to get her toy , for example, she quickly runs out of there assuming we were coming to close her in....but that was not at all what we were doing at that time. We have never tricked her to go in there and shut the door without her knowing and being calm. She used to love her crate so much before covid and before we tried to get heto back into the routine of having her naps in there again. But now she is only willing to sleep there during the night and is mostly willing to be in there for a couple of minutes during the day to eat her meals or play a game of "find the treats in your bed" and munch on treats in a towel or kong and only with the crate door open. That's what I have been doing for a couple of days to regain her trust because I never want her to feel like she is trapped in there but rather, for her to always feel like it is her safe and happy place to relax. Can anyone please offer any advice on how we can get Willow back to having her naps in her closed crate, alone, in our bedroom? Please keep in mind that we found this was the happiest and best way to greatly reduce her anxiety when we have to leave her alone for a couple of hours a few times a week. Also, I forgot to mention that we tried daycare but she did not adjust well there and we don't have anyone who can help watch her during the times that we need to go out. Thank you. Elle
